From Batwoman to Twilight Zone — Is Hollywood "Wokeness" Ruining Movies and TV shows?

[Kvn_Walker]

Add James Bond to the list.

...or rather, scratch James Bond off the list.

 

[hk2000]

I hope I'm at least partly wrong. I don't mean to come off as a right-wing "culture warrior" who complains about SJWs and the like. There just seems to be an obsession in Hollywood these days to ensure people who are visible minorities are depicted as the "good guys", while every movie villain is an old white guy.

I started noticing it when I watched the Netflix movie Bird Box. All the "bad guy" zombies were white rednecks and every "PoC" in the movie was a noble human who committed bold acts of self-sacrifice to ensure the protagonist gets through the story. Even among the main characters in protagonist's group, every white person was either turned out to be an antagonist or were of dubious moral character and the cause of problems for the group.

I'm not saying it should be the opposite. In the past, we know representation of minorities could be brutal. But it just feels like we've moved to an opposite extreme, which I don't think is any better.

Really? How long have you been watching Hollywood? I started noticing it as far back as Hollywood has been making movies, but you're right, it used to be wrapped in a really good story, and story telling, now it's just superficial social commentary with lots of sound and visual effects, with no real substance. Then again, publications reviewing movies mostly give a video and sound rating, but never mention how silly these movies really are.

 

[Wayde Robson]

My opinions about this issue with Hollywood has evolved a bit since writing the editorial. I still maintain the same conclusion. But I see it more closely tied to marketing.

With the recent publicity around the new 007 and now Terminator, it is a marketing tactic that seems to come from a place of desperation for hurting franchises. It gets a lot if publicity and, I believe the hope of the makers is to open the franchise to a broader audience.

I knew the Daniel Craig Bond was being retrofitted to appeal to females, the scene in Casino Royale where Bond walks out of the water was a reversal of the scene in the first Bond film where the first Bond girl walked out of the water in the same way, sex appeal on full display. The black female 007 has Bond confronting the post MeToo world, it seems like a natural extension. I believe the last few Bond films have been disappointing in the box office, so maybe they hope going full woke will help.

But for Hollywood, the China influence would seem to be a counterweight against woke, I don't know for sure but it seems Asian audiences aren't as impressed with "wokeness", and it's become a huge influence on the movies in the last decade.

 

[Wayde Robson]

Add James Bond to the list.

...or rather, scratch James Bond off the list.

Now Terminator too. It's already being marketed as "anti-misogynist".

I'm just not sure why a science fiction fantasy needs an overtly "on the nose" moral... The practice in all fiction is largely considered something to be avoided in favor of subtlety.

 

[panteragstk]

The real irony is that Sarah Conner is an og, legit badass female character. She ended up strong, smart, and a leader with the added bonus of actually being scary if you were a man and she had her sights set on you. That was her whole arc. A strong female lead was already baked into the story in a way that worked!

I think you hit the nail on the head. I wonder if the original Terminator or T2 marketed their movie towards women? Or against men that don't like strong women? Nope, I'm guessing they just marketed it as "look how awesome this is" and that's it. People that feel the need to put messages into action movies that are just supposed to be awesome aren't very bright. Nobody would have seen the new cyborg as anything but an awesome character until they felt the need to point out that she'll scare the trolls. Just a dumb conclusion to try to force everyone to make.

Why can't a bad ass character just be a bad ass character without anyone talking about their gender? Don't they realize that's the actual problem? Until nobody even thinks about what gender a character is and just watches a movie for the sake of wanting to see a good movie we aren't going to get anywhere. Pointing out the gender of the character and making it so important isn't a step forward.

 

[Pogre]

I think you hit the nail on the head. I wonder if the original Terminator or T2 marketed their movie towards women? Or against men that don't like strong women? Nope, I'm guessing they just marketed it as "look how awesome this is" and that's it. People that feel the need to put messages into action movies that are just supposed to be awesome aren't very bright. Nobody would have seen the new cyborg as anything but an awesome character until they felt the need to point out that she'll scare the trolls. Just a dumb conclusion to try to force everyone to make.

Why can't a bad ass character just be a bad ass character without anyone talking about their gender? Don't they realize that's the actual problem? Until nobody even thinks about what gender a character is and just watches a movie for the sake of wanting to see a good movie we aren't going to get anywhere. Pointing out the gender of the character and making it so important isn't a step forward.

There are other great examples too. I've been flogging the new Terminator movie because it's the freshest one in my mind.

Sarah Conner started out as a helpless, scared waitress and through great adversity and necessity became a warrior and a leader respected and feared by men and women alike. It's a great story arc and her journey to becoming a hero feels earned. She didn't become a badass able to take out large, trained men in a mental hospital just because. She went through hell and back. She worked hard and came out a much stronger person. She's truly a very strong and fierce woman who'd make a worthy adversary for anyone. Now that to me is admirable. No forced messages or exaggerated behaviors and situations. Just... let it happen.

 

[panteragstk]

There are other great examples too. I've been flogging the new Terminator movie because it's the freshest one in my mind.

Sarah Conner started out as a helpless, scared waitress and through great adversity and necessity became a warrior and a leader respected and feared by men and women alike. It's a great story arc and her journey to becoming a hero feels earned. She didn't become a badass able to take out large, trained men in a mental hospital just because. She went through hell and back. She worked hard and came out a much stronger person. She's truly a very strong and fierce woman who'd make a worthy adversary for anyone. Now that to me is admirable. No forced messages or exaggerated behaviors and situations. Just... let it happen.

Exactly.