I love Star Wars. I always have, probably always will.
Although, after rewatching the movies, my affection is waning.
And Han Solo is one of my favorite characters.
Actually, BREAKING NEWS!
He WAS one of my favorite characters.
I’ve sure, at some point in your life, even if you’re a teenager, you think back to something you loved as a kid, and still love with that sense of nostalgia.
Then you watch it or read it, and realize how bad it is, what bad quality and you wonder how you could loved it so much.
Or you are met with the infinitely more disappointing other option.
That what you loved, in this case, a character, was awful, inappropriate and wasn’t a good role model in any sense.
That’s how I felt when rewatching Star Wars.
I have experienced this previously, most notably when I looked back at Rory in Gilmore Girls, who I looked up to SO MUCH, and realized what a brat she was.
In this case, I was sitting in the basement with my tea, with my family, watching the movie, being slightly bored, waiting for Han to enter the story.
He appears on the screen, flooding the room with a unique kind of nostalgia that only certain things or characters bring, and Harrison Ford, as Han Solo or Indiana Jones, always has that vibe.
Everything is going relatively smoothly, until Han and Leia start interacting.
And oh boy, the problems were obvious from the first moment.
Throughout the three original movies, Han talks to Leia as though she is an idiot, telling her to do this and that, yelling at her when she doesn’t do something perfectly right, calling her “princess” and “your majesty” in degrading tones.
He has no respect for Leia, she is a general, respected woman, and, to boot, a fantastic woman, who knows her own worth.
Except when it comes to relationships apparently.
You could say that he calls her “princess” and “your majesty” because he doesn’t like authority, and this is what he does when confronted with somebody who is considered above him.
Which Leia is, because she is ten times the person he’ll ever be.
But it shows a lack of confidence in Han, that he has to resort to degrading people who are comfortable in themselves, because he feels intimidating.
This isn’t where this ends, OH YES.
He’s so much worse than you remember.
Han is constantly grabbing Leia in the movie, her arm, pushing her, pulling her places, there is constant physical contact there that Leia doesn’t want, and brings up serious issues of consent.
And MAYBE, at the time it would have seemed fine, the scruffy underdog saving the princess, and he has to manhandle her a bit to save her.
However, I now know why they call it manhandling.
I know I’m using the word respect or disrespectful in this post, I honestly do not how to describe the complete and utter lack of basic regard, courtesy and RESPECT.
Leia is treated pretty horribly by Han, that relationship is toxic for Leia because she is lacking the love, respect and compatibility that a healthy partnership requires.
And finally, a scene in the movie, that disgusted me, officially made me dislike Han and brought up even more serious consent issues.
The Empire Strikes Back.
The best movie of the Star Wars series.
I don’t know about that.
Han, Leia, Chewy and C3PO have just escaped Darth Vader and the Empire’s attack on Hoth, and there are numerous repairs to be done around the ship. Leia is fixing something, (we have no idea what she’s fixing, but she’s in a cramped room).
And Han comes into said cramped room.
I don’t even want to write about this, in all honesty, it makes me sick, and trying to find a way to depict it and not feel ill, is hard.
The video exists somewhere on Youtube, watch it if you feel the need to know what I’m writing, and feel free not too, it can be triggering, and in itself is a disgusting, repulsive thing to watch.
No means no.
No will ALWAYS mean no.
Always.
This brings up EVEN MORE serious issues of consent in the Star Wars franchise.
Leia was disrespected in one of the most abhorrent ways possible. What she wanted, or in this case what she DIDN’T want, was pushed to side for Han’s disgusting, male need to be in power and have some sort of repulsive hold over her.
Han saw he had the upper hand in the situation, and in that moment he became a special kind of monster.
Here, I realized the name of this post should actually – When I realized Han Solo was a sexist, misogynistic, womanizing asshole.
An Overabundance of Opinions 