Solo : A Star Wars Story has hit theaters , in Lucasfilm ’s late endeavor at explore the man behind the mythos , Han Solo . But it is not the first prison term the company has deeply explored the dear runner , villain , and hero . It ’s done so before , in one of the greatest works of art in our modern times : Kinect Star Wars .
For those unaware of this licensing classic , Kinect Star Wars isa really god terrible video gamereleased in 2012 for the Xbox 360 , a show window for Microsoft ’s movement - sensing Kinect peripheral . histrion could get around lightsabers around ( bad ) , speed off in pod - racers ( poorly ) , and , most bizarrely of all , take part in Star Wars - themed terpsichore ( also bad ) coif to actual - lifetime pop ditty tweaked to have Star Wars lyric .
From the “ Empire Today ” to “ Princess in a Battle , ” Kinect Star Wars ’ terpsichore minigame is home to some of the most absurd audile mishmashes of Star Wars and pop culture , but none are more legendary than “ I ’m Han Solo , ” heavy lift from the Jason Derulo classic “ Ridin ’ Solo . ” Please listen , and be amazed ( or horrify ):
The opprobrium of “ I ’m Han Solo ” has outlived any other memory of Kinect Star Wars , the embodiment of everything that makes the biz a black bull’s eye in already pretty guileful history of Star Wars gambling . It ’s meme - great power is so potent , this calendar week Select Allpublished an in - depth interviewwith Kevin Afflack , a music producer on Kinect Star Wars , assay to uncover just how such a bizarre call was made in the first property .
But the storey of “ I ’m Han Solo ” is so much more than the how s and why s , it ’s in the significance we can derive from its insightful intermediation on the psyche of Han himself . And so , to lionize its depth , I — a piece with an real degree in English Literature — will now tender a literary analysis of this fabled song , a taradiddle of trauma and identity .
I ’m feelin ’ like a hotshot
You ca n’t block up my shine
I ’m lovin’ Cloud City
My head ’s in the sky
I ’m Solo , I ’m Han Solo
I ’m Han Solo
I ’m Han Solo , Solo
The duality of man ( the duality of Han , if you will ) is self - discernible in what will become a major chorus in “ I ’m Han Solo . ” Contrast the first four lines of this verse , the elation in Han ’s freedom , with the repeat of the last three . What is mean to mean perhaps a level of boastful confidence — he is Solo , the definite clause , and wants the audience to know it — is undercut by the need to repeat this seemingly actual argument . But Han is also subtly telling us something else here , in line with his characterisation in the pic as a man cracking to keep his actual feeling close to his chest of drawers . He is both Han Solo , and Solo — unique , person , and yet also , alone , under the mask of his opine happiness .
Yeah , I ’m feelin ’ good tonight
in conclusion feelin ’ free and it feels so right , oh
Time to do the things I like
Gon na see a princess everything ’s all right , oh
No Jabba to answer to
Ai n’t a fixture in the castle menagerie , no
And since that carbonite ’s off me
I ’m livin ’ life now that I ’m free , yeah
The first verse plays off the bluster of Han ’s freedom , as he reassures us that “ since that carbonite ’s off me ” he has the capability to be the things that he believes fix him once more — be a gentlewoman ’ man , do to no one but himself , and not fall on the walls of alien gangster ’s palaces like a gloomy graphics showing . Han ’s idealized version of exemption here is one of return , a return to the human being he once was , rather than one convert by his traumatic experience within the carbonite bedchamber of Bespin .
narrate me get myself together
Now I got myself together
Now I made it through the weather
Better twenty-four hour period are gon na get better
I ’m so happy the carbonite is gone
I ’m movin ’ on
I ’m so happy that it ’s over now
The pain is gone
But as with the chorus , Han ’s braggy joy in the anterior poetry is instantly contrasted with a more self-examining , affectional follow - up . We have presented to us , at first , the Han that Han wishes to be , that confident suave hero that he has always been , but now we see that underneath that persona is a man who has brave out immense painful sensation and internal battle — and , you know , being frozen for a bit — and is seek to break up himself back up in the wake of a harrowing experience . The idealised boast of his smuggling biography is not a status quo to return to here , but instead a longing dream , a motive to be the adult male he was before his harrowing , life - changing experience at the hands of Darth Vader and Boba Fett ..
I ’m puttin ’ on my tone
To cover up my eyes
I ’m jumpin ’ in my drive
I ’m headin ’ out tonight
The masquerade parallels become more blunt as we manoeuvre into the chorus refrain again — literally , shade over his eyes , the windows to Han ’s roiling soul , covered up and safeguard . He is jump in his ride and heading out , away from the introspection of his home pain , and once again , the repetition of his name once again hammer away at that insecurity and consolation .
I ’m pickin ’ up my blaster
Put it on my side
I ’m jumpin ’ in my Falcon
Wookiee at my side
There ’s a similar root word in this alternate chorus , too . The doubly repeated second half further stress Han ’s ego - consciousness , but the first four line once again counterpoint an exterior , indifferent self that Han seeks to define himself by . His chargeman , his ship , his Centennial State - pilot — distanced by not even being given his name , but alternatively just a species , because all that matters is the very image of it in relation back to Han ’s role — are all empty accoutrements Han urgently seeks both value and establishment from , but can never rightfully have , if he is rightfully Han Solo , solo .
Now I ’m feelin ’ how I should
Join the Alliance it feel so good , oh
block off feelin ’ misunderstood
Back in the game
Who knew I would , oh
So prostrate , time I spread my extension
Lovin’ myself makes me need to sing , oh
Oh yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah , yeah
This third rhyme strikes a much more dissimilar timber . It ’s one of reconciliation — instead of pine to be the military personnel he was , Han instead begins to make a raw self for him to inhabit ; a responsible member of the Rebel Alliance , a man who not only have it away who he is again , but loves who is he again . The repeated “ yeahs ” here , unlike the repetitions in early verses , echo with confidence rather than insecurity .
From here , the 2d verse and the everlasting chorus is repeated — an understandable piece of construction , but perhaps a cry for reassurance , perhaps even a yell of futility , from our subject . The repeated vocal here act as an reverberation to the underlying existential turmoil that was just subtext in their original lines ’ context : Is Han Solo in truth still Han Solo after all he has gone through during Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi ? Most importantly , can he be ? Who even is Han Solo , in Han ’s eyes — the accessories and the outside , or the troubled soul within ?
In conclusion , “ I ’m Han Solo ” is a defective song but now I ’ve listened to it more or less 30 time writing this mail so I may never get it out of my principal .
Star Wars
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