Sep
13
Disney Learns ‘Go Woke, Go Broke’ Lesson… Maybe
As everyone knows, “wokeness” has pretty much taken over Big Entertainment, from Hollywood to pro sports to the Big Two comic book publishers, Marvel and DC.
This approach is manifest by such things as forced diversity and characters & plots pushing LGBT+, feminist attitudes, and other “social justice” talking points. The result has been widely-negative reviews by critics, frustrated and annoyed fans, actors/directors/producers blaming and/or insulting such fans, related activism by certain stars et al., and ultimately disappointing box-office returns. Yep. It turns out that most audiences don’t want to be preached to by the radical Left.
Unfortunately, much of Hollywood cares more about pushing certain agendas than about sticking to good (non-radical) stories and actually pleasing the fans, which is the best route to making money and staying in business. To wit, Universal recently doubled-down, as reported by The Daily Wire:
Universal Filmed Entertainment Group (UFEG) sent a memo to employees on Friday announcing the members of an “inclusion committee” that will shape the makeup and culture of the company, as well as the content it produces, according to a copy of the memo obtained by The Daily Wire.
UFEG is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal and includes the animation studio DreamWorks, the film studio Universal Pictures, as well as several other influential entertainment shops. The memo, which was sent to UFEG staff, as well as to the employees of its affiliates, outlined its push to “increase diversity, equity and inclusion” company-wide….
The memo said the company will focus on five “pillars” of their agenda of diversity and inclusion: workforce strategies and practices, culture and belonging, creative partners and storytelling, business partners and practices, and social transformation. The company says that it will begin making business and partnering decisions based off its goals of diversity and inclusion as well.”
There’s more, of course, but you get the drift.
Over at Disney, however, it seems that the higher-ups are finally getting the message. Last month, Youtuber ‘Doomc**k’ — who has been on-the-money with insider info in the past — relayed some information he got from a high-level source:
“According to a source that has been reliable in the past, the sh-t is about to hit the fan at Disney. I am told that getting the SJWs out of Disney is now priority one mandated by the sudden realization that sometimes cliches are cliches for a reason and a new understanding at the highest level that ‘get woke go broke’ is no longer just a slogan. Yes, you heard me right, as incredible as it sounds, my source boldly claims that Disney is now only concerned with one thing: profitability.
The proclamation is about to be sent out from on high to every corner of the enchanted kingdom: Disney is a for-profit business moving forward and from here on out the customer comes first. The woke party is over because the mouse is awakened with a terrible hangover and it’s a new day at Disney. My source tells me that huge policy changes are about to be made at Disney: Bad-mouthing fans no matter what they say or what side they are on will no longer be tolerated. That goes for everyone that works at Disney. Everyone. Including Brie Larson. Including the LucasFilm story group. And everyone that Kathleen Kennedy ever hired.”
Sounds promising. He goes on:
“I’ve been told explicitly that even someone like Brie Larson will no longer be able to work at Disney if she takes shots at fans. The slack attitude and tacit support implied by silence that emboldened these woke wonders to highjack a corporate message and subvert corporate profits is no more. The LucasFilm story group will no longer be empowered to humiliate Luke Skywalker to strike a blow against the patriarchy. No more will Nick Fury be humiliated by having a pet cat take out his eye. ‘Get woke go broke’ is a phrase that resonates with Disney now and positive changes are on the way if this leak is true.”
If only other studios, not to mention Marvel and DC Comics, would follow Disney’s example….
But, not everyone is so optimistic. Townhall‘s Scott Shepard, for instance, sees evidence at ESPN and ABC (both owned by Disney) that Disney’s move may not be as un-woke as we would like. He points to three recent incidents.
1) When a basketball player “hurled” a “racist slur” (including a possible “damaging” homophobic taunt) at a competitor, ESPN played it down, rather than responding with the usual ‘woke’ diatribe and demands. On the other hand, it was a Black player who insulted a white immigrant from Slovenia, calling him a “bitch-ass white boy”. Double-standard?
2) “Jemele Hill, who was once suspended at ESPN for throwing around Nazi references, recently went unchastened for calling the United States and its history and people morally comparable to that of Nazi Germany.”
3) “[H]istrionically woke talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel” apparently wore blackface on-air not long ago and was “suspended” for it. But, it turns out all he got was what amounted to “a summer vacation for his sin”, and he is now back at work at ABC.
Of course, these incidents occurred weeks or months before the rumored about-face by Disney was leaked. Unfortunately, they may reflect a deeper cancer than the supposedly pending changes would fix.
As Shepard points out,
“The metric by which to judge developments will be Disney’s workforce changes in coming months. The company “furloughed” vast numbers of workers in response to the lockdowns, while other industry players have shed waves of employees permanently. Suspicions are strong that Disney will follow suit soon. When it does, will it sack the SJWs who are killing its business, or will it fire on other grounds?”
Investors, employees, and audiences alike should all take note of how this plays out to see if Disney is serious about “shaking off their infatuation with at least the most petty and inane strands of wokeness.”
