I believe there are a few objective problems with Holdo, as a character.
When Po started to straighten up thinking he might be given command I was ready to facepalm and was relieved to hear it was Holdo. I didn't want it to be Po. But when she entered I was initially taken aback - not because she was a woman - but because she was dressed so inappropriately. If Holdo was a man dressed like a senator from Coruscant I would have been just as put off. It's not the fault of Laura Dern but of the character design.
I didn't actually care how she was dressed. I mean, I can see where it would be a little jarring, but it didn't bother me that much. If she'd shown up dressed the way Jimmy Smits was in Rogue One, I wouldn't have cared, either. And as has been noted, Leia's in a dress the whole time, not even the military/utilitarian outfit she wore in TFA.
I also have a problem with the way Holdo was written. As I stated before someone taking over command at this point I should expect to at least address the remaining troops to orient and instill morale. Instead she gives a eulogy and tells nothing of her plan. You can rationalize all you want that she doesn't owe anyone an explanation but a leader - especially one who is taking a new command during a time of crisis - needs to give even a vague idea that there is a plan in motion and that things are happening otherwise you invite dissent, which is exactly what happened with Po. If they wanted to make her look like an imperfect leader then they succeeded.
Her costume, including the purple hair, and the lack of command presence really stripped her character of credibility as a leader for me.
I can see that. I think the film could've done a better job of playing up the "We don't know how they're getting this information" thing, and creating a sense of paranoia on the ship, to explain why she wasn't telling people anything. I think that was the reason, but it could've been explained better/played up more.
I don't have a problem with her bringing Po to heel but Leia was always more constructive with her criticism. If you want to say he needs to be taken down a peg that's fine but do it professionally. "Commander? Oh yes, you were demoted ?" If Carrie, as Leia, had to give that line I would imagine she would have done so standing her ground, commanding her personal space and staring down Po until he averted his eyes so he knew who was boss. But that line was given to Dern as Holdo and in her hands the delivery was a passive-aggressive sleight as she drops the line and walks away. That acting choice was just wrong. Passive-aggressiveness makes Holdo look weak and it certainly wouldn't cause Po to know his place. I feel like Dern (as well as whomever wrote Holdo) doesn't understand leadership.
I'm not looking for excuses to hate on this character. I wanted to like her. Leia, as a leader, was written and performed with more gravity. Padme, too, had palpable authority. I should think that if my problem was one of latent sexism I would have had a problem with other strong female characters such as Leia, Padme, Rey or Jyn. But I don't. Holdo simply hit the wrong notes in terms of character design, writing and performance.
And, trust me, if Holdo was a male character, dressed like a wealthy bureaucratic senator from Coruscant, with purple hair, speaking eulogies when he should be instilling morale and dressing down Po while dropping a mike I'd be every bit as irritated.
I'm not saying the character was perfect or perfectly portrayed. But I guess a lot of the stuff just didn't bother me. Poe's a squadron leader, but (1) he's acting like he's
personally owed an explanation of the plan, (2) he's got a
better plan and Holdo needs to agree to it, and (3) he comes at Holdo as if she's not merely his equal, but his inferior. Sure, Holdo could have said to him something like "Captain, your job is to follow orders. Something which you've proven recently you aren't very good at, I gather, given your demotion. We have a crisis on this ship and I don't have the time or the inclination to explain to you the reasons for my decision. I am your superior officer, you will follow my orders, and I am ordering you to drop this matter
now, unless you would like to be relocated to the brig.
Is that understood, Captain?!" Or something suitably rank-pully. But the bottom line is, Holdo ain't got time for Poe's bulls*** right now.
Likewise, Poe could have approached her and
respectfully said "Admiral, I know my pilots and the crew of this ship. They're worried right now, they know we're going to run out of fuel soon, and they need to know at least
some of whatever it is you're planning. Meaning no disrespect, but I think they'd appreciate some kind of explanation. They need it right now." But even then, a dressing-down might still be appropriate if he pushed the matter.
Yes, by saying her parents are nobody disregards it. How are you blaming JJ and this "mystery box" nonsense? He planted ideas so things could be explored and progress the story, to make it interesting. Those questions he raised in TFA is what got the people interested in this movie so excited about seeing it. I disagree with you there. Being extremely adept in the force has always been based on lineage, throught the entire series. JJ was going with that, but Rian cut it off cause he just decided to change it for his movie. The parents have always mattered. Thats why its called the Skywalker Saga.
It's absolutely JJ's fault for creating a mystery where none needed to exist. He absolutely lampshades the question of Rey's parentage/identity in TFA, and leaves it open.
That's his "mystery box" design approach at work. He's given TED talks on this. Abrams values the experience of pondering the mystery, and all the creative energy that generates. For him, that's the entire point of the mystery box and introducing it in a film. It's meant to generate interest and prompt questions and theories. It's not meant to be "opened" or to have the questions answered.
You can see this in other creators' work as well, like Ronald D. Moore's approach to BSG. Remember the whole Cylon "plan"? The "final Five" thing? That's classic "mystery box" work right there. Moore explained in DVD commentary for (if memory serves) the season finale of Season...3? I think? That the scene where we finally see who the "final Five" are
wasn't planned from the start. In fact, Moore had no idea who the final Five were until that moment, and picked characters at random where he thought it would be interesting to see how they'd struggle with suddenly learning they were Cylons. Yet, he introduced the
mystery of their identities well before that. That's classic "mystery box" storytelling: introduce a mystery because the questions it generates and the way it hooks audiences is way more important to you than the actual resolution to the mystery, to the point where
you don't even know what the resolution of the mystery is in the first place.
Abrams apparently also was on record as saying that TFA told you or at least hinted at Rey's backstory. Rey herself says she's "nobody." I think that's the ultimate answer, and Abrams just decided to play up the whole question of who she is. There are other aspects of TFA that do this as well, from the questions of where the hell the First Order came from and how they could possibly have gotten this big over 30 years, who the **** Snoke is and how it is that nobody prior to this film has ever even heard of him. All of those kinds of questions could have been answered or explained better, but...JJ loves his mysteries, and believes everyone else does, too.
So, assuming that the answer all along
really was that Rey was "nobody" and from a family of nobodies (which I think is the case), then all JJ did was intentionally hype up the question knowing that the answer was nothing special. He played it up as a grand mystery, knowing all along that it was going to be a lot of buildup for basically a nothing answer.
Or, JJ never knew the answer in the first place, and just wanted to stir the pot by introducing a mystery for which he had no answer planned.
What I
don't believe is that Rian Johnson actually undercut some other storyline that was planned out where Rey was going to be a Kenobi or a secret Skywalker or Anakin's reincarnation or a female Palpatine clone or whathaveyou. I don't think Kennedy would've allowed him to do that. So either it wasn't planned at all, and Johnson made a creative choice (and one I really enjoy), or the answer was always that she was a nobody from nowhere, and all Johnson did was answer the question because the endless speculation is stupid and allows for lazy storytelling where you're too busy focusing on "Oooooooh...what's the
mystery?!?!?!?!" and not on actually developing characters.
As for the whole "But it's the Skywalker Saga!" first, it still is. Luke was a central figure in this film, as was Leia, as is Ben, who is a Skywalker on his mother's side. But second, yeah, you're right. It isn't the "Skywalker Saga" in the sense that only Skywalkers can be the saviors of the galaxy or the most powerful Force users or whathaveyou. The film consciously rejects that, and I think that's important, because seeing endless iterations of the same basic story about Skywalkers would ultimately be really, really boring. That's basically the Bantam era of Star Wars novels, and by and large those novels were at best mediocre (Zahn trilogy notwithstanding), and at worst utter crap.
The Star Wars movies
were the Skywalker Saga, and now that saga is coming to a close, and the Star Wars movies will be about something else. I don't know about you, but I'm happy about that. The Skywalkers will get a suitable sendoff (Luke already has), I hope, and the Star Wars universe will evolve.
Wasn't Poe LEADER of some squadron in TFA? The whole thing about him needing to learn a lesson felt manufactured. In TFA, I had the impression he was a respected leader. This movie needlessly sent him backwards.
Being a leader of a tactical unit isn't the same as leading a rebellion as a whole. Poe thinks small and moment-to-moment. He doesn't think strategically, although I think Leia and Holdo both recognize that he has the capacity to be a fantastic leader of the new rebellion
if he can start to think strategically and longer-term. That's the lesson he learns in this film.
Finn has issues with selfishness now? He ultimately sacrificed himself for Rey in TFA and entered this film suffering the consequences. ROSE was just as selfish when she crashed him out to teach him a lesson - wasn't she doing about exactly what he did in the previous episode?
Not selfish in the sense of "screw everyone else, I'm looking out for me," but selfish in the sense of failing to recognize that his motivations are largely about his own needs and his own ego. What's the best way that Poe could've helped the Resistance in that moment? Kamikazeing into the door-buster gun? Or staying alive to help out after the gun fires?
Let's play it out.
Assume Finn destroys the gun. What then? Chances are, the First Order -- already shown to have seemingly infinite ordinance available -- would have just brought up some other door buster from another ship. Or they could've simply laid seige to the base and starved the Resistance out. Or used some other piece of superpowered tech that they have up their sleeves to nuke the site from orbit (it
is the only way to be sure, after all). It's the same thing that Poe fails to realize about the dreadnought. Yes, he blew it up and deprived the First Order of a big ship. But you know what? They have plenty more where that came from, so the grand, heroic sacrifice in that moment, ultimately accomplishes very little and at a high cost.
And all of that assumes that Finn will be successful in the first place. What if he's not? What if his ship melts before it hits, and him with it? What then? Now the Resistance has lost an inspirational hero for nothing.
So, is what Finn's doing really the best thing for the Resistance? Is it really going to protect them? Or is it just his ego driving him on? Again, for me, it ties back to that incident with the dude who wanted to drag me out of my car and fight me, and me wondering how I'd respond with my kid in the car. Sure, I could fight him. Maybe win. Maybe lose. But there's basically no good outcome from that, and all fighting him would really have done is feed my ego. And it's my ego that would be telling me "You're protecting her! Go kick his ass!" Fighting that guy would not be protecting my daughter. Fighting that guy would really be about me and my own ego. That's where it's selfish.
That's not the same as the kind of selfishness that DJ displays when he sells out Rose and Finn. It's a different, much more subtle kind of selfishness, and one that you can have happen and not even realize it.
As for Rey, they imply her past is important just by her setting in TFA (hash marks on her wall, hand made doll) as well as her past/famuly being mentioned multiple times.
They didn't hardly mention anything about Finn's past, and nobody really wondered about it. Strange.
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Exactly. Rey's past is important only because JJ
made it important. Finn's past is...entirely beside the point. Other than explaining his hatred of the First Order, that is.
