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Hollywood's New Rules - The Explosion of Woke and its Ostracizing Effects

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So I've stumbled upon this very interesting article on Bari Weiss' website about Hollywood's new club rules. The article essentially summarizes the rise of wokeness and how it leads to a new group mentality that is specifically designed to ostracize certain demographics from the creative process. It's a long read, but here are the main points:

So, in September 2020, the Academy launched its Representation and Inclusion Standards Entry platform (or RAISE). For a movie to qualify for Best Picture, producers not only had to register detailed personal information about everyone involved in the making of that movie, but the movie had to meet two of the Academy’s four diversity standards—touching on everything from on-screen representation to creative leadership. (An Academy spokesperson said “only select staff” would have access to data collected on the platform.)

New guidelines outright ban certain movies from getting nominated for an Oscar, artificially restricting what stories can even be told. Not only that, diversity quotas are heavily enforced and monopolized in order to decide who gets hired and who is getting the boot.

To help producers meet the new standards, the filmmaker Ava DuVernay—who was recently added to Forbes’ list of “The Most Powerful Women in Entertainment” along with Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift—last year created ARRAY Crew, a database of women, people of color, and others from underrepresented groups who work on day-to-day production: line producers, camera operators, art directors, sound mixers and so on. The Hollywood Reporter declared that ARRAY Crew has “fundamentally changed how Hollywood productions will be staffed going forward.”

Hollywood has manifested a new culture of fear that can be levied against anybody, anytime for any reason. People are afraid of speaking their minds which in turn can only damage Hollywood's creative output.

Everyone has gone so underground with their true feelings about things,” said Mike White, the writer and director behind the hit HBO comedy-drama “The White Lotus.” “If you voice things in a certain way it can really have negative repercussions for you, and people can presume that you could be racist, or you could be seen as misogynist.”

The new diversity quotes are being used to reinforce Hollywood's club mentality by heavily favoring identity and group think.

Howard Koch, who has been involved in the production of more than 60 movies, including such classics as “Chinatown” and “Marathon Man,” and is the former president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, said: “I’m all for LGBT and Native Americans, blacks, females, whatever minorities that have not been served correctly in the making of content, whether it’s television or movies or whatever, but I think it’s gone too far. I know a lot of very talented people that can’t get work because they’re not black, Native American, female or LGBTQ.”

Finally, Hollywood is uprooting itself by shunning its classics in the name of woke.

Movies and shows that were once widely acclaimed but are now verboten, writers and directors said, included “Blazing Saddles,” even though it was co-written by Richard Pryor; “The Bad News Bears,” even though it featured a multiracial cast; “Tootsie,” because transgender activists; and “Rocky” (“bad guy CANNOT be black,” a director explained in an email). Nor would “The Wizard of Oz” get greenlit. (“The munchkins? Forget it,” the director said). Nor would “All in the Family,” probably the most influential show of the 1970s. (“Archie Bunker”—the main character—“is basically a Trump voter,” a producer explained.) “South Park,” which debuted in 1997, has been grandfathered in. “Otherwise, no way,” another producer said.

Some of these points are nothing new, but it's nice to see a well sourced article that puts it all neatly together like that.
 

CGiRanger

Banned
Saw this article a few days ago and it really does a good job summing up things, and makes sense the downgrade of creativity as well:
The showrunner said that the new politics is making it hard to get work done. He added that Human Resources departments at the studios and streaming services are awash in complaints directed at white, male showrunners just for doing their job. “It’s gotten to the point where I won’t give notes on a script any longer to a woman or person of color.”
Another showrunner in his mid-fifties (white, male, unfortunately) said: “You’re not allowed to pick your staff anymore, and studios won’t let you interview anybody who isn’t a person of color.”

He added that the culture of documenting even the slightest of slights makes him anxious. “I’m sitting in a room trying to run a show with a collection of people I don’t totally trust.”
They were scared of what was happening. The fear, one prominent director said in an email, is “the audience stops trusting us. They begin to see us as a community twisting ourselves into a pretzel to make every movie as woke as possible, every relationship mixed racially, every character sexually fluid, and they decide that we are telling stories set in a fantasyland instead of a world they know and live in. If that happens, and they decide to throw themselves instead into video games 24/7, we will lose them.”

It sounds like an utterly miserable place to work for a creative. Unless of course you happen to speak the right words. But not being able to pick your own staff or have control over things because you may "offend" someone explains so well why the current modern-day works are so bad.

I remember the times when freedom of creativity/expression were sacrosanct. It's insane how we're regressing on this front that content must be policed so heavily, or only certain types of people are allowed to create things.
 
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Flutta

Banned
Good read. And we still have people on this very forum acting surprised or outright dismissing the notion when someone says this movie or show is woke.

The fear, one prominent director said in an email, is “the audience stops trusting us. They begin to see us as a community twisting ourselves into a pretzel to make every movie as woke as possible, every relationship mixed racially, every character sexually fluid, and they decide that we are telling stories set in a fantasyland instead of a world they know and live in.

Get rekt fuckers.

If that happens, and they decide to throw themselves instead into video games 24/7, we will lose them.”

Lmao, i wish video games had nothing of this crap. Sadly that’s not the case. This poison is everywhere. I’m litterally trying my hardest to doge bullets like Neo ffs.
Keanu Reeves Matrix GIF by PeacockTV
 

JayK47

Member
I guess just make movies and don't care about the Oscars. They have been horrible for years. The only thing that really matters is making money, not whether your movie is "best picture". And if your movie is not relatable, most people will not want to watch it.
 

CGiRanger

Banned
I guess just make movies and don't care about the Oscars. They have been horrible for years. The only thing that really matters is making money, not whether your movie is "best picture". And if your movie is not relatable, most people will not want to watch it.
I keep wondering why it is how these studios are still able to make money despite more and more big flops? (especially from the films that went full woke) Are they being subsidized by the government? Or is the International Audience basically what is keeping them afloat?
 
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Reallink

Member
I keep wondering why it is how these studios are still able to make money despite more and more big flops? (especially from the films that went full woke) Are they being subsidized by the government? Or is the International Audience basically what is keeping them afloat?

As I've mentioned before, because nobody outside of Neogaf, REEE, Twitter, or Youtube comments notices or cares about this stuff. Like the article points out, a lot of "woke" content and production houses are financially very successful and all the diversity mandates generally have little to no effect on returns or ratings outside of a rare handful of examples that appealed primarily to boomers and middle agers. Wokeness is genuinely popular with zoomers and younger millennials (as in a majority of them, not just a radical minority), which are the age demographics that matter to companies. Nobody cares what boomers and middle agers are doing, they'll be dead or subsisting on Social Security poverty in a few years as far as the Corporations are concerned. It's all about the future outlook.
 
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jason10mm

Gold Member
I dunno, I think the Academy cares, because I don't think anyone under 40 gives a flying fuck about Oscars, Tonys, emmys, or what have you. If these institutions try to pivot their appeal to "the youth" and fail they lose the older crowd that cares about quality, never get the twitch bait crowd, and they are done.
 

AmuroChan

Member
I keep wondering why it is how these studios are still able to make money despite more and more big flops? (especially from the films that went full woke) Are they being subsidized by the government? Or is the International Audience basically what is keeping them afloat?

Streaming platforms also help alleviate some of those flops. It's not like most people will cancel Netflix or Disney+ because there are a few woke movies on those platforms. People can just skip those and watch the stuff they want to watch.
 
As I've mentioned before, because nobody outside of Neogaf, REEE, Twitter, or Youtube comments notices or cares about this stuff. Like the article points out, a lot of "woke" content and production houses are financially very successful and all the diversity mandates generally have little to no effect on returns or ratings outside of a rare handful of examples that appealed primarily to boomers and middle agers. Wokeness is genuinely popular with zoomers and younger millennials (as in a majority of them, not just a radical minority), which are the age demographics that matter to companies. Nobody cares what boomers and middle agers are doing, they'll be dead or subsisting on Social Security poverty in a few years as far as the Corporations are concerned. It's all about the future outlook.
Their loss. I spend a lot on entertainment every year.

They lost me as a customer a long time ago.
 

Airbus Jr

Banned
As I've mentioned before, because nobody outside of Neogaf, REEE, Twitter, or Youtube comments notices or cares about this stuff. Like the article points out, a lot of "woke" content and production houses are financially very successful and all the diversity mandates generally have little to no effect on returns or ratings outside of a rare handful of examples that appealed primarily to boomers and middle agers. Wokeness is genuinely popular with zoomers and younger millennials (as in a majority of them, not just a radical minority), which are the age demographics that matter to companies. Nobody cares what boomers and middle agers are doing, they'll be dead or subsisting on Social Security poverty in a few years as far as the Corporations are concerned. It's all about the future outlook.
How does movie like ghostbuster afterlife working out for you guys
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Whether anyone wants to blame movie viewers or movie studios or both, hollywood has been on the downtrend even before woke shit.

It's been trending more and more to superhero movies and pixar stuff for probably 15 years. I think it started off with those hit Spiderman movies and its spiraled into a million DC and Marvel movies in modern day. And more recently a ton of SW movies.

If you love superhero movies, SW and animated films you probably love the past 10-20 years of movies. If you're someone like me who doesn't, it's trash. Woke film or not.
 
As I've mentioned before, because nobody outside of Neogaf, REEE, Twitter, or Youtube comments notices or cares about this stuff. Like the article points out, a lot of "woke" content and production houses are financially very successful and all the diversity mandates generally have little to no effect on returns or ratings outside of a rare handful of examples that appealed primarily to boomers and middle agers. Wokeness is genuinely popular with zoomers and younger millennials (as in a majority of them, not just a radical minority), which are the age demographics that matter to companies. Nobody cares what boomers and middle agers are doing, they'll be dead or subsisting on Social Security poverty in a few years as far as the Corporations are concerned. It's all about the future outlook.
As much as despise woke culture, I never believed in "go woke, get broke" because it's not true today.

Would be nice of course, but all the evidence points to the contrary.
 
Whether anyone wants to blame movie viewers or movie studios or both, hollywood has been on the downtrend even before woke shit.

It's been trending more and more to superhero movies and pixar stuff for probably 15 years. I think it started off with those hit Spiderman movies and its spiraled into a million DC and Marvel movies in modern day. And more recently a ton of SW movies.

If you love superhero movies, SW and animated films you probably love the past 10-20 years of movies. If you're someone like me who doesn't, it's trash. Woke film or not.
Yep. I really dont care if it sucks. I havent given them much if any money for like 20 years. It makes sense that they will cater to other demographics who go to movies. I think most TV viewers are women as well, overwhelmingly. Same with books and pop music.

Really its just games that men spend money on in entertainment. Been that way for a long time. Last movie I really cared about was Battle Angel, and went to see it three times and got the blu ray to try to help make it a success. But it didn't do well enough. Oh well.

I may check out House of Dragons but it may suck ass as well lol.
 

haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
As much as despise woke culture, I never believed in "go woke, get broke" because it's not true today.

Would be nice of course, but all the evidence points to the contrary.
eventually the neon haired Starbucks baristas/twitter experts with $200,000 student loan debt and a Ph.D. will lose their ability to hold corporations hostage and Disney won't be able to make money by checking off diversity boxes anymore.
 
eventually the neon haired Starbucks baristas/twitter experts with $200,000 student loan debt and a Ph.D. will lose their ability to hold corporations hostage and Disney won't be able to make money by checking off diversity boxes anymore.
I'd love if what you said would be true, but I am not quite as optimistic. If anything, it's only going to get worse especially since the zoomers and millennials pretty much want this.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
eventually the neon haired Starbucks baristas/twitter experts with $200,000 student loan debt and a Ph.D. will lose their ability to hold corporations hostage and Disney won't be able to make money by checking off diversity boxes anymore.
I'd love if what you said would be true, but I am not quite as optimistic. If anything, it's only going to get worse especially since the zoomers and millennials pretty much want this.
Depends on the company.

Our company hasn't budged one bit towards woke culture. Same shit and I've been working there for ages. The only cheesy thing we do is the annual Pride PR BS where some marketing managers try to latch onto the LGBT crowd for a fast buck and brownie point with rainbow coloured logos in June hoping that crowd suddenly loves us because our company symbol changed appearance for 30 days.

We've hired young people and many of them get fired or they quit. That woke-ish millennial crowd (not woke in diversity PR, but woke in feeling entitled to WFH or wear sandals to work or being 28 and trying to boss around vets) get the heave ho by directors like it's easy peasy. I love it. One young brat got grilled by the director and she cried in her office like a baby. And worst of all, I missed it because my office is on the other side of the floor. But from what I heard from others it sounded hilarious.

I've never seen this before in history of work, but one 20-somthing big shot didn't come to the office on a regularly basis. He just showed up on the days he felt like showing up. Got to a point..... buh bye!

You just got to remember the truly woke stuff is more heavily skewed to tech companies and any company with a lot of PR image to worry about. As I mentioned above, a company doing some woke PR doesn't even mean they are truly woke. Its just a marketing bullet point. After the campaign is over, nobody gives a shit about it till next year. Our company does out share of annual code of conduct assignments we all have to fill in..... bribery laws, conflict of interest, anti-discrimination etc.... It's just a checkmark. Nobody takes this stuff seriously because we all know the right thing to do, and there isn't a need to overdo anything for woke points.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I keep wondering why it is how these studios are still able to make money despite more and more big flops? (especially from the films that went full woke) Are they being subsidized by the government? Or is the International Audience basically what is keeping them afloat?
There’s a ton of foreign investments. Pay attention to the production houses in these films, and yes, they’re willing to fund loss leaders to CULTivate societies.
 

CGiRanger

Banned
I'm sure this thread will be shut down asap but yup, it's sad and it's just as bad if not worse in gaming.

That's why I try to stick to Japanese games mostly nowadays.

Edit: apparently this push for wokeness has a lot to do with something called the ESG.
There’s a ton of foreign investments. Pay attention to the production houses in these films, and yes, they’re willing to fund loss leaders to CULTivate societies.
I've heard about this "ESG" thing a bit, but I am curious just if it really is that dramatic a boon that it can offset or make up for such losses? I am curious though just how much investment the film studios get from different sources and for what purposes.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
"The fear, one prominent director said in an email, is “the audience stops trusting us. They begin to see us as a community twisting ourselves into a pretzel to make every movie as woke as possible, every relationship mixed racially, every character sexually fluid, and they decide that we are telling stories set in a fantasyland instead of a world they know and live in."

This is one of the more insightful quotes from the article, and an insight I think people of all ranges of opinion on these matters can agree with unless they're purposefully being untruthful with themselves.

I notice it in too many TV shows these days. What's on screen is painfully inauthentic, and in some cases so pandering it's borderline insulting to the audience its trying to cater to.
 

Flutta

Banned
This is one of the more insightful quotes from the article, and an insight I think people of all ranges of opinion on these matters can agree with unless they're purposefully being untruthful with themselves.

I notice it in too many TV shows these days. What's on screen is painfully inauthentic, and in some cases so pandering it's borderline insulting to the audience its trying to cater to.
They’re basically trying to brainwash the masses. It’s not about entertainment anymore rather it’s some sick type of indoctrination taking place.

This poison is not only being served in movies/shows/cartoons/games/kidsbooks/reality shows etc etc. It’s being taught in elementery schools. Keep in mind that this sickness is being promoted on a global scale not just through Hollywood. In other words we have some very powerfull fuckers behind this.

I mean we have 10-12 years old kids telling themselves that they are non-binary ffs. If that’s not brainwashing i don’t know what is.

Protect yourselves and family people.
 

Flutta

Banned
I keep wondering why it is how these studios are still able to make money despite more and more big flops? (especially from the films that went full woke) Are they being subsidized by the government? Or is the International Audience basically what is keeping them afloat?
Because it’s not about the money. Think bigger.
It’s a future investment, basically corrupt as many minds as possible.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
They’re basically trying to brainwash the masses. It’s not about entertainment anymore rather it’s some sick type of indoctrination taking place.

This poison is not only being served in movies/shows/cartoons/games/kidsbooks/reality shows etc etc. It’s being taught in elementery schools. Keep in mind that this sickness is being promoted on a global scale not just through Hollywood. In other words we have some very powerfull fuckers behind this.

I mean we have 10-12 years old kids telling themselves that they are non-binary ffs. If that’s not brainwashing i don’t know what is.

Protect yourselves and family people.

I don't know if it's that dire, but the interference with the creative process in the ways highlighted in the article are having an undeniable effect on what comes out on the other end.

It's just crazy to me that instead of collaborative works of art being made organically, some committee rather first chooses the individuals that compose the team based upon arbitrary characteristics that they have no control over - whether they're born white, black, Asian, or Hispanic, if they're gay or bisexual or straight, if they suffer from gender dysphoria, etc. Then once they have their ideal team composition of the day (because it always seems to be changing) they say "OK good, now create something!". And while that creation is being made they alter it in more arbitrary ways.

The results of this absurd process reveals itself most in adaptations. Something that should be easy to pull off no matter how the team comes together, because well it's merely an adaption. But instead of faithful adaptations we end up with a cast of characters that don't resemble their inspirations in either appearance nor demeanor. Worlds that were already fantasy and sci-fi, but seem even fake and unreasonable - campy, even - by those standards if one merely takes a step back and tries to make sense of it all (the secluded village in The Wheel of Time is probably the most glaring recent example).

I just wish they'd stop. It makes me afraid to even take a look at new stuff when I see they're adapting some old property I love. Instead of having enthusiasm, I click the link now thinking "sweet Lord in Heaven, how are they going to fuck this up".
 
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hemo memo

Gold Member
Streaming platforms also help alleviate some of those flops. It's not like most people will cancel Netflix or Disney+ because there are a few woke movies on those platforms. People can just skip those and watch the stuff they want to watch.
But every Netflix produced show has some woke shit to the point that I think it is mandatory if you want Netflix to fund it.
 
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theclaw135

Banned
For the most part a person is capable and qualified, or they aren't.
Checking boxes to fill a quota will dilute projects. Instead reach out to diverse people, let them improve the whole.

Is an established character "irredeemably" insensitive? Then frankly phasing them out is more respectful than alteration beyond recognition.

Still, from what I've seen, the lion's share of the complaints about wokeness are missing something. Maybe too vague? I don't know.
 

FunkMiller

Member
Thing is though lads… how many of you are still consuming the woke shit of which you complain?

Have a mate who constantly moans about Doctor Who… but keeps watching it anyway.

I see constant whining about the MCU… but people keep watching it anyway.

It’s like everyone wants to moan about wokeness, but can’t bear to miss out.
 
Lots of good discussion in here, keep it going folks.

As I've mentioned before, because nobody outside of Neogaf, REEE, Twitter, or Youtube comments notices or cares about this stuff. Like the article points out, a lot of "woke" content and production houses are financially very successful and all the diversity mandates generally have little to no effect on returns or ratings outside of a rare handful of examples that appealed primarily to boomers and middle agers.

That is not what the article is saying though. Woke companies like Ava DuVernay's ARRAY are successful because they strongarm movie producers into hiring from their talent pool. If you don't belong to the in-group, they will put you out of business. It's just another way of getting rid of the competition. In essence, wokeness is just a pretext for another power-grab in Hollywood.

Lots of people out there are getting sick and tired of woke content. I'm from Europe and there's a growing number who is starting to notice the gradual shift in quality and content. From Disney to Marvel, their new movies are basically dead to most of my friends. It's gotten to the point where Korean, Japanese and other international shows are becoming more and more popular (Squid Game, Anime, etc...).

A colleague of mine who's also a mother used to be a huge Disney fan. Recently Disney+ started to put warning labels on her beloved classic movies such as Arielle and Aladdin which she regards as an outright insult. It's gotten to the point where she now refuses to go see any new Disney movies with her kids. Instead she stays home and watches her old DVDs/Blurays with them.

Point is, people do care and once parents get involved, these companies will start to notice. I don't know of many totally woke series or movies that have become successful with the crowd.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
Thing is though lads… how many of you are still consuming the woke shit of which you complain?

Have a mate who constantly moans about Doctor Who… but keeps watching it anyway.

I see constant whining about the MCU… but people keep watching it anyway.

It’s like everyone wants to moan about wokeness, but can’t bear to miss out.

Sure, I feel you, but isn't this just another "and yet you live in society" argument?

Speaking only for myself, I can appreciate why they're doing it, and still find some of it entertaining, but it's not a zero sum game: I can criticize how their weird ways are leading to creations that aren't truthful, and yet not find it so egregious that I'd rather give up on most of new media outright. That make sense?
 
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Thing is though lads… how many of you are still consuming the woke shit of which you complain?

Have a mate who constantly moans about Doctor Who… but keeps watching it anyway.

I see constant whining about the MCU… but people keep watching it anyway.

It’s like everyone wants to moan about wokeness, but can’t bear to miss out.

Dr. Who has the lowest ratings since its renewal. The new MCU movies are also having issues to find their footing.
But yeah, I feel you. Too many people are just trapped in their consumption habits or have been conditioned to go watch a movie because its got a certain label slapped on it.
 

Jsisto

Member
Does anyone even know what woke means anymore? The word has become kind of a catch all for “anything I disagree with”, and it’s thrown around so recklessly, often to describe tropes that have been around for decades and are nothing new. I do get some of the criticisms but it’s definitely used way too broadly recently.
 
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BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
Does anyone even know what woke means anymore? The word has become kind of a catch all for “anything I disagree with”, and it’s thrown around so recklessly, often to describe tropes that have been around for decades and are nothing new. I do get some of the criticisms but it’s definitely used way too broadly recently.

Speaking as someone who is solidly "on their team", so to speak, there comes a point where good intentions crosses the line into absurdity and bad faith. Fuck I hate using that phrase, "good faith" or "bad faith", but I think it's an apt observation for many new creations.
 

bitbydeath

Member
Does anyone even know what woke means anymore? The word has become kind of a catch all for “anything I disagree with”, and it’s thrown around so recklessly, often to describe tropes that have been around for decades and are nothing new. I do get some of the criticisms but it’s definitely used way too broadly recently.
Basically, forced diversity hire over talent.
 

FunkMiller

Member
Sure, I feel you, but isn't this just another "and yet you live in society" argument?

Speaking only for myself, I can appreciate why they're doing it, and still find some of it entertaining, but it's not a zero sum game: I can criticize how their weird ways are leading to creations that aren't truthful, and yet not find it so egregious that I'd rather give up on most of new media outright. That make sense?

Yeah, that’s fair enough. I guess my point was aimed at those who scream ‘woke!’ at things incessantly, but keep on watching it, no matter how much they hate the product. The only way things change is if consumers force them to… and we all have to vote with our wallets/time.
 

FunkMiller

Member
Does anyone even know what woke means anymore? The word has become kind of a catch all for “anything I disagree with”, and it’s thrown around so recklessly, often to describe tropes that have been around for decades and are nothing new. I do get some of the criticisms but it’s definitely used way too broadly recently.

For me, it’s when politics supplants story as the driving force behind a piece of fiction.

I am one thousand percent behind more diversity, progress and better inclusion in the media we all consume.

I am one thousand percent against creating new, or altering existing, stories simply to pander to one agenda or another. It’s the death of storytelling.
 
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