Star Words: Episode V, Part 17
Apr. 16th, 2020 01:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrilI suppose right now we can all relate to the crew trapped aboard the Falcon for a prolonged period. Tempers are flaring, nerves fraying. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if fan fic writers are seizing onto the quarantine as the new "trapped in a snowstorm" scenario for forcing pairings into heightened romantic tension.
Well, the older and wiser I get, the more ambivalent I feel about Han's methods for wooing Leia. When the heaving ship sends her into his lap, she states quite clearly her desire to get away. He ignores it, then teases her quite suggestively. Later, he sneaks up behind her and engages in a whole lot of unwanted physical contact. She lets him know, both in angry shoves and verbal communication ("Stop that!") that he's crossing her boundaries. He persists.
Alas, this is how the dashing hero often woos the maiden in our culture. I assume it partly arose because women were discouraged from seeking out romance themselves, for fear of seeming too forward, too eager, just plain too much. A demure, modest girl would wait for the boy to initiate. That morphed over time into the interpretation of a woman's outright hostile rejection as simply a denial of her true feelings, too tempestuous for her to fully contain. That is certainly the case with Leia. She's a hothead; she's too proud to admit her feelings to Han and open herself to that sort of vulnerability. So he has to push harder. It makes sense for their characters, but it has some truly disturbing implications.
I'm not going to focus on most of their banter leading up to the kiss. It's quite well-written, no question. I can recite it all from memory; that's how good it is. But if you switched out the gentle romantic music in the soundtrack with something from a stalker movie, you could see how easily it becomes creepy.
But then there's the little exchange about Han being a scoundrel; his rejoinder that she ought to have more scoundrels in her life.
"I happen to like nice men."
"I'm a nice man."
Leia's dispute is cut off by their kiss, so maybe she agrees more than she would admit. The wider shot, as Threepio is showing up to throw cold water over everything, reveals that Leia's arms are around entwined around Han, indicating a willingness that belies her words. I kind of wish that wide shot happened earlier, because from the close-up it seems like Han could be backing her into a corner where she has no choice but to respond. Eech. In actuality, she's wanted this as much as he has.
Now, as for that line. Leia does like nice men. Or, more importantly, good men. Because one of her most defining traits is devotion to the cause of freedom, overthrowing tyranny and restoring a compassionate form of governance. How could she be happy with anyone other than a good man?
And Han is good. Getting better. He was pretty selfish when he first met him, preferring to sit and wait for Ben to take down the tractor beam rather than rescue some princess from execution -- at least, until he was promised a generous reward. He's come a long way from that. He's stayed with the Rebellion, probably longer than was wise considering the price on his head, and he's still detoured from going to pay off Jabba the Hutt because he looked out for Leia's safety first.
He's rough around the edges. His idea of flirting is combative and blunt; his default tone is sarcastic. But there's the makings of a hero underneath, becoming clearer with each day. Leia might be attracted to him because of his smirk and his rakishness, but she'll want to stay with him because he is, at his heart, a nice man.
Next, the unspoken power struggle between Master and Apprentice...
Well, the older and wiser I get, the more ambivalent I feel about Han's methods for wooing Leia. When the heaving ship sends her into his lap, she states quite clearly her desire to get away. He ignores it, then teases her quite suggestively. Later, he sneaks up behind her and engages in a whole lot of unwanted physical contact. She lets him know, both in angry shoves and verbal communication ("Stop that!") that he's crossing her boundaries. He persists.
Alas, this is how the dashing hero often woos the maiden in our culture. I assume it partly arose because women were discouraged from seeking out romance themselves, for fear of seeming too forward, too eager, just plain too much. A demure, modest girl would wait for the boy to initiate. That morphed over time into the interpretation of a woman's outright hostile rejection as simply a denial of her true feelings, too tempestuous for her to fully contain. That is certainly the case with Leia. She's a hothead; she's too proud to admit her feelings to Han and open herself to that sort of vulnerability. So he has to push harder. It makes sense for their characters, but it has some truly disturbing implications.
I'm not going to focus on most of their banter leading up to the kiss. It's quite well-written, no question. I can recite it all from memory; that's how good it is. But if you switched out the gentle romantic music in the soundtrack with something from a stalker movie, you could see how easily it becomes creepy.
But then there's the little exchange about Han being a scoundrel; his rejoinder that she ought to have more scoundrels in her life.
"I happen to like nice men."
"I'm a nice man."
Leia's dispute is cut off by their kiss, so maybe she agrees more than she would admit. The wider shot, as Threepio is showing up to throw cold water over everything, reveals that Leia's arms are around entwined around Han, indicating a willingness that belies her words. I kind of wish that wide shot happened earlier, because from the close-up it seems like Han could be backing her into a corner where she has no choice but to respond. Eech. In actuality, she's wanted this as much as he has.
Now, as for that line. Leia does like nice men. Or, more importantly, good men. Because one of her most defining traits is devotion to the cause of freedom, overthrowing tyranny and restoring a compassionate form of governance. How could she be happy with anyone other than a good man?
And Han is good. Getting better. He was pretty selfish when he first met him, preferring to sit and wait for Ben to take down the tractor beam rather than rescue some princess from execution -- at least, until he was promised a generous reward. He's come a long way from that. He's stayed with the Rebellion, probably longer than was wise considering the price on his head, and he's still detoured from going to pay off Jabba the Hutt because he looked out for Leia's safety first.
He's rough around the edges. His idea of flirting is combative and blunt; his default tone is sarcastic. But there's the makings of a hero underneath, becoming clearer with each day. Leia might be attracted to him because of his smirk and his rakishness, but she'll want to stay with him because he is, at his heart, a nice man.
Next, the unspoken power struggle between Master and Apprentice...
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Date: 2020-04-18 04:44 pm (UTC)Anyway, that was a useful perspective on "chasing the hard to get"; I may have been at the risk of imagining "men writing from the man's perspective." It was also somehow a very welcome thought to see Han presented not just as "the scoundrel who wins out" but as "someone whose self fills out by becoming more selfless."