There is one major sign the woke are losing the culture war.
Despite progressive domination of entertainment, big tech and the media, the truth about the failure of woke projects can no longer be kept hidden. The backlash of fans overwhelms all efforts at censorship and hype.
The latest classic besmirched by a woke reimagining is “The Little Mermaid,” a live-action Disney rehash of a beloved animated film. The movie isn’t even out yet, but the trailer made news by earning over 1.5 million YouTube dislikes.
Progressives advance their agendas by suppressing dissent. YouTube follows that playbook.
The giant video streaming platform only shows how many likes viewers give videos. YouTube no longer publicly displays dislikes on its site. Imagine what the average ratio of a Joe Biden speech would be.
However, in a story on the shipwreck of a trailer, Valiant News described how the negative YouTube reactions can still be accessed:
“While YouTube’s current configurations do not typically allow users to view the ‘dislike’ count on videos posted to the platform, an internet extension can provide those numbers.
“Currently, the modern adaptation of the childhood classic has received a staggering 1.5 million dislikes on YouTube as of the publication of this article.
“Valiant News was able to independently confirm the number of dislikes on the video by using a browser extension, despite YouTube’s decision to remove public [access] to the dislike count in December of last year.
“Doing so reveals that, despite users themselves being unable to see the dislike count, three times as many users have used the button to express their distaste for the trailer compared to users who used the opposing button to express their satisfaction.”
After YouTube starting concealing down vote results, users seem suspicious on how YouTube handles other negative commentary.
Instead of posting honest criticisms which might be removed or downgraded, the comments section of the trailer is full of surreal and sarcastic mock praise, like “When Ariel said ‘Arbys We Have The Meats’ I felt so touched. Thank you Disney my life is now complete,” and “The part when Ariel says ‘Wait a minute Doc, are you telling me you built a time machine out of a DeLorean?’ was a legendary moment in cinema history.”
Soon YouTube may decide the comments section has to go the way of the dislike count: hidden from scrutiny.
Who knows what the real number of dislikes actually is.
YouTube routinely blocks information which does not fit their preferred narratives. They even banned the channel of former President Donald Trump.
After such partisan extremism, being hypersensitive about the number of down votes on behalf of a powerful corporation like Disney would be no big deal, especially since there is a racial aspect involved.
In the 1989 animated version of “The Little Mermaid,” the mermaid was white.
In “The Little Mermaid” reboot, the main character is played by Halle Bailey, a black woman. Some Disney supporters claim Bailey’s race is the reason for so many dislikes.
idc what yall say
this is racially motivated af https://t.co/JHObbqZVxv— noxas (@neo_noxas) September 13, 2022
Another Twitter user did not accept the cries of racism being used as both a shield and cudgel. They presented an alternative take.
Reasons why this remake sucks:
1. It’s a remake
2. It’s live action
3. It’s wokeReasons that have nothing to do with the dislikes:
1. Racism.People are just tired of forced diversity.
— ? bonda ? (@BondaBoyyy) September 12, 2022
“Reasons why this remake sucks: 1. It’s a remake 2. It’s live action 3. It’s woke,” the user wrote. “Reasons that have nothing to do with the dislikes: 1. Racism. People are just tired of forced diversity.”
There may be another reason why Hollywood keeps injecting politicized controversies into its offerings.
The highly entertaining entertainment vlogger The Critical Drinker shared an insight from Dr. Thala Siren:
This thread pretty much explains the mindset of all modern studios. https://t.co/Vace92LfsA
— The Critical Drinker (@TheCriticalDri2) September 12, 2022
“‘Fan-baiting’ is a form of marketing used by producers, film studios, and actors, with the intent of exciting artificial controversy, garnering publicity, and explaining away the negative reviews of a new and often highly anticipated production,” Siren posted in a Twitter thread shared by The Critical Drinker.
Even if going woke is merely some kind of weird marketing ploy, and an attempt to stifle valid criticism, it is very short sighted.
The viewers have spoken. They are done with wokeness.
The longer the entertainment industry persists in prioritizing progressive politics over actual entertainment, the more support, and money, they will lose.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.