Hollywood’s Backlash to “Wokeness”
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 23 November 2022
⏱️ 42 minutes
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Summary
Supposedly, things in Hollywood have been changing for women and people of color. After the #MeToo, #OscarsSoWhite, and Black Lives Matter movements, leaders in the entertainment industry promised a lot: new kinds of stories were going to be told, by newly diverse writers, showrunners, and casts. In short, Hollywood’s long history of sexism and discrimination was going to be “reckoned” with. But, as studios have shifted with changing social expectations, there’s been talk of a backlash within Hollywood. Actors and studio execs, who were previously worried about getting “cancelled” by their progressive fans, have expressed feelings of “fatigue.” In a wide-ranging conversation about politics, entertainment, and social media, Doreen St. Félix, a staff writer who was previously The New Yorker’s television critic, offers some perspective on the current mood in Hollywood and what makes for good art.
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| 1:20.1 | Welcome to the political scene, a show about current events and the political forces driving them. |
| 1:23.2 | I'm Tyler Foggett, a senior editor at The New Yorker. |
| 1:30.1 | Supposedly, things in Hollywood have been changing for women and for people of color. After the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements, leaders in the entertainment industry promised a lot. New kinds of |
| 1:35.5 | stories were going to be told by newly diverse, writers, showrunners, and casts. In short, |
| 1:41.8 | Hollywood's long history of sexism and discrimination was going to be reckoned with. |
| 1:47.1 | But, as studios have shifted with changing social expectations, there's been talk of a backlash within Hollywood. |
| 1:54.0 | Actors and studio execs, who were previously worried about getting cancelled by their progressive fans fans have expressed feelings of fatigue. |
| 2:02.0 | My colleague, Doreen St. Felix, a staff writer who was previously the New Yorker's television |
| 2:06.2 | critic, has spent a lot of time thinking about the culture war, entertainment, and politics. |
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