One of the main criticisms of STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS is that some felt it was a retread of the original STAR WARS (EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE). Despite some structural similarities, I mostly disagree, as the tone of VII was far grimmer than the swashbuckling IV, but particularly untrue to me is the comparison made between the death of Obi-Wan in IV and the death of Han in VII.

When Darth Vader cut Obi-Wan down in IV, we had been acquainted with Obi-Wan as a character for all of one hour. He was a new character in our consciousness, and while we could empathize with Luke's feelings of loss at the demise of his mentor, Obi-Wan simply had not been around long enough for his death to make that kind of deep impression upon the audience.

By the time Han died in VII, however, the character had been a part of the public consciousness for thirty-eight years. Han Solo was a deeply embedded character in not only the STAR WARS mythos, but in broader pop culture. Therefore, his death had much greater impact in 2015 than Obi-Wan's did in 1977. As a component of the argument that VII was a replay of IV, the comparison between Obi-Wan's and Han's deaths does not ring true to me.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)