Woke Films Always Existed; You Just Did Not Care - Part I
Almost mid 2020s, terms such as “woke”, “progressive” and “updated for modern audiences” have been used heavily by two polar opposite groups to describe “disparities” in the (mainstream) US films. In one corner there are those who utilize the most useless platform of them all (i.e., Twitter), to embark on a quest of “social justice” and alter the nature of upcoming productions or regulate past ones. Mindlessly consuming a meme and reaching conclusions with the basest sentimentality, what initially started as a request, progresses into a demand and finally towards a fascistic tendency to revise lore (e.g., “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” (2022)) and actual facts (e.g., Netflix’s latest “Cleopatra” (2023) docuseries replaces the Greek olive skin queen into a Black individual theorizing that an entire civilization was not Mediterranean-looking; murals, hieroglyphics and ancient texts in Greek and Latin are wrong too).
Be that as it may, after many, many Twitter posts and online arguments, these banal efforts do not resort in any success besides the typical “stunning and brave” appraisals from wannabe cine journalists who have not seen or even finished a film to form an actual opinion, let alone understand humanity’s cinematic past to formulate a more nuanced understanding of filmmaking evolution. On the other corner, we have several individuals who declare that “woke” content is a product of our time only (e.g., “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), “Zootopia” (2016)). They denounce moments for example, involving the ridicule of male characters, female heroes bearing no flaws (“Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens“ (2015)) and face offs against white villains (“The Batman“ (2022)).
However, even those keen cine-afficionados forget pretty much landmark films which have featured strong female characters who berate (and defeat) men as an unstoppable force (e.g.,“ The Long Kiss Goodnight“ (1996), “Kill Bill Volume 1” (2003), “Kill Bill Volume 2“ (2004)). In addition, several movies before wokeness became mainstream feature a non Caucasian individual that in the first chance they get, they will reference slavery, discrimination and racism either as a joke or a basis for drama (e.g., “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984)).
To be fair for the first group, I doubt you will find someone who will deny how problematic past representation (e.g., 30s, 40s or even in the 60s) might have been. Different eras have different beliefs and of course different perceptions but this attribute was not exclusive of the US cinema (do your research properly). Look no further how Westerners are always portrayed in Hong Kong outputs (e.g., “Millionaire’s Express“ (1986), “Rumble in the Bronx” (1995)). As villains, they overpronounce English (or Cantonese!) as (usually ugly) caricatures who do not extend beyond the role of a bully (e.g., ”Who Am I?” (1998), “Ip Man 2” (2010)).
The smash TV hit “Squid Game” ( 2021) displayed some of the most horrifying stereotypes for the West the producers could find in non Korean speaking roles! Nevertheless, it is partially true that every minority belonging individual if we are strictly speaking about a group characteristic in the …. majority of their roles would die (heroically or not in “Alien” (1979), “Goodfellas” (1990), “Deep Rising” (1998), “Virus“ (1999)) or portrayed as one dimensional honorable (and likeable) sidekicks (e.g., “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (1991), “The Mummy” (1999)) that do not necessarily serve the plot. Since the purpose of (US) cinema is offer entertainment (most of the times), entertainment relies on attracting the audience. If people wanted to see invulnerable heroes like Arnie and Sly (and others) gunning down hundreds of opponents in the 80s or slo-mo effects inspired directly by “The Matrix” (1999) in the 90s and later on then so be it.
Yet, like other aspects of modern civilization, filmmakers willing to push the boundaries through their personal experiences or just because they are mad geniuses have always existed. Quite a few sought out to present minorities with sensitivity, highlighting their pleas for recognition and putting an end to a (mostly) prevalent culture of ridicule. Native Americans and their on-screen presentation as nothing more than savages in the then liberal (!) Hollywood and for this reason precisely Marlon Brando, perhaps the best actor of all time, did not attend the 1973 Oscar ceremony to receive his Best Actor award for Coppola’s “The Godfather” (1972). 27 years later, Kevin Costner’s “Dances with Wolves” (1990) won best picture by providing a more nuanced take on Indians paving the way for Michael Mann’s epic western masterpiece “Last of the Mohicans” (1992) and Walter Hill’s “Geronimo” (1993) which engaged screenwriters into crafting sensible storytelling about the English/French colonization of the New World (e.g., “Pocahontas“ (1995), Terrence Malick’s “The New World” (2006)).
As the audience became smarter and wiser, the glorification efforts that were products of older eras have since then converted into relic reminders of the-then social superiority imposed by a dogmatic and narrow point of view. By the end of the 80s, even James Bond was struggling. Martin Campbell’s “Goldeneye” (1995) featured a more ruthless but self-aware spy (e.g., “I think you are a sexist, misogynist dinosaur“) and when, “Die Another Day” (2002) hit the big screens, another re-interpretation was needed in the “get the girl, kill the bad guy and save the world” trope. Enter “The Bourne Identity” the same year and Bond found himself in “Casino Royale” (2006) with glorious results.
Nevertheless, the dangers of employing “presentism” (i.e., “I would have done it better if I was alive 30 years ago”) is usually the basis for totalitarian ideologies where you portray yourself morally superior above the rest lacking evidence based logic. Obviously the older the films, the more they bear (occasionally idiotic in our modern eyes) stereotypes of any race, ethnicity, sexuality and nationality. US cinema is guilty of this depiction trend even towards its own sub-Caucasian groups - just look at how people who live in the mountain/forest areas, (“Deliverance'“ (1972), “Nell” (1994)) or the beach (“Point Break“ (1991), “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer“ (1998), “Into the Blue” (2005)) are portrayed or even how musicians, surfers, lawyers, doctors and scientists are depicted.
The reinvigoration of the past though does not put things forward. The past solely exists as a reminder and a stepping stone for the future. Therefore, any “screaming” individual from each of these two groups mentioned above lacks the necessary ammunition to continue their heated conversational exchange. For every example they think it degrades a minority (without even asking the minority their thoughts exercising a form of colonization thought), or it spills over “woke” content, they forget several positive ones. “Demolition Man” (1993) predicting a reality where someone’s feelings are a priority has become … a reality. We will attempt to go through cinematic history and mention some key examples mainly from the 60/70s all the way to 2010s (I literally cannot cover all decades, the article would be huge!) that are rarely being brought up into a discussion these days. Since most of these people involved them being upset for American films, we shall focus on Hollywood productions. In part I, we begin with Black leads.
US Films starring Leading Black actors
Pam Grier in “Coffy” (1973)
If we exclude the blaxploitation genre (where Melvin Van Peebles (among others) set the stage with “Sweet Sweetbacks Baadassss Song“ (1971) and “Don’t Play Us Cheap” (1973), Pam Grier reigned supreme with “Coffy“ (1973) and “Foxy Brown” (1974), and Shaft (1971) saw the first Black man winning the Oscar for Best Song in 1972), many Black actors have dominating Hollywood: Eddie Murphy, Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Laurence Fishburne, Will Smith and Samuel L. Jackson to name a few have given us mountains of work. Yet, If you had to start from somewhere, it will be with the legend that is Sidney Poitier: the first Black individual to win (twice) the Best Actor Oscar (i.e., “The Defiant Ones“ (1958), “Lilies of the Field“ (1963)).
Breaking the ceiling: Eddie Murphy’s “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984)
Before “Black Panther” (2018) and even “Blade” (1998), there was a special effects heavy film called “Spawn” (1997), the first African American superhero (unless you include O’Neal’s “Steel” the same year!
Moving away from the aforementioned genre (although Eddie Murphy did attempt to bring back a reminder with Netflix’s hilarious “Dolemite is My Name” (2019)) and those gritty dramas (like Poitier’s work) which do not get the attention of these “demanding” audiences and diving into the more mainstream (and popular) area of superheroes (argh), people forget Wesley Snipes’ (definitive take on) “Blade” (1998). Snipes was not only the first successful superhero after Batman and Superman (anything in between does not really count), but also the first African American one (and R-Rated) grossing roughly half a billion dollars across three films. However, even before 1998, we also had the (lackluster but expensive) adaptation of “Spawn” (1997) with Michael J. White and Shaquille O’Neal’s “Steel” (!) (1997). It shows that studios took risks for sure. How about Hally Berry being cast as a new Selina Kyle version in the (abysmal and pricy) “Catwoman” (2004) (should not that be also the first female Black superhero to be celebrated strictly on a group attribute?). But “Black Panther” (2018) I hear you say.
Diving into the more controversial waters of comedy, Mel Brooks took things a step further in 1974 by having Cleavon Little to be a small town’s Sheriff in “Blazing Saddles” mocking the embedded racism of the Wild West and informing simultaneously those pesky executives. Besides the comedy giants Bing Crosby and Richard Prior, undeniably, the biggest movie comedian of the 80s was Eddie Murphy who by utilizing his raunchy and R-rated humor, was catapulted into a global superstar with “48 hours” (1982), “Trading Places” (1983), “Beverly Hills Cop” (1984) and “Coming to America” (1988). All the aforementioned flicks featured shades of the much despised today’s “woke” culture where a Black protagonist has to face off a (usually) racist white antagonist. And before things were too “woke” today, the second group forgets Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar awarded western (“Django Unchained“ (2012)) where Jamie Foxx’s slave kicks major white supremacist ass allowing for Steve McQueen’s “12 Years of Slave” (2013) to be unfolded. And if group 2 persists about the villainous aspect of white antagonists, do not worry, there are plenty of films where they (since it matters so much) are Black too (e.g., “Rocky” (1976), “Escape from New York” (1981), ”Die Hard 2” (1990), “Marked for Death” (1990), “Candyman” (1992), “Demolition Man”, “Switchblack” (1997), “Gothica” (2004), “Lakeview Terrace“ (2008), “The Amazing Spiderman 2“ (2014), “Kingman: The Secret Service” (2014) and “Baby Driver” (2017) come to mind).
The success of the interracial duos in Walter Hill’s “48 Hours” and subsequently Richard Donner’s “Lethal Weapon” (1987) opened the doors for productions like “The Last Boy Scout” (1991), “White Men Can’t Jump“ (1992), “Passenger 57” (1992), “Unforgiven“ (1992), “Demolition Man”, “Rising Sun“ (1993), “The Shawshank Redemption“ (1994), ”Seven” (1995), “Virtuosity“ (1995), “The Long Kiss Goodnight”, “The Glimmer Man” (1996), “Independence Day” (1996), “Executive Decision” (1996), “Men in Black“ (1997), “Event Horizon“ (1997), “Metro“ (1997), “Rush Hour“ (1998), ”Enemy of the State” (1998), “The Negotiator” (1998), “Fallen” (1998), Carpenter’s cult (for the wrong reasons) “Ghosts of Mars” (2001), “Blade II“ (2002), “Collateral” (2004), “Blade Trinity” (2004), “Inside Man“ (2006), the fantastic “Blood Diamond” (2006) and “Book of Eli” (2010) just to name drop a few!
Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in Michael Bay’s “Bad Boys” (1995)
The argument that Black leads were and still are not embraced by mainstream audiences particularly when a new flick bombs like the “The Woman King” (2023), is misguided, ignorant and mean-spirited erasing previous and much more significant work. USA’s most patriotic filmmaker Michael Bay had Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in his directional debut “Bad Boys” (1995) which earned critical and financial success (and followed by two commercially successful sequels). Subsequently, Will Smith’s star power was so vast that he still holds to this day the record for the most (i.e., eight) consecutive $100-million-plus hits (“Men in Black 2“ (2002), “Bad Boys 2“ (2003), “Shark Tale“ (2004), “I, Robot“ (2004), “Hitch“ (2005), “The Pursuit of Happiness“ (2006), “I Am Legend“ (2007), “Hancock“ (2008)) at the US box office in eras where internet, social media and cultural “respect” were not prevalent while Tyler Perry saw several hits playing Madea (2005-2022), a role inspired by his mother and aunt. Paul WS Anderson cast Sanaa Lathan as the lead of the much anticipated (and also expensive) videogame adaptation of “Alien Vs Predator” (2004) which made a whooping $176 million worldwide.
Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo in the heart breaking “Hotel Rwanda” (2004).
If we go venture towards a lesser popular genre, George Romero himself made Duane Jones as the protagonist in the now all time classic “Night of the living dead” (1968) which in turn inspired John Carpenter to do the same to Austin Stoker in one of the few heroic starring roles for a black actor in an action film back in the 1970s (outside of the blaxploitation genre) in “Assault on Precinct 13” (1976). After much consideration, a protagonist role which initially could have gone to another big muscled white guy was given instead to Danny Glover in “Predator 2” (1990) paired with a predominantly Latino heritage cast (Maria Conchita Alonso, Ruben Blades)! Horror maestro’ Wes Craven’s “The People Under the Stairs” (1992) is a brilliant piece of bloody satire by mocking the pseudo neo-liberalism of the early 90s suburban America while Bernard Rose’s “Candyman” created an new iconic slasher villain in the face of Tony Todd. Paul WS Anderson’s (him again!) had the awesome Laurence Fishburne wondering in a 60 million dollar production in the beloved classic “Event Horizon” (1997) while Berry herself headlined the commercially successful and Mathieu Kassovitz’s supernatural horror English debut in “Gothica”.
Lesser commercial (but more critically acclaimed) works of Spike Lee (“Malcom X” (1989), “Do the Right Thing” (1989)), John Singleton (“Boyz in the Hood“ (1991)), Mario Van Peebles (“New Jack City“ (1991)), F. Gary Grey ( ”Friday” (1995)), Terry George (“Hotel Rwanda” (2004)), Barry Jenkins (“Moonlight” (2016)), Lee Daniels (“Precious” (2009)), Steven Spielberg (“The Color Purple“ (1985), “Amistad” (1997)) and Jordan Peele (“Get Out“ (2017), “Us” (2019)) further showcased fascinating social dynamics and aspects of black culture. The list is literally endless and for that reason alone before we seek to condemn how current artistic outputs are not shaped based on how we conceive reality, it might be a good tactic to further investigate the past. It offers us an opportunity to understand current trends and identify how cinema has evolved, which is a reflection of our society.