Think of it as early warning system, an indicator in which direction culture wars are blowing, and if politics is downstream culture, and this is culture war, you can start to see why it is more than shows themselves, its about how makes the shows, what kind of shows, and how they are received.

This is a culture war group, and for better or worse American pop culture has become American mainstream culture. For some these types of shows like Star Wars, Star Trek, LOTR etc, take the place of what once was religion. Sad , I think, but nontheless it is the state of American society. So much so that if you want to win a culture war, you have to infiltrate , subvert and exploit, not only institutions like Academia, Medicine, Law, public offices , but also Hollywood and by extension all the said qusi religions. To those who follow these religions , this is like desecrating their tamples, but for others in American this should be of concern for several reasons.

a) it shows the sorry state America is in.

“People are now more likely than ever to bypass religion altogether and to look toward popular culture for guidance.” ― Simon Davis, Atheism Is Scary Because It Reminds People of Death ...apeared in Free Inquiry, vol 36 issue 4

"Guided by nothing but pop culture values, many children no longer learn how to think about morality and virtue, or to think of them at all." - Gary Bauer

b) if predicts larger culture shifts, and if politics is downstream culture, you can see where its going.

c) it shows one important thing, that we have reached or reaching a point where no matter how much money the establishment has it cannot win unless it learns to tell compelling stories, and that goes against their overarching story, "The Message". The woke stuff. Hence we see postmodernism caving in on itself. How do you tell a compelling story about human condition that is relatable, when you deny the very reality about human condition in the first place? A conundrum that slowly show how despite billions of dollars put into it, it needs to respect that which ideologically is unthinkable to them.

Remember when Bloomberg was running against Trump. Spare no expense. No one could stomach him. They needed something more than money. In the end , they simply cheated.

This now is attempt to gaslight fans, readers, reviewers and throw money at the problem , but people are only feeling more determine to trash it or feel turned off. There has been a string of these woke expensive disaster now, creating a trend.

They may have money to burn, but sooner or later they will run out of it , and that is the big shift. Shift in culture, means shift in politics.

Just like when they banned enough of people and topics from Big Tech social media platforms, once it reached a critical mass, it created competition, alternative platforms that cannot be eradicated anymore and will continue to get stronger, while big tech will get weaker no matter how much money they spend. Hoollywood has done the same, by alienating so many and producting such shit content, competition is starting to show up. Eventually it will be too late for Hollywood to come back.

This series and those like in the past months, give clues for the future in this culture war.

Amazon mission statement says they have quotes for diversity hire, which means this was made woke before filming started. As for the rest of it... if you enjoyed it, its your thing I guess... but its impossible to miss the woke production and message. Black characters in the series, gay characters in the series and working on the series too. Clearly this was not made with preserving legacy of Tolkien, making money or even caring about satisfying fans. This was made for ESG and in the classical woke fashion it must suck. Like I said , if you enjoyed it, that's your thing, but even without the woke perspective, from simply storytelling and quality of production point of view, considering the production budget and marketing budget, this is regressive to the core. But this was expected since pre production days.

This article cover the main points.

Amazon’s wokeness will make your stomach turn
Akshay Narang by Akshay Narang
June 29, 2021

Do you have any idea how a woke society will look like? Well, Amazon Studios’ new inclusion policy gives us a glimpse into what wokeness can do to an organisation.

Earlier this month, Amazon Studios announced a policy that underscored its commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity for its content and productions. It also released a “playbook” designed “to help disrupt the biases that occur across the lifecycle of a series or movie, from the first inkling of a concept to viewers streaming the content on Prime Video.”

Amazon Studios’ new inclusion policy creates some really senseless benchmarks in the name of promoting inclusion and diversity. It wants to include 30% women and 30% “members of an underrepresented racial/ethnic group” for “above-the-line roles” like directors, writers, and producers. Ultimately, Amazon Studios wants to reserve 50% of such roles for women and “members of an underrepresented racial/ ethnic group” by 2024.

Wokeness tends to make the society more identity-conscious, rather than downplaying social divisions. Amazon Studios’ inclusion policy too advocates casting actors whose identity in terms of “gender, gender identity, nationality, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability” aligns with the character they play.

We wonder if it means that if you are homosexual, then you cannot play a heterosexual character. Doesn’t this destroy the very meaning of art and an artist’s ability to fit into characters that do not match her or his “identity”?

Art shouldn’t be identity-based. It must depend entirely upon the talent and compatibility of the artist with the character to be played. But Amazon Studios’ policy encourages including one character each from “LGBTQIA+, person with a disability, and three regionally underrepresented race/ethnic/cultural groups.” Again, there is a 50% sub-quota for women in this category.

Now, if you think that only Amazon Studios’ inclusion policy is woke, wait for the playbook. The playbook includes entries like “acquired limb difference”- a substitute for “amputation”. There is also an entry on “mean girls”, and the playbook explains that the term was a “stereotype of girls and young women characterizing them as socially aggressive and unkind”.

Also, there are entries on unnecessary intersex surgeries, women and the biological clock. The playbook elaborates on the biological clock “in relation to birthing people, the biological clock refers to the sense of pressure people feel to have children during their ‘peak’ reproductive years.”

The playbook also tries to define and redefine things. It says that “jihad” translates to “strive and struggle for God.” The playbook also tells us that “jihad” is a term that describes “personal betterment”. On the other hand, “Sharia” is defined as “the clear, well-trodden path to water.”

The Amazon Studios’ playbook dictates that “the work of diversity, equity, and inclusion require all of us to disrupt those biases, and the longstanding customs and practices in the industry, in order to achieve real, lasting change. This work is not easy to do, but don’t worry, we’re in this together.”

We have only one question – do such woke changes through inclusion policies or playbooks actually, make a difference to society? Will devising new terminologies or creating a system of quota-based art change the fact that Amazon drivers feel afraid to take a bathroom break in order to meet their delivery quotas?

Also read: ‘Work through feelings of guilt, shame and defensiveness’ – Disney trains its employees to go full WOKE

Let’s face it – no amount of quotas, wokeness or identity consciousness will change ground realities. Also, using “acquired limb difference” instead of “amputation” will not make even a negligible difference in anyone’s life. Wokeness is, at best, an elitist distraction from social realities.

Amazon Studios’ inclusion policies and playbook thus, really depict what a woke society would look like.

[tfiglobalnews.com]

@Krunoslav Revolting. Contrived "art". As I said, when I watch a fantasy piece I relax and enjoy the story ... if there actually is one (not always guaranteed these days). I'll see how the next episode goes. Damn tough to find any good entertainment these days.

@toronto_Georgia "Damn tough to find any good entertainment these days." yeah, that is the point they are going for. Its all about overarching woke message used over everything.

If you want to you can watch decades of amazing movies form old school Hollywood. That is what I do. And forign stuff.

@Krunoslav We do the same.