Upcoming Star Wars Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy: "I Like To Make Men Uncomfortable. I Enjoy Making Men Uncomfortable"

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 07: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)

In 2015, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the director of an upcoming Star Wars film focusing on Daisy Ridley building her Jedi order, made it abundantly clear that she “like[s] to make men uncomfortable. I enjoy making men uncomfortable.”

LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: (L-R) Daisy Ridley, Kathleen Kennedy and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy attend the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Disney)

During an appearance at the Women in the World summit alongside fellow insufferable activist and director Ava DuVernay and actress Meryl Streep, Obaid-Chinoy was asked by activist host Jon Stewart, “As an activist and an artist do you make that calculation, who is my target? You talked a little bit about, ‘I want women to watch this and I want them to feel empowered, and I want my daughter to have heroes.’ I couldn’t help but notice a thread through each of these. That the men were a**holes. And I’m wondering as one of them what is the balance of activating a force for change, but also trying to permeate that patriarchy, that power structure? And is that a part of the calculation of your art as well? And what’s been the reaction that?”

Obaid-Chinoy responded, “Oh, absolutely. I like to make men uncomfortable. I enjoy making men uncomfortable.”

She then added, “It is important to be able to look into the eyes of a man and say, ‘I am here.’ And recognize that. And recognize that I am working to bring something that makes you uncomfortable because you need to change your attitude and it’s only when you’re uncomfortable, when you’re shifty, when you have to have difficult conversations that you will perhaps look at yourself in the mirror and not like the reflection, and then say, ‘Maybe there is something wrong with the way I think,’ or ‘Maybe there is something wrong with the way I am addressing this issue.”

(L-R): Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel / Kamala Khan on the set of Marvel Studios’ MS. MARVEL, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Chuck Zlotnick. ©Marvel Studios 2022. All Rights Reserved.

It does not appear that Chinoy’s opinions have changed much in eight years. During an appearance on CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage, Obaid-Chinoy briefly discussed the upcoming film saying, “I am very thrilled about the project because I think what we are about to create is something very special. And we are in 2024 now and I think it’s about time we had a woman come forward to shape the story in a galaxy far, far away.”

Back in May 2023, she told Vice News on TikTok, “My name is Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and I’m directing the next Star Wars film. I’m excited about bringing Daisy Ridley back into the Star Wars galaxy, and in telling her story, I am excited to be immersed in the Jedi Academy, and I think there is so much excitement around the new Jedi order.”

She continued, “I’ve always kicked open doors that were previously closed, and I think my feeling is that there is a critical mass of women who have begun to move forward in places that were previously closed to them.”

@vicenews Pakistan-born Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will be the first woman and person of colour to direct one of three new Star Wars films. She’s Muslim, brown, an Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker and this is her first major Hollywood feature. #StarWars #womenoftiktok #Pakistan #southasian #director #movie #film #msmarvel #daisyridley #jedi ♬ original sound – VICE News

Clearly Obaid-Chinoy was hired for her feminist messaging, which ironically was Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy’s entire goal with the franchise.

During her appearance at The Most Powerful Women Summit in 2015, Kennedy said, “I think the interesting path we’ve had is the conversation that took place around consumer products. Because there were a lot of companies that were in place who frankly didn’t initially feel that Star Wars was for girls.”

She continued, “And when you have a company situation where between Lucasfilm and Disney, we were all looking at this situation saying, ‘No, with Star Wars we have to change this. We have to make sure that we create products that are in a sense appealing to both boys and girls.’ What’s wrong with that?”

Kennedy would go on to detail, “The fact that the company was bought by The Walt Disney Company has been amazing because they very much support the fact that we are trying to grow in the work force a number of women in executive positions and in all positions inside the company. And with the movies that we are making and with the protagonists that we are putting in the stories. So I get a huge amount of support with that.”

She added, “But we have 50% of our executive team are women. And six out of eight of the people in my story group are women. And I’m sure there’s a lot of people that would be surprised that we’re making Star Wars movies and the majority of the people involved in the development of those stories are women. And I think it’s making a huge difference in the stories that we’re trying to tell.”

LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 07: Kathleen Kennedy onstage during the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 attends the studio panel at Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 07, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)

There is no hope for anything of quality coming out of Lucasfilm when the entire company has been captured by feminism and the Force is Female.

What do you make of Obaid-Chinoy’s comments and the fact this is the person Lucasfilm tapped to direct Star Wars?

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