It’s beyond parody. It’s ACTING for Christ Sakes. This new Woke concept that writers can only write from their own ‘pigment perception’ (whatever the fuck that even means), actors can only act Re same, etc: How is this not racist? Not to mention counterproductive and stupid? Isn’t the point of fiction, film, art etc to use your IMAGINATION??? How did we get here, to this bizarre Orwellian grotesquerie?
Yet, as always, it only goes in one direction. No one seems to complain when female authors put things out with male characters. If we were to use their logic, this should be beyond the pale. How can, say, Spike Lee write a White character's lines following that same logic?
Again, it goes back in my view to the NSDAP roots of this movement. All Aryan parts must be played by Aryans. All Jewish parts must also be played by Aryans because we can't have Jews on the same stage as Aryans. These people seem to have no conception of the road they're blissfully ambling down.
Right. Because this stems from the Marxist fringe left. They all had Foucault shoved down their throats. Everything in their mind is about power dynamics. So white men = evil; everyone else = good. A lurid, Manichaean attitude which is grotesque, loathsome and sad.
And then they grafted NSDAP racial fixations onto the whole mess. As far as I'm concerned they left any Marxist pretensions behind the exact second they made everything about race.
I agree. I have a socialist friend who left his socialist club cause younger woke people joined and were trying really hard to shift the narrative from class to race.
And that's why I focus on the NSDAP. I don't think some of them have enough experience (or possibly actual education) to see where this path ends. Class is at least somewhat understandable and mutable. Race in their minds is a fixed element that automatically defines who you are for all eternity without any sort of shading or individualism. Change a few words (and often only one or two) and many woke slogans could come right out of the NSDAP's propaganda playbook. Letting them hide behind the left-wing or Marxist labels both gives them too much credit and deflects too much of the danger of what they're trying to do.
There were no claims of cultural appropriation when Denzel Washington played Macbeth, a play about a white Scottish nobleman written by a white Englishman.
Would minority actors really be better off if they were precluded from any Shakespeare roles other than Othello?
Of course not, although you could argue that Macbeth is a fantasy figure. The real question is when historical figures are played by someone who clearly looks nothing like them, like the recent Anne Boleyn portrayal by Jodie Turner-Smith, who has deep black skin.
Interestingly, an onstage version of the life of Martin Luther King in 2015 was cast with alternating lead actors, one white, one black. Needless to say, the usual suspects went wild about it. Interesting idea, however.
I have no problem with Turner-Smith playing Anne Boleyn. Colour is not necessarily a barrier to the reality of a performance. Age and gender would be. I get the historical accuracy argument, too. The question is whether one can suspend disbelief. We’re talking about drama here, historical fiction, not fact, and liberties are taken as a matter of course. If we can just settle on what acting is about, not on diversity points, we’ll be better off.
"you could argue that Macbeth is a fantasy figure" but you could not argue that Scottish nobility portrayed in play are all white men and women and that significant questions of alliance and loyalty would have arisen had any of them had other ethnicity
Hollywood has been slowly transforming from that cool, rebellious Aunt who flouts the rules and lives life on her terms to the zealot cousin that you pray not to get seated next to.
If Hollywood insists on preaching ideology, it should offer discount tickets - why should I pay full price to be sermonized. Especially since Hollywood's "grace" does not extend to the shy and to the unattractive ...
I compare those church goers to the woke folks who attend charity concerts ... with proceeds going to some cause - after deducting (considerable) expenses. They had to pay for celeb travel, accommodations, swag, and, of course, limousines. The fans get autotune renditions of "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
Meanwhile the producers and event organizers fatten their bank accounts... like TV evangelists.
"Don't ask why the preacher needs himself a new car. Don't ask!" - From "Don't be a Menace..." if you don't recognize it. "Don't ask why the diversity evangelist needs a big mansion. Don't ask!" And if you do ask, you're a racist who's part of the problem.
Don't ask why a leader of the anti-racist movement charges thousands of dollars per hour to come speak about how capitalism is intertwined with racism and how _you_ can fix it. Don't ask.
Great article and the push for political correctness has also driven the lack of success of movies and TV today. People are tuning out over political correctness. Everything is being re-done to make it fit another minority class or a political goal. How many times can you see the same thing, just with a different ethnic version?
Destroying everything is what the Liberals and complainers do. Fault in everything. How about just doing as Justo implies, just make decent movies and TV and pick the best performer for it. TV and movies have become actually un-watchable based on political correctness. But eventually failing revenue will make corrections.
A key point here: those who complain the loudest are NOT the creative types - or at least not successful creative types. It is the same in academia: those who are loudest in lambasting historical figures, authors, musicians, etc have not built anything of worth - all they do is point out imperfections in the deeds (and characters) of those who do create and build. People like that are so tiresome. (A colleague pointed out to me that going to a science museum with a real scientist can be exciting but going to a concert with a music professor usually sucks)
So exhausted by this endless stream of divisive and fascist bullying. Waiting for this to all end with the recognition that there is no "end game" for these angry, insecure, virtue signaling, cultified and indoctrinated misanthropes. The less I engross myself in these issues the happier I am.
Franco has Portuguese (from Madeira) heritage from his father. That sounds pretty Latin to me. I suppose it isn't Hispanic in the same way a Brazilian wouldn't count as Hispanic, but it's still pretty close. Castro himself had a father from Spain and was pretty light-skinned.
Ha ha, just checked out a map and found that Madiera is quite close to the Canary Islands, which is where Castro's mother hails from. Ethnically, Franco is a pretty good match for the part.
I have also noticed that those without talent, desire, and willingness to be better and improve do complain the most. I hear lots of, if, had it not been, or if I wanted as excuses. Never I am bound and determined to do what is needed. That makes it difficult and they just aren’t into that.
I am reading a pertinent book titled "Dupes: How America's Adversaries have Manipulated American Progressives for a Century" by Paul Kengor, PhD. A couple of his chapters focus on the infiltration of Hollywood by communists since the 1920s. American communists and their supporters, acting at the behest of the USSR and other adversaries, have long inserted bits of communist propaganda in many Hollywood screenplays so as to gradually indoctrinate Americans. Today's woke issues you discuss are part of this ongoing effort by American communists to use Hollywood as an indoctrination machine. Focusing on group identity instead of individual merit is a feature of cultural Marxism. Culture, culture, culture is the focus of today's Marxists, as I explain in my "2026" Substack at 2026.substack.com.
This essay is much too logical, reasoned and well argued. No one is going to be persuaded by intelligence and fair mindedness. (You know I’m being facetious, right?)
Spot on. Yes to consciousness around inclusion. No to painting each of us into an essentialist box. This is a very poor short term strategy which is going to create problems for everyone in the long term. Not a sustainable approach to DEI.
It’s beyond parody. It’s ACTING for Christ Sakes. This new Woke concept that writers can only write from their own ‘pigment perception’ (whatever the fuck that even means), actors can only act Re same, etc: How is this not racist? Not to mention counterproductive and stupid? Isn’t the point of fiction, film, art etc to use your IMAGINATION??? How did we get here, to this bizarre Orwellian grotesquerie?
Michael Mohr
‘Sincere American Writing’
https://michaelmohr.substack.com/
Yet, as always, it only goes in one direction. No one seems to complain when female authors put things out with male characters. If we were to use their logic, this should be beyond the pale. How can, say, Spike Lee write a White character's lines following that same logic?
Again, it goes back in my view to the NSDAP roots of this movement. All Aryan parts must be played by Aryans. All Jewish parts must also be played by Aryans because we can't have Jews on the same stage as Aryans. These people seem to have no conception of the road they're blissfully ambling down.
Right. Because this stems from the Marxist fringe left. They all had Foucault shoved down their throats. Everything in their mind is about power dynamics. So white men = evil; everyone else = good. A lurid, Manichaean attitude which is grotesque, loathsome and sad.
And then they grafted NSDAP racial fixations onto the whole mess. As far as I'm concerned they left any Marxist pretensions behind the exact second they made everything about race.
I agree. I have a socialist friend who left his socialist club cause younger woke people joined and were trying really hard to shift the narrative from class to race.
And that's why I focus on the NSDAP. I don't think some of them have enough experience (or possibly actual education) to see where this path ends. Class is at least somewhat understandable and mutable. Race in their minds is a fixed element that automatically defines who you are for all eternity without any sort of shading or individualism. Change a few words (and often only one or two) and many woke slogans could come right out of the NSDAP's propaganda playbook. Letting them hide behind the left-wing or Marxist labels both gives them too much credit and deflects too much of the danger of what they're trying to do.
There were no claims of cultural appropriation when Denzel Washington played Macbeth, a play about a white Scottish nobleman written by a white Englishman.
Would minority actors really be better off if they were precluded from any Shakespeare roles other than Othello?
Of course not, although you could argue that Macbeth is a fantasy figure. The real question is when historical figures are played by someone who clearly looks nothing like them, like the recent Anne Boleyn portrayal by Jodie Turner-Smith, who has deep black skin.
Interestingly, an onstage version of the life of Martin Luther King in 2015 was cast with alternating lead actors, one white, one black. Needless to say, the usual suspects went wild about it. Interesting idea, however.
Fidel Castro was the Cuban born son of a Spanish immigrant and thus can be accurately portrayed physically by any white man, including Falco.
I have no problem with Turner-Smith playing Anne Boleyn. Colour is not necessarily a barrier to the reality of a performance. Age and gender would be. I get the historical accuracy argument, too. The question is whether one can suspend disbelief. We’re talking about drama here, historical fiction, not fact, and liberties are taken as a matter of course. If we can just settle on what acting is about, not on diversity points, we’ll be better off.
"you could argue that Macbeth is a fantasy figure" but you could not argue that Scottish nobility portrayed in play are all white men and women and that significant questions of alliance and loyalty would have arisen had any of them had other ethnicity
See my comment above 👆
Hollywood has been slowly transforming from that cool, rebellious Aunt who flouts the rules and lives life on her terms to the zealot cousin that you pray not to get seated next to.
If Hollywood insists on preaching ideology, it should offer discount tickets - why should I pay full price to be sermonized. Especially since Hollywood's "grace" does not extend to the shy and to the unattractive ...
Then again--religious people pay good bread for church sermons. But I take your point ❤️🔥🔥
I compare those church goers to the woke folks who attend charity concerts ... with proceeds going to some cause - after deducting (considerable) expenses. They had to pay for celeb travel, accommodations, swag, and, of course, limousines. The fans get autotune renditions of "Do They Know It's Christmas?"
Meanwhile the producers and event organizers fatten their bank accounts... like TV evangelists.
"Don't ask why the preacher needs himself a new car. Don't ask!" - From "Don't be a Menace..." if you don't recognize it. "Don't ask why the diversity evangelist needs a big mansion. Don't ask!" And if you do ask, you're a racist who's part of the problem.
Don't ask why a leader of the anti-racist movement charges thousands of dollars per hour to come speak about how capitalism is intertwined with racism and how _you_ can fix it. Don't ask.
Thank you for sharing this with us
Exceptionally well-written and reasoned article.
Great article and the push for political correctness has also driven the lack of success of movies and TV today. People are tuning out over political correctness. Everything is being re-done to make it fit another minority class or a political goal. How many times can you see the same thing, just with a different ethnic version?
Destroying everything is what the Liberals and complainers do. Fault in everything. How about just doing as Justo implies, just make decent movies and TV and pick the best performer for it. TV and movies have become actually un-watchable based on political correctness. But eventually failing revenue will make corrections.
A key point here: those who complain the loudest are NOT the creative types - or at least not successful creative types. It is the same in academia: those who are loudest in lambasting historical figures, authors, musicians, etc have not built anything of worth - all they do is point out imperfections in the deeds (and characters) of those who do create and build. People like that are so tiresome. (A colleague pointed out to me that going to a science museum with a real scientist can be exciting but going to a concert with a music professor usually sucks)
So exhausted by this endless stream of divisive and fascist bullying. Waiting for this to all end with the recognition that there is no "end game" for these angry, insecure, virtue signaling, cultified and indoctrinated misanthropes. The less I engross myself in these issues the happier I am.
Franco has Portuguese (from Madeira) heritage from his father. That sounds pretty Latin to me. I suppose it isn't Hispanic in the same way a Brazilian wouldn't count as Hispanic, but it's still pretty close. Castro himself had a father from Spain and was pretty light-skinned.
Ha ha, just checked out a map and found that Madiera is quite close to the Canary Islands, which is where Castro's mother hails from. Ethnically, Franco is a pretty good match for the part.
I have also noticed that those without talent, desire, and willingness to be better and improve do complain the most. I hear lots of, if, had it not been, or if I wanted as excuses. Never I am bound and determined to do what is needed. That makes it difficult and they just aren’t into that.
I am reading a pertinent book titled "Dupes: How America's Adversaries have Manipulated American Progressives for a Century" by Paul Kengor, PhD. A couple of his chapters focus on the infiltration of Hollywood by communists since the 1920s. American communists and their supporters, acting at the behest of the USSR and other adversaries, have long inserted bits of communist propaganda in many Hollywood screenplays so as to gradually indoctrinate Americans. Today's woke issues you discuss are part of this ongoing effort by American communists to use Hollywood as an indoctrination machine. Focusing on group identity instead of individual merit is a feature of cultural Marxism. Culture, culture, culture is the focus of today's Marxists, as I explain in my "2026" Substack at 2026.substack.com.
This was so well written. Succinct and a joy to read. Thank you!
Well done Justo Antonio. La verdad speaks for itself.Viva Cuba. Any God bless the Ladies in White.
They should have hired Justin Trudeau to play Castro. He looks just like his father and is a trained actor...
https://newspunch.com/bombshell-evidence-proves-justin-trudeau-is-fidel-castros-son/
Excellent! Thanks for making such a clear statement.
This essay is much too logical, reasoned and well argued. No one is going to be persuaded by intelligence and fair mindedness. (You know I’m being facetious, right?)
Spot on. Yes to consciousness around inclusion. No to painting each of us into an essentialist box. This is a very poor short term strategy which is going to create problems for everyone in the long term. Not a sustainable approach to DEI.
Well said.