The first female Star Wars director, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, revealed she enjoys making men uncomfortable with her work. Promptly, all the right-wing man-babies of the world proceeded to become extraordinarily uncomfortable by her merely wanting to make them uncomfortable.
Two-time Oscar winner Obaid-Chinoy will direct the upcoming film Star Wars: New Jedi Order. The film will see Daisy Ridley reprise her role as Rey and will catch up with her roughly 15 years after the events of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Despite the franchise boasting many powerful female heroes, such as Rey and Ahsoka, it has somehow failed to ever have a woman at the helm of one of its movies. Obaid-Chinoy was absolutely correct when she stated that it was about time a woman was finally entrusted to reshape the franchise.
It’s about time Hollywood had more female directors in general, not just within Star Wars. Despite pledging in 2021 to hire more women, studies have found that the industry is barely progressing when it comes to the number of female directors. Meanwhile, anytime female producers and directors are hired, they face many obstacles, including experiencing harassment from sexist trolls and scapegoating from studios. Now, the reaction to Obaid-Chinoy’s comment further proves why we need more female directors in Hollywood.
Men clearly need to be made uncomfortable more often
It shouldn’t be surprising that Obaid-Chinoy enjoys making men uncomfortable. Her entire career as an activist, filmmaker, and journalist has been dedicated to spotlighting gender inequality, especially in her home country, Pakistan. Those two Academy Awards she won before age 37? They were for short documentaries she made about Pakistani women facing acid attacks and honor killings at the hands of men. Of course, it makes men uncomfortable to be faced with disturbing truths about how women around the world are treated. Obaid-Chinoy is boldly trying to make men uncomfortable because if she can elicit some feeling or discomfort from men over the plight of women, it raises hope for change.
She reiterated that stance during Tina Brown’s annual Women in the World summit … eight years ago. Of course, right-wing commentator Matt Walsh dug up the eight-year-old clip, posting it on X (formerly Twitter) with a note about how offended he was and how her Star Wars film would surely be a box office flop. The clip soon went viral as all the right-wing man babies began to cry because Obaid-Chinoy made them uncomfortable by just saying she wanted to make them uncomfortable. She also added to the quote to explain that she wants to make men uncomfortable by forcing them to acknowledge the presence and experiences of women and pressuring them to change their attitudes.
Prominent right-wing man-baby Ben Shapiro also proceeded to attack Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy over Obaid-Chinoy directing a movie. Fortunately, Joe Russo promptly took him down by pointing out all of Kennedy’s achievements compared to Shapiro’s failed screenwriting career.
The sheer amount of right-wing men crying under the Star Wars hashtag on X and spewing racist and misogynist hate towards Obaid-Chinoy and Kennedy for something Obaid-Chinoy said years ago only serves to reiterate her point. Men absolutely do need to be made uncomfortable—just look at the way they act when they feel threatened by women’s existence. A woman mentions enjoying making men uncomfortable through works that highlight the violence women experience at the hands of men, and the right-wing man babies run to their computers to cyberbully her because they’re so offended. Barbie tackles toxic masculinity, and Shapiro starts setting Barbie dolls on fire because he can’t handle it. Every time the film industry vaguely acknowledges that women exist, men start crying “woke.”
It’s also quite humorous that all the right-wingers are so certain that Star Wars will fail with a woman at the helm. Apparently, they have already forgotten that Barbie, a film made explicitly to make men uncomfortable, was the highest-grossing film of 2023. Obaid-Chinoy isn’t the only woman who wants men to be uncomfortable; it’s the greater part of the country’s population.
Perhaps women wouldn’t enjoy making men uncomfortable if it weren’t so easy. Everything from Barbie dolls to menstruation to pixie cuts to a woman talking about making men uncomfortable is enough to send them into a full-blown meltdown. If every facet of our existence and everything we say makes men uncomfortable, then yes, we absolutely need to keep making men uncomfortable until they can learn not to be offended and threatened by our mere existence.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
