Daisy Ridley, whose character Rey is set to appear in the new Jedi Order by Sharmin Obaid-Chinoy
Star Wars fans are in free fall. Disney recently unveiled award-winning documentarian Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy as the director of its next Star Wars film, The New Jedi Order, and there were screams of horror among some fans. Obaid-Chinoy, who won an Oscar in 2012 for her film about acid attacks on women in Pakistan, will make history as the first female director of a Star Wars feature film and the first non-white director to oversee a big-screen release. into the Force.
These are laudable milestones that some Darth Vader devotees have difficulty meeting. But they were especially taken aback by a recently published 2015 interview in which Obaid-Chinoy said she liked it when her work annoyed men.
“I enjoy making men uncomfortable,” she said at the time. «It's important to be able to look a man in the eye and say, 'I'm here,' and acknowledge that, and realize that I'm working to bring you something that makes you feel uncomfortable, and it should make you feel uncomfortable as well.» you.”
Of course, there is nothing wrong with “art” making you uncomfortable. Some of the best films of all time made us squirm. Moreover, the most toxic assholes on social media have misunderstood the franchise they poured so much passion into. Star Wars has always been a progressive force, as has science fiction in general.
The feminist director of the next Star Wars movie says her goal is to «make men feel uncomfortable.»
The film is destined to be Disney's biggest flop. pic.twitter.com/KaihbiA7Oj
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 3, 2024
Star Trek challenged toxic taboos in the United States when the first interracial kiss was shown on television in the sixties. Alien and The Terminator gave us arguably two of the greatest action heroes of all time: Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor. Both were (obviously) women and far more memorable than the sweaty foot soldiers played by Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. Star Wars has also always had strong female protagonists. Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia was perhaps the coolest character in the first Star Wars.
She was followed by Natalie Portman's stern Padmé Amidala in the prequels. And Daisy Ridley's Rey is one of the most naturally gifted Force users in Star Wars history.
This is the story of Rey, which Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will reveal in her Star Wars project. Despite the justifiable backlash against the so-called Sequel Trilogy, Disney is doubling down on Rey Ridley as the future face of Star Wars. Obaid-Chinoy will tell you about her further adventures.
As she's shown through her documentary work and the two Marvel Ms. Marvel episodes she worked on, Obaid-Chinoy is a talented filmmaker. She also warmed the hearts of Pakistani audiences with her Urdu-language animated trilogy, 3 Bahadurs — despite the confusing CGI that makes the films look like a bargain-basement PAW Patrol. However, Obaid-Chinoy has no experience making large-scale films and little experience directing huge, visual effects-heavy sets. But who knows? Perhaps she has something to offer Star Wars.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy in New York, June 2022. Photo: Getty
Even Star Wars fans who don't go crazy on Twitter could be forgiven for a shiver of anxiety about Disney's broader vision for the saga. The problem isn't that these films are «progressive,» but that Disney is doubling down on its long-standing policy of leaving the helm of major franchise films to directors relatively inexperienced in the intricacies of blockbuster making. It's unfair to audiences, but even less so to filmmakers, whose reputations risk long-term damage.
This has been the corporation's strategy since it acquired Star Wars parent corporation Lucasfilm in 2012. . And time and again, these filmmakers have struggled to realize their specific vision within the Star Wars confines.
This is actually more of a Disney problem than a Star Wars problem. In the case of another major franchise, Marvel, the Mickey Mouse empire is even more guilty of leaving filmmakers in hot water. Chloe Zhao had just won an Oscar for the low-key road movie Nomadland when she released 2021's The Eternals, which was considered one of Marvel's worst films at the time. With the snap of a finger, all the excitement surrounding winning the Oscars disappeared. Likewise, Captain Marvel and Marvel were the work of relatively obscure indie filmmakers who showed little passion for the caped heroes whose stories they were hired to tell.
John Boyega in The Force Awakens
In the case of Star Wars, when these experiments go wrong, the results are truly painful. Rian Johnson nearly derailed Star Wars with his terrifying The Last Jedi in 2017. It was a scathing, tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of a franchise that suffered from basic storytelling problems. To make matters worse, it turned the excellent John Boyega into comic relief when the previous film, The Force Awakens, presented him as a hero. This shameful demotion did not go unnoticed by either the public or Boyega.
«What I would say to Disney is don't show off black characters, market them as being much more important to the franchise than they actually are, and then push them to the side,» he said. «This is not good. I'll say it straight.»
Johnson at least made his movie. Disney also unveiled Star Wars projects from relative newcomers Josh Trank and Colin Trevorrow, as well as Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. Not to mention Patty Jenkins, who appeared to be the first female director of a Star Wars feature film until her Battle Squadron was delayed due to «scheduling conflicts.» Then it was quietly put on the shelf. None of the above had experience working in the space opera genre. And all their films disappeared into hyperspace.
Even if they hadn't been strangled, it's doubtful they could have made a movie as terrible as the one delivered by Johnson, who didn't seem to understand why people liked Star Wars in the first place. There are concerns that Obaid-Chinoy may be just as poorly versed in Star Wars and its history. «We're now in 2024, and I think it's time for a woman to step forward to shape history in a galaxy far, far away,» she said.
These comments appear to contradict those of Disney boss Bob Iger, who recently said: “We need to entertain first. It's not about [sending] messages.» It's also important to recognize that women have shaped Star Wars from the very beginning. George Lucas's then-wife Marcia won an Academy Award for editing the original Star Wars in 1977. Many considered her an equal creative partner with her husband. His prequels, made without her, required decent editing. Meanwhile, the best recent Star Wars spin-offs, the streaming series The Mandalorian and Andor, have had female directors. (Bryce Dallas-Howard, for example, knows Star Wars inside out and has more than proven herself as a director of exciting action scenes — why isn't she directing The New Jedi Order?)
And, of course, and It's inevitable that the main creative voice of the new film will be a middle-aged white man, with Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight writing the screenplay for Rey's new caper. He will replace another middle-aged white guy who had previously joined, Damon Lindelof.
The next few years will not be easy for Obaid-Chinoy as the Internet gathers momentum around her. True fans will wish her well and hope that she and Daisy Ridley give us an unforgettable sci-fi performance. Let's hope she's not set up to fail.
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