Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's 'Star Wars' faces backlash for past feminist remarks

In an exciting development for Star Wars fans, Daisy Ridley's iconic character Rey is set to grace the big screen once again in a new installment of the beloved franchise. The forthcoming film will be directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy who charmed everyone with Ms Marvel, marking a historic moment as Sharmeen becomes the first woman and first person of colour to helm a Star Wars feature film. While female directors have made their mark in Star Wars television projects, the film domain had yet to embrace their talent until now.

Expressing her enthusiasm for the project, the Pakistani filmmaker shared with CNN, "I'm very thrilled about the project because I feel what we're about to create is something very special. We're in 2024 now, and it's about time that we had a woman come forward to shape a story in a galaxy far, far away."

Details surrounding Ridley's return to the Star Wars’ universe are relatively scarce, but it is known that the storyline will pick up with Rey in the aftermath of the events depicted in 2019's The Rise of Skywalker. Kathleen Kennedy, the president of Lucasfilm, disclosed during last year's Star Wars Celebration that Ridley's new film will focus on Rey's efforts to establish a new Jedi Order, more than a decade after The Rise of Skywalker.

While the upcoming Ridley-Sharmeen partnership is hotly anticipated by many, various right-wing public figures have taken issue with the Ms Marvel director leading the project. Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro joined the horde of critics, calling Kennedy “the worst entertainment executive of my lifetime” in a quote-reply to a post on Sharmeen’s interview with CNN.

In another post on X, conservative author and political commentator Matt Walsh shared a 2015 clip of Sharmeen at the Women in the World summit. The resurfaced video shows Sharmeen responding to moderator and comedian Jon Stewart’s query on dismantling patriarchy through art. “I like to make men uncomfortable…It is important to be able to look into the eyes of a man and say, I am here and recognise that,” the director remarked strongly.

In the post’s caption, Walsh rejected Sharmeen’s comments, stating, “Here’s the feminist director of the next Star Wars film saying that her goal is to ‘make men uncomfortable’.” The author went on to predict that the film would be Disney’s “biggest flop yet” for espousing such beliefs. 

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