What's Woke?
Defining the menace.
I feel like I should touch on something that has plagued everything we have watched in entertainment the last few years.
Most people call it “woke.” In fact, that’s what the proponents of “woke” called it. It was meant to imply that they are culturally awakened and enlightened.
In reality, it’s just an adherence to lefty BS ideology. Woke means that they’re just pushing a message.
Right now, The Message comprises of:
Ninth Wave Feminism. (or whatever we’re currently on.)
Racism
LGBTQBS
That’s the bulk of what I’ve seen. Sure, they might shoehorn in a green agenda, lie about how fracking will kill everyone and everything, maybe even claim that the icecaps are melting, or some such crap. And all of this is some variation of communism (which even coined the word “racism.”).
But most of what’s been easily shoved into media and down our throats have been some variation of those three talking points.
Feminism.
Do I need to spell this out?
It’s not even the “Equal Pay for Equal work” feminism of over a hundred years ago.
Hell, it’s not even Gloria Steinem’s “We don’t need no man” feminism.
This is the one where women are portrayed as superior to men… and I mean full ubermensch.
And yet, whatever this wave of feminism is seems to exclude any and all femininity. All of these figures are stoic. And gruff. And strong enough to beat up men five times bigger and heavier than they are—because physics don’t exist. These are the people the size of Sarah Michelle Gellar (5’2”) who think they can beat up 6’ men, and who seem to forget that Buffy the Vampire Slayer had superpowers … and was fiction.
These are women, and thus superior to men in all cases! Including being masculine. Because this wave of feminism sees being feminine as being inferior.
Otherwise known as THE GIRL BOSS.
The girl boss must always put down men to keep them in their place. Always. Put downs must be constant. Men must be shown up, even if it’s in a movie when the man is the title character. Male values replace the feminine.
But now this feminist power fantasy has to be jammed into everything.
Don’t believe me?
Moon Knight: Remember the interesting character we had? Let’s swap him out with a strong powerful woman who can do everything right the first time.
Did you know that The Equalizer is once more a TV show? Where we have to believe Queen Latifah can fight someone when I can’t believe she can run a block. She and her tiny Asian sidechick will kick the ass of everyone, overwhelmingly evil rich white guys who are four times their size.
Shang-Chi, where the title hero was almost buried under other characters: his mother (Michelle Yeoh), his sister, and his best friend, Awkwafina, playing herself.
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Remember Galadriel from Lord of the Rings? Where she was kind and feminine, but there was something there made you nervous? Let’s make her an arrogant, obnoxious Mary Sue who’s always right about everything ever! Except for figuring out that she’s got the villain right next to her.
Remember how awesome Lara Croft was? Well, Hollywood fixed that.
Ashoka: Girl Boss, the TV show. (Funny, since Ray Stevenson stole most of it.)
The Black Widow film: the women are badass, the men are weak and stupid, and Rachel Weisz switches sides, with no consequences, for … reasons. And that’s okay, no matter how much evil Rachel Weisz has committed, because we just forgive women no matter how much they’ve done.
The Eternals: Everyone is race swapped! And gender swapped! And gay! (This film really is a catch-all for the stupid.)
The Witcher. Let’s make the title character a sidepiece in his own series. We have at least two other wamyn who can do all the work. If the male complains, they’ll just fire anyone who agrees with him. Then fire him when he decides he doesn’t want to be shirtless and / or naked all the time.
Captain Marvel (the film character) is the strongest, most perfect Marvel Hero ever … so perfect that she’s never in any real danger, or ever threatened by anything. Except her own power. And people wonder why sequel The Marvels didn’t do that well. Hmm.
Star Wars: “Hey! We’re going to make Rey! Who is so superior to Luke Skywalker, she will beat the primary antagonist without any training whatsoever. She will never be beaten. Ever. By anyone.
Wakanda Forever… we don’t need to replace Chadwick Boseman. We have Shuri! Who is 5’5”! … Why? Oh, and the female bodyguards are all on par with Captain America (See: Falcon and the Winter Soldier).
Speaking of Wakanda Forever. MCU: Kills off Tony Stark for Riri Williams, who has not been able to support a comic book since her inception. But Marvel keeps trying to make her a thing. In the comics, ReeReee took over Latveria… by accident. Because wamyn are all powerful. But she’s not going to be a thing, no matter how hard they all try. Every comic book dedicated to her doesn’t sell.
Halo, the TV series: Let’s take our main character from the IP … and make him a simp for the all-powerful, unstoppable Girl Boss working for the alien Jihadis.
Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness … where to start? Doctor Strange was made a bit player in his own sequel. The villain, Wanda, was an unstoppable Juggernaut. She was literally not stopped by anyone in the film … except by herself. But only because America Chavez showed her she was nuts! Can’t have Doctor Strange be the hero of his own movie. Can we?
Red Notice: Look, I like Gal Gadot, but having her play a normal person, without superpowers, versus The Rock and Ryan Reynolds? Really?
She-Hulk: “Every male hero is a loser. And I’m perfect. Even though I’m not trained in anything, I’m superior.” Hell, that’s just what I saw from the ads. Then I watched some of it by accident. Ugh. They can’t decide if the male gaze is evil, or if women should be twerking. Really.
Masters of the Universe: Revelations: Hey, we hate men. So we’re going to murder He-Man, make Teela a full-on bull dyke with a man’s build and the half-shaved haircut and make her the real hero. When we resurrect He-Man, have her bitch him out before killing him AGAIN.
Madam Web: “We have to protect these girls because they’re going to grow up to be girl bosses!”
While we’re at it, you can see the feminist inserts. Look at the similarities between the ugly monstrosities and their creators: “Starfire’s daughter,” April O’Neil in “Mutant Mayhem.” Velma and Mindy Kaling. MJ In the Spider-Man 2 video game (2023)
One of the people who worked on Spider-Man 2, and what they did to Mary Jane. Ugh Mulan: Remember the original animated Mulan? Where she had to work hard and overcome her limitations to measure up to everyone else? (Who were also no great shakes?) Who needs that? Nah! For the life action version, we’ll just have her be better than everyone else because she’s a girl. And really, she’s only holding herself back. And we’ll even remove the love interest because she don’t need no man. And while we’re at it, support Chinese internment camps.
Arrow, The CW: “Hey, we got a somewhat cute girl to play a side character! Let’s have her be THE LOVE INTEREST for the entire series, and have her turn into a total girl boss as the series progresses.”
Hell, if Angelina Jolie’s Tomb Raider film was made today, the villain never would have laid a finger on her. Because following The Message means that women are literally untouchable. And you thought that fight was unbelievable the first time.
Then again, Lara Croft can’t be pretty anymore, because this feminism believes that beautiful women aren’t real. Everything must be ugly. And I mean EVERYTHING.
You ever wonder why feminists are silent when women athletes are crushed by men pretending to be women? Because these men are their ideal women.
Whatever wave feminism is going the rounds these days, they envy the power of men. They hate the beauty of average women. Because they have neither.
Racism (Or colorism)
Oh, you’ve seen it. Whether you’ve noticed it or not is a different conversation.
Pick a redhead in fiction who has been “adapted” into a film. If that character hasn’t gone from “pale redhead” to black, I will be surprised.
But start with The Wheel of Time from Amazon. There was a whole family of redheads in the book. So of course, they’re black now. (My best friend is a fan of the novels, and can make an essay detailing how they botched the show. I’m not. So, maybe a guest blog.)
In the comics, Valkyrie was a six foot blonde. In Thor: Ragnarok, she’s replaced with Tessa Thompson, a black midget … and another actress with resting bitch face. Huh.
Rings of Power: “We’re going to introduce black elves.” Because they never heard of “dark elves” and all that implies in D&D.
MJ, the charismatic party girl redhead from the Spider-Man comics … played by Zendaya, she of the charisma vacuum and the resting bitch face.
Jack Reacher: In the books, his sidekick Neagley was a redhead, but black in the TV show. In fact, Dixon (from season two) was black in the novel… but they already had a black actor, so they turned her into a brunette in the TV show.
Two articles in the media, asking why there weren’t any black people at Dunkirk (set in Europe, 1940) and Shogun, set in feudal Japan. BECAUSE THERE WERE NO BLACK PEOPLE AT EITHER PLACE AND TIME, YOU IDIOTS.
April O’Neil is black now. Because screw your childhood memories.
In the comics, when Captain America died, the shield went to the next nearest super: Bucky Barnes. The Winter Soldier then went on a quest for salvation. MCU: Nah, let’s give it to Sam Wilson. Whose super power is operating a jetpack, and trying to guilt people to “do better.” AYFKM?
Halo, the Series: We’re going to take the Big Damn Hero … and make him a side character for a large chunk of the series, making a random Asian woman the heroine. She makes Rico Tico look likeable.
Starfire, the alien princess, who is orange … nah, we’re going to make her black (in HBO Max’s Titans) and dress her like a hooker. WTF? They even managed to make a beautiful black actress look drab and dull!
Not even history is safe! Let’s make Henry VI’s wife black! (The Hollow Crown) Henry VIII’s wife Anne Boleyn? Black. Never mind that we have paintings showing them as white, and Boleyn is a redhead. Cleopatra was Greek … but NetFlix will make her black. Doctor Who will make Isaac Newton Asian— because white folk can’t contribute anything, right?
Marvel is doing its best to wipe out Peter Parker in favor of Miles Morales. I believe it was Eric July who referred to Miles as “Peter Darker.” Because they just re-skinned Peter, with similar backstory. And now, fans will like him, or else.
Any Victorian era where black folk are just jammed in at random to 1800s London.
Oh, and the BBC, wow, where does one start there? I think we’ll begin with the BBC “diversity coordinator,” another Affluent White Feminist Urban Liberal (AWFUL) declared that Edris Elba’s Luther wasn’t black. Again, it’s Idris Elba, how can he not be black? “Because Luther doesn’t have any black friends or eat Jamaican food.” Yes, they said that. I suppose that’s the BBC version of “he doesn’t eat watermelon and fried chicken.” And then—and fucking then!—when Hollyweirdoes were pitching a “Superman from an alternate dimension who’s black” film … some of the loudest voices I tripped over proclaimed “Idris Elba isn’t black enough.” Yes, really. I suspect in response, Idris Elba had that Hobbes and Shaw movie where the running joke was to call Idris Elba “Black superman.”
Oh, I’m done. Here, have a list.
Why do this? Why push something so odd? Why do this to the point where they actively rewrite history?
I’m sure some of it is Hollyweird thinking, “Hey, let’s pander to black folks! That’s why they saw Black Panther, right?”
I’m sure some of it is intersectionality points: “We must have black folk in everything!” I don’t even call it diversity… granted, the media called Black Panther “so diverse.” Even though it was a black cast with two white guys, one of which they killed off halfway through. (“True” Diversity means no white people, I guess.)
And I’m certain some of it is pure grift. Remember how Al Sharpton used to go around to hotels in New York and say, “You don’t hire as many black folk as you should. Pay me off, or we’ll protest”? Replace Sharpton with Black Lives Matter, and “hotels” with “Hollywood” and I suspect we’re close.
“Oh! But the race swapping doesn’t matter!”
If it doesn’t matter, then why is it being pushed so aggressively?
L.G.B.T.Q.B.S.
This isn’t as prevalent as the other two, but it depends on where you look.
Avengers: Endgame, We’re going to have Captain America as a counselor to a group where a gay man takes endlessly about the date he went on after The Snap. Steve Rogers doesn’t bat an eye at it, because he’s such a laid back 1940s guy. Yeah. Sure.
The CW: Everyone is gay. And if they’re not, we’ll make a universe where they are gay. I wish I were exaggerating. Especially when The Arrowverse was a thing. Mister Terrific? Gay. Captain Cold? Gay in another universe. White Canary? Pansexual, but mostly lesbian—to the point where her screwing around imperiled missions. Yes, really. And, somehow, knocked up by a woman. How? Don’t ask me, I only tripped over that in passing.
Batwoman. So many things were excused about this TV show because of how gay it was. The writing is bad— but Lesbians! The acting is terrible—But Ruby Rose is “gender fluid” (whatever the Hell that means). Batwoman is better than Batman in every conceivable way, because! Seriously, the character worked better in 52. Her own comic book never even got off the ground.
DC Comics: Everyone is gay now! Seriously, Green Lantern Alan Scott is gay, (despite having a daughter). Wonder Woman, Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn are all gay, like it was a bad porn parody. Comic books where Superman’s son is gay! And Nightwing! Who let Reddit write for DC? I have tripped over fan fiction that had more character and fewer lesbians than actual DC comics.
Valkyrie from Thor: We’re going to make her butch. And seriously gay. So gay, they had to cut a scene from The Marvels because she was making sexual overtures to a minor— Mz Marvel.
The Eternals: I lost track of how many characters they made gay. Screw this film.
Leverage: Redemption: This one irks me because I really liked the first series. The amount of gay garbage they’ve crammed into this series is both obnoxious and makes no sense. No, I’m not even discussing a main character who is a Lesbian. I refer to two specific plots where it’s nothing but bad writing, but it’s about Lesbians, so that’s alright. (The less said about their “fracking” episode, the better.)
NCIS: Hawaii — Girl boss leader. The toughest character on the team is the smallest lesbian on the team. Cast is so diverse and so colorless, they brought in LL Cool J from the canceled NCIS: LA, who has more charisma than the entire cast put together.
There are people to tell me that much of “paranormal romance” is a badly written romance novel with a ghost thrown in.
It’s amazing how many plot holes and how much bad writing are covered up with “everything’s gay.”
Intersectionality.
Of course, there are places that have a combination of all of the above. It’s called “intersectionality”—a way of keeping score when you have multiple victim groups. Are you a white woman? Black women trump you. But a black lesbian trumps her. Add more layers to the victim game. Eventually, someone scores more points.
Don’t believe me? Watch the first episode of The FBI: you get “diversity is good, white people bad,” and girl bosses. Come to think of it, so does The Equalizer.
The new “Magnum: PI” reskinned Magnum and made Higgins a blonde who kicked more ass than a Navy SEAL… yes, really. So did NuMacGyver—it had at least three different girl bosses, complete with tiny Asian chick who will beat up everyone, because someone thought Buffy was real life.
If you want to see a good contrast, look at True Lies, the original film, versus the recent abortion of a TV show.1
Then you have the Spider-Man 2 video game. Yes, it’s been mentioned above. But you check out this on X (which no longer has embedding, I see) and you get
When someone talks about virtue signaling, it’s basically the intersectionality game.
And of course, for every category of woke BS, someone gets thrown under the bus.
Women in sports are thrown over for men in drag.
We must protect illegals, even at the expense of women being raped and / or murdered.
Black Lives Matter … unless they live in Chicago and die by the dozens every weekend, killed by black gangbangers.
All of this basically amounts to lip service. No one gets saved because the game Spider-Man 2 has Miles Morales, gays, flags, and gender-neutral Spanish (yes, really). No one is accepted or embraced because everyone is gay on the CW.
It does nothing but repel people who want story and substance over magic lesbians and race-swapped everybody. And sure, it attracts ESG / DEI money from banks who push this stuff, like Black Rock. But Oops! What happens when a production company spends $200,000,000 on a film, and they can’t pay it back, BECAUSE NO ONE SAW THE DAMN WOKE FEST?
What happens is that even people like Black Rock decide that, maybe, this BS wasn’t a good business plan.
Oh, you think?
Anyway, I have set out here to define “the woke” for people who haven’t put it together yet. It’s an adherence to leftist ideology, pushing whatever the current Message is.
And right now, The Message is Feminazism, Racism against white folk, and MAKE EVERYTHING GAY!
Anyway, in the immortal words of Critical Drinker, that’s all I’ve got for today.
I will note that it was so bad, it only got one season. And they tried the same thing with Mister And Mrs Smith. It also died.
Thanks for taking up the good fight
You might find this helpful: https://boriquagato.substack.com/p/defining-woke