Han Solo You're Getting Old
- Thread starter tendo82
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The problem is that if a character is trying to be anything else but an anti-hero, he''s looked upon as a goody-two-shoes or an emu. Sorry, wait. I mean an emo.(God how I hate that word.)
Oh Noes! Stereotypes are overused. Alert the presses.
P.S. I feel like the first movie in the Star Wars trilogy focused Luke, but you can't really say that for the other two. I mean in Empire, most of the movie is about Solo and Leia's relationship, and he still plays huge role in Jedi. So for the most part it seems Luke plays second fiddle to him.
P.S. I feel like the first movie in the Star Wars trilogy focused Luke, but you can't really say that for the other two. I mean in Empire, most of the movie is about Solo and Leia's relationship, and he still plays huge role in Jedi. So for the most part it seems Luke plays second fiddle to him.
It's a trap!
Anyway, I agree that Han Solo is getting a bit overplayed. What I really want to see is a completely unpredictable character. A chaotic neutral character who stumbles into conflicts, and can't always be counted on. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses, but that's the way the story goes. And you can continue on even if you lost, the story is just changed.
I want to play a character who loses all his money on a single hand of poker, then is forced to do some kind of dirty work for the casino owner like drive a bomb to an enemy building, but instead he drives it to a bank so he can blow up the safe and take the money, then proceeds to go back to the casino and blow it all on a single hand of poker.
I want that 5 mins of my life back.
There's a big difference between cliche and archetype.
I have some ideas if you guys are running out.
There's a big difference between cliche and archetype.
I have some ideas if you guys are running out.
I think you might have watched different versions of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi than I have. ESB is entirely about Luke, and his journey from apprentice to Jedi Knight and RotJ is the realisation of the events of the previous movie and sees Luke face up to his destiny and redeem his father.bue519 said:
Everything that Han does in those movies ties back in to Luke. He stays out on Hoth longer than he should because he's searching for Luke, he gets tracked by Boba Fett to bait a trap for Luke, he gets frozen in carbonite to make sure that Luke will survive it, etc, etc.
I really liked this article. I found it funny, though, that this article follows the Han solo "type" - starts out with a bad boy critique of the character and his ilk, but ultimately does the good thing and praises Han for his influence on modern characters. Don't know if that makes sense, but if intentional, that's a damn good thematic parallel!
Well I would agree that the anti hero is getting over played, if it wasn't thousands of years old. It was a term first used in ancient Greek drama just like the Protagonist and Antagonist. It would be like arguing that books are getting predictable since they all have a build up and climax. Star Wars is actually an exact copy of the Arthurian legend or a basic Medieval quest. So I wouldn't argue that Han Solo is becoming stale, I would argue that authors and film makers are limited to what they can create because of the past archetypes. It's very rare to find something truly original because of thousands of years worth of literature before it. So while the anti hero is an old concept, Han Solo was actually a very nice spin on the old tale. He had no inner torment or shaded past like Batman, Spawn, or Euripides. He was just a guy trying to make a buck in a treacherous empire controlled world.
I don't know about you but Han Solo has never really seemed very "Anti-Hero" to me, he's more of a reluctant Hero. A good guy at heart who has just never really been in the right situation to become a proper "hero", at least not until the movies. An anti-Hero is usually a character who does the Wrong Thing for The Right Reasons or the Right Thing for The Wrong Reasons, I personally don't consider the "Mercenary" Instinct of doing the Right Thing for money to be the true mark of an Anti-Hero.
Aye, the Han Solo archetype hero may be getting old, but where do we go from there? Do we come full circle and return to our polished infallible heroes, or do we just jump straight to heroes that are actually villains?
That sounds a bit confusing let me attempt to clear that up.
Will our next generation of heroes simply be a joker style character that goes around causing mayhem because he can, and as a side effect bring society a whole new perspective on the world?
Not at all what the joker does mind you, but he's the best fit description for that I can come up with at the moment.
That sounds a bit confusing let me attempt to clear that up.
Will our next generation of heroes simply be a joker style character that goes around causing mayhem because he can, and as a side effect bring society a whole new perspective on the world?
Not at all what the joker does mind you, but he's the best fit description for that I can come up with at the moment.
A good article, if arguably obvious. I think the main problem with the archetype is not the nature of the character, as ambiguity is the foundation for any good character writing, but, rather, certain characteristics, such as ruggedness, reluctance, and womanizing. Those are indeed overused.
For a good example of an anti-hero, I would refer you to Leon of Leon the Professional. First of all, he kills strangers for money, and is obviously as detached and professional about hits as he could realistically be. but the films steadily reveals certain traits of his that betray the idea of him being a cold-blooded killer. He cares about the girl, played by Natalie Portman, who lives next door to him, and he has standards for killing, that is, no children or women.
Han Solo, like so many of the Star Wars characters, are built on romanticized ideals. But archetypes can still ascribe to the general nature of the character while still maintaing creativity on how to approach whatever it is that makes the essence of the archetype.
For a good example of an anti-hero, I would refer you to Leon of Leon the Professional. First of all, he kills strangers for money, and is obviously as detached and professional about hits as he could realistically be. but the films steadily reveals certain traits of his that betray the idea of him being a cold-blooded killer. He cares about the girl, played by Natalie Portman, who lives next door to him, and he has standards for killing, that is, no children or women.
Han Solo, like so many of the Star Wars characters, are built on romanticized ideals. But archetypes can still ascribe to the general nature of the character while still maintaing creativity on how to approach whatever it is that makes the essence of the archetype.
