Lucas' Revisionist History from 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope'
I figured I would chime in on the “Han shot first” issue.
Lucas recently sat down with ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ where he defends his controversial ‘Star Wars’ changes and specifically about the Greedo and Han issue he says. “The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.”
I am going to address the idea that Lucas thinks fans want Han Solo to be a cold-blooded killer. I for one don’t want him to be. I want him to be a roguish smuggler and always pictured him that way.
Han shooting first does not make him a ‘cold-blooded’ killer. It makes him a good smuggler. He operates in a world that is outside the law, full of dangerous characters. Now I have not read any Star Wars books that specifically deal with Han Solo’s past so I am making assumptions based on the movies alone. I am guessing to be a smuggler in a galaxy where the Empire rules you would have to be ruthless. You can not count on others following a moral code like your own. In fact high morals in regards to killing might be something you can not afford if you want to stay alive very long.
In my mind a cold-blooded killer is someone that preys on the weak, helpless or innocent. Greedo was far from any of those. He had a gun pointed at Han. Han really couldn’t trust that Greedo was not just going to shoot him for the fun of it. I believe a gun pointed at you is plenty of justification to shoot first in defense. Would anyone really want to risk waiting for Greedo to shoot first and hoping that his aim is so terrible that he will miss you from five feet away. I don’t think that I would take that gamble.
George Lucas should have just left the scene alone along with everything else he has change. I would be shocked to find anyone that watched the movie in its orignal version and thought of Han as the ‘cold-blooded’ killer or wanted him to be one. I watched those movies hundreds and hundreds of times when I was a kid and not once did that cross my mind.
Some people will say that Lucas created ‘Star Wars’ so he has every right to do whatever he wants with it. Here is how I see it. Yes, ‘Star Wars’ was Lucas’ brain child. He has rasied and loved it into adulthood. An adult that everyone loves and respects. But now Lucas is the controlling overbearing parent that refuses allow his child to live its own life. Meddling in his child’s affairs trying to tell his child what to do. We have all seen parents like these. Lucas needs to sit back and enjoy that he has raised a child into successful adulthood who can now provide for him in his old age. Stop meddling and enjoy a carefree retirement and let ‘Star Wars’ live its own life.