The Super Mario Brothers Movie and Hope for the Future

 First off, watch this:

I'm excited by this. Do you know why? It's because it sounds like someone in charge of something somewhere finally gets it. The really, truly, honestly do get it.

I hear you working out there. You're thinking, "Gets what Jimbo?"

You know what? I'm glad you asked. Because it's very important that someone gets this. Not only for me, but for Hollywood and Big Publishing, and a lot of other things as well. 

But you're still  wondering what I'm talking about, so here goes:

What they finally get, what someone is finally trying to understand, is that Wokism is not important to sales and that sales are important to their product, their company, and also to their families, if their families depend on a paycheck to survive. I would actually argue that pushing things too far to the Woke side actually 

Now don't get me wrong: I have nothing against women, minorities, members of the LGBT+ community or any other person being in a movie or a book. None. I grew up watching Star Trek: The Original Series. Having black and Asian characters onscreen is something I've always kind of taken for granted, honestly. And I've followed the acting careers of people like Will Smith, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Halle Berry, Lawrence Fishburne, etc. and supported their work. I've seen Hamilton on stage. I once had someone get into my car and, having seen the tapes I kept there, ask me why I wouldn't listen to music by white people (and yes, that's probably why the first three black actors I mentioned are rappers. I had an interest in their work before they started acting.) Seriously, if someone can act up to the standard expected of any Hollywood actor, give them a job. I mean that.

BUT...

Listen to the video I embedded up there. The creators of the The Super Mario Brothers Movie wanted to make Mario look like an idiot, give up most of his screen time and basically be a punk in his own movie. It's literally (and I mean literally literally, not literally figuratively) called The Super Mario Brothers Movie and they didn't want to give the title character his time on screen or take him seriously. That wouldn't have flown with the fans. 

Nintendo knew that, and they made the studio fix it. Good for them. 

Seriously, if you want to make a movie with Princess Peach as the hero, then do it. But when you do it, call it Peach or Princess Peach or something. Have fun with it. I have no problem with that. But when you feel it necessary to completely reverse the way things have worked for roughly forty years now, you've taken it too far. 

So I'm glad to see Nintendo standing up to the Woke mob and actually insisting on a quality script for their movie because, let's face it, a Super Mario Brothers movie where Mario and Luigi were incompetent idiots and Princess Peach was the hero would flop, and here's the thing about that:

At that point, it's the studios fault, not the fans' fault. I mean that seriously. Listen folks, fans support things that they love. If you don't believe me go to a con. When people love your product, they will show love and support it. When you intentionally distort the product that they've supported for years of their lives to the tune of hundreds or maybe thousands of dollars (and if you don't think that's possible, do a Google search for Super Mario Brothers and click on "Shop.") and untold hours of their time (and only God knows how many Super Mario Brothers games exist or how long it takes to beat them all.) and try to shove it down their throat to support your political beliefs, you have urinated directly upon their faces and you have done it on purpose. Of course they're not going to support your crap. 

If I came into your house, kicked your dog and took a dump in the middle of your kitchen table would you make me an omelet?

That's an imperfect analogy, but it's still a valid one. Disrespecting a person is not a way to get them to give you what you want, whether it's  their money (via ticket/book sales) or a three-egger with sausage, cheese and green peppers. 

Now there are some members of the Left that get this. Noted Leftist George Takei actually urged Star Trek: Beyond creators to make a new character who happened to be gay rather than making Sulu gay. That makes sense. The article I linked actually talks about how excited Takei was to see new (at the time at least) Star Trek: Discovery characters who were gay. I've seen the show. I like the show. I like the characters (and seriously, taking tardigrade DNA into your system to save your ship/make it work is straight up ballsy. Props to Lieutenant Commander Stamets.)  BUT HERE'S THE THING: THEY WERE NEW CHARACTERS!

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?!?!?! WHY DO YOU WOKIST CREATIVE TYPES REFUSE TO CREATE?!?!?!??

Do your job, people. Make something (someone?) new.

And don't give me that crap about "undoing the injustices of the past." They happened. No amount of Wokism is going to change it. You need to focus your energies on changing the future and prevention of the same, because what's done is done.

And yes, I did just acknowledge that there have been injustices. It happened, and no one can change that.

And yes, the opinions of people "like me" do matter, because we're the ones you're counting on to subscribe to Paramount Plus to see this stuff. And, for the record, ST:DIS is one of the reasons I subscribed to Paramount Plus in the first place. I wanted to see what all of the hype was about. I'm glad I did, because I enjoyed it. About the only one of the new series I didn't like was Prodigy, but that's for kids anyway. 

If Hollywood wants to survive, it needs to give the fans what they want. What the fans want is the properties they love presented in the way they've always loved them. They're not going to attract enough Wokists to make up for the loss of the majority of a fan base because they didn't want to do their jobs. 

Think about it, Hollywood. If you're writers are worth the seven-figure salaries they receive they should be able to make a character of any race/gender/orientation/creed/religion and whatever else I was supposed to include there relevant. That's all the fans are asking for. We want new characters who do something to advance the story instead of just taking up space because Woke. 

Here's a question for you: If you add an irrelevant character because "inclusion" how much respect are you showing members of that group? If you're adding a marginalized character (and if they're not relevant to the plot, they are most definitely marginalized) are you serving that community or are you endorsing their marginalization? Why aren't they worth the respect you'd show a white character in making them part of the plot? Who is really the racist here?

I'll give you a hint: It ain't me.