{"id":2635712,"date":"2026-07-26T14:08:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:08:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-love-kills-woke-a-study-in-film\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T14:19:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T18:19:27","slug":"how-love-kills-woke-a-study-in-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-love-kills-woke-a-study-in-film\/","title":{"rendered":"How Love Kills Woke: A Study in Film"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-love-kills-woke-a-study-in-film%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2635712&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the controversy surrounding Hollywood adaptations of classic and beloved literary works, often criticized for subverting or distorting their original messages. It highlights concerns about films portraying legendary figures, such as Robin Hood, as villains, or depicting past leaders like Napoleon Bonaparte in a negative light, reflecting a perceived contempt for Western culture and its history. The piece emphasizes the importance of genuine love and respect for these stories, citing filmmaker Andy Serkis\u2019s work on \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d and his defense of casting choices rooted in authenticity. It argues that such passionate approaches help preserve the integrity of the source material and celebrate Western heritage. the author laments that many modern films lack this affection,resulting in subpar and revisionist representations,contrasting these with respectful adaptations that honor the cultural and historical importance of the stories.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><br \/>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\"><br \/>\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><html><body><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>When Hollywood announces new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lost-soviet-union-lord-of-the-rings-movie-discovered\/\" title=\"Lost Soviet Union \u2018Lord Of The Rings\u2019 Movie Discovered\">film adaptations<\/a> of classic or well-loved works of literature, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >alarm bells instantly begin ringing<\/a> for many conservatives \u2014 or even just normal people, honestly. What woke perversions will this rendering of my favorite book portend?<\/p>\n<p>How will money-hungry film studios subvert the timeless messages or meanings of this or that foundational text of Western literature? What blatant revisions of historical fact will feature in the latest Hollywood retelling of some historical hero\u2019s life?<\/p>\n<p>There are many recent examples of this trend, but one that stands out is the recent film \u201cThe Death of Robin Hood.\u201d Starring Hugh Jackman, the film recasts the legendary outlaw as a murderous villain, trying to survive both old age and the manifold attempts at revenge carried out by the sons or even daughters of the innocent folk he has slain. The film\u2019s tagline literally reads, \u201cHe was no hero.\u201d The film is a grim pastiche painted in varying shades of black, blue, and grey, with blood and fire often representing the only splashes of color throughout the film\u2019s more-than-two-hour runtime.<\/p>\n<p>Tales of Robin Hood first appeared in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/japan-offers-exclusive-online-ninja-training-experience\/\" title=\"Japan offers exclusive online ninja training experience\">early 15th century<\/a>, although perhaps even earlier, as earlier documents reference such tales. In early folklore, Robin Hood was most definitely a hero.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes portrayed as an unjustly persecuted nobleman but more frequently a member of the English yeomanry, Robin Hood followed a doctrine of \u201crob from the rich to feed the poor,\u201d a policy which was presented as a form of Christian virtue in contrast against the tyrannical rule of King John of England, whose appetite for wealth and inhumanly high taxes prompted even the landed gentry to revolt against him, siding with the Catholic Church and pressuring John to sign the Magna Carta, guaranteeing the protection of rights for peasants, barons, and the Church.<\/p>\n<p>Robin Hood was generally cast as an ally of King Richard the Lionheart, who his brother John allowed to languish in Turkish prisons during the Crusades, while the latter effectively usurped the throne. In later tales of Robin Hood, from the 16th century onwards, he is often depicted as a fellow crusader who served under Richard before returning home to find John and his henchmen, like the cunning Sheriff of Nottingham, abusing the people of England in Richard\u2019s absence, even imprisoning peasants who cannot afford to pay the erstwhile king\u2019s ridiculously high taxes.<\/p>\n<p>Far from being a grim, grey, murderous outlaw, Robin Hood was known for wearing a lively shade of Lincoln Green and accosting corrupt nobles and agents of King John with his band of \u201cmerry men.\u201d Even in the earliest legends, Robin Hood was a devout Christian with a particular affinity for Mary, Christ\u2019s mother, and a dedication to defending the honor of women, especially maidens.<\/p>\n<p>While Hollywood filmmakers may love their craft, their constant subversion of classic texts, age-old tales, and historical episodes \u2014 whether reframing legendary heroes as bloodthirsty villains or casting ethnic minorities as real-life historical figures who were demonstrably not ethnic minorities \u2014 evinces a simmering hatred of Western culture and all that it produces. As a result, many of these subversive, revisionist films are just\u2026 bad.<\/p>\n<p>The late comedian Norm Macdonald, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=olkgPzlh5A8&#038;t=74s\">speaking<\/a> of bad impressions of President Donald Trump, iterated that in order to do an impression (or an adaptation) well, the impresario (or adapter) has to like the person or work being impersonated (or adapted). \u201cThe problem with, if you do an impression of someone, you have to, uh, like that person, you know, because you\u2019re playing the person and people like themselves,\u201d Macdonald observed. \u201cSo, uh, you can\u2019t play someone and have contempt for them at the same time. You know, it doesn\u2019t work as an impression.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Just so, those who have contempt for Western culture and Western literary classics cannot properly adapt Western history and Western literature for the screen; their contempt seeps through. Ridley Scott\u2019s \u201cNapoleon\u201d film portrayed the French leader as little more than a selfish, delusional dictator who happened to also be a military genius.<\/p>\n<p>In point of fact, Napoleon Bonaparte was widely lauded as a hero during his reign. In the wake of the slaughter, chaos, and confusion of the anti-Christian French Revolution, Napoleon rose as a force of order, restoring sanity, vision, and ambition to the governance of France. Yet Scott, in his contempt, depicted a dysgenic, dysfunctional little man crippled by psychological flaws, not a man whose name is still associated with power, grandeur, and triumph centuries after his death.<\/p>\n<p>How refreshing, then, to have the beloved \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d series entrusted to the care of someone who genuinely loves the source material. Filmmaker and actor Andy Serkis, who famously portrayed Gollum in director Peter Jackson\u2019s \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d films more than 20 years ago, will be returning author J.R.R. Tolkien\u2019s Middle-Earth to the big screen with the pseudo-prequel film \u201cThe Hunt for Gollum,\u201d largely understood to be centered on Aragorn\u2019s and Gandalf\u2019s quest to find Gollum shortly before Frodo Baggins sets off on his journey to Rivendell and, eventually, Mordor.<\/p>\n<p>Serkis is more than just an adept filmmaker. Widely regarded as the master of motion-capture acting, the British actor is also a great lover of Tolkien\u2019s work. In addition to playing Gollum in both the celebrated \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d trilogy and Jackson\u2019s later and lesser multi-film expansion on \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d Serkis has personally narrated the unabridged audiobook versions of \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d all three volumes of \u201cThe Lord of the Rings,\u201d and \u201cThe Silmarillion.\u201d His passion for Tolkien\u2019s work is clear in his own work.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, Serkis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/c07y400jlngo\">responded<\/a> to backlash from the subversive, revisionist woke crowd for featuring an all-white cast in \u201cThe Hunt for Gollum.\u201d Instead of caving to astroturfed public pressure and cries of \u201cracist,\u201d Serkis defended his decision, pointing to his understanding of and love for Tolkien\u2019s world. \u201cTolkien himself was influenced a lot by Norse mythology, there\u2019s a lot of that feeling,\u201d Serkis told BBC regarding his casting decisions. \u201cThe Shire feels very, very much like a very, a very white, you know\u2026\u201d BBC wrote that Serkis trailed off for a moment before \u201ccontinuing, with greater certainty: \u2018They\u2019re not very concerned about what goes on beyond the borders of The Shire, but they know they don\u2019t want people coming in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Serkis acknowledged that \u201cthere have been criticisms\u201d of the casting in both \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d films and in his \u201cThe Hunt for Gollum.\u201d He explained, \u201cThis particular film is somewhat acknowledging that. But I don\u2019t think we will be doing a politically correct just-casting-for-the sake-of-casting-and-ticking-boxes version of the film. So, it\u2019s where relevant basically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his letters, Tolkien described Middle-earth as more than just some mythical or fairy tale land of make-believe. The mythology of Middle-earth is intricate and detailed, rooted in Christian understanding of the creation story. The author and Oxford professor explained in letters to family members and editors that he sought to create a uniquely English mythology; he noted that legends like those of King Arthur are d with the French via the Norman Conquest, but that Middle-earth is a blend of the Anglo-Saxon world of the early medieval ages and the culture and mythos of the Nordic peoples, many of whom assimilated to Anglo-Saxon culture, including Christianity, under King Alfred the Great of Wessex and his successor, King Aethelstan of England. In a 1951 letter to American biographer and historian Milton Waldman, Tolkien expressed his desire to create a body of mythology, through Middle-earth, which he could \u201cdedicate simply to: to England; to my country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In \u201cThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,\u201d the reclusive Elves of Lothl\u00f3rien provide the members of the Fellowship with cloaks, brooches, and gifts of astounding beauty and craftsmanship. One of the Elves, while dressing the hobbits in their near-enchanted cloaks, says, \u201cLeaf and branch, water and stone: they have the hue and beauty of all these things under the twilight of L\u00f3rien that we love; for we put the thought of all that we love into all that we make.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the contempt and loathing that many Hollywood folk harbor in their hearts for Western culture, Western literature, and the Christianity upon which the West is founded seeps through in their subversive, revisionist, woke work, then it may be hoped that the love which those like Serkis have for the works of literary giants like Tolkien may also shine forth, that they may \u201cput the thought of all that [they] love into all that [they] make.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Would that more filmmakers, men of vision and clarity and skill, bore in their hearts a love for the Western world. Then movie theaters might once again be places where crowds could gather to watch their heroes on the screen: men like King Alfred the Great (actually portrayed fairly and respectfully in \u2014 of all things \u2014 the Netflix series \u201cThe Last Kingdom\u201d), King Arthur, Charlemagne, Roland, Robin Hood, Richard the Lionheart, King St. Louis IX, Jean de Valette, George Washington (who did just get an excellent treatment in \u201cYoung Washington,\u201d featuring Serkis in a supporting role), Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Boone, Jacques Cathelineau, Horatio Nelson, Davy Crockett, Andrew Jackson, and so many other men who made the West great.<\/p>\n<p>One may hope and pray that the next generation of filmmakers will, like Serkis, love the stories that they tell and will \u201cput the thought of all that [they] love into all that [they] make.\u201d<\/p>\n<div><em>S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.<\/em><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #171717; display: flex;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 600;line-height: 1.5;margin: 24px 0;padding: 18px 20px 18px 30px;text-align: left;\">\n<div style=\"align-self: stretch;border-left: 3px solid #171717;flex-shrink: 0;padding-left: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/\">Choose The Western Journal as your preferred source on Google and never miss reporting that defends truth, protects freedom, and advances Western civilization<\/a><\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey == typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts = { \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs = [ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! 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