Go woke, go broke? On black elves, anthropological perspective, and critical approach to “culture wars”


Abstract

The text reflects on the issues of wokeness and culture wars in regard to mainstream cinema and its reception. Building on the author’s own ethnographical fieldwork within film industry, it addresses the question of desired anthropological approach to the discourse about representation in popular culture. The case of backlash against certain elements of popular fantasy live action series The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power and The Witcher is used by the author to argue for intersectional analysis rooted in economic perspective that exceeds identity-oriented, binary discursive setup, in search of more nuanced social knowledge, which is something that should constitute anthropological presence in public debate.


Keywords

cinema; woke; discourse; culture wars; entertainment industry

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Published : 2023-06-27


RaczkowskiT. (2023). Go woke, go broke? On black elves, anthropological perspective, and critical approach to “culture wars”. Studia Etnologiczne I Antropologiczne, 23(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.31261/SEIA.2023.23.01.06

Tomasz Raczkowski  tomaszred27@gmail.com
University of Wrocław  Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4341-9293




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