MovieChat Forums > Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017) Discussion > Did anyone think Vice Admiral Holdo had....

Did anyone think Vice Admiral Holdo had...(spoilers)


a lot of sass?

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It was the purple hair, very sassy.

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She was known around the New Republic as "Sister Sass".

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She’s dead now.

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Jim.

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I thought she was a really shitty leader. It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't people actually praising her Vanity Fair published an article titled "Star Wars: The Last Jedi Offers the Harsh Condemnation of Mansplaining We Need in 2017," in which Laura Dern declares “I think we’re waking up to what we want feminism to look like.” (Uh, it shouldn't look like this.) Poe Dameron is presented as a cocky ass who needs to stop with the mansplaining and learn from his senior, female leaders.

Ballocks. Holdo was a bad leader feminist or no. Think what her plan looked like to Poe (and everyone else): they resistance is just running, with no apparent plan, and when their fuel runs out, they're doomed. Poe asking to know what the plan is is not unreasonable. Instead of clueing him in, like a real leader would, she publicly tells him to shut up and do as he's told, and she's not even remotely polite about it. She was clearly written by people who have never actually served in the military, and think that military leadership is just overbearing, egotistical (male) officers ordering people around. Wrong. Real leaders listen to their troops, share information, praise in public, discipline in private, and genuinely care for and respect their troops; they aren't obeyed solely because of rank. In combat, you won't always have time to stop and explain, and sometimes for opsec reasons you'll withold some information, but what you won't do, ever, if you're a good leader, is intentionally keep people in the dark, especially in such a way as to make yourself look like you are vapor locked and fixated on a plan with no hope of success. Success in crisis depends on leaders keeping team members informed so everyone can act effectively to make the plan work. Admiral Holdo was secretive, then condescending and dismissive, which is deadly behavior in complex emergencies that require effective teamwork.

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And she got almost everyone killed but thankfully died.

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Well put! Those writers were idiots. Leadership like hers can lead to mutiny!

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I know I shouldn't dwell on such an awful movie but for comparison, Star Trek 2009 had James Kirk's father becoming commander when under attack, saves everyone on board and fends off the attackers by ramming their ship in an act of self sacrifice. Purple-hair becomes commander when under attack, incites a mutiny, gets most of the fleet destroyed, gets most of the personnel killed, and then decides to fend off the attackers by ramming their ship in an act of self sacrifice. And Disney thinks this is progressive.

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What a load of bullshit.

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