05 · 24 · 18

Han Solo’s heroic journey

Alonso Díaz de la Vega @diazdelavega1

Long before Star Wars (1977, dir. George Lucas) we’d already met Han Solo. An accusation of plagiarism would be fallacious, considering, at least, that every product of imagination is simultaneously an offspring and a root. With his cocky smile, his selfishness that makes him underestimate others and his nobility which makes him act beyond his economic motivations, Han Solo descends from other famous scoundrels but he is also a model to many others and, given his huge popularity, one can assume without much effort that they’re quite a few. Or is Peter Quill, from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014, dir. James Gunn) very different from him? What about Spike Spiegel, the apparently selfish ace pilot from Cowboy Bebop (1998, dir. Shinichirô Watanabe, Yoshiyuki Takei, Ikurô Satô, Kunihiro Mori, Hirokazu Yamada, Tetsuya Watanabe)? Without Han Solo these characters wouldn’t exist, yet it’s not because he invented his own role but rather because he made it famous. An unheroic hero, Han Solo had already been seen in film by the time his first feature appeared.

Yet Han Solo’s personality seems to come also from an American icon. It’s hard defining what "cool" is but if we watch the common traits in Humphrey Bogart’s roles —he’s one of the most recurrent examples of what "cool" means— perhaps we might conclude that it’s all about a fearless, glacial attitude in the face of danger. Whether it is in Casablanca (1942, dir. Michael Curtiz) or To Have and Have Not (1944, dir. John Huston), Bogart remains, more than unmoved, indifferent to his enemies. Threats and even beatings are unable to take away his composure. Maybe that’s what makes Han Solo's answer “I know” to princess Leia when she tells him she loves him before he’s delivered to a mobster.

Probably the biggest clue in the kinship between Bogart and Han Solo is in their recurring use of the word “kid”. That’s how Rick Blaine refers to his beloved Ilsa Lund in Casablanca, and that’s how Han Solo calls Luke Skywalker to underscore his inexperience. Scoundrels underestimate those they love but they’re always in time to save them. In the end the former’s reward is friendship; the latter’s is an unforgivable betrayal. Even though our myths are defined by focus groups and the expectations of revenue, Han Solo covers the narrative of rotation: he rises radiant, like the sun, and, like the moon, he sinks in the dark. His journey is authentically that of the hero’s.