I think political correctness is a way for people to ignore the fact that culture and taste evolves.

We don't have black face any more. Is that political correctness? Or has society decided it's no longer funny? I guarantee there were people lamenting PC run amok when that was eliminated.

Sure there has been movements to increase diversity and perspectives that aren't the typical straight white male orientation, but that is something we've mostly seen in big budget films where they are trying to grab as much market share as possible.

I think one of the problems with comedies is that there are no big name draws in comedy at the moment. Will Farrell was the one everyone wanted to see. Seems like he's reduced his level of activity.

schmendeler said:

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I think political correctness is a way for people to ignore the fact that culture and taste evolves.

We don't have black face any more. Is that political correctness? Or has society decided it's no longer funny? I guarantee there were people lamenting PC run amok when that was eliminated.

Sure there has been movements to increase diversity and perspectives that aren't the typical straight white male orientation, but that is something we've mostly seen in big budget films where they are trying to grab as much market share as possible.

I think one of the problems with comedies is that there are no big name draws in comedy at the moment. Will Farrell was the one everyone wanted to see. Seems like he's reduced his level of activity.

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Blatant, mean-spirited racism aside, I wouldn't call it "evolution" where we all can't laugh at one another or dark comedy becomes verboten because feelings get hurt.

schmendeler said:

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The US box office reached $1.77B in the first quarter of 2026.

The best start to the calendar year at the domestic box office since the COVID-19 pandemic.

(https://t.co/debm6kKhef) pic.twitter.com/jMmM3AbVHI

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) April 2, 2026

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From that same article:

Quote:

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But 2026 is not expected to get anywhere near the $11 billion-plus totals the domestic box office posted before the pandemic, thanks to a mix of fewer films being released and changing audience habits. The year's quarterly total is down 27% from the $2.41 billion posted in the first three months of 2019.

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And I don't even believe this is taking into account inflation. So these current numbers are even worse than they appear (given the high inflation the last few years).

While I think DEI has some part in this problem, I think it's probably a relatively small part. Somebody mentioned "big budget" comedies earlier. And, well, that is perhaps part of the problem - why does a comedy need to be "big budget"? Because of the high costs of making movies in Hollywood, that's why.

Liberal leaning Hollywood loves their unions and high taxes but eventually you have to pay the piper. Unions are great for job security, but terrible for long term growth. And high taxes are great for the social benefits they give out, but terrible for growth as well. Economics don't lie.

When such fundamental yet avoidable issues exist you open yourself up for competition - both foreign and domestic. Hollywood needs to figure out how to get their costs down. I guarantee you the unions won't give up, so I expect eventually for Hollywood execs to look to use AI in various ways more and more. If they don't, someone else will.

Of course, you can't change a market that doesn't exist either - changing trends like streaming, home theaters, other entertainment options, etc all play a part as well and Hollywood may never get back to its height like it was pre-Covid (at least as a percentage of overall entertainment spending).

The 40 Year Old Virgin couldn't be made today without removing several scenes.

Backyard Gator said:

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I don't think you can make The Hangover (which came out in 2009) or its sequels today. I can't even write "Paging Dr. Fa--ot" on this board because it is seen as too offensive.

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Yep, I was thinking about this recently. Quite a few movies that were made in the earlier 2000's absolutely could not be made today.

You are misrepresenting my full opinion. Again, you are either arguing in bad faith or lack the ability to understand nuance.

My example of how wokeness and DEI can destroy the artistic process actually has nothing to do with what can or cannot be made, today. That is an argument we can have, but mine is an argument as to how the culture around Hollywood, perpetrated from a leftist mindset, directly stifles the creative process. I believe this is felt more heavily in comedy, but we see the results of this in the shear number of ****ty movies and shows that utterly fail due to rejection from normal people.

My point incorporates comedies that, though may not seem glaringly woke, still completely suck because they just aren't funny. Why aren't they funny? Because the creative process for writing and making comedies has been stifled by all the woke and DEI bull**** these creators have to deal with, behind the scenes.

I may be more politically minded than the average consumer, but the large amount of data we have is based on the response of average Americans.

ETA: Also, my opinions are not black and white. There is always nuance. Take a show like One Piece. Highly successful. I love it. Why is a show that is so off the wall whacky so popular? It is literally an anime brought to live action. But it has succeeded because the original creator maintained full control to hold the studio to his true vision. He has the rights to veto their suggestions, allowing him to tell the story he spent his whole life creating. Now, I've heard there are people who didn't like a few castings due to race swaps. But even in a race swap, my question is whether it makes sense in the story/world and whether it requires the creators to change the story. From what i've seen, that hasn't been the case at all (the only one i'm actually aware of is Vivi).

AgGrad99 said:

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Now, that doesn't solve the problem Hollywood has, trying to attract filming back to their area, rather than other locations...but it would help with the crowds on Friday night.

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This is definitely an issue that I believe is less influenced by the woke/DEI stuff. This is a simple matter of California making it too expensive through it's far left legislation. This is what you get with a complete super-majority in all parts of government. It's not good in either political direction.

Once again, i think people want to rage about cancel culture when it's might simply be that culture has changed. The things the complainers insist are funny are no longer funny to a large portion of the population so they don't have tens of millions of dollars invested on them.

But shouldn't movies like White Chicks be timeless!?

Culture hasn't changed that much, but it would be impossible to know if you never hear the stories and jokes normal Americans tell when they're not afraid of being fired or canceled for it.

Studios cleansing themselves of people who warn them what the "modern audience" might be turned off by will be a huge step in the right direction.

Honestly i think it might be the right that would scandalized if ideas of propriety were abandoned in comedy.

Charlie Kirk jokes abound with the kids. Trump is a punchline. Even 9/11 is fair game.

schmendeler said:

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Honestly i think it might be the right that would scandalized if ideas of propriety were abandoned in comedy.

Charlie Kirk jokes abound with the kids. Trump is a punchline. Even 9/11 is fair game.

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Yeah. Because nothing is more funny than a guy getting shot in the neck in front of his wife and kids.

The rise of comedians like Shane Gillis and even female comedians like Taylor Tomlinson (who can be pretty off-color with her jokes) show that our culture hasn't changed to the point where people are suddenly shocked by "dirty" or non-PC jokes and don't find them funny anymore. Hollywood didn't turn away from that type of comedy because the public somehow grew out of that. Hollywood execs turned away from that type of comedy because they were cowed by the woke uprising and afraid of falling out of the graces of the woke vocal minority who were bullying their way across America.

People have always, and will always, want to let their hair down and laugh at the things in life that we've been told shouldn't be discussed in public. We want to laugh at ourselves - at how dumb, crude, etc. we can be. But it is a simple fact that a very vocal minority in the U.S. has spent the past 5-10 years trying to push their idea of what should be allowed, and since the Hollywood execs are gutless, they got their way. Comedy movies suffered because of that.

But I think we might be turning a corner and pushing past the woke police in our entertainment.

schmendeler said:

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Honestly i think it might be the right that would scandalized if ideas of propriety were abandoned in comedy.

Charlie Kirk jokes abound with the kids. Trump is a punchline. Even 9/11 is fair game.

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Thanks Jimmy Kimmel

maroon barchetta said:

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schmendeler said:

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Honestly i think it might be the right that would scandalized if ideas of propriety were abandoned in comedy.

Charlie Kirk jokes abound with the kids. Trump is a punchline. Even 9/11 is fair game.

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Yeah. Because nothing is more funny than a guy getting shot in the neck in front of his wife and kids.

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you just proved his point,

You have to have your head so far up your ass that we'd need Pete Buttigeig piloting a SpaceX rocket to find it if you don't think the creative process has been stifled by woke-ism over the last decade. Clearly it has.

You have to think some comedians and execs are terrified of the cancel culture movie that could come from putting out a comedy with anything viewed as off limits.

My ex-wife wanted to be upset when Peter Rabbit made fun of food allergies, even while winking and nodding to the audience that they were aware it was a real thing.

There's a reason that all-time classics like "There's Something About Mary" are rarely on TV, because there's an entire plot line of a mentally handicapped character in it, who Matt Dillon calls a "******", and who is played by an actor who isn't mentally handicapped. If that movie came out today, there would be 20 billion hateful tweets about it 24 hours after the movie opened, the studio would have to apologize, and Matt Dillon would never work again.

In a couple of different interviews in the last decade, Judd Apatow has shared thoughts on the subject of studios wanting "sure things" with the whole package of the IP, the director, and the star all in one, instead of just taking random scripts and making them into movies, as well as the idea that there is no longer the "long tail" revenue available through sales of physical media which would convince a studio to take more of a risk on a comedy that could do well after leaving theaters.

For instance, the original Austin Powers made $53 million at the box office, but more than $100 million in VHS/DVD sales.
Likewise, Napoleon Dynamite made 44 million at the box office, and $120 million in DVD sales.


Now either of those films would be release to a streaming platform, I'm sure get some kind of deal based on streams, but no way that deal was going to make more than it would in physical media sales.

schmendeler said:

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I think political correctness is a way for people to ignore the fact that culture and taste evolves.

We don't have black face any more. Is that political correctness? Or has society decided it's no longer funny? I guarantee there were people lamenting PC run amok when that was eliminated.

Sure there has been movements to increase diversity and perspectives that aren't the typical straight white male orientation, but that is something we've mostly seen in big budget films where they are trying to grab as much market share as possible.

I think one of the problems with comedies is that there are no big name draws in comedy at the moment. Will Farrell was the one everyone wanted to see. Seems like he's reduced his level of activity.

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Some of society has just decided that it is extremely forbidden, even though it can be funny as hell. The same whites who think voter id laws are racist because blacks are too incompetent or underprivileged to get ID like everyone else, think black face is always inherently evil and racist.

I guarantee there are some white or Asian or Latino comics who could make some insanely funny sketches in black face. And blacks have done some amazing skits in white face. But we are pvssies now so can't do a lot of the fun edgy stuff anymore.

Although Tropic Thunder found a pretty genius loophole.

I don't go to the theaters for the same reason I don't go to target. They don't sell anything I need bad enough to let my money support their woke BS.

That said, when Kroger was out of our brand of baby formula I went to target, because I needed something bad enough. Last movie I saw it theaters was TG Maverick. Loved it and have watched it a handful of times at home since.

fig96 said:

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Now again, can that go too far? Sure, if they prioritize politicizing above story that rarely works. But take something like Blue Eye Samurai. It's by any definition extremely "woke", centered around themes of gender roles, sexuality, and race. But it's executed exceptionally well and pretty universally praised.

If a less skilled creator tried to do the same thing, they might fail miserably. But that doesn't mean their goals were any different.

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And I think this statement shows that you and I dont agree on what "woke" is. By no definition would I call Blue Eye Samurai "woke". She's not a Mary Sue. Everything about her character feels earned, through careful storytelling and character building. She's incredibly flawed but multifaceted and a fully fleshed out character.

This statement is what many on the left project onto us. It's why every crazy actress these days starts posting preemptive crap about audiences rejecting their movie. The vast majority of people complaining about woke and DEI have NEVER been against stories about women. Most of us LOVE the character of Ripley, or The Bride, and many other strong female characters. We dont believe having a female or black lead makes a movie "woke". We also arent against stories about gay characters. I love The Birdcage and Green Book.

Honestly, this statement of your's shows a glaring misunderstanding as to what woke is.

The line "I recommend you stop being such a ******, you're in the back seat" in old school is incredible and someone in the writers room even suggesting that these days would get them excommunicated from Hollywood.

Lathspell said:

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fig96 said:

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Now again, can that go too far? Sure, if they prioritize politicizing above story that rarely works. But take something like Blue Eye Samurai. It's by any definition extremely "woke", centered around themes of gender roles, sexuality, and race. But it's executed exceptionally well and pretty universally praised.

If a less skilled creator tried to do the same thing, they might fail miserably. But that doesn't mean their goals were any different.

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And I think this statement shows that you and I dont agree on what "woke" is. By no definition would I call Blue Eye Samurai "woke". She's not a Mary Sue. Everything about her character feels earned, through careful storytelling and character building. She's incredibly flawed but multifaceted and a fully fleshed out character.

This statement is what many on the left project onto us. It's why every crazy actress these days starts posting preemptive crap about audiences rejecting their movie. The vast majority of people complaining about woke and DEI have NEVER been against stories about women. Most of us LOVE the character of Ripley, or The Bride, and many other strong female characters. We dont believe having a female or black lead makes a movie "woke". We also arent against stories about gay characters. I love The Birdcage and Green Book.

Honestly, this statement of your's shows a glaring misunderstanding as to what woke is.

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One of my favorite TV characters of all time is a gay man. Officer John Cooper from Southland. But you know what, they didn't make "gay" his entire identity or a main focal point of the show. He was just a badass, who happened to be gay..

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One of my other all time fav tv characters was a black women who was a lead detective on the same show.



Don't ever let a leftist gaslight you into thinking you're bigoted or crazy for noticing how out of control a lot of the woke crap has become, just in the last decade.

While we're on the topic, no way you could make Southland today, at least not in its same form. At the very least, they'd have to litter it with subtle preachy racial and societal messages, kind of like The Pitt.