Bob Iger Was Right

Entertainment

Bob Iger was right – the word “woke” doesn’t mean what his critics may think it does.

If you had told me ten years ago about how some new movie or video game was “woke,” I would have been like, “You speakin’ Chinese to me, bruh?” But deep down, I’d know what you meant. Today, it’s a term used as a negative descriptor. I imagine, though, that at some point in the last five years, it was a much cooler term. Someone might say something like: “Don’t worry; he’s cool. He’s woke.” Then, a sigh of relief would probably pass. That’s not the world we live in today, and luckily for anyone reading this, my use of the English language has grown up a little (very tiny bit).

Definition of woke:

1. a simple past tense of wake
2. having or marked by an active awareness of systemic injustices and prejudices, especially those involving the treatment of ethnic, racial, or sexual minorities
3. Disparaging, as used by political opponents, of or relating to a liberal progressive orthodoxy
   

Unfortunately for some, the social meaning of this term has passed the point of no return. Now, if your friend tells you that that new game you have been excited for is woke, it’s a great disappointment. It’s no longer a cool young term to entice people who are unaware to its causes, some of which are worth fighting for, no doubt. The nature of raising awareness for these causes is the same reason why people are shying away from anything even giving the smallest hint of it being woke. Most people just want to be entertained. Most people prefer escapism. Instead of using more practical tactics, they’ve smashed their ideas (usually in disguise) over everyone’s heads. The tactics they have chosen are more like those of a child – a child who has always received participation trophies and has never had to experience any real-world consequences or discipline of any kind.

If there’s one thing we learned from GamerGate, it’s that gamers aren’t afraid to (loudly) call out bullshit. Your everyday gamer doesn’t care if games have women in them. They aren’t bothered at all if there are black people in them, and they don’t care if there are black women in them. They also aren’t bothered if there are gay people in them. This is not why so many gamers (the customers) have taken notice, especially after considering that the customer bought the game knowing it had gay black women in it. They’re not upset because of who’s in the game; they’re upset because of what’s not in the game: entertainment worthy of the customer’s money.

I understand that most gamers just want to have fun playing their game, and that is usually by means of escapism. I also understand that some people feel like they have been ignored by the gaming industry because they do not feel represented in the games they play. This definitely creates a market for such a thing. That doesn’t mean that these two things, escapism and representation, can’t be combined into one game.

I always loved playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (back in the day). They could have easily designed a character that was a gay black female in a wheelchair. Instead of a character on a skateboard, it would be the gay black female in a wheelchair skating her wheelchair. BOOM! That sounds like a fun game where gay black females in wheelchairs are represented, and I can still escape into having fun.

Most men don’t care if women have strong leading roles. A few movies come to mind: A Few Good Men, Silence of the Lambs, Aliens, Jackie Brown – all super badass movies with strong leading female characters. Most men also don’t care if black people have strong leading roles or even all of the roles. Boyz n the Hood is a great movie. Not only are there barely any white people in it, but I’m pretty sure they also make a couple of white people jokes. Nobody was making a big fuss about any of that; they were praising it because it was a great and very entertaining movie.

Why did the shows Velma and True Detective: Night Country (I will never call that season 4 of True Detective; gtfooh) suck sooooo bad? In my opinion, because they sucked. The writing sucked, the direction sucked, and they just really sucked hard in general. I don’t think they sucked so hard because they were woke. I think they just sucked. Take any show, movie, video game, etc., in the last five years and ask yourself (if you even care enough to remember any of them), why did they suck? Were they woke, and that’s why they sucked? Or was it that they just sucked and also happened to be woke? I think it’s the latter. Maybe it’s just me; I’ve watched shows and movies that I thought were OK but didn’t necessarily suck and later heard critics and reviewers talk about how woke they were.

My biggest complaint with woke ideology is when it becomes oppressive, which it most certainly has. People have lost their jobs and suffered attempted canceling because they wouldn’t agree with their employer’s ideology 100%. Woke social media mobs have gone after people for just not agreeing with them, not posting a certain color square, or not donating to certain causes. Woke college student mobs have gotten professors fired because that professor said something offensive. There have been riots and businesses burned down. Now for some specific examples:

• “Software VP Fired For Using ‘Assigned By God’ As Preferred Pronoun”
• “Toronto Blue Jays pitcher cut after showing support for Target, Bud Light boycotts” 
• “Academic Journal Editor Faces Cancel Attempt For Allowing Debate On Transgenderism”
• “Woke Marvel Eliminates The Punisher Due To ‘Problematic’ Conservative Fan Base”
• “Little Mermaid Negative Reviews Spurs IMDB Rating System Change”
• “Smith College Drops Use Of Word ‘Field’ As Racially Insensitive”
• “Waking Up Early Is White Supremacy”

Nobody would be complaining about content being woke if it were more entertaining, or sometimes, entertaining at all. Nobody would be researching and finding the worst of these ideologues if they didn’t first notice the pattern of so many things sucking and, most of all, being completely hated by the same people. (Most content producers don’t publicly hate their customers.) The term “woke” wouldn’t be the COVID vaccine of a word that it has become if said material didn’t give any reason to make it so. The best way to spread “the message,” or any message, really, is with comedy (and not hating your customer). If you can make a point at the same time you make someone laugh, it is more likely to land home.

Bob Iger was right – the word “woke” doesn’t mean what his critics may think it does.

The word “woke” has become synonymous with the word “sucks.” When some Chad or Sue on the internets is complaining that the new movie with some other Chad in it is woke, they’re really just saying it sucks. The movie doesn’t suck because it’s woke, and it’s not woke because it sucks. The movie (most likely) simultaneously is woke and sucks, but this isn’t always the case. Movies can suck without being woke, and movies can be woke and not suck. At least, I keep telling myself that. Or, at least, maybe not?

Eventually, the word “woke” will mean about the same as “boomer” does now.

So, the two main lessons we have learned today are:

1. Nobody would have ever cared about woke ideology in entertainment if it was entertaining and not oppressive.
2. Don’t fuck with gamers.

“You should spend less time in a state of resistance making up problems for yourself.” –Eliot Bezzerides.