Grease was the phrase. Then, for a lot too lengthy, it was “woke.”
Hollywood succumbed to the woke thoughts virus during the last decade, a cultural shift that dramatically impacted the humanities. And, it ought to go with out saying, for the more severe.
My cranky #Oscar tweets are delivered to you by …
VIRTUE BOMBS: HOW HOLLYWOOD GOT WOKE AND LOST ITS SOULhttps://t.co/AKtVuGDE0B— Christian Toto (@HollywoodInToto) March 28, 2022
Slowly, fortunately, Hollywood started to dial again on its woke programming. Disney, an organization with a “not so secret homosexual agenda,” stopped stuffing culturally wobbly messages into its content material.
Comedy roasts roared again, and nobody was canceled within the course of. Even The New York Instances admitted Hollywood’s woke revolution was over, and the period is already growing older poorly.
Two new productions recommend there’s nonetheless life within the woke world. A better look, although, suggests one thing far completely different.
Vape Is the Phrase
“Vape,” an off-Broadway “Grease” parody, embraces woke all the way down to its inventive DNA. On this model of the ’50s greaser musical, Danny has it dangerous for Sandy … and some of his male buddies.
“Hopelessly Dedicated to You” is now “Hopelessly Gaslighted by You.” Voila, the a long time of harm brought on by the beloved musical and 1978 movie have been mounted.
Phew.
The manufacturing arrives near a separate, tremendous woke re-imagining of a traditional story. “The Diary of Anne Frank” impressed “Slam Frank,” the place the doomed Jewish teen is now a lesbian Latina lady. The off-Broadway present brims with Identification Politics, going even additional than “Hamilton” on that entrance.
Similar ol’ story, proper? Woke is tan, rested and prepared for a comeback?
You couldn’t be extra fallacious.
For starters, “Slam Frank” is a satirical broadside towards the woke revolution. By a number of accounts, the present is poking enjoyable at Identification Politics gone wild. The funniest half? A New York Instances article on the manufacturing doesn’t assault it for that framing.
It applauds the inventive alternative.
Woke Performs …. The place They Belong
Even higher? Each productions are taking place off-Broadway, not in a movie show or streaming platform. The humanities must be open to all creators, and nobody imaginative and prescient must be deemed unacceptable.
If somebody thinks the traditional “Grease” manufacturing is offensive or inappropriate, they need to create their very own model to share their perspective. The issue? Not so way back, that method can be a part of a Disney+ program or main movement image.
Studios have been usually left holding the purple ink-stained bag. Keep in mind “Grease: Rise of the Pink Women?
But, most individuals haven’t any drawback with “Grease” as it’s, thanks. They’ve little curiosity in an up to date model the place the story’s “flaws” are mounted.
So the play’s small, however passionate viewers can squeeze right into a Massive Apple theater and relish the present for themselves. A Hollywood studio gained’t take a shower on its low income potential, and the unique present can proceed to thrill a brand new era of followers.
One of many worst parts of the woke revolution? Censorship.
Some stars erased their very own handiwork. Others apologized for movies that made tens of millions howl with laughter. Some merely self-censored for worry {of professional} blowback.
Fallacious. Fallacious. Fallacious.
What’s proper? Letting everybody have their say, be it on an off-Broadway stage or with a characteristic movie.