More Racist Wokery

So in one story, we get the producer trying to ban white people from critiquing her play.

An ugly row has erupted in theatre circles after producers of a ‘woke‘ new play tried to ban white critics from reviewing it.

The Australian producers of the internationally acclaimed Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner demanded that all reviewers be ‘people of colour’, but The Age newspaper’s arts editor refused to comply before lashing out in a fiery column.

Elizabeth Flux accused Amylia Harris and Leila Enright of ‘tokenism’ arguing that being forced to select a person of colour for the task was ‘offensive’ and ‘undermines’ the health of the critical landscape.

Okay, on balance, I have no time for professional critics. They are parasites feeding off the arts. However, the idea that you can just issue orders about who may provide a review is in itself, the height of arrogance. To decree the skin colour of the critics, is, well, racist. The backlash is well deserved. The play is probably a pile of shite anyway and I don’t need a review to tell me that.

See also, the attempt to race swap the Scooby Doo characters – and Scooby Doo without Scooby Doo?

The Mystery Inc. are back but in a different way to what fans might expect in HBO Max’s Velma, which premiered on Thursday, January 12.

The difference between Velma and previous series and films in the Scooby-Doofranchise is that this time Velma Dinkley is taking center stage in an adult animation set before the classic show.

Velma presents the origins of Mystery Inc. by following the gang during their time at Crystal Cove High School, where Velma begins to investigate a series of murders. She enlists the help of her BFF-turned-nemesis Daphne Blake (Constance Wu), Norville “Shaggy” Rogers (Sam Richardson) and Fred Jones (Glenn Howerton) to solve the case.

Not only has this involved taking well known characters and changing them beyond recognition, the set up is pure racism as it has white men as the butt of the jokes. If you watch any discussions online, this thing has tanked and deservedly so. It is a narcissistic attempt by a race monger to impose herself onto a character and in the process, destroy a well loved franchise.

Of course, Mindy Kaling is blaming the fans, which is the go-to response when a woke reimagining fails to hit the spot. These people hate the fans of these shows as much as they hate white people and then fail to grasp why their pet project isn’t a success. It’s all racism, apparently.

Go woke, go broke.

As an addendum, the Critical Drinker sums up Velma.

11 Comments

  1. Ah yes, Velma. As well as changing her from white to black, I believe they also made her a lesbian.

    TV producers these days can’t help themselves. If an old TV series with a white man as its lead character is remade or revived today, then the character’s sex will be changed to female, or the character’s race will be changed to non-white. I can’t think of a TV revival or remake in the last five to ten years in which this *hasn’t* been the case. (And don’t get me started on modern Doctor Who – changing the Doctor’s sex to female, and now changing the Doctor’s race to black.)

    • Given that Daphne has two mothers, mixed race, natch, there is an over representation of both non white characters as well as gayers.

      Also, as the drinker points out, it has mean-spirited racism that makes minstrel shows look good in comparison.

  2. See also Annie – started out as a ginger freckled white girl, now a black kid with an afro. I’m just waiting for the next iteration where the leading character is transgender.

  3. And let’s not forget the little mermaid.

    Not sure why melanin is needed underwater, but there you go.

    For critique in the drinker mode, you should also checkout the despot of Antrim on youtube. The norn iron accent does add a certain spice. His deconstruction of the atrocity that is ringpieces of power is rather piquant.

  4. These people appear to lack the talent to create something new and original that suits their worldview. They seem only to be capable of screwing up something that was created by someone else.

  5. From the Daily Telegraph:
    ‘Two major Canadian theatres have sparked outrage by announcing exclusive performances for an “all black-identifying audience”.’
    ‘However, while white attendees could not be banned from attending the show on a Black Out night[it would be illegal under Canadian law], the theatre made clear they would not be welcome.’
    ‘Black Out nights started in 2019 with a performance on Broadway where the event was pitched as enabling black theatregoers to enjoy events “free from the white gaze”.’
    One of the theatres is described as ‘one of Canada’s biggest taxpayer-funded performing arts organisations.’
    Try doing this in reverse.

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