Finally Watched "Solo"

My brother told me his feelings about Solo around the holidays, and I think I was surprised. Having heard the mostly negative din coming from the web, I didn't make it a priority to see it. Dan, though, said, "People compain too much. I liked the hell out of it. It's a western...like Rogue One was basically a war movie, like a WWII movie, Solo is a western, and it's fucking good. Yeah, it's not Harrison Ford, but, whatever. It's good."

Heady praise from Dan.

So we watched it and I have to agree. It was a nifty little sci-fi movie, that happens to be about a beloved American character. So, it was generally destined to fail in the realm of public opinion.

Some things I wanted to say about it, that are mostly original to the conversation Corrie and I had about it:

1. It seems to me that the kid playing Han is playing the character not as was included in Star Wars, and the subsequent sequels starring Harrison Ford, but rather playing the character whom Americans have gone on to make legend---the kid is playing our idea of what Han Solo is or should be. He's not playing Solo from Tatooine in 1977, he's playing (or the role was written as) "What America Believes Han Solo to Be."
2. The kid playing Solo is doing a characterization of "an American." I'll come back to this one

Harrison Ford played Han as an updated Rick Blaine: what seemed like an American only interested in money for himself, and not much else. The "Cause" wasn't his, until it was. He never seems interested in helping until after you've given up hope (or pretend that the film isn't predictable enough to understand he's not going away).

This Han is different, but so what? It's fun, unless you take Harrison Ford's role as a sacred cow.

Tatooine in 1977 was filmed in Tunis, and the only Americans on screen at the time were Luke, Leia, and Han; most everybody else was British. So Han as Rick Blaine would have made sense to European viewers.

I had this whole "American" archetype, or American caricature in film, thesis bouncing around my head for some time now. It comes back to Jiminy Cricket.

The main audience for Pinocchio, like Snow White before, was the European market, and Jiminy Cricket, while a natural character for American viewers, was profoundly American to European audiences: he's resourceful, positive--even cheery--and nearly a smart alec. The street-smart wise-cracker is American to Europeans.

Check out The Third Man for this representation as well: an Austrian, a Brit, and American...

Han, in this new movie, is an updated version of this idea. He's cheery, street-smart, puts himself into conversations he wouldn't otherwise be part of, and openly questions the wisdom of authorities.

One Timline Point Concerning Chewbacca

Chewie is around to help Yoda survive Order 66, the order that all Jedis were to be executed. How many years does it take for him to go from helping rescue Yoda to being imprisoned and fed other prisoners in the muck?

In anycase, the Han that we get in this movie seems like he would have needed less prodding to join the rebellion. But again, so what? It was entertaining enough.