Maybe It’s Time for Star Wars to Go Away Again
Another Star Wars project has been announced, a movie to be directed by the Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and focused on sequel trilogy protagonist Rey (Daisy Ridley). With it comes another round of apoplectic rage from the usual suspects.
Some took issue with her statement that it was “about time” a woman shaped a Star Wars movie, considering the original film was edited (and arguably saved) by George Lucas’ then-wife Marcia. Others dug up comments Obaid-Chinoy made about aiming to “make men uncomfortable” with her documentaries about gender inequality and interpreted them in the worst possible faith. The “anti-woke” brigade did their usual routine, bleating like panicked goats about feminism and Kathleen Kennedy. The response was as predictable as it is tiresome.
But let’s set aside the substance of their argument, such as it is. Let’s even set aside the fact that the film these people are so up in arms about is no more likely to materialize than Taika Waititi’s Star Wars movie, or Patty Jenkins’, or Kevin Feige’s. The backlash that greeted Obaid-Chinoy’s fairly anodyne remark is just a small part of a greater dilemma the Star Wars franchise is faced with, one which the powers that be seem no closer to resolving. In brief: What are we even doing here?