4 ms·

> Everyone agrees that Netflix is woke, the disagreement is weather wokeness is good or bad. This is factually wrong. I never even knew that there was a conve

> Everyone agrees that Netflix is woke, the disagreement is weather wokeness is good or bad. This is factually wrong. I never even knew that there was a conversation about wokeness and Netflix. And I still don't understand why. Netflix just streams videos? Is this about the content they make/license or about their corporate/employee culture? People who are pro/anti wokeness I think spend a lot more time thinking about this stuff than everyone else does.

exdsq 5y ago
> Netflix just streams videos They make a lot of content too
- kenjackson 5y ago
  The make content they don't stream, but license it elsewhere?
  - ThunderSizzle 5y ago
    How does that have anything to do with wokeness? It'd pretty obvious Netflix is woke by their original content. It also tends to be boring now.
    - kenjackson 5y ago
      Because of originals like Return to Space, Fyre, and Formula 1? Sen..si..tive.
      - exdsq 5y ago
        I'm not saying it's woke or not woke, I doubt anyone could agree on one definition, but I think it's clear people talking about Netflix "being woke" are saying this because of the original content they create.
native_samples 5y ago
Everyone agrees that the word "everyone" in discussions is not be taken literally. Citation not needed. Netflix is extremely woke. If you doubt this, go watch Bridgerton (playing on my TV right now) and observe how half the people in regency England, including the Queen, are now black. Then go watch Manifest, and observe that in the final episodes one of the characters suddenly starts talking about how the government is "putting people in cages", quite out of the blue. That's just the last two shows watched in my household. Manifest isn't as woke as Bridgerton but ... let's just say none of the characters are suddenly espousing the wisdom of Adam Smith.
- philosopher1234 5y ago
  > Bridgerton (playing on my TV right now) and observe how half the people in regency England, including the Queen, are now black. Do you also get mad when the characters speak in modern english, or is that just fine? Is it woke, or are you sensitive to race?
  - baq 5y ago
    what? in the history of England, the United Kingdom and the whole Commonwealth there has not been a single instance of a king or queen being anything other than - here comes the dreaded word - white. what's the point of making them black? coming from Eastern Europe, it's like you made John Paul II black - or any of the patriarchs of Eastern Christian Churches. you can do it, but it's so far offbeat it isn't even funny. in the US, I guess you could make Lincoln, Washington and Reagan black. they just weren't.
    - PascLeRasc 5y ago
      It's a modern reimagining of the regency environment. If you pay attention you'll notice that most of the soundtrack are covers of pop songs.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > in the history of England, the United Kingdom and the whole Commonwealth there has not been a single instance of a king or queen being anything other than - here comes the dreaded word - white. This is, in fact, (while completely beside the point) wrong. There are several non-white Kings and Queens in the history of the Commonwealth; e.g., Mswati III of the Kingdom of Eswatini. > what's the point of making them black? What's the point of alternate history and historically-inspired fantasy? That's a kind of big question. Do you literally think every film or show should simply depict life literally exactly how it actually occurred at some time in the past? > in the US, I guess you could make Lincoln, Washington and Reagan black. Or make Lincoln a vampire hunter. (Of course, there isn't a long history of rumors that Lincoln actually was a vampire hunter taking as their starting point a too-literal reading of contemporary descriptions probably meant as throw-away insults.) The complaints about Bridgerton seem to be highly-selective blindness to the entire concept that overtly fictional entertainment is typically something other than an exact recreation of history. (And/or assertion that race is somehow a uniquely unacceptable thing to fictionalize for unspecified reasons.)
ceeplusplus 5y ago
> Netflix just streams videos? Netflix funds content. Netflix licenses content and has a say on how future content from that IP is produced. They are not just a streaming platform. When you look at every new show as of late you see themes commonly associated with wokeness. Replacing characters with "BIPOC" (I hate this term) when adapting from source material when it clearly seems out of place. Mixing in subtle commentary about immigration, healthcare, "hate" speech, etc. Women are always the strong saviors, men are always the aggressive out of control beasts or they're docile homemakers. You can see it in pretty much every show. Witcher Season 1/2 (immigration, replacing characters, men/women tropes), House of Cards Season 6 (all of the above), Altered Carbon, etc.
- jakubmazanec 5y ago
  How you read The Witcher book series? The Netflix show didn't make up the themes you mention
  - roguecoder 5y ago
    Altered Carbon too: if anything they downplayed its themes of the ridiculousness of bigotry. Unless they were only going to adapt actual fascists like Campbell, it is impossible to create science fiction without questioning the premises our society is based on. That's sort of the whole point of the genre. If one considers science fiction "woke" that says more about the person watching than it does about the company making Hillbilly Elegy and Cobra Kai and The Crown.
    - ceeplusplus 5y ago
      Westworld manages to make it work. Plenty of science fiction films like Interstellar make it work. Hell, Black Mirror's entire point is social commentary yet it doesn't feel woke. > questioning the premises our society is based on There's a difference between doing this in a way that also tells a coherent story and one that just forces themes that don't exist into the story. One of those things is woke and the other one is not.
- prawn 5y ago

exdsq 5y ago

> Netflix just streams videos They make a lot of content too

kenjackson 5y ago
The make content they don't stream, but license it elsewhere?
- ThunderSizzle 5y ago
  How does that have anything to do with wokeness? It'd pretty obvious Netflix is woke by their original content. It also tends to be boring now.
  - kenjackson 5y ago
    Because of originals like Return to Space, Fyre, and Formula 1? Sen..si..tive.
    - exdsq 5y ago
      I'm not saying it's woke or not woke, I doubt anyone could agree on one definition, but I think it's clear people talking about Netflix "being woke" are saying this because of the original content they create.

native_samples 5y ago

Everyone agrees that the word "everyone" in discussions is not be taken literally. Citation not needed. Netflix is extremely woke. If you doubt this, go watch Bridgerton (playing on my TV right now) and observe how half the people in regency England, including the Queen, are now black. Then go watch Manifest, and observe that in the final episodes one of the characters suddenly starts talking about how the government is "putting people in cages", quite out of the blue. That's just the last two shows watched in my household. Manifest isn't as woke as Bridgerton but ... let's just say none of the characters are suddenly espousing the wisdom of Adam Smith.

philosopher1234 5y ago
> Bridgerton (playing on my TV right now) and observe how half the people in regency England, including the Queen, are now black. Do you also get mad when the characters speak in modern english, or is that just fine? Is it woke, or are you sensitive to race?
- baq 5y ago
  what? in the history of England, the United Kingdom and the whole Commonwealth there has not been a single instance of a king or queen being anything other than - here comes the dreaded word - white. what's the point of making them black? coming from Eastern Europe, it's like you made John Paul II black - or any of the patriarchs of Eastern Christian Churches. you can do it, but it's so far offbeat it isn't even funny. in the US, I guess you could make Lincoln, Washington and Reagan black. they just weren't.
  - PascLeRasc 5y ago
    It's a modern reimagining of the regency environment. If you pay attention you'll notice that most of the soundtrack are covers of pop songs.
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > in the history of England, the United Kingdom and the whole Commonwealth there has not been a single instance of a king or queen being anything other than - here comes the dreaded word - white. This is, in fact, (while completely beside the point) wrong. There are several non-white Kings and Queens in the history of the Commonwealth; e.g., Mswati III of the Kingdom of Eswatini. > what's the point of making them black? What's the point of alternate history and historically-inspired fantasy? That's a kind of big question. Do you literally think every film or show should simply depict life literally exactly how it actually occurred at some time in the past? > in the US, I guess you could make Lincoln, Washington and Reagan black. Or make Lincoln a vampire hunter. (Of course, there isn't a long history of rumors that Lincoln actually was a vampire hunter taking as their starting point a too-literal reading of contemporary descriptions probably meant as throw-away insults.) The complaints about Bridgerton seem to be highly-selective blindness to the entire concept that overtly fictional entertainment is typically something other than an exact recreation of history. (And/or assertion that race is somehow a uniquely unacceptable thing to fictionalize for unspecified reasons.)

ceeplusplus 5y ago

> Netflix just streams videos? Netflix funds content. Netflix licenses content and has a say on how future content from that IP is produced. They are not just a streaming platform. When you look at every new show as of late you see themes commonly associated with wokeness. Replacing characters with "BIPOC" (I hate this term) when adapting from source material when it clearly seems out of place. Mixing in subtle commentary about immigration, healthcare, "hate" speech, etc. Women are always the strong saviors, men are always the aggressive out of control beasts or they're docile homemakers. You can see it in pretty much every show. Witcher Season 1/2 (immigration, replacing characters, men/women tropes), House of Cards Season 6 (all of the above), Altered Carbon, etc.

jakubmazanec 5y ago
How you read The Witcher book series? The Netflix show didn't make up the themes you mention
- roguecoder 5y ago
  Altered Carbon too: if anything they downplayed its themes of the ridiculousness of bigotry. Unless they were only going to adapt actual fascists like Campbell, it is impossible to create science fiction without questioning the premises our society is based on. That's sort of the whole point of the genre. If one considers science fiction "woke" that says more about the person watching than it does about the company making Hillbilly Elegy and Cobra Kai and The Crown.
  - ceeplusplus 5y ago
    Westworld manages to make it work. Plenty of science fiction films like Interstellar make it work. Hell, Black Mirror's entire point is social commentary yet it doesn't feel woke. > questioning the premises our society is based on There's a difference between doing this in a way that also tells a coherent story and one that just forces themes that don't exist into the story. One of those things is woke and the other one is not.
prawn 5y ago