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The Wokeness Charade that Stifles Thought and Art
And the irrelevance of our feelings about Bradley Cooper’s fake nose in “Maestro”
Decades ago, “wokeness” used to mean that we should be on the lookout for signs of racism or other injustices. Now, though, the word has been coopted to license displays of shallow, reactionary moralizing.
You can see this kind of sanctimony in the silly row over Bradley Cooper’s choice to wear a prosthetic nose in his role as Leonard Bernstein, in the movie “Maestro.”
The woke appraisal of an unreleased film
In a CNN opinion piece, for instance, David M. Perry explains why he cares about Cooper’s fake nose. It’s not that Perry thinks he has the moral high ground in worrying that although Cooper himself isn’t anti-Jewish, his use of that prosthesis feeds into the stereotype of the hook-nosed Jew. No, Perry’s point is just that we’re all entitled to our feelings.
As he says, “Why can’t we acknowledge that each of us might have a reaction to Cooper’s prosthesis — or to any act of representation of people with whom we personally identify — and that’s ok? It’s okay to be offended, to feel a certain way. It’s okay if someone else feels differently.”
