Star Words: Episode VI, Part 29

[matril]

With Luke gone to sacrifice himself for a higher cause, Leia stands alone, grappling with the awful truths she has just learned. It's at this moment that Han shows up to find out what's the matter.

She's not ready to tell him yet; she's hardly able to process any of it herself. At first Han doesn't take this well. He tries to cajole her, and then when she continues to hold back, his jealousy surges up. If she's not confiding in Han, she must be confiding in Luke. He's let himself become vulnerable, and look where it's led him. Shut out, spurned by the woman he loves, rejected in favor of someone else. Might as well leave; what's the point of caring if you only get hurt?

The old Han would leave. Instead he stops, turns and says a simple, profound thing.

"I'm sorry."

This might be the hardest thing Han has ever done. Never mind evading Star Destroyers, taking on the entire Imperial fleet, breaking into the shield generator. Han is letting go of his pride. He has finally learned to care about someone else more than himself.

People would laugh and call it a small, insignificant thing. It's just a couple of words. Does it even mean anything? In this case, absolutely. Not a trace of sarcasm. He's letting her know that he's here, ready to support her in whatever capacity she needs...even if that means stepping back and giving her space. When she turns and replies with similar simplicity, "Hold me," his expression is almost stunned. Like he can't believe that she wants him near, that whatever she's keeping from him, it doesn't change how much she needs him.

That's the reward of being vulnerable. If you open yourself up to someone, they can open themselves up to you as well. Of course there's always the risk that they can hurt you, but the only alternative is loneliness. And Han doesn't want that anymore. He's a better man for it.

Next time, a father and son reunion.....

Comments

[krpalmer]

Having missed providing any comments for two weeks, I was hoping I'd come up with some sort of response this time around. However, when you mentioned "two words" last time, I have to admit I was thinking of "Hold me"... Padme says the same words in Revenge of the Sith, of course, but I also noticed them when I found and bought a discounted DVD of THX 1138 some years ago now. Now that I've been pointed to them, though, I can recognize the significance of Han's own two words, and continue to note he seems more interesting for showing these signs of change and growth in Return of the Jedi than a good many other people seem to be ready to realize or admit.

(As for THX 1138, though, while I'd worried it would "go over my head, just like any 'art film'" before watching it, I found it quite intriguing on viewing it and wrote an essay about it for Saga Journal, although I don't know if my work was very profound. I did try and call it "the first draft of Star Wars," but in seeing resonances to George Lucas's later work I suppose I ought to say it's more "adult," if to different effect than "trying to make Star Wars grittier...")

[matril]

I do like the parallel with Padmé's line. I've not seen THX, though I did watch the original student film when they had it up on Youtube. It requires a bit of context to appreciate its craft, as something made with a teensy budget back in the days when you couldn't just shoot a bunch of footage on your camera phone and not worry about wasting actual film stock. I can understand why Lucas was one of the first filmmakers to get excited about digital film and embrace its use.