strange headache
Banned
So I've stumbled upon this very interesting article on Bari Weiss' website about Hollywood's new club rules. The article essentially summarizes the rise of wokeness and how it leads to a new group mentality that is specifically designed to ostracize certain demographics from the creative process. It's a long read, but here are the main points:
New guidelines outright ban certain movies from getting nominated for an Oscar, artificially restricting what stories can even be told. Not only that, diversity quotas are heavily enforced and monopolized in order to decide who gets hired and who is getting the boot.
Hollywood has manifested a new culture of fear that can be levied against anybody, anytime for any reason. People are afraid of speaking their minds which in turn can only damage Hollywood's creative output.
The new diversity quotes are being used to reinforce Hollywood's club mentality by heavily favoring identity and group think.
Finally, Hollywood is uprooting itself by shunning its classics in the name of woke.
Some of these points are nothing new, but it's nice to see a well sourced article that puts it all neatly together like that.
So, in September 2020, the Academy launched its Representation and Inclusion Standards Entry platform (or RAISE). For a movie to qualify for Best Picture, producers not only had to register detailed personal information about everyone involved in the making of that movie, but the movie had to meet two of the Academy’s four diversity standards—touching on everything from on-screen representation to creative leadership. (An Academy spokesperson said “only select staff” would have access to data collected on the platform.)
New guidelines outright ban certain movies from getting nominated for an Oscar, artificially restricting what stories can even be told. Not only that, diversity quotas are heavily enforced and monopolized in order to decide who gets hired and who is getting the boot.
To help producers meet the new standards, the filmmaker Ava DuVernay—who was recently added to Forbes’ list of “The Most Powerful Women in Entertainment” along with Oprah Winfrey and Taylor Swift—last year created ARRAY Crew, a database of women, people of color, and others from underrepresented groups who work on day-to-day production: line producers, camera operators, art directors, sound mixers and so on. The Hollywood Reporter declared that ARRAY Crew has “fundamentally changed how Hollywood productions will be staffed going forward.”
Hollywood has manifested a new culture of fear that can be levied against anybody, anytime for any reason. People are afraid of speaking their minds which in turn can only damage Hollywood's creative output.
“Everyone has gone so underground with their true feelings about things,” said Mike White, the writer and director behind the hit HBO comedy-drama “The White Lotus.” “If you voice things in a certain way it can really have negative repercussions for you, and people can presume that you could be racist, or you could be seen as misogynist.”
The new diversity quotes are being used to reinforce Hollywood's club mentality by heavily favoring identity and group think.
Howard Koch, who has been involved in the production of more than 60 movies, including such classics as “Chinatown” and “Marathon Man,” and is the former president of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, said: “I’m all for LGBT and Native Americans, blacks, females, whatever minorities that have not been served correctly in the making of content, whether it’s television or movies or whatever, but I think it’s gone too far. I know a lot of very talented people that can’t get work because they’re not black, Native American, female or LGBTQ.”
Finally, Hollywood is uprooting itself by shunning its classics in the name of woke.
Movies and shows that were once widely acclaimed but are now verboten, writers and directors said, included “Blazing Saddles,” even though it was co-written by Richard Pryor; “The Bad News Bears,” even though it featured a multiracial cast; “Tootsie,” because transgender activists; and “Rocky” (“bad guy CANNOT be black,” a director explained in an email). Nor would “The Wizard of Oz” get greenlit. (“The munchkins? Forget it,” the director said). Nor would “All in the Family,” probably the most influential show of the 1970s. (“Archie Bunker”—the main character—“is basically a Trump voter,” a producer explained.) “South Park,” which debuted in 1997, has been grandfathered in. “Otherwise, no way,” another producer said.
Some of these points are nothing new, but it's nice to see a well sourced article that puts it all neatly together like that.