Online social media discourse over this term has exploded in recent years and I see it all the time regarding entertainment media that possess an inkling of diversity. Once defined as being aware and informed of social issues and mostly associated with black social activism (BLM), “woke” has become synonymous with “bad” where diversity and inclusivity is involved. Specifically in entertainment media, the mere inclusion of a single POC or LGBTQ+ lead or secondary character (or virtually anything outside of the status quo) is considered “woke”, why is that? Different demographics exist in the world and if including different groups of people in entertainment media is so heavily considered “pandering” then why isn’t the default considered pandering? “Woke” has also often been associated with terms like “forced diversity” which seek to interrogate writers in order to justify why the inclusion of people of different race, sexuality, and gender is in “their” entertainment media. Arguments that are anti-”woke” often stem from wanting to distance social issues from entertainment or wanting to coddle oneself from the reality that the world and its people are not homogeneous. 

It seems unnecessary to cite a credential but as an advertising student who has created content for actual clients, most everything in media has a target audience in mind and most every piece of media, no matter how small, is “pandering” to someone.

Another example of THAT definition of “woke” being pushed around in media is with Republican Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, allowing parents to ban books in schools and seeking to remove an AP African American Studies course at a Florida public high school. The Stop W.O.K.E. Act is a direct attack on historical truths and is a blatant form of censorship in the interest that students be less “brainwashed”. It seems once again, “woke” is just another word for “different” and “different” isn’t “good”.