I haven’t watched this yet, but there are a lot of female and non-white cast members (there is another post on this board that seems to be very upset about “blacks”) on the poster. I’m assuming they have speaking roles.
Has Agatha Christie’s classic novel fallen victim to the SJW cabal’s woke agenda?
Its as horrible woke a possible. Theres almost no male sailor aboard the ship. Poirot virtue wasnt sourced by his intellect, but instead by a human desaster (of which he also was partly guilty of). He was attacked by a young woman, who doesnt have the smallest moral authority at all (beside not being a white old man). And at the end they killed (without any connection to the original book) the only mixed race couple on board (cause wokeism means that race strictly have to live apart from each other).
shareEloquently said.
share"Guy Haines" -- the name of a character played by Farley Granger in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller "Strangers on a Train" in 1951.
Interesting: "Guy Haines" was the hero. "Bruno Anthony"(played by Robert Walker) was the psychotic villain. Bruno was "coded" as gay(it could not be said out loud in a 1951 Hays Code film). But the straight "Guy Haines" was played by an actor who would eventually come out as...gay. (Farley Granger.) So how woke was "Strangers on a Train"? I dunno.
I've noted that our Moviechat "Guy Haines" is posing the question "how woke is this?" to practically every new film. This strikes me as preemptive strike AGAINST those who will be offended by a "woke" movie, to beat them to the punch of calling out the film. Its sarcasm. Its satire. Guy has as much as said that he expects crybabies to cry "woke!"
If "woke" is meant to mean "diverse in racial and gender casting" -- well, hmm.
And "Death on the Nile" is as good a REAL specimen of how the new "diversity" casting of the 21st Century is supposed to work, as we are going to get.
I suppose the issue with woke -- well debated here at moviechat -- is what is the realistic IMPACT of changing the race or gender orientation of a role.
I have not read the original Agatha Christie book "Death on the Nile." But I did see the 1978 film, and as I recall, all the main characters were white (less a "guide" on the boat.) In the 2022 version, two African-American women have been added...one "switches out" a white woman in the 1978 film, and I think that the other has been added. They are "paired" -- one is, indeed and fittingly, a Jazz Era band singer(an entertainer) and the other is the singer's manager.
The movie goes the extra step as positing each of the black women as a love interest for a white man(one of them is actually engaged to a white man, the other is flirtatious with Poirot.)
In addition , two characters are now gay - - they were not in the 1978 film.
CONT
To repeat, this is the way of the movies in 2022. These characters are not particularly "out of place" dramatically, but one notices them in contrast to the all-white, all-straight (and very much all-star) cast from 1978.
I suppose that once a movie company buys the rights to an original work, it is their right to change the characters and materials however they see fit. This season has also seen a remake of "Cyranno" in which the famously long-nosed white hero is now a white "little person"(played by the estimable Peter Dinklage) and a key white male romantic figure is now black.
The marketplace MAY sort all of this out. Does the term "go woke, go broke" apply? Not so much with movies -- they can be shipped all around the world and play endlessly on streaming. They make money SOMEWHERE. Its almost as if the "new diversity" of these films simply doesn't matter. If some people don't go to them, they will make LESS money, but they won't necessarily flop..OR they would have flopped anyway, regardless of the casting.
As a matter of "quality of drama," that will be a discussion for the critics ...and us. It wouldn't make much sense to cast a young white man in "Boyz in the Hood" -- that would insult the reality of the story. Similarly, American Graffiti was based on white man George Luca's memories of all his WHITE friends in Modesto California in 1962, and likely spoke to WHITE adults in 1973.
Gay issues are another matter. I noticed that the gay characters in the new Death on the Nile weren't allowed to be quite the funny sparring partners that they were as straights in the original. They are taken more seriously this time around.
CONT
And this: "Death on the Nile" makes sure not to whitewash the black characters in the story. One of them recounts the bigotry she has been subjected to in her entertainment career -- you can't necessarily just insert black people into the story and NOT consider their plight.
Oh, well. It is what it is. We are where we are in human history, and "at the movies."
Keep asking your question, Guy Haines. Its more important than you know...and not necessarily for the reasons you intend.
PS. The most shocking casting in the new Death on the Nile is that of Russell Brand -- because he isn't allowed to be wild and funny and sexy at all. He's DULL.
I was like ... is that RB? Neah! But he looks like RB!!! Still neah. Ok let's check the cast.
SHIT, IT IS RB!!!
" one notices them in contrast to the all-white, all-straight (and very much all-star) cast from 1978."
No. One notices them in contrast to the social standing of blacks and Indians at the time the film is set. Upper crust Englishmen were not partying with blacks and Indians in the 1920s.
There is some there, the diversity and lesbianism mentioned which I didn't mind however it was OBVIOUS they would not make black women and a dark minority nor lesbians the villain. Because of that it somewhat destroys the film in making the villains too obvious. It was directed well however, and I can't blame Branagh, I imagine he had no choice in the matter. 7/10
Ps. Did not like Poirot with the aunt. She has been around the block and will simply use him. For Poirot to fall for her?
I'm pretty sure the villain was selected because they are the villain in the novel and Branagh didn't change that.
shareThat's not the point. By choosing those on the high victimhood hierarchy of wokeness values, they have clued or spoiled the audience that they are not the killers. From the very beginning I knew who the killers were and knew the black women, the south asian, and the lesbians would not be the killers bec woke values would not permit it.
shareThere is some but it doesn't detract from the movie. Which anyway is quite bland and boring ...
shareIt's a relief that changing around a few characters didn't "detract" too much from the movie. Thank god you weren't pressed to think too hard.
shareErm, and your point is??
And yeah, the movie was quite predictable, bland and boring, unfortunately .. I wish it would have made me think harder.
Knives Out is a much more interesting and intelligent crime mystery movie. And less woke.
Is it really that difficult to watch a movie with characters that may be different than those from the agenda that has been pushed on us for decades? I find it hilarious that for as far back as anyone can remember, an overwhelming majority of movies and tv shows feature white characters and put anyone else in stereotypical minor roles, but when someone puts in a black person as a major character that movie is now "pushing a woke agenda." And, oh no! It appears that it's a distraction and you just can't watch a movie and enjoy your hatefulness at the same time.
shareThere is a difference between being awake and being woke...a difference some on both sides seem unable to see. It's possible to elevate some without denigrating others because ,in doing so, it's just changing the target of unfair bias and creates more division...And it's possible to do it in a more organic way than the current trend.
I didn't really find this film particularly woke outside of the villian having to be a white male but it also wasn't that good.
X
shareThere’s a black jazz singer with a daughter. Both British. There’s an East Indian guy who is the financial advisor. The main characters are white but not British. American and Israeli. Is that woke?
share