The word “woke” is problematic, and not because of the usual suspects. The word has joined “racist”, “sexist” and many other “-ist” words as being so overused as to have almost completely lost its power. That is not on the woke themselves, that is on their opposition. Before we go any further, let us define this once and for all. For the avoidance of doubt, to me, woke means this:
“Adopting more extreme intersectional, identarian, conformist positions, usually from a perceived victim viewpoint, as an automatic default and in defiance of logic and evidence.”
However, thanks to low IQ midwits who see woke everywhere, the signal is completely drowned out by the noise. A cast member being a PoC is not woke. A female lead is not woke. The mere existence of a homosexual character is not woke. Your coffee being just a shade too brown is not woke.
Woke is when these characters serve no narrative purpose but to push an intersectional, identarian message. When their sexuality or ethnicity is shoe-horned in while adding nothing of any value to the character or the story other than to make a point on behalf of a writer or other third party. When a strong female lead isn’t allowed to simply be resourceful and effective, but must do it to the detriment of others around her… usually by delivering some kind of lecture. When a character is raced-swapped for absolutely no reason other than to allow the creatives to talk about it a lot while feeling good about themselves. Then we are moving across the scale to full woke.
Just shouting “woke” every time they see somebody different on screen helps nobody and just makes that person look like a bit of a tool.
Thankfully, Outposters are made of better stuff, with more critical faculties. That’s why they are here, but we all know at least one person like this in real life. There is, however, one universal law that remains undefeated. It might happen quickly, it might take months to be proven true, but proven true, it will be:
Get woke, go broke!
The reason? Those who fit the definition of woke, above, are just a very noisy minority, and their worldview crumbles very quickly when confronted with reality. The latest to prove this paradigm spectacularly is Disney and its continued failure.
Remember when they appointed Latondra Newton as Chief Diversity Officer, charged with making content more “diverse and inclusive” in 2017? Remember the leaked footage of the video call, where senior creative executives boasted of inserting their personal identarian politics into content? Newton exited the business rather suddenly recently. Elsewhere, well Disney, you reap what you sow.
Recent box office analysis that has started circulating online claims that Disney has lost at least $890 million on their last eight studio releases alone. These releases include Lightyear, Thor: Love and Thunder, Strange World, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, The Little Mermaid, and Elemental.
The recent releases cost roughly $2.75 billion to produce (officially) but only brought in $1.86 billion at the box office. That delta there is $890 million alone. So far, so bad for the big D. However, it is known that studios only keep a certain slice of that box office take as exhibitors have to be paid. Then there are marketing costs, distribution fees, points. These all have to come out of the same pot. Take all that into account as well and these losses are clearly way north of the $1 billion mark.
It gets worse. As DVD and Blu-Ray sales are basically non-existent these days, and all of these movies will end up on Disney+, future earning potential is more limited than it has ever been. No fees to come from Netflix or Amazon, and broadcast television rights values are pushed ever downwards by the long release window on streaming. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny isn’t tracking all that strongly either.
Audiences are turning away. Some have decided, based on the evidence in front of them, that Disney’s corporate values are inconsistent with their own so they will not be funneling their money in that direction. Others are simply bored of feeling lectured through messages in the content.
The big beast is gravely wounded.
