Cancel Culture and Movies

[Username taken]

We really live in interesting times. Political entertainment reactionaries have always been a thing but their voices seem much louder than before because of social media. For a lot of these guys, any movie these days that doesn't conform with what they deem as normal is something that should be boycotted or shouldn't exist..

It's interesting how "more" intolerant certain segments of the audience has become. One can only imagine the uproar if movies like Too Wong Foo (a mainstream movie with major stars at the time in the leading roles as drag queens) or The Crying Game or The Bird Cage (with drag performers are the main characters) were released today. It's so bad nowadays that even stuff with no explicit political themes like Captain Marvel and Dr Strange 2 and even video games like the Dead Space remake and Resident Evil are attacked by some folks as being woke. Seriously, what is going on with the culture? When did consuming art becoming a political exercise? If one doesn't approve of something, then don't watch it, the hate campaigns against certain media and trying to get them cancelled is reminiscent of the "One Million Moms" nonsense and how some American Catholics were trying hard to cancel movies that didn't portray religion in a positive light (like the Last Temptation and how they completely cancelled Sinead O'Connor).

They've stretched this nonsense to movies and studios that have dared to include minorities and women where they weren't prominent before. The whole "anti-Disney" nonsense is because they dared to speak up against the very stupid law that Florida is trying to implement and how the studio has dared to include minorities in some of their movies. It's so bad that these guys have literally termed Disney/Marvel movies that were hits as flops (like Shang-Chi, Dr. Strange and Thor 4), and the media (which is too lazy to even do any serious analysis of these things) are buying into these stupid narratives. Remember the first weekend of Avatar 2 and how that absolute creep Matt Walsh called it a flop and some very stupid media outlets ran with the narrative the movie wasn't a hit?? The Star Wars side of things is now a complete mess because it's become extremely difficult (outside of this forum) to even discuss anything Star Wars as everything around it is completely toxic (although it must be pointed that Star Wars fandom has had its toxic elements for a long, long time). There are a lot of people in the mainstream media (that should know better) that are really letting themselves and their audiences down with just how low effort their takes are. White supremacy has crept into the mainstream after 2016 and has made its way into entertainment commentary. With social media being algorithm driven, the more and more incendiary takes are what gets promoted to the main pages of these sites.

Anyways, what drove me to start this thread was the reaction to the success of the Mario movie. Some months ago, some chuds were complaining that the movie was "woke" because Luigi was captured, and Princess Peach was a strong woman that could fight for herself. NOW, the movie is a megahit and they're turning around and saying it's because it wasn't woke.or it was "anti-woke". How? The movie is just about Mario, nothing inherently political about the film. Consuming entertainment, isn't a profound political statement and if people are truly upset that women and minorities that they see around them in life are popping up in their movies then the fragility is truly real.

[Catlady in training]

I've been saying something similar when all the uproar about a female Doctor happened. Imagine if Xena of Buffy were made when internet was like it's now.

[Username taken]

I've been saying something similar when all the uproar about a female Doctor happened. Imagine if Xena of Buffy were made when internet was like it's now.

Yeah, stuff is weird these days.

You have guys shooting beer cans because they used trans people in advertisements

Even a guy like Howard Stern (a fairly controversial fellow himself) was surprised at how angry people got. Like, how does the trans-model being in the advert affect anyone?????

[80sbaby]

Those same people complaining about Peach will dishonestly tell you they don't have anything against strong women by citing Aliens or Terminator 2. However, they're lying to themselves. If any of those films had come out today there'd definitely be an uproar.

There's a lot of reasons for this. One is due to social media, as TC stated. The other is money. A lot of these "anti-woke/SJW" types don't believe what they're selling but it sells, so they keep it up. It's a pretty good grift, actually.

[Username taken]

Those same people complaining about Peach will dishonestly tell you they don't have anything against strong women by citing Aliens or Terminator 2. However, they're lying to themselves. If any of those films had come out today there'd definitely be an uproar.

There's a lot of reasons for this. One is due to social media, as TC stated. The other is money. A lot of these "anti-woke/SJW" types don't believe what they're selling but it sells, so they keep it up. It's a pretty good grift, actually.

It really is, it makes a lot of money for a lot of people. Seriously, I hear some influencers get up to $30 million per annum (???).

But the Aliens and Terminator comparisons are apt. If those movies were released today, they would have been attacked woke especially the Alien franchise that's always had some feminist elements attacked to it; wasn't Alien 3's tagline "the bitch is back"? (which was probably a call back to the "get away from her you bitch" line from Aliens).

[80sbaby]

Yup!

Now one of the reasons it's so lucrative is not because so many people agree with those YouTubers but there also make money when the opposition interacts with them. So when people comment or share, even to point out how horrible they are, it still helps them.

Personally, I never click or watch any videos from these people if I can help it. I don't want them showing up on my feed or suggested.

[Immortal Weapon]

Those same people complaining about Peach will dishonestly tell you they don't have anything against strong women by citing Aliens or Terminator 2. However, they're lying to themselves. If any of those films had come out today there'd definitely be an uproar.

There's a lot of reasons for this. One is due to social media, as TC stated. The other is money. A lot of these "anti-woke/SJW" types don't believe what they're selling but it sells, so they keep it up. It's a pretty good grift, actually.

The complaining about Peach is hilarious. Peach has shown the level of competency the movie portrayed since Super Mario Bros 2. It should surprise no one.

[krazijoe]

Those same people complaining about Peach will dishonestly tell you they don't have anything against strong women by citing Aliens or Terminator 2. However, they're lying to themselves. If any of those films had come out today there'd definitely be an uproar.

There's a lot of reasons for this. One is due to social media, as TC stated. The other is money. A lot of these "anti-woke/SJW" types don't believe what they're selling but it sells, so they keep it up. It's a pretty good grift, actually.

They also forget that in Aliens, BOTH Main characters were female. Point out that the Alien was a female too and watch their head explode...Then again, they would turn it around into, "Cool, Chick Fight"...

[useridgoeshere]

The easiest thing to do is ignore these people, their idiotic takes, and their endless grifting. They hold no sway, as evidenced by how wrong they constantly are. Cancel culture isn't real, nor is social media outrage a barometer for anything. Online / social media hate never causes any real impact on sales, box office, ratings, etc. It might occasionally correlate with it, because sometimes things aren't good or fail for other reasons, but it's a coincidence and boycotts don't work for the left or the right.

[Powerboy]

A while back, I watched "To Kill A Mockingbird", a movie from 1962 with Gregory Peck. Can you imagine if that movie was made today? It's wooooooke. It won't make any money. It'll never be a hit. Oh it just won the Oscar cause woke. Or, sticking with the real world where it was made in 1962, there would be some reason it doesn't count as woke. Probably because racism really existed back then but not now. Their words, not mine.

I think some of these people know their audience and are just going for clicks but some of them would feel more comfortable if we could time travel and drop them off before 1962.

I know what you mean. For many of them, and those who post responses to them, the very inclusion of black/ Asian/ non-Christian/ gay/ trans characters is woke as if the very idea of acknowledging they even exist, let alone acceptance, is a bad thing. The very words "inclusive" and "acceptance" are evil. I mean, can't we just go back to pretending and make America only white male Christian straight again?

They remind me that they should have taken an episode of TOS to heart where Kirk is told some horrible things about a character he has yet to meet. When he does meet him, Krik says (and I paraphrase): So you're the murdering monster, the destroyer of civilization as we know it, the perverter of the minds of children, the corruptor of all of the morals and righteousness of society.

To which the other replies: Oh, but I am all of those things and worse, from his point of view. Of course, from mine, he is all of those things. He discovered that I exist, the same as him and yet different. He could not simply live his life knowing that I also lived. He became obsessed with destroying me.

I always took that as very much a message about bigotry and how the bigoted mind works.

[Catlady in training]

What is sad is when these people set their minds on sucking the entire joy out of something. A new trailer for a Disney movie comes out? Better not look into the comments, because it's full of bots. The dislike button on Youtube videos was removed because people were bombing videos with downvotes.
I never cared much for strangers' reviews, but one can't trust any score where the public can vote now, because of review bombing.

For some movies/shows, it's almost impossible to have a meaningfull discussion because someone will always come with "It was woke, so it bombed".
Rings of Power? It was too woke (it had like 25% of cast as people of color, 0 LGBT+ characters and half of the main characters were women). It was a disaster, Amazon is lying about the money they made and Tolkien is turning in his grave. Any legitimate discussion about its flaws was impossible because of the shadow created above it.

A new Disney live-action adaptation? Can't have a normal discussion about why is Disney remaking every movie instead of doing more new ones, because the entire space is taken over by racists who try to scientifically explain why mermaids, fictional creatures, have to be white. And if Disney makes a new movie, it will be immediately declared a success or a failure, based on how the cast looks in the promo picture.

DC makes a terrible decision and cuts out Batgirl to save money? Of course, it was because it was a woke movie, in fact it was so woke we couldn't even see it to judge for ourselves, because the executives saw it and realized it would be too much for us.

[Powerboy]

What is sad is when these people set their minds on sucking the entire joy out of something. A new trailer for a Disney movie comes out? Better not look into the comments, because it's full of bots. The dislike button on Youtube videos was removed because people were bombing videos with downvotes.
I never cared much for strangers' reviews, but one can't trust any score where the public can vote now, because of review bombing.

For some movies/shows, it's almost impossible to have a meaningfull discussion because someone will always come with "It was woke, so it bombed".
Rings of Power? It was too woke (it had like 25% of cast as people of color, 0 LGBT+ characters and half of the main characters were women). It was a disaster, Amazon is lying about the money they made and Tolkien is turning in his grave. Any legitimate discussion about its flaws was impossible because of the shadow created above it.

A new Disney live-action adaptation? Can't have a normal discussion about why is Disney remaking every movie instead of doing more new ones, because the entire space is taken over by racists who try to scientifically explain why mermaids, fictional creatures, have to be white. And if Disney makes a new movie, it will be immediately declared a success or a failure, based on how the cast looks in the promo picture.

DC makes a terrible decision and cuts out Batgirl to save money? Of course, it was because it was a woke movie, in fact it was so woke we couldn't even see it to judge for ourselves, because the executives saw it and realized it would be too much for us.

Oh yes. I remember when the live action Little Mermaid promo came out and there were people on CBR trying to claim there dislike was NOT because she was black even though, at that date, we knew nothing but what she looked like so, clearly, it was because her hair wasn't red. I think one of the biggest annoyances is that, even when the movie makes a billion, they continue to chant, "Get woke! Go broke!" totally ignoring the success of the movie and that time and the movie audience is leaving them in the dust.

[Jokerz79]

Buffy was literally the "Chosen One".

Smallville had a non-ginger biracial Lana and African American Pete Ross.

Battlestar Galactica Gender swapped Starbuck and Boomer while adding a female President.

Star Trek the Original Series had "Diversity Hires".

Star Trek First Contact showed Zefram Cochrane to be a drunken selfish man (This was part of his character arc, but they always ignore that) while his able and unselfish partner was the one who aided Picard and was an African American woman.

I could only imagine their reaction to Sisko or Janeway if announced today.

They would properly have had a fit in the 80's with the horror/slasher genre with all the final girls winning over the male killers.

Look at their hypocrisy with Constantine. Keanu seems like the nicest guy in the film Industry, and I like most of his films but he's wrong for Constantine the character should be a Brit and Dracula proved Keanu can't pass as British. Yet they all love him being brought back.

As for their Mary Sue arguments Mary Sues are only an issue IMO when they're annoying. James Bond God King of Mary Sues and I love him and any Character Schwarzenegger, Norris, Van Damme, or Seagal played are pretty much a Mary Sue and their movies were fun. But Wesley Crusher and Adric needed to put into airlocks. Why? They were annoying. & Good on Dr. Who for having the guts to somewhat do it with killing him lol.

But these fools will excuse any male Mary Sue or Gary Stu and complain about any female character they view as perfect or overpowered. Carol Danvers gets crap for not going on the hero's journey but neither did Steve Rogers he was a good person from day one.

Yeah, if these A-Holes had the internet to grift off from in the past they would have been complaining then too. But now they have to act like it's different and somehow "worse" in their opinions that they treat as facts.

[Username taken]

What is sad is when these people set their minds on sucking the entire joy out of something. A new trailer for a Disney movie comes out? Better not look into the comments, because it's full of bots. The dislike button on Youtube videos was removed because people were bombing videos with downvotes.
I never cared much for strangers' reviews, but one can't trust any score where the public can vote now, because of review bombing.

For some movies/shows, it's almost impossible to have a meaningfull discussion because someone will always come with "It was woke, so it bombed".
Rings of Power? It was too woke (it had like 25% of cast as people of color, 0 LGBT+ characters and half of the main characters were women). It was a disaster, Amazon is lying about the money they made and Tolkien is turning in his grave. Any legitimate discussion about its flaws was impossible because of the shadow created above it.

A new Disney live-action adaptation? Can't have a normal discussion about why is Disney remaking every movie instead of doing more new ones, because the entire space is taken over by racists who try to scientifically explain why mermaids, fictional creatures, have to be white. And if Disney makes a new movie, it will be immediately declared a success or a failure, based on how the cast looks in the promo picture.

DC makes a terrible decision and cuts out Batgirl to save money? Of course, it was because it was a woke movie, in fact it was so woke we couldn't even see it to judge for ourselves, because the executives saw it and realized it would be too much for us.

Exactly.

Look at the Rings of Power for example, there was literally nowhere to even discuss the series because of the negativity around it. Most of the discussions around it were about "diversity and feminism". It's practically the same thing with Star Wars where so much of the discussion is about how "Disney killed Star Wars". Although I didn't like the new trilogy, it had nothing to do with politics or representation. The Little Mermaid and The Marvels have more downvotes than upvotes for obvious reasons.

The truth is, when all entertainment starts getting viewed exclusively through social-political lenses, everything starts becoming less fun.

[Username taken]

Buffy was literally the "Chosen One".

Smallville had a non-ginger biracial Lana and African American Pete Ross.

Battlestar Galactica Gender swapped Starbuck and Boomer while adding a female President.

Star Trek the Original Series had "Diversity Hires".

Star Trek First Contact showed Zefram Cochrane to be a drunken selfish man (This was part of his character arc, but they always ignore that) while his able and unselfish partner was the one who aided Picard and was an African American woman.

I could only imagine their reaction to Sisko or Janeway if announced today.

They would properly have had a fit in the 80's with the horror/slasher genre with all the final girls winning over the male killers.

Look at their hypocrisy with Constantine. Keanu seems like the nicest guy in the film Industry, and I like most of his films but he's wrong for Constantine the character should be a Brit and Dracula proved Keanu can't pass as British. Yet they all love him being brought back.

As for their Mary Sue arguments Mary Sues are only an issue IMO when they're annoying. James Bond God King of Mary Sues and I love him and any Character Schwarzenegger, Norris, Van Damme, or Seagal played are pretty much a Mary Sue and their movies were fun. But Wesley Crusher and Adric needed to put into airlocks. Why? They were annoying. & Good on Dr. Who for having the guts to somewhat do it with killing him lol.

But these fools will excuse any male Mary Sue or Gary Stu and complain about any female character they view as perfect or overpowered. Carol Danvers gets crap for not going on the hero's journey but neither did Steve Rogers he was a good person from day one.

Yeah, if these A-Holes had the internet to grift off from in the past they would have been complaining then too. But now they have to act like it's different and somehow "worse" in their opinions that they treat as facts.

Quoted for truth.