If We Go “Woke”, Is The Movie “Broke”?
If I am completely honest, I don’t get the whole “woke movement” and that’s not only because I am old, out of touch, and clueless to social convention.
My confounded confusion mostly stems from the fact that I am an artist and a firm believer in satire and harmless forms of self expression, even when applied to my own. There are a billion people plus who hail from India and refer to it as the subcontinent. I know how jokes are made about our accents and it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. There, I said it.
Hey, I’ve heard the so called inflammatory Indian accents on everybody from Howard Wolwitz ribbing his sidekick (and some say, real/reel love interest) Raj Koothrappali with his dopey inflections on The Big Bang Theory to Apu completing a transaction on The Simpsons to Sir Ben Kingsley’s clipped yet posh Indian accent during his star making turn as Mahatma himself in Gandhi. But, it never offended me whereas today’s armchair critics/woke brigade would take umbrage for Sir Ben even being offered the big screen role of the champion of India’s independence, arguing a white man in brown face is not acceptable. Just to set that record straight: he, like me, is of partial Indian descent, so that’s good enough for us. The whole point is I have laughed about what some consider offensive and I have perceived it as satire. Perhaps, I was part of an ignorant movie going public for too long. One thing I didn’t and don’t do when the Muslim is the terrorist on screen, when the German was deemed the Nazi sympathizer, when the black man portrayed as thug to the Italian’s goombah or Mafioso? I didn’t re write or challenge another person’s perception of their art in protest. Why would I? This is still America and as long as we are not shouting “fire” in The Staples Center, what’s wrong with self expression not designed as anything to hurt or demonize, but just to reflect our own perceptions?
Which brings me back to the question: if we go “woke”, is the movie “broke”? I, for one, am of the opinion, it’s not. Let me better explain.
If we start to censor a person’s right to self expression, are we any different than countries say like Iran or North Korea who follow the same thinking to devastating effect like imprisonment? In some other Asian countries, you could be prosecuted should you even choose to voice a political opinion in a tweet or a post. If that’s the environment where we pen our art, who would feel safe within their craft to write haiku, let alone a memoir or a television pilot? If some entity was censoring the comedic stylings of a Larry David or Ricky Gervais, what content could Netflix or other streaming services provide that resonate over decades the way Seinfeld and The Office do? Forget about Curb Your Enthusiasm; it wouldn’t see the light of day. Larry David is an equal opportunity offender for the sake of comedy, taking aim with his acerbic pen against everyone from Jews to podiatrists clad in questionable undergarments (Josh Gad’s character raised his arms to reveal underwear that had holes the size of the arguments the woke brigade make for canceling something)
Gone With The Wind reflects a time in American history about which we should collectively be ashamed. Slavery is never acceptable, yes it is an unfortunate, irrefutable stain on the fabric of our history. Yet, Hattie McDaniel as Mammy won her an Oscar for her memorable portrayal and I’m glad I saw it. In fact, I wish there were actual memorable and thoughtful movies that reflect the horrors of the Japanese internment camps during World War 2. You think those poor people didn’t have stories to share about the horrors of being imprisoned for being Americans of Japanese descent?
IMDB (The Movie DataBase) known as an industry standard actually provides a list of non-woke movies and TV shows. Yellowstone and Blue Bloods made the list. Does that me we should cancel Kevin Costner (some have already like his wife) and revisit Tom Selleck’s turn as Magnum PI to see if there was something that offended besides the red sports car and the mustache? Is Netflix considering a “T” label for it’s content, which could signify triggering, traumatic, terrible for those who crave a world where everything is politically correct?
I’m not suggesting that writers and producers should not be looking to somebody other than an Arab to be the proverbial bad guy. That’s reductive, tired, and unfair. Like, come on already. I’m just saying how about movies where Mahmoud is the good guy? How about satire where he can laugh at himself and hummus? Jo Koy, the comedian, does that and dare I admit it? I laughed out loud at his explanation of Asian accents and how to differentiate when a Vietnamese person speaks versus a Korean. I’m a big fan of Dave Chappelle and have no hard feelings towards the late Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers for their numerous offerings of films about The Pink Panther. That was their artistic expression, which was their celluloid choice. And guess what? Their choices don’t speak to me about my perceptions about myself.
Indian people do, on occasion, have thick accents. They’re also the most educated immigrant group in America and have surpassed China in terms of population growth, so The Kama Sutra can’t be all bad. So, go ahead, make fun. We as well as our beloved Gandhi G know how to chortle in the face of humor directed at us. And in ignorance? We laugh even louder.