The far right is constantly warning that if you go woke, you’ll go broke. But when it comes to the new Barbie movie, they couldn’t be more wrong.
Barbie, which follows Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) as they leave Barbie Land to explore the real world, earned a whopping $162 million in its opening weekend, Variety reported Monday. This is the biggest opening weekend of the year, and the biggest opening weekend for a female director ever.
The film had already made $22.3 million at the domestic box office from Thursday previews, the biggest preview haul of the summer. It blew the previous record of $17.5 million (made by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in May) out of the water.
Haven’t seen the movie, but I’m planning to. I’m sure it’s fine. That said, as neutrally as I can I’ll try to define characteristics of a ‘woke’ movie.
If said in bad-faith, ‘woke’ means: “Something I don’t like because … women. Amirite.” (aka: A dog-whistle)
If said in good-faith ‘woke’ describes a way to write female characters in the laziest way possible. Some of the good-faith criticisms of wokeness:
There are other points I could bring up, but these are some of the basics. One can have a fun ‘woke’ movie, one can have a crap non-woke movie.
And just so that I don’t get accused of being some closet misogynist, I’m going to provide two female characters that I consider 'woke, and two that are not so that a comparison can be made to illustrate above points:
Woke:
Galadriel - from Amazon’s ‘Rings of Power’
Rey - from Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Well written female characters:
Vi - from Arcane
Ripley - from Alien
Why is it woke when female or “minority” characters are this way but not when white male characters are this way? Your points describe the majority of movies featuring a male white protagonist.
And how is Galadriel not the way she is described in the original IP?
1 what’s gratuitous? More than 12% of the cast? A ratio that normally makes you clutch your pearls at the store?
2 happens in every male action movie ever made but it’s men being awesome. 3 has been every sitcom since the first sitcom (I hate 3 but conservatives have loved those shows for decades). And for 3, in men’s movies, the women were just props. I bet you love Planet Of the Apes. The man is super awesome and perfect and the woman is literally a pointless mute.
4 happens for movies with men, constantly.
Your examples are trash too. So Star Wars would have been just fine if Rey was Ray. Why?
You list Ripley but how is that different? If alien was made in 2019 you’d be saying the same shit
Your definition is if it’s like a man’s movie but a woman
Hello @Saneless I hope this reply finds you well.
Should make something clear: @DrMango asked “Can someone please tell me what makes the Barbie Movie woke”. I’m just doing my best to give a reasonably-neutral answer. I don’t necessarily agree with the attitude. (Although, I think I can appreciate it better than most who aren’t RWers.)
Also: I should have added bullet point #5:
**5. All the above are applied to established IP with existing cultural resonance. ** I regret I didn’t include it in the above list since it’s key to understanding the objections to ‘wokeness’ … but in my defense, this is a Lemmy thread - how much time should anyone put into anything on a minor Lemmy thread? ;-)
With that out of the way:
It’s not a percentage … it’s when a character is cast based on virtue-signaling rather than what makes sense for the story or original IP. For example: A story set in Kamakura period, Japan shouldn’t have Native Americans in the back-ground drinking steins of beer. A character who is described in a book as a middle-aged British Victorian butler shouldn’t be a 20-something, lesbian, black woman.
Yes, there are examples of male characters being awesome out-of-the-gate. But I would submit that the ones that resonate are the ones that had to grow. These resonating characters & stories are what Hollywood studios are re-working in the laziest way possible. (One quick example: Skywalker had to grow into his role, Rey automatically understands everything.) It just seems that every new movie based on an established IP has to make the Strong Female Character good at anything.
We’re talking about what makes something woke. Weak character and story arcs are a staple of wokeness, but not the only one.
I disagree. Ripley, for the movies time, was an original character. Moreover: She made mistakes, grew as a person, and had a decent arc.
To wrap this up: ‘Woke’ is a synonym for lazy writing when applied to established IP - especially when pointing out the laziness opens one to accusations of misogyny.
Cheers!
When people accept something happening in a male character they do not accept in a female character that is at least sexist. If Rey was male perhaps there still would have been some whining, but the sheer amount of angry men tears online over Rey being too good is in part due to her being a woman.