Art and Culture #116: Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, Canadian Filmmaker and Director, Slotted for Another Shit Show Star Wars Film
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, a Pakistani Canadian journalist and filmmaker, has been heralded to direct the next unnamed Star Wars film. Great, another woman headlining a Star Wars film. It’s not like LucasFilms isn’t trying to make men uncomfortable with “putting a chick in it and make her gay” according to Cartman on South Park’s Panderverse Paramount Plus special. What makes this truly uninteresting and dull is that we have an activist trying to bring her vision to the Star Wars Universe. It’s not the fact that Ms. Chinoy, is a journalist or a woman, so that’s already stated.
In an interview with the Asia Society, she states, “I’m a story teller, and an activist. My body of work over the last twenty years is guided by my activism. Every single piece of work I have ever created, has a piece of activism in it. It could be very overt, or it could be covert. But it is there.”
These words on the surface do not bode well for the filmmaker who wants to bring her brand of activism into Star Wars, now financially crippled by weak story telling devoid of any original creative story lines. But the part to worry about is that she calls herself a storyteller and activism.
Activism, in science fiction, without understanding the rules, will be doomed to sink the brand already in the sink. It’s not like Dune didn’t have an enormous amount of disturbing material in it, but it did promote its ecological viewpoint with a particular science fiction branding, determined its fate as one of the best science fiction novels of all time.
Being an activist does not mean you are story teller, either. You’re not a gifted story teller if you have one deep understanding of a subject matter, and detail it in either prose, article, or filmic type way. That’s called Activism. It’s not Art.
What could be interesting is that Chinoy might just be the shot in the arms that Star Wars needs. The return to form. Return to Roots. But honestly, when you call yourself an activist and a story teller that doesn’t help bring any closure to the Star Wars fan base.
For me, Charles Dickens was a great story teller, not an activist. Again, this doesn’t help, but until the film is made, we have no real way to judge. But considering that Ms. Chinoy will be the next head on the chopping block for Disney, if her untitled Star Wars film fails, will just serve one more death nail into the Star Wars coffin. And in space, everyone can hear your franchise die.
-Louis Bruno is the author of more than 21 books, including, The Michael Project, The Michael Project: Book 2: The Lost Children of Eve, Thy Kingdom Come, The Disintegrating Bloodline Part 2: Chaos, The Data Chase, The Disintegrating Bloodline part 3: Solvè, The Disintegrating Bloodline (and the original text re-released in 2019), Apocalypse Soldier, The Data Chase, Selection: The First Book of the Life and Death Saga, and Blinking Eyes: The Second Book of the Life and Death Saga, Hierarchy of Dwindling Sheep, The City of Sand, The God of Curiosity, To the Moon and Back, The Villain Lives and The Villain Lives: The Divided Pinpoint, Come Home, Young One, City of Sand: Book 1: The Holy Terror, and The Voices Are Alive, and The City of Sand: Book 2: Jerusalem Ignited. He has a Bachelor of Arts in English from University of Phoenix. His books can be found on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Lulu. He can be found on Gab, https://gab.com/thereallouistbruno, Minds https://www.minds.com/lbruno8063/. Instagram @lbrruno8063 and @louisbrunoofficialbook. Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouisBr88881650. He has written for the Intellectual Conservative and Ephemere. His two newest books, The City of Sand: Book 2: Jerusalem Ignited, and The Savior, the Flood, and the Beast: Three Plays are out now: https://www.amazon.com/City-Sand-Book-Jerusalem-Ignited/dp/1365979660/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1G8HAWZP73ZFO&keywords=Louis+Bruno+City+of+Sand+book+2&qid=1675772880&sprefix=louis+bruno+city+of+sand+book+2%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1. https://www.amazon.com/Savior-Flood-Beast-Three-Plays/dp/1088120997/ref=pd_ybh_a_sccl_4/140-0249150-4265358?pd_rd_w=W5fsa&content-id=amzn1.sym.67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_p=67f8cf21-ade4-4299-b433-69e404eeecf1&pf_rd_r=2E73RTDRBVPZEY5D77V2&pd_rd_wg=69KGI&pd_rd_r=59d8721c-bf89-4fa7-bd88-7a072004a89f&pd_rd_i=1088120997&psc=1.