“Wokeness” has been a topic of discussion since the 2010s, but its definition has changed a lot since its inception. “Woke” was a word used, predominantly by the Black community, to describe what it means to be conscious of racial discrimination, prejudice, and inequalities in the United States, but that’s no longer the case. A word that was once used to bring awareness to systemic problems in the United States has now been turned into a far-right talking point to discredit the opinions and experiences of minorities in the U.S. “Wokeness” has been co-opted by the racists that the term was originally crafted against, and they’ve begun to use it whenever something happens that they vehemently oppose. Whether it’s politics, education, or the workplace, wokeness has been used to describe what normal people would consider basic diversity, equity, and inclusion. But recently, “wokeness” has entered our entertainment industry and a certain demographic is not happy about it. 

Since basically the beginning of time, our entertainment industry has been centered around white people. A lot of films, especially the “classics,” are all-white casts, and if there is a minority, they likely are there to meet a quota or fulfill a problematic stereotype. When it comes to creating films, white people are typically always at the forefront, even if the film is animated, which makes sense because our country has always valued white people over everyone else. 

However, the tides have begun to turn. Within the past decade or so, the entertainment industry has attempted to create more stories around non-white people, and have also been recreating older stories with non-white actors playing a character that was originally white. Once again, most normal people would see this as progress, a way to diversify our entertainment industry, but certain people are fed up. They’re fed up with the “wokeness” that has now infiltrated film and television. 

An example of the outrage against wokeness could be seen during the pre-production and roll out of the live-action “The Little Mermaid” that came out last summer. It was announced that Halle Bailey, a Black woman, would be playing Ariel, a character who originally was white. People were pissed that a Black woman was taking over the character and blamed the casting decision on “wokeness.” A similar situation is currently occurring. A rumor began on social media that a live-action “Tangled” was in the works and that Avantika Vandanapu, an Indian actress, would be playing the role of Rapunzell. Although this is just a rumor, the internet is already up in arms about the decision and is once again blaming “wokeness.” 

People, mainly white people, are getting on the internet and complaining about how they’re losing representation because our world has become so woke and doesn’t care about white people anymore. Whenever I see these complaints, I can’t help but laugh. Watching white people complain about “lack of representation” will never not be hilarious, because it makes absolutely no sense. Our world has catered to white people since the beginning of time and changing the race of a few animated characters will not make that any less true.

I’ve found that people who complain about wokeness are just too afraid to admit that they’re racists. If a casting announcement makes you incredibly upset simply because of the color of the actor’s skin, you may want to do some self-reflection and get to the root of the problem. No, you don’t care about “lack of representation” for white people, you actually care about non-white people having more representation. I can assure you that changing a fictional character’s race is not the end of the world and if you think it is, you’re probably racist.