Since COVID started I've been working from home (and even when we do go back to the office, it will only be two days a week) and I have been listening to a lot of podcasts while working. Nerdrotic is one of my favorites, and he was saying that all it takes is one studio to stand up against the woke mafia, and realize that twitter doesn't equal revenue and the others will fall like dominoes. Does anyone believe that?
I'd love for the head of a gaming company, comic book company, etc. to say something like stop saying "we need" certain people. The only people we need are ones who actually like the material and who can write. History has shown that people have no problem watching/reading something by women or minorities that is good. Also, I imagine that there are some good white authors out there who will never get a shot due to this representation obsession.
I remember when Kingdom Come Deliverance came out I bought it because the creator didn't bend the knee to the morons on twitter or the game journalists who were whining about the lack of diversity in medieval europe (still sounds hilarious when you read that line). I don't like first person games but I wanted to support it.
Also, I have hope for the new Ghostbusters movie. It would be poetic justice for a movie that actually respects the lore and follows the Ghostbusters story to be a massive hit after the 2016 debacle that nobody asked for. Honestly in a sane world 2016 ghostbusters should be a major lesson on why you should accept that certain hobbies/genres appeal to certain groups
I don’t think one studio standing up to woke will do anything at this point. It will require a sustained, concentrated effort over a long period to do any damage. Or a complete collapse.
Woke isn’t about making money with the product. I doubt it ever was. From what I see woke products are funded through diversity initiative grifting. Major companies in the multi-million and billion range and major ‘philanthropists’ like Soros throw money aside for DIE to signal their virtue. Some of this money then gets doled out woke companies to produce woke propaganda through diversity hire creators and the product sells like garbage because no one wants it.
Some companies like Marvel and DC might be able to force those woke books on comic shops but otherwise won’t sell. It wouldn’t surprise me if the books get ‘donated’ to libraries or schools as a tax write-off down the line. It’s about pushing out propaganda no one wants and to displace good creators from established companies. It also doesn't help companies get infested and become a cesspool of woke cliques that then go on to destroy the established properties while running the companies into the ground.
Independent creators that don’t toe the woke line get attacked and forced off of social media if the woke can swing it. There are far better self-publishing options available these days then before but if a based creator can’t promote their product on twitter, reddit, Patreon, gofundme, or other sites their reach is going to be limited and they’ll need to rely on word-of-mouth and others that do have that reach to broadcast for them.
I think the Japanese market fits the bill for non-woke sales. The products they make are focused on their domestic market and they don’t cater to diversity hiring or wokeness. They focus on making stuff that’s good first, or at least profitable, and aside from woke translation problems, don’t water down their content for foreign markets though I’ve heard that may start changing if they get more sales from foreign markets and listen to the wrong people providing feedback.
Spite buying or support buying is nice if you have the extra cash to throw down but I don’t think most independent based creators can count on that as a steady stream of income. They need to produce a good product first and if they can’t do that consistently then they won’t be able to maintain an audience. Grifters will also attempt to game any spite buying by offering a based product, grifting for cash, missing targets or pushing back deliveries, then people will get wary of supporting new creators trying to breakout after being burned one-too-many times.
Excellent post and very well stated. I agree with everything you wrote here and I don't think there's much more to add.
I'm a little jealous I don't have your gift for brevity.