![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dragonlady7via http://ift.tt/2EFpL1t:
obstinaterixatrix:
obstinaterixatrix:
basically every tlj defense post I’ve seen focuses on old fans being nostalgic. these posts fail to address any sincere criticism of the writing in the movie itself, namely that the entire resistance subplot amounts to: trust authority no matter what, even when it looks like it’s working against your best interests.
if the person in charge insults you and demeans you at every opportunity, if the person in charge does literally nothing to earn your trust - and actually goes out of their way to sabotage it by being needlessly cryptic instead of saying ‘yes, I do have a plan, trust me’ for at least AN ATTEMPT at reassurance - just put your life in their hands because they’re in charge and hope is like the sun or whatever. like come on, it’s not about hope. it’s about leadership.
people can make the argument that, maybe holdo doesn’t want to take the time to actually connect with the people she’s leading, because either they trust her, or they don’t. that’s still pretty garbage leadership. you know what would be better leadership? listening to concerns, and actually responding to them without dismissing them entirely.
this is such an incongruous payoff for a series that supposedly revolves around taking down space fascism, a series that should probably take a harder stance against legitimizing leadership that’s uncomfortably close to authoritarian. and maybe that’s a reoccuring problem in star wars writing, I wouldn’t know because I’m not familiar with the series.
holdo has a great design, an incredible moment with leia, and by far the coolest scene in the entire movie. if there was a payoff that was about how communication and trust is important - in both directions, not just a one-way bias in favor of leadership - the resistance subplot could’ve been a lot more meaningful.
look, different strokes for different folks, but this is - imo - a pretty big flaw, and you can like the movie without dismissing all criticism as ‘people being mad for no reason’ or whatever.
look guys. authority that refuses to listen is bad. authority that makes no attempt to communicate or explain literally anything is bad. authority that goes out of its way to insult, demean, & dismiss subordinates is bad. authority that hides compassion under layers of aloof contempt is bad. authority that likes troublemakers, actually, is bad and uncomfortable if that authority spends the entire time insulting, demeaning, & dismissing that ‘troublemaker’.
poe’s character arc is packaged as him needing to realize that sometimes, the most heroic thing isn’t flashy cool shit. this isn’t conveyed well in the film because 1) the emphasis on holdo’s plan isn’t that it’s heroic, it’s that people are shocked it even exists in the first place, and 2) the most heroic thing holdo did was THE flashiest, coolest shit in the movie.
(Your picture was not posted)
obstinaterixatrix:
obstinaterixatrix:
basically every tlj defense post I’ve seen focuses on old fans being nostalgic. these posts fail to address any sincere criticism of the writing in the movie itself, namely that the entire resistance subplot amounts to: trust authority no matter what, even when it looks like it’s working against your best interests.
if the person in charge insults you and demeans you at every opportunity, if the person in charge does literally nothing to earn your trust - and actually goes out of their way to sabotage it by being needlessly cryptic instead of saying ‘yes, I do have a plan, trust me’ for at least AN ATTEMPT at reassurance - just put your life in their hands because they’re in charge and hope is like the sun or whatever. like come on, it’s not about hope. it’s about leadership.
people can make the argument that, maybe holdo doesn’t want to take the time to actually connect with the people she’s leading, because either they trust her, or they don’t. that’s still pretty garbage leadership. you know what would be better leadership? listening to concerns, and actually responding to them without dismissing them entirely.
this is such an incongruous payoff for a series that supposedly revolves around taking down space fascism, a series that should probably take a harder stance against legitimizing leadership that’s uncomfortably close to authoritarian. and maybe that’s a reoccuring problem in star wars writing, I wouldn’t know because I’m not familiar with the series.
holdo has a great design, an incredible moment with leia, and by far the coolest scene in the entire movie. if there was a payoff that was about how communication and trust is important - in both directions, not just a one-way bias in favor of leadership - the resistance subplot could’ve been a lot more meaningful.
look, different strokes for different folks, but this is - imo - a pretty big flaw, and you can like the movie without dismissing all criticism as ‘people being mad for no reason’ or whatever.
look guys. authority that refuses to listen is bad. authority that makes no attempt to communicate or explain literally anything is bad. authority that goes out of its way to insult, demean, & dismiss subordinates is bad. authority that hides compassion under layers of aloof contempt is bad. authority that likes troublemakers, actually, is bad and uncomfortable if that authority spends the entire time insulting, demeaning, & dismissing that ‘troublemaker’.
poe’s character arc is packaged as him needing to realize that sometimes, the most heroic thing isn’t flashy cool shit. this isn’t conveyed well in the film because 1) the emphasis on holdo’s plan isn’t that it’s heroic, it’s that people are shocked it even exists in the first place, and 2) the most heroic thing holdo did was THE flashiest, coolest shit in the movie.
(Your picture was not posted)
