Admiral Holdo Wasn’t a “Feminist,” She Was Just a Bad Leader





































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41 Responses to “Admiral Holdo Wasn’t a “Feminist,” She Was Just a Bad Leader”

  1. 1 hbdivegirl

    Thank you.
    In the midst of enjoying the fun of SW:TLJ I was horrified to see the piss-poor behaviour of Admiral Holdo being packaged to represent optimal leadership and a “lesson” for other characters.

    I work in the operating room.
    Success in crisis depends on leaders keeping team members fully informed so each person can use all their knowledge and skill to support success.

    Admiral Holdo was condescending and dismissive, deadly behavior in complex emergencies require effective teamwork.

    It was a cheap plot trick that left a bad taste in my mouth as the story continued the broken record assertion that all should worship Admiral Holdo’s superior leadership.

    Thanks for saying this so much better than I can.

  2. 3 Christian

    I especially like the fact that she STILL doesn’t explain the plan after Poe and his peeps pull guns on them. Like…I dunno…maybe NOW is a good time to explain the plan?

  3. 4 Joe in PNG

    The message Hollywood was trying to preach was already done, and was done far better in “Aliens”. Lt. Gorman vaporlocked during the alien attack in the atmosphere processor, and Ripley took over and saved a remnant of the squad. But it wasn’t some feminist manifesto, either. Ripley was smart enough to defer to Cpl. Hicks, as he was clearly more experienced (and cool headed).

    As for the bomber attack on the dreadnought, subsequent events show that it was necessary. Had they not blown it up, the Rebels would have been all blowed up real good, right then and there. Slapping him and demoting him was a stupid decision.

    Which brings up a plot stupid on the part of the New Order- why blast the base on the planet first? It’s not like they’re going anywhere.

    • 5 Joe in PNG

      In regards to Admiral Hodo, I’m not too bothered by her incompetence. I’ve been reading about WWI naval battles. Incompetent, over-promoted flag officers making stupid decisions; lack of communications between units; unclear orders- all those things were far too common within the Royal Navy during the war.

      • Just because there’s historical precedent for poor leadership doesn’t justify holding up fictional poor leadership as an example of good leadership.

        • 7 Joe in PNG

          Admiral Beatty, despite his very obvious leadership failings at Heigoland Blight, Dogger Bank, and Jutland, was praised and promoted.

          But, yeah, the fact that it happens doesn’t excuse poor writing in fiction. That whole subplot could have been better handled.

  4. Thanks for the review of a movie I was dreading; $XX spared; I’ll wait for the BD in the fin-bin at WallyMart. I owe you. If you get back out to The Happiest Place or vicinity anytime soon, dinner’s on me.

    Glad to see you back online, Merry Christmas/Happy New Year, etc. etc.

  5. 10 Sean

    This. RIGHT FUCKING HERE. Hands down, the *BEST* leadership I ever served under, during my first heavy training cycle, drew the objective on the white board, laid the pen in front of the platoon, and said

    “Attack the objective. Squad leaders and team leaders, stay out of it. 1st platoon, you are trained killers. But I expect you to think about how you go about it. Every man here has a voice that works, and a pair of eyes. We’re going to do what the PL and I think is right. However, if something more intelligent and effective is brought up, we will try it.”

    Hands down, a man I would go to war for again in a heartbeat if he’d have me.

  6. 11 mrgarabaldi

    Hey Chris;

    Thank you for the analysis on the leadership failures during TLJ, I watched that movie and it was *Meh*, I was disappointed by how they treated Luke in that movie except at the very end. The SJW themes was real heavy during this movie. Star Wars was supposed to be a fight between Good and Evil, now you can’t really tell who the good and evil ones are.
    When I was in the service, I had good commanders, ones we would follow to the gates of hell and I have had a commander that we knew would throw us under the bus to further his career.
    I remember leadership failures, especially with the British during the Boer war, WWI and during the early part of WWII, the British Army went by the Peter Principle. I see the fall of the city of Singapore where 80, 000 British soldiers were lead to Japanese POW camps where most of them died. We Americans were not immune, General MacAuthor during the Japanese Occupation and the early parts of the Korean War comes to mind where they blew off Chinese involvement although his Inchon landings were brilliant.

  7. 12 Frank Karl

    Not having experience in the military or having seen this Star Wars I will say the character Holdo sounds very much like most company managers and directors. Clearly their MBA/experience/promotion establishes their smartness/foresight/leadership as compared to the average worker. Such people have no need to inform, ask, question or anticipate change affecting their master plan.
    While poor decisions in business aren’t as immediately fatal, they can very impactful. Ask anyone suddenly in the job market because of a cock-up four years before that lead to the dismemberment of a company and reduction in staff.
    I would hazard the belief that poor leadership is much more common than good leadership.

    • 13 Amalia

      Brilliant. I couldn’t get what Holdo made me feel deja-vu, but when you said about MBA and suits, that clicked exactly. I even knew people like Holdo at work.

  8. 14 Thomas

    OMG… thanks for writing this. I’ve been trying to point this out to everyone since this movie came out and you’ve succinctly made my point.

  9. I grew up with the Navy version of Gen. Mattias. Spot on.

  10. 16 Whiskey Jack

    Rian Johnson should be forced to watch the entire General Krell plotline from the Clone Wars series, over and over again until he promises to never write military characters again.

  11. So happy I didn’t waste money, and more importantly, time, on this crap. I’m a military scifi writer, and I guess good enough to make a good living from it. Most of my writer friends, and a lot of fans, were panning this thing. As to information, I read a lot of WW2 history (eventually planning an alternate history series). The German Army leaders always made sure their subordinates knew the plan, all the way down to the senior privates, at least their part of it, because they knew that officers and senior NCOs tended to die (since they had a lead from the front mentality). So if the Hauptman, Leutnant, and Feldwebel were all killed, it might be up to the Gefreiter to finish the mission. Because as I learned in my military days, the mission comes first.

  12. 19 Dave

    My favorite example of Hollywood not getting it is Crimson Tide, where, “On a U.S. nuclear missile sub, a young First Officer stages a mutiny, to prevent his trigger happy Captain from launching his missiles, before confirming his orders to do so.” SMH.

  13. 20 Carolyn Schepis

    Thank You Thank You Thank You. Even if for some reason she didn’t feel the need to share the plan with Poe if one of your officers who just went through something very traumatic is coming to you with concerns and doubts don’t insult them and tell them to stand in the corner. Poe is a respected leader in the resistance that’s why others joined in the mutiny. Because they were also afraid and in the dark. This is a person who was not in charge because she was the best. She was not Leia’s second in command. She was uncharge because she was next on the list once the entire command crew was killed.


    It felt to me like Holdo walked in and assumed that she was due the same kind of loyalty that a well loved and respected leader would garner. I’ve had to serve under people like that who don’t understand that that kind of devotion in earned, not automatic.

    Sure, the troups have to follow orders, but there is a HUGE difference between just following an order (or, in the case of Holdo, NOT following it) from an un-trusted leader and following an order from a leader you trust and respect.

    Yea, Holdo (the character) probably kept asking herself “why won’t they just do what I say without questioning?” because she KNEW that another leader, one that the troups trusted like they should, probably wouldn’t be having their orders questioned. Holdo, just like so many people who applaud her as a feminist icon, just doesn’t get that it didn’t have anything to do with gender. It had everything to do with trust and respect, and those things have to be earned.

  15. 24 Dan

    What bothers me about the movie is the seemingly terrible military strategy. Why are the Resistance ships suddenly out of range of the star destroyers, even though they’re still getting periodically hit by cannons? Why can’t the First Order ships focus fire past some arbitrary distance? And why don’t military space vessels apparently have any long range weaponry?
    Also, why would the First Order pull back the tie fighters? I thought one of the purposes of fighters was to extend the reach of the capital ships? If the star destroyers are apparently out of range, why not launch a couple or 20 squads of tie fighters and obliterate the Resistance, seeing as how it only took two to blow up the bridge of the main ship and kill most of the Resistance commanders?
    And then on that salt/snow planet, why would they send every single tie fighter to chase the Millennium Falcon instead of splitting them and still focusing on the speeders?

    This last thing annoyed me a lot. Has anyone seen the Star Wars parodies that Family Guy did? Remember that one part towards the beginning when they did Empire Strikes back, of Luke’s copilot Dak going into space from Hoth to face the entire Empire by himself? And then he gets blown up? Remember the scene in the beginning of The Last Jedi when Poe flies up to the First Order fleet by himself and takes on an entire cruiser? The only thing I could think of during that part was the scene in Family Guy, and I couldn’t believe a Star Wars movie was imitating a parody of a Star Wars movie done by Family Guy.

  16. 25 Joe in PNG

    Now, having defended the movie, time to pick a few nits.

    First, it falls to the same pacing faults that hurt LOTR ROTK- too many ending point. The stern chase went on far too long, and basically led them to right where they started- under siege on a planetary base.

    Second, Admiral Hodo was both too experienced, and not experienced enough. If she had, as the film implies, a heroic record, then trust should not have been a problem. Better if she was either someone inexperienced trying to fill the shoes of Gen. Leia & Admiral Ackbar, or an experience leader with a bad reputation. Something to give an actual reason for Poe & companies uneasiness.

    • 26 Joe in PNG

      Third, her appearance (hair and outfit) does nothing to convey the idea that this is a good military leader. She looks like some cougar hunting a new boy toy at the club, not a well regarded military leader.
      A more businesslike appearance would have helped a whole lot.

  17. 27 Harold Hannon

    Hey btw… I tried to cross post this excellent writeup of yours over here:


    They moderated it out over and over and over. Apparently running a blog makes you a military expert over there or something. They kept saying that the link was “abusive”. HA. Pretty sad.

  18. 30 Thorn

    I was willing to buy that Leia was a good leader because even if we didn’t get many examples, there weren’t many counter-examples either. But the movie was obviously TRYING to make Holdo out to be a terrible leader, only so it could turn around at the end and jab it’s finger at the audience and say “SEE? She was amazing the whole time and you are a jerk for doubting her!”

    It’s like a mystery movie giving the audience a bunch of good clues pointing to the butler but then at the end when the lights come on the guilty party is the neighbor that was never shown or brought up before in the movie. Ha, you guys failed to see that coming!

  19. Do you think maybe people are putting meaning where it doesnt need to be. Love all your points but i do not believe episode 8 is a femanist naritave. Its set in a world where there is already gender equality and racism doesnt even exist. Theres nothing to take away from that as far as real world issues go. No one overcame the gendee roles because they didnt exist to begin with.

  20. 32 George (from Athens)

    Actually Holdo’s mistrust for Dameron is a result of him disobeying an order from General Organa. She ordered him not to order a bomber attack against an enemy dreadnaught but he ordered it anyway. Yet Holdo chooses to ignore the fact it was Organa and not Dameron responsible for the attack and the subsequent losses.

    That was the moment the movie was ruined for me. Even if we believe attacking the dreadnaught was not beneficial in the long run (I believe it was and that its destruction saved more lives than it did) and that disobedience is so bad, a question remains:

    – What did Leia Organa do after she ordered Dameron to withdraw?

    Answer: Nothing! She never ordered the bombers back herself.

    Mr. Hernandez, I don’t have your military experience (I am a white collar worker) but in my line of business if a mid-level manager doesn’s follow an order from his/her boss, the boss doesn’t just idle around. The boss simply orders the mid-level manager’s subordinates himself/herself.

    Leia Organa is to blame for not ordering the bombers herself back. She outranked Dameron and she had every right to do so. The fact she didn’t meant either that she was stupid (a shame for a Star Wars legend like her) or that in reality she finally agreed with the attack so Dameron did’t actually disobey an order.

    Yet Holdo never takes into account the fact Organa was the one who had the final say whether the attack should proceed or not. Come on, don’t they have radios in their bombers? They have hyperspace engines, radios would be standard equipment.

    What do you think sir?

    P.S. I wanted to post it days ago but today is the Star Wars day (in my country) so I chose that day.

    • George,

      Sorry for the delayed response. I hadn’t thought about it, but you have a point: a strong leader would simply have given the command to terminate the attack herself. I’d guess the writers had to make Poe the bad guy to some degree, so they let him order the attack and didn’t let Leia assert her authority and call it off.

      All in all, I think it was really crappy writing to make a social justice point.

      • 34 George (from Athens)

        Mr. Hernandez.

        I just reread your text and I came accross these sentenses:

        I think that is exactly what Poe did at the beginning of the film. He ordered the bombers to attack, destroying an enemy capital ship that could potentially wipe out the Resistance and after that it would certainly bomb dozens of planets killing millions. Yet, he is scolded and demoted for that. What kind of General fails to look at the millions of lives saved and only focuses on the few dozens? A bad one.

        “All in all, I think it was really crappy writing to make a social justice point.”

        I agree 100%. But then why did they add scenes that contradict that point? (Poe attacking and destroying a dreadnaught, Leia never ordering the bombers back, Holdo never taking into account Starkiller Base and the dreadnaught destruction).

        They tried to make a feminist film. The ended up making a truly misogynist film.

  21. 35 MathLord


    Someone screwed up the numbers here. How old are thou, M. Hernandez?

    • 47. My military service was in the USMC Reserve and Army National Guard, so it was concurrent with my police career. I joined the USMCR at 17, while I was in I became a cop at 22, finished my 6 years in the Corps at 23 and joined the Guard, am now retired from the Guard but still a cop. Make sense?

      • 37 MathLord

        Yes. I was just a bit confused because it was worded very poorly.

        • 38 Richard

          No it wasn’t. Take responsibility when you’re politely woken from your slumber.

  22. 39 Amalia

    Being a feminist, I yet simply hate Holdo’s character. In the movie, she simply tried to display dominance. And actually that’s a big problem in feminist community which was explored in the famous article ‘Tyranny of Structurelessness’ by Jo Freeman.

    For a comparison, I’d like to draw attention to the character Theresa Yao, the captain of Donnager flagship from the Expanse series.
    She lost the battle yet no single moment she lost respect of her subordinates.

  1. 1 More On Admiral Holdo’s Leadership Failures In The Last Jedi – Rod Walker, Science Fiction Writer
  2. 2 Chris Hernandez nails what Admiral Holdo did wrong - SuperversiveSFSuperversiveSF

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