that makes sense

umm… how does it promote either of those things?

HELL YEAH!! (except the walmart thing, that’s just stupid)

^ yes

*Dodgson. but that proves my point; the dude was a wet forgettable blanket

i can explain it just fine, because i’ve had to. i have siblings who will automatically jump gun and call me a racist or a bigot when i try to explain why i don’t like something that’s considered woke. it’s frustrating.

throughout all this i haven’t mentioned race because it has nothing to do with it. sure, woke films are more racially diverse, and yes, oftentimes it doesn’t make sense (Vikings; Valhalla, a conversation for another time), but that’s not where i hit the woke button. i hit it when the movie seems less like story telling and more like a lesson i’m being subjected to under the guise of a beloved franchise or character and it feels forced and out of place, like that dude at a metal concert with the sign and the megaphone telling everyone to repent, except here the guy is on stage with the band and he’s louder than the music. i can’t enjoy the concert anymore and i just want someone to throw him off so we’re all can go back to having a good time.

then there’s the flexible morality of the characters. it’s cool when i kidnap, violate national borders, hoard resources and adopt a policy of isolationism, but when you do it it’s considered imperialism, warmongering and greedy? (Wakanda Forever, which especially pissed me off because it basically undid everything T’Challa achieved in Black Panther). or how about when i commit genocide; but it’s okay because i’m the good guy, and i’m trying to save a city, and forget relocating your people, i’m just going to end you? (Doctor Who, Vampires of Venice. If Eccleston was the Doctor of War, and Tennant was the Doctor of healing, then Smith was the Doctor that wielded power like a child with his fathers gun and couldn’t care less who he hurt).

and i use product specifically; everything feels cheap and forced and the whole thing feels like it’s come off a production line, rather than something with real effort or artistic inspiration, or at the very least an intention of fun escapism put in. the quality is often lower despite the more vast sums spent on the final product, oftentimes reshoots are called for because the studio knows that the finished result is shit but they want to try and polish the turd so they can cash in on the name of a successful franchise, and oftentimes the result is entirely forgettable. the whole thing feels like it’s made by algorithm and almost none of it is original. we saw this with John Wick; it was an original film and it was very successful because it was new and unknown and people loved it, and then it got franchised to hell. they’re on what, 5?

The hallmarks of being woke, i find, are lackluster storytelling, wherein the dialogue, plot, and pacing are off, but every chance are given to moments of grandstanding wherein the MC or side character takes a moment to literally lecture someone, ie the audience or a villain of the show. for example we have the last episode of Hawkeye and the Winter soldier (“you’ve got to do better, senator”). typically, the villain on the receiving end is a person in power, of wealth, white, male or of an ethnically multitudinous background, or all four, and is often portrayed as spoiled, weak, arrogant, childish, and greedy (ie Hodgens in Jurassic World; Dominion). often, if it is a rebooted franchise, it’ll bring back old favorite cast members, but they’ll often be deconstructed and reverted back from their former glory, to allow the MC to shine better alongside them, oftentimes retconning the original story to fit the narrative they’re trying to create for their new product (Luke Skywalker)