The time of woke entertainment has built its castle on sand. With each attempt to build upon that foundation, its castle grows ever more unstable. Studios make reasons to justify their actions; they're not able to keep their promises, which usually includes blaming viewers and fans.
The list of social justice-themed movies and shows is long. Ghostbusters 2016, Netflix's live action Cowboy Beebop, Netflix's live-action Resident Evil show, Obi-Wan Kenobi, She-Hulk, and now, Amazon's re-imagining of the Tolkien's Lord of the Rings with its “Rings of Power” show.
Each show abused the original material, slapped viewers with scathing allegations of character flaws, and then questioned why the audience wasn’t able to show support for the show.
Through the “Rings of Power,” specifically, the allegations of racism have been thrown out on the table. Following the same path Star Wars did, Amazon says there are uncountable quantities of racism poured into its black actors, despite making no claims of proof. In reality, I'm not sure there is indeed racism. However, in the online world, people are bound to troll and people who are averse to hatred will find ways to show their hate.
But the vast majority of criticism from fans, does not have anything to do with race; however, it is about story structure and sticking to the traditional logic of worlds. I, myself, am one of the people mentioned within an article on CNN on this exact issue. The article was greeted by the same allegations of racism Amazon is currently launching.
I discussed these allegations in great detail on this week's edition of RedState LIVE!
It's actually not about sexism or racism. This isn't about bigotry, or the xenophobia. It's not at all related to being a gatekeeping geek even though gatekeeping has its own uses.
In the absence of consistency in a story, many people are unable to appreciate social justice as “entertainment” because of a simple problem; predictability.
Films, social justice programs, comics, video games, and any other type of media are essentially propaganda disguised with a mask. In contrast to a story that is created in the name of the story, propaganda needs to adhere to certain guidelines. Social justice or woke entertainment is quite strict in the rules it must follow.
For instance, the Bechdel Test must be passed. Female lead characters should be able to overcome almost all defects. One flaw they're allowed to possess is that they don't believe in their ability to be powerful enough. If she has a male teacher or leader, she should be superior to him right from the beginning.
The villain has to be male and white. The villain may be black, however the person who is responsible must provide a convincing argument for performing the actions they're taking. Men have to be inferior to women, and/or be ignorant or evil. Men can't be victorious in a debate or physical battle with a woman regardless of how unlikely.
Casting has to have to be “diverse,” however if the cast does not include non-white actors entirely or is an entire cast of just certain types of non-white actors it is fine.
A list of regulations continues on but here are some of the most prominent ones you've come across recently.
We'll now examine She-Hulk as one of the most infamous offenders of storytelling that is based on messaging. In the first episode, the main character, female, is faced by a scathing critique from a man over his desire for her to smile more. Her powers are acquired through her personal actions, not by the behavior of the man who is blessed with these powers. Then she is confronted by men in a bar, and she is able to nearly eliminate them using her newly acquired abilities. Her instructor, a man, attempts to teach her how to make use of her new abilities, however she is far superior than him in everything, and then beats him to submission.
The show is likely to follow the pattern in subsequent episodes. However, most importantly, the show follows the same format that was previously used in woke-ified work. For example I could substitute “She-Hulk” with “Captain Marvel” and be more or less precise regarding the description of the story.
The Amazon movie “The Rings of Power,” predictions that Galadriel would be a snarky “Mary Sue” were right on the mark because we'd seen this archetype a lot in the last few years, particularly with the likes of Captain Marvel and “Rey” from the Star Wars prequels. The assumption was that she'd perform better than her male counterparts in almost every aspect and be the most loved and always be on top of her game. Then, unsurprisingly, it was true.
It's predictable, and it contributes to boredom already existing due to the lack of ability to tell a great story due to the strict guidelines established in the context of social justice concepts. There's not any character development or plot twists, and no scenes that cause you to consider or experience, at the same time, you're getting the relentless preposterousness of an idea that you're not entirely in agreement with.
What's the bottom line? Social justice storytelling can be boring and stale. Not only is it boring and dull, it requires that any criticisms are confronted with accusations against the audience or fandoms in order to safeguard and reinforce the political message that the show is afflicted with.
The quicker studios get rid of this cancer from their ranks, the faster they'll get returning to telling tales that aren't crap.
