The Great Awokening started in 2014, not 2020
As someone who is interested in monoculture events in general and the movie business in particular, I suppose I should have something to say about “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which is a huge hit and stands a decent chance of becoming the top-grossing film of all time in nominal terms.
I saw it and I thought it was … okay. The third-best of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies? The third-best film Zendaya has appeared in so far in 2026? Which is just to say I sort of don’t get it. I don’t know anyone who is super enthusiastic about this movie but also nobody is outraged by it. For a big hit movie to also be sort of mid and unremarkable is I guess the kind of thing I used to expect from America’s old movie culture, when a much larger fraction of the population was in the habit of “going to the movies” pretty regularly. Because “Spider-Man” strikes me as a fantastic “going to the movies” kind of movie. Everyone basically knows who Spider-Man is and the movie will make perfect sense even if you are not up to speed on the latest M.C.U. lore. It has that kind of well-rounded quality where there’s a romantic plot and plenty of action but no hyper-violence and the Punisher is funny rather than alarming so anyone could enjoy it.
But isn’t this sort of “Hey, let’s go to the movies!” vibe exactly what’s gone away in post-pandemic America, with its endless streaming and short-form options? Not that I’m complaining, mind you. I love going to the movies. But that’s why I’m still the guy showing up for stuff like “Crime 101” and “Tuner” — random cool genre movies that would have done at least okay in the 1990s but kind of drop without a trace these days. Not that I’m complaining; I’m glad people are enjoying “Spider-Man.” But I think it’s a little weird.
Siddhartha Roychowdhury: I’m seeing an attempt by the media/Democratic politicians to redefine the Woke 1 era by compressing it from Covid/Floyd in 2020 to 2024. I’m pretty sure that DEI in hiring, dumbing down of curriculum, trans stuff, etc. goes back to around 2014/2015 at least. Are you and others noticing this as well? Should that concern those who don’t want a Woke 2 when Democrats are back in power?
The whole “Woke 1” discourse is a good joke, but it obviously lacks a certain kind of precision.
