The Hulu Original "Woke" was promoted to be a show that would add social commentary to today's current societal tension. It was suppose to be done in comedic fashion of course but nevertheless still find a way to add to the conversation.
The phrase "woke" has been used to describe a person who has become highly socially aware and conscious. As it regards to minorities it is meant to describe an individual who has recognized the multiple factors of oppression that exist against them, others, and throughout American history. A "woke" individual is someone who has been enlightened, highlighted in the first episode of the series by the character Keef Knight.
Keef was a cartoonist who thought that he wouldn't have to deal with being black in America because in his eyes he didn't fit the "description". Believing that he had done all the things necessary to separate himself from being seen as a threat, he became traumatized when an interaction with the cops became unnecessarily volatile and life threatening when he was falsely accused of fitting the profile of a local thief. Post altercation, Keef became disoriented by the matter and began to explore and feel the impacts of now being "woke".
The problem with the show is that throughout it the character Keef is very light in his depth of discovery. As he goes about confronting the issues he now is becoming knowledgable of existing in America for minorities and more specifically in his case a black man, it comes off very cheesy. Dialogue on the issues are like what you would find in a race relations pamphlet handed out at a justice for all convention. There were no new perspectives. No hot takes. Nothing that could spark new thought. Nothing that was provocative. To keep it frank. It was boring if you were looking to hear and watch something challenging. If you weren't looking for that then it was an easy show to watch.
There were cringe moments that existed. Moments where Keef's white roommate became bothered by having to confront white people who thought signs stating "black people for rent" was cool and homaging the good ol' days (slavery). He stated that Keef should have considered how it would make him feel as a white male liberal progressive about having to deal with his own people displaying their blatant racism and prejudice to his face. That was one moment in the show that could have been unpacked but failed to happen which was heavily disheartening.
Another was when Keef displayed an art piece that had his romantic white female partner colored in black face because Keef was afraid of displaying an art piece that held "whiteness". That moment could have garnered more intense conversation but didn't. And unfortunately these two moments brought the most opportunity for provocative dialogue and action.
The show climaxed with two takeaways that were already deemed known. One being that animals' lives are more important than black human lives. Secondly, law enforcement will never disgrace the integrity of the shield as a whole to do the right thing. They would rather settle quietly before admitting a broken system. Both of these things were given their own episode to highlight which became overbearingly nauseating.
All in all if you are looking for something to watch, it's cool to pass time. You might fall asleep, but don't expect to come out of it a deep thinker.
Tribe Rating:
6/10
Comentarios