Alien: In Space, Nobody Can Hear You Go Woke

[Dingbat]

Thank you for making a specific thread for this, now I can avoid it like the plague and enjoy my Alien movies alone and in peace.

[[cancerblack]]

Its okay for the themes to be overt as well. Like in District 9 which apparently was subtle to some? Im not sure how.

It's not about subtlety, it just came out before they got radicalized post-gamergate.

Thank you for making a specific thread for this, now I can avoid it like the plague and enjoy my Alien movies alone and in peace.

I wish I shared your optimism. 

[Nightmare Asylum]

Yeah, the notion that a lot of these people were sort of 'radicalized' fairly recently (as in, within the last ten or so years) to this strange "keep politics out of my fiction" mantra is absolutely a major element at play here, I'd say, since any and all political intent in modern media/art is suddenly an inherent problem to these people that never saw what are literally the same exact ideas/critiques being explored in media/art of the past as a problem (even within the very same franchises!). It's such a weird dichotomy, where because something predates the current internet culture it isn't seen as political by certain people that grew up with it/enjoyed it before they were paying attention to such things, and now that they are old/mature/whatever enough to "get it" and criticize it in more modern releases, they still for some reason keep this mental block up and pretend that it was never there in the first place and that its presence is, somehow, this brand new, invasive element only existing in the modern fiction that they're taking in.

[Chris!(($$))!]

Yeah, the notion that a lot of these people were sort of 'radicalized' fairly recently (as in, within the last ten or so years) to this strange "keep politics out of my fiction" mantra is absolutely a major element at play here, I'd say, since any and all political intent in modern media/art is suddenly an inherent problem to these people that never saw what are literally the same exact ideas/critiques being explored in media/art of the past as a problem (even within the very same franchises!). It's such a weird dichotomy, where because something predates the current internet culture it isn't seen as political by certain people that grew up with it/enjoyed it before they were paying attention to such things, and now that they are old/mature/whatever enough to "get it" and criticize it in more modern releases, they still for some reason keep this mental block up and pretend that it was never there in the first place and that its presence is, somehow, this brand new, invasive element only existing in the modern fiction that they're taking in.

1000%

[Immortan Jonesy]

Yeah, well said NA.

[Kane's other son]

Alien is about pew-pew cool marines blowing up "xenomorphs" with awesome smartguns and wokeness is casting black people instead of the best people for the job, who everyone knows are white.

[Voodoo Magic]

For me, I personally believe these problems are two fold when it comes to this and artistic expression, perpetuated by both sides:  The small loud portion of people on one side, knee-jerk reacting that everytime something gets political or a strong female is hired or an established white character's race is swapped with someone of color it's part of some sort of agenda and not to the betterment of a story.... or.... the small loud portion of people on the other side, who couldn't believe there sometimes is an agenda taking priority over the betterment of a story and anyone who sees it is just plain racist/insert-insult-here.

Fortunately, I believe the silent majority of us sit in the middle of the issue regardless of political affiliation (if any) and just try to apply some common sense to each case AFTER we've seen the artistic expression.

Like the very Liberal and very funny Comedian & Political Commentary host Bill Maher. He recognizes inclusion is important, but also calls it out when he believes one takes it too far, like for instance his thoughts on when the rules for the Academy Awards just changed, where a film can't be eligible for Best Picture anymore unless the film meets requirements of inclusion.

[[cancerblack]]

For me, I personally believe these problems are two fold when it comes to this and artistic expression, perpetuated by both sides:  The small loud portion of people on one side, knee-jerk reacting that everytime something gets political or a strong female is hired or an established white character's race is swapped with someone of color it's part of some sort of agenda and not to the betterment of a story.... or.... the small loud portion of people on the other side, who couldn't believe there sometimes is an agenda taking priority over the betterment of a story and anyone who sees it is just plain racist/insert-insult-here.

If we just delete Twitter we can have progress without histrionics.

[Local Trouble]

It would be interesting if Twitter would take a cue from OnlyFans and treat performative outrage and virtue-signaling like the masturbation it is.

[Thatguy2068]

I don't know man, I'm just very tired of this political  nonsense on both end on the spectrum. I dislike the anti-SJW equally as much as SJW. It seems like nowadays that it's more about taking down the other party rather to see them improved. But that's just my thoughts, I just want to Judge a film or TV show without getting political.

[The Cruentus]

In light of Noah Hawley's comments that the Alien TV series will feature socio-political commentary, people seem to have come out of the woodwork decrying that the series is going "woke" and that this will, somehow, ruin the project entirely.

But has the Alien franchise ever actually been asleep?

Rather than derail the TV series thread -- or somehow work this into existing politics thread, which is more garnered to, y'know, actual politics -- I thought we could make a dedicated thread to discuss whether this is some horrifying new development, or just par for the course.

I think its that people are going by the modern version of woke which is cancel culture, forced political messages, virtue signaling, power fantasies, changing races/gender of characters while condeming white/men doing it, and mary/gary sues. Which is bad because it undermines the actual good stuff that true "equality" does.

If the tv series simply goes by common decency and makes a good story with good character regardless of gender/race/orientation and politics then I don't see there being much to worry about the show.

The franchise has always been good without going twisted and overboard like what is happening today. We have had female leads, lgbt plus characters (quite a lot actually) and it is done right and naturally.

[RidgeTop]

I don't know man, I'm just very tired of this political  nonsense on both end on the spectrum. I dislike the anti-SJW equally as much as SJW. It seems like nowadays that it's more about taking down the other party rather to see them improved. But that's just my thoughts, I just want to Judge a film or TV show without getting political.

Agreed. It seems like the anti-SJWs are the new SJWs. Looking for outrage in everything so they can be outraged about the outrage. The hyper-connected nature of society and modern tribalism only feeds this. There are just countless anti-SJW YouTube channels these days farming for those clicks. "Can you believe what woke Hollywood is doing to our childhood franchises now!?"

There's no nuance. Yeah woke culture and hypersensitivity is a thing and is often very deserving of criticism, but art has always had pieces with progressive outlooks, that pushed societal boundaries and asked significant questions. Often this can just be pandering and handled haphazardly, but that doesn't justify writing something off based on assumptions from a synopsis or what was said during an interview with a showrunner.

[The Cruentus]

Subtly and/or well written stuff that fits with the film does help when there is something to say though i.e the colonial marines being comparable to the vietnam era soldiers.