4 ms·

Recently heard a great quote if woke culture is being enforced by China. The shift from meritocracy-ish to 'woke' opens the door for china to swoop in. Consume

Recently heard a great quote if woke culture is being enforced by China. The shift from meritocracy-ish to 'woke' opens the door for china to swoop in. Consumers don't care if a movie's cast is diverse. They might care if every actor is of the same race/gender/ethnicity. Diversity is not a primary factor for purchasing for the large majority of America or the world. For example Squid games was a huge hit, even though it was not a diverse cast. The latest iteration of 'woke' Ghost busters is a prime example of how this can spectacularly backfire.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
version_five 5y ago
I'd put it more positively, men, women, black, white, gay, straight whatever, everybody is equal - most people feel this way and don't give a shit about the irrelavant personal attributes of the actors. They want to see a good movie, period.
- pupppet 5y ago
  Lemme guess, you’re Caucasian. Imagine growing up and not seeing a single superhero who looks like you. It matters.
  - version_five 5y ago
    I'm not going to make any assumptions about you, but when I was growing up (I'm 41), off the very top of my head, Samuel L Jackson was the essence of cool, Bruce Lee movies were awesome, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) was an organically good action hero. My favorite movie for the last 25+ years is Bad Boys. I feel ridiculous even trying to go through movies to separate who is non-white which I guess you're after. It seems a more recent phenomenon that we've started to pretend that somehow movie heroes are all white (caucasian in whatever classification system you use) men, but that's a recent thing that came with the modern "progressive movement". I can't speak for your experience (or the experiences of others that maybe your imagining empathizing with), but in everything I've seen, we had a normal period where race etc didn't matter and then people decided to pretend it did again. I can't think of any instance in which the change has actually been for the better. People are more polarized than ever, nobody is actually getting treated better, and movies are worse. Also, FYI, your comment is racist garbage, how about leaving participants race out of the discussion instead of "lemme guess"ing,
    - pupppet 5y ago
      Yes you enjoyed Bruce Lee and Bad Boys because they were a novelty. Now ask yourself why were they a novelty. Because it's a medium full of white people. >Also, FYI, your comment is racist garbage, Not a stretch to assume someone who believes everyone else has the luxury of worrying about the same trivial things you do is white.
      - number6 5y ago
        May I ask, if you are not Caucasian, which I don't know if you are not, how watching movies, with a non diverse cast, affected you in your life and thinking?
  - lostmsu 5y ago
    When I was growing up, my superheroes looked like chipmunks, ducks and turtles.
    - number6 5y ago
      And now we have furrys.
  - dissent 5y ago
    By "looks like" you actually mean "shares superficial traits with".
duped 5y ago
Hollywood isn't dumb, they make creative decisions based on money. Ghostbusters may have been a flop, but Black Panther grossed $1.3 billion. There is a preponderance of evidence that more diverse cast and crew leads to higher profits, that's why studios do it. There are also the second order effects, where more diverse writing rooms, directors' chairs, and cast members leads to content that resonates with more people (rather than the traditional approach of creating content just for the average American)
- version_five 5y ago
  > There is a preponderance of evidence Where?
- akvadrako 5y ago
  They aren't dumb but there are also social pressures to conform which could influence their decision making just as much as success.
blululu 5y ago
Alternatively it becomes a play to thwart Chinese cultural ascendency. If you make a set of rules that a film’s cast an crew must have certain demographics which are only really attainable in the US, then it would exclude pretty much all East Asian cinema from winning best picture. Parasite won a few years back, but it could be made ineligible based on its homogeneous racial composition. It is hard to beat America when at a diversity contest, reframing the rules so that the contest is about diversity may have strategic benefits.
foogazi 5y ago
> if woke culture is being enforced by China Don’t they mandate Chinese lead actors on movies filmed in China - regardless of merit > Diversity is not a primary factor for purchasing for the large majority of America or the world. Is the opposite true ? If they don’t care either way - does it matter? > The latest iteration of 'woke' Ghost busters is a prime example of how this can spectacularly backfire. Are you sure it failed because of its wokeness ? FWIW 2022 “woke” Dune did a lot better than 1984 white Dune

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

version_five 5y ago

I'd put it more positively, men, women, black, white, gay, straight whatever, everybody is equal - most people feel this way and don't give a shit about the irrelavant personal attributes of the actors. They want to see a good movie, period.

pupppet 5y ago
Lemme guess, you’re Caucasian. Imagine growing up and not seeing a single superhero who looks like you. It matters.
- version_five 5y ago
  I'm not going to make any assumptions about you, but when I was growing up (I'm 41), off the very top of my head, Samuel L Jackson was the essence of cool, Bruce Lee movies were awesome, Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) was an organically good action hero. My favorite movie for the last 25+ years is Bad Boys. I feel ridiculous even trying to go through movies to separate who is non-white which I guess you're after. It seems a more recent phenomenon that we've started to pretend that somehow movie heroes are all white (caucasian in whatever classification system you use) men, but that's a recent thing that came with the modern "progressive movement". I can't speak for your experience (or the experiences of others that maybe your imagining empathizing with), but in everything I've seen, we had a normal period where race etc didn't matter and then people decided to pretend it did again. I can't think of any instance in which the change has actually been for the better. People are more polarized than ever, nobody is actually getting treated better, and movies are worse. Also, FYI, your comment is racist garbage, how about leaving participants race out of the discussion instead of "lemme guess"ing,
  - pupppet 5y ago
    Yes you enjoyed Bruce Lee and Bad Boys because they were a novelty. Now ask yourself why were they a novelty. Because it's a medium full of white people. >Also, FYI, your comment is racist garbage, Not a stretch to assume someone who believes everyone else has the luxury of worrying about the same trivial things you do is white.
    - number6 5y ago
      May I ask, if you are not Caucasian, which I don't know if you are not, how watching movies, with a non diverse cast, affected you in your life and thinking?
- lostmsu 5y ago
  When I was growing up, my superheroes looked like chipmunks, ducks and turtles.
  - number6 5y ago
    And now we have furrys.
- dissent 5y ago
  By "looks like" you actually mean "shares superficial traits with".

duped 5y ago

Hollywood isn't dumb, they make creative decisions based on money. Ghostbusters may have been a flop, but Black Panther grossed $1.3 billion. There is a preponderance of evidence that more diverse cast and crew leads to higher profits, that's why studios do it. There are also the second order effects, where more diverse writing rooms, directors' chairs, and cast members leads to content that resonates with more people (rather than the traditional approach of creating content just for the average American)

version_five 5y ago
> There is a preponderance of evidence Where?
akvadrako 5y ago
They aren't dumb but there are also social pressures to conform which could influence their decision making just as much as success.

blululu 5y ago

Alternatively it becomes a play to thwart Chinese cultural ascendency. If you make a set of rules that a film’s cast an crew must have certain demographics which are only really attainable in the US, then it would exclude pretty much all East Asian cinema from winning best picture. Parasite won a few years back, but it could be made ineligible based on its homogeneous racial composition. It is hard to beat America when at a diversity contest, reframing the rules so that the contest is about diversity may have strategic benefits.

foogazi 5y ago

> if woke culture is being enforced by China Don’t they mandate Chinese lead actors on movies filmed in China - regardless of merit > Diversity is not a primary factor for purchasing for the large majority of America or the world. Is the opposite true ? If they don’t care either way - does it matter? > The latest iteration of 'woke' Ghost busters is a prime example of how this can spectacularly backfire. Are you sure it failed because of its wokeness ? FWIW 2022 “woke” Dune did a lot better than 1984 white Dune