“Woke” is a term much overused by those on both sides of the culture war but — a little like pornography — while it may be difficult to define, you absolutely know it when you see it.
The capture of the entertainment industry by an ideology — perhaps more accurately described as a group of roughly consanguineous ideas that seem, superficially, to be the Right, Kind and Thoughtful beliefs to hold — seems now to be absolute. Fiction of all kinds has been affected, but heroic narratives have proved especially vulnerable, perhaps because of the size and dedication of their audiences.
You will doubtless know the kind of thing I mean. The contemporary industry offers an emphasis on diversity of various kinds, defined or not, appropriate or not, as well as a quality of preachiness — the expectation that the viewer should share the avowed beliefs of the “creatives,” and that, if he doesn’t, it is a grave failing which requires urgent redress.
