NY Times: Hollywood Is Having Second Thoughts About Going Woke
Tinsel Town insiders fear the 'get woke, go broke' critics may be right after all
The fall of mega-producer Harvey Weinstein did more than usher in Hollywood’s #MeToo era.
The industry embraced a woke revolution catering to the far-Left’s demands regarding diversity, equity and more.
Weinstein’s fate, and the 2020 death of George Floyd following an altercation with Minneapolis police, coaxed the industry to embrace hyper-diverse casting, censorship and Identity Politics run wild.
Now, according to the New York Times, Tinsel Town has some sizable regrets on the matter.
The blockbuster story couldn’t get many people to speak on the record. There’s still significant fear of betraying the woke mindset in public.
The reporters chatted with more than 24 anonymous insiders — “top studio executives, agents, activists, marketers and producers” — to learn how things have changed since 2017. And, to the paper’s shock, how a return to “normal” may be coming soon.
The far-Left Times frames the changes as a regression. The real story? Woke doesn’t pay the bills or keep the lights on.
RELATED: WOKE BROKE MOVIES: DOES HOLLYWOOD CARE?
We’ve already learned this via Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. The powerhouse companies have been canceling woke content and tightening their belts during the Biden recession.
Netflix ditched a project spearheaded by professional victim Meghan Markle and anti-racist author Ibram X. Kendi. Warner Bros. Discovery famously bailed on “Batgirl,” another uber-woke project considered so inferior the company swallowed the project’s $90-plus million price tag.
The New York Times expose shares far more of what’s happening behind the scenes.
One film executive cops to hiring nothing but women and people of color in recent years. That executive admits some of those employees weren’t up to the tasks at hand.
Others worried the woke makeover embraced by Hollywood, Inc. was a financial failure.
They point to terrible ticket sales for films like “Bros,” the first gay rom-com from a major studio, and “Easter Sunday,” a comedy positioned as a watershed moment for Filipino representation. “Ms. Marvel,” a critically adored Disney+ series about a teenage Muslim superhero, was lightly viewed, according to Nielsen’s measurements.
The list of woke flops is considerable. Think:
- “Charlie’s Angels”
- “Booksmart”
- “Terminator: Dark Fate”
- “Party of Five” (reboot)
- “Eternals”
- “Birds of Prey”
- “Lightyear”
- “Ghostbusters” (2016)
Insiders add it didn’t help that Time’s Up, the organization championed by Hollywood’s brightest stars to prevent sexual abuse, imploded following a series of monumental missteps.
The group:
- Ignored serious allegations against then-Democrat Presidential candidate Joe Biden
- Counseled Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, on how to deal with serial allegations of sexual misconduct
- Looked past other Democrats accused of sexual abuse, like Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax
Reality has set in, and “Aladdin” producer Dan Lin says woke “optics” are getting the heave-ho.
“A recession is coming, budgets are tightening and I’m really worried that diversity is going to be the first thing that goes.”
RELATED: ‘VIRTUE BOMBS: HOW HOLLYWOOD GOT WOKE AND LOST ITS SOUL
The story also notes that MeToo targets like Johnny Depp, John Lassiter of Pixar fame and James Franco are finding new gigs after sitting in time out for a spell.
It gets worse for the “enlightened” Hollywood eco-system.
“There is a risk that “go woke, go broke” jokes could calcify into conventional Hollywood wisdom.”
America has no problem with diversity. It lines up for the racially diverse “Fast & Furious” franchise. The upcoming “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is on track to earn up to $175 million on its opening weekend.
Forced diversity, mid-film lectures and an emphasis on finger-wagging over narrative are anathema to modern audiences. Hollywood had to learn that lesson the hard way.
Let’s hope non-woke movies and TV shows are made. Also, it’s clear that if there’s any racism in show business, non-White’s are increasingly DISHING IT OUT, and almost no one says a word when White faces are absent. In fact, “diversity” seems to be an openly secret code for heavily non-White.
I actually appreciate the change, I mean before all this I was a big movie and tv series enthusiast through and through spending hours upon hours watching and waiting for the next big action movie, sci-fi movie, or comedy stuff — I was basically raised on this stuff… but now I don’t anymore… They were once great to watch and relax, but now I’d instead go out for a walk, cook or even read a book LOL…… movies & films were once relaxing and relatable but now they suck and the magic is gone…. *shrug – I don’t even bother to follow a lot of the stuff any more – most of my friends have also just let it go…. also woke people telling us that we are the problem because we stopped watching didn’t help much… reminds me of transgenders calling straight men homophobes for not dating them and black ex-pats who come to Asia and call Asian women racist cause they were rejected… shows how far the world has gone down the crapper.
This is very true.
I don’t know what you people are complaining about. I love to get scolded and lectured about what a rotten person I am when I go to the flickers.
hollywood writing consists of a copier. no writing or creativity. no acting, politically correct doesn’t correlate with talent, just choosing the right color or gender. will not stream anything connected to disney, netflix, paramount, apple. for what, I can actually still watch some good tv in reruns from the 60’s 70’s and 80’s
I do not consider Easter Sunday to be a woke film. It is merely the exploration and celebration of a particular ethnic community and culture. In that sense it is very similar to My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Which, by the way, my Filipino family totally enjoyed and related to.
My family and I are actually boycotting going to the movies. First of all, there is no original movies just remakes of prior films or movies containing liberal messages. Second, Hollywood should stick to entertaining as opposed to lecturing us on political issues.
Movies and comedians in the past were fun to watch. Nowadays they are extremely boring. With the cost of taking a family to the movies, I have better ways of spending my money.
@Ernie Padilla
Here are some 2022 hit films based on Original ideas: Dog, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Elvis, Bullet Train, Barbarian, and Smile.
Nope broke even at the box office. The Woman King and Ticket to Paradise are more recent releases so we’ll see how they fare.
So, let’s put to death this myth that you can’t find original fare at the movie theater.
PR hack on board ….
You hit the nail on the head.
The entertainment industry hasn’t produced anything original or of quality in a long time.
Actors, producers should STFU and do their jobs, same for athletes.
@Deserttrek
Here are some 2022 hit films based on Original ideas: Dog, The Lost City, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Elvis, Bullet Train, Barbarian, and Smile.
Nope broke even at the box office. The Woman King and Ticket to Paradise are more recent releases so we’ll see how they fare.
So, let’s put to death this myth that you can’t find original fare at the movie theater.
Orginal fare. Every movie is based on comic books, which reflects the education and worldview of the Hollywood establishment. The mentality and tastes of a retarded 14 year old boy who is now in his forties. Please the movies made today are trite, without substance and will be forgotten within three years.
You nailed it! Love your comment. There are still some of us who would like something not on a comic book mentality
Hey Chris:
Despite this sort-of admission from The Times, Hollywood, like the Left in general, is never going to change. They are true believers in what is essentially a cult. It is going to take at least a generation and absolute victory in the real war – the classroom – before our cultural institutions like the rest of society can be effectively deprogrammed.
I taught high school English and Creative Writing for twenty three years and made some some serious dents in what was basically a curriculum that had mainly novels, poetry and drama by white writers only., with half of them from England. the curriculum had work from mainly ONE Country- England and we kicked them out of here over two hundred years ago. Sio I brought in terrific books by African American writers such as RAichard Wright, Ernest Gai nes, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, James Alan McPherson ( lead teacher of the famed Iowa Writers Workshop for over twenty years), John Edgar Wideman, and others. I also brought in Latino and Chicano writers such as Martin Espada recent winner of the National Book Award for poetry. And I brought in a bunch of works by Asian American writers and such amazingly gifted Native Amercan writers as Sherman Alexie and Louise Erdriich. I even showed my many Irish-American students how high school Engllsh curricuums had commandeered and relabled as ‘English’ authors such Irish authors as Jonathan Swift, the poets Alfred Tennyson and William Butler Yeats and James Joyce. THIS IS WHAT AMERICA LOOKS LIKE. For decades America in books tv and film has mostly offered a white and whitewqshed view of the world. You can be a person of color and not SEE yourself – its been that way for yeart ts and has only started to change because of the 1960s antiracist civil rights movement. Yes, my baby boomer generation picked up after the preceding generation that won unions and a decent ecconoic living with good steady union jobs which have been eroded by rampaging and ruthlesssly greedy Republicans. And some of you have no clue of the incredible contributions our fellow Americans have made, are making, and will be making if we are allowed to vote, learn, make our own decisions about our bodiies and partners. if you dont like it, move to Russia or luxembourg, but stop being so disrespectful because you are so afraid.
…and that’s got nothing to do with Wokesterism. IE Censorship, Fascism, judging people by the color of their skin instead of the content of their character. Wokesterism in general – like current Hard Left American politics more closely resembles 1940s style National Socialism than anything else.
What the Wokester calls “inclusivity” is just racism. Calling it something pretty doesn’t improve what it is.
To paraphrase Shakespeare- a turd by any other name would smell just as foul.
I appreciate your comment and completely agree.
Thanks for bringing your students the works of great writers.
Diversity is a treasure to be embraced. Thinking of tolerance regarding diversity does not create a healthy psychological impact
Why do people like you equate woke with race? America has long had NO PROBLEM with minorities in show biz. White people have embraced their music. When I was a teen in the early 90s some of the highest rated shows on tv were about black families and people. Forget that have we?
It’s obvious that, despite all your education, you have no idea what people consider woke. It’s also obvious that you have too much bias against conservatives to ever have a legitimate opinion. You’re just another sheep (both parties have them) that just follows along the route their party puts forth and baaas out all their standard drivel.
@Tom
No one had an issue with Aquaman being played by Jason Mamoa, who clearly is not a blonde White guy. The reason is that the film captures the pulpy sci-fi thrills of the comics. Hence, the movie raked in $1 B globally.
Meanwhile, the recent Superman films haven’t come close to matching Aquaman’s success. The Man of Steel being played by White male actors wasn’t enough to prevent audiences from noticing that the films lacked the sense of wonder and idealism of the comics.
Bottom line, the Batgirl film would have done well so long as it was good. The race of the lead is irrelevant.
Perhaps the lead just wasn’t THAT good…
“Affirmative Action” is a real thing…
and You KNOW its FLAWED…
@Coach Krash
Conversely, the lead could have been great. White guys aren’t the only ones with talent.
Wrong. Captain Marvel had stellar production values and an attractive blond white girl as a star. It still sucked.
You desperately want to contradict the woke politics as the underlying reason why projects like “Eternals” and “Bros” have been relative failures. Your evidence does not stack up.
Imagine you have a throbbing, aching in your head. You believe it’s a headache. Then the guy next to you spends 15 hours trying to convince you it COULD ACTUALLY BE A BRAIN TUMOR! While, technically, yes, it could be a tumor… it’s far more likely it’s just a headache.
This is what you’re doing. Woke caused the issue. And a headache is just a headache no matter how much you’re rooting for that tumor.
@Brian
Captain Marvel made over $400 M domestically and over $1 B globally. Clearly, someone enjoyed the film, which is getting a sequel next year.
And that’s what studios ultimately care about. Oscar wins are fine, but profits keep the lights on.
Jason Momoa is half -irish. Most people had no idea he wasn’t 100% white till he started talking about his ancestry. He played Conan – a Celtic character too. Cut his hair, dye it blonde and he’d look just like thevcomics character.
You’re right. That’s not why it was trash. It was “creatively bankrupt” and the lead actress herself tweeted about it being woke and that she was proud of that.
@Christian Toto
Why do conservative influencers claim the Batgirl film was “woke”?
The public never saw the film before it got canned. So, it’s very presumptuous for conservative influencers to assume the film would be woke. The Batgirl film could have easily been conservative in its themes.
Now, we’ll never know.
Based on what everyone in Hollywood’s been obsessed with in the last few years, what Warners were producing under Hamada, and the fact that they race-swapped the lead character, it’s a safe bet it was gonna be woke.
I don’t know about could have easily been conservative.” Given how Hollywood went overwhelmingly Woke, ” easily” seems a bit of a stretch.
Sort of like Joy Behar in yoga pants. Yeah Batgirl was a supreme tribute to the American dream and conservativism.
Riiiiiiiight… it was gonna be conservative.
It was going to be a disaster – it will eventually get released as some “long lost relic” and you can come back here to apologize. I’ll wait.
The public never saw the film, but plenty of insiders did, and plenty of reports of the content leaked.
If it was just a bad movie, they’d still release it and get *something.* The only reason to kill it and eat $90 million is that it would cause enduring damage to the brand. There were multiple reports that the film killed Batman and replaced him with a trans chick.
@eddie
The Venom films and Suicide Squad 1 were blockbusters despite being deemed “bad” by critics.
The bottom line is that films that studios and news media predicted will flop can be well received by the public. The reverse is also true.
One only need look at the Oscars to see the ability of critics to predict profit making films. What the public likes and wants and what Hollyweird produces has been wildly out of sync for years.
Conservative “influencers” in Hollywood? Right.
@EdC
I was referring to conservative influencers who proclaim Batgirl “woke” without ever seeing.
Just say you didn’t pay any attention to the casting and comments made by the cast and crew. They were openly celebrating how woke it is
That was funny. Good one.
Because it was laden with Woke tropes starting with Tokenism. Batgirl has been around for 60 years. But they decided to cast a black actress to play a white character.
That’s just as stupid as when Marvel cast a Korean actor to play Gilgamesh- an Iraqi character.
Stupid is stupid and people don’t pay to have their intelligence insulted.
We did see it, as well as many other shows and movies. No one wants to get preached to unless they go to church, where it’s expected.
The public never saw the film, but plenty of insiders did, and plenty of reports of the content leaked.
It was straight SJW trash ️
Because Batwoman and Supergirl had that woke s***!
Well the main actress herself tweeted that is was extremely woke? And that she was proud of that. Perhaps that’s the reason?
Because women can NEVER EVER be stronger than men. Offended? Cry, whine, bicker, complain but no one gives a rats ass. Go woke, go broke. Deal with it!
Superhero movies aren’t the best place to look for realism. But then, your sole accomplishment in life was being born male, and you’re butthurt that you aren’t getting the respect you think that deserves…
Shows how much you know about it.
It was a series, not a “film” they are talking about.
Why call it woke? probably because thats what the writers and directors bragged about, and it was very woke in reality.
Gee, did it EVER F***ING occur to you that people have brains and can detect trends Mr. (Mrs, Miss or whatever pronoun you prefer) Wizard?
Emasculating, vapid, narcissistic leads are the trend. Although that might SOUND appealing, it just doesn’t translate into great or interesting storylines. Therefore, paltry audiences.
It was literally canned because the film itself, while being behind schedule was a shitheap that would’ve infuriated the entire fanbase, granted that’s an “assumption” based on every trailer that exists for the Batgirl franchise in the modern era. The character came off as your run of the mill frigid feminist who just hates men simply because they exist, and we already have she hulk if we wanted to watch that lecture again..
So no, we likely won’t see Batgirl on screen until there are some major rewrites, resorts and different castings that get rid of all the force-fed diversity and inclusivity agenda nonsense that literally nobody wants to watch. They’re not going to release a movie they know for a fact is going to flop and when the actress was given the line that implies the bat suit would be “perfect” if only it were originally designed to fit a woman, specifically her. The fans took that to heart and it died in the water when that trailer dropped lmao.
Sorry, not sorry, this diversity s*** ruining long beloved IPs is OVER. People have gotten tired of poorly written 2 hr long woke lectures. Same goes for TV series. HBO has probably figured out the best middle ground on the time being in that they’re pissing pff some of the OG fans but make enough of em happy that combined woth mew watchers they make profit, and yes I’m referring to HOTD rn, because let’s face it nobody cares about HBO except for GOT/HOTD… The shows are frustrating at times bc obvious shoehorning, but watchable in a general sense and even the woke inclusions are relatively well written thanks to GRRM doing that writing but I give ot 2 more seasons of no female nipples on screen before every OG fan finds some else to watch.
All these producers are way too afraid of offending you lot of angry crybabies, and the only power you truly have is twitter bombing and DDOSing, meanwhile we collectively take momey right out their pockets by just not watching the turds theyve been pumping out ans they cry aboit us not watching bc “bigotry” lmao, like no we just want what we expect from this framchise and they fail to deliver regularly. By they i do mean every major production company in the game rn. I don’t understand why they constantly cave to the demands of the woke leftists, but they do nonetheless.