The shows so diverse they've put BDSM yordles. Me: that's nice at least there are no damn furries there haha. *Arcane S2:* ...

This is gonna sound weird, but my favourite thing about Arcane is seeing women get beaten up. In western animation and live action movies, I hardly ever see a girl get beaten up and and when a girl is ever in a fight, she wins unscathed. In Arcane the fights felt so real, and as a girl myself I was so happy to see that.

The thought of Arcane being "woke" hadn't even crossed my mind until I saw this video. And that's how it's supposed to be. If it isn't naturally implemented it feels forced and cheap.

I can’t classify this as woke it’s more like progressivism done right, diverse characters are characters not political mouthpieces, The representation of both men and women are done properly and finally The politics are gray giving the audience a chance to form there own opinion with both sides. A Breath of fresh air from the trash 🗑 we been getting lately not to mention it’s beautifully drawn and not romanticizing Jinx mental trauma because nowadays people on Twitter think that having a mental illness is like a super power.

Arcane does check all the boxes of representation. they even show love to the disabled community. and it's not forced.

Diversity was never the goal, it was just a requirement for realism. Arcane is one of the few shows that demonstrate this well (see Into the Spiderverse and Avatar for two more excellent examples). I don't want a female James Bond movie. I want more spy movies from different points of view. I want movies where the side characters aren't parodies of gender or race roles.

I love that Jinx is both brilliant and self-sabotaging. Focusing on the human tragedy sidesteps the political. Think of how much better the Star Wars sequels could have been if they focused on the squalor and loneliness of Rays upbringing? She should have been profoundly damaged by that, but she comes off as generic.

Definitely not a woke show. It's just diversity done right. As you put it, it's diverse without making you notice. Gender, race or sexual orientation were not the sole/primary focus of the characters. As for the female leads, it worked because they were strong characters who happened to be female, not deemed strong because they're female as the woke/sjw advocates can't seem to distance themselves from because to them, gender, race and sexual orientation is the story. Arcane worked because the characters were the story in all their flaws, nuance and shades of grey. They we relatable. Even the villains. No, I wouldn't call Silco "father of the year" material but he did genuinely care for Jinx. He at least had that redeeming quality. As for Jinx, yeah, she's a monster but she's a monster because she's traumatized by her past and has been exploited.

I loved how they did Jinx, the fun and entertaining scenes - a la Harley Quinn and Joker- playing off her mental illness/instability. But, unlike Harley and Joker, they didn't glamorise mental illness. I can appreciate her character and journey through the story. She isn't just random (like Harley in particular is portrayed a lot these days), you can see how she got to doing that weird crazy thing with how she sees and approaches the world. But she isn't an ideal, not someone whose shoes seem like they would be fun to walk in, if that makes sense? She's not crazy because crazy is cool and fun. She's messed up because her life has been messed up and her reactions and traits are consistent with having had those experiences.

The thing about Arcane is that it's got its priorities straight, the writers and show runners made it very clear that their priority is to show that on all sides of the central conflict there are people with understandable motivations and logic (and as we saw both Piltover and Zaun have all kinds of people), they clearly wanted to put making the characters both relatable and flawed before any identities they have, their identities just feel like a natural and small part of who they are not the sole focus, they free to be wrong, to fail, to be beaten and to be manipulative or manipulated, everyone is truly equal and not narratively restrained by their identities. And the problem wasn't really with strong women, the problem is those who advocate for "strong masculine women" in the same breath calling masculinity "toxic" and also demonizing all kinds of feminine women (mothers, house wives, ..etc), but in Arcane we see all kinds of women, like Mel (who is a cunning politician and entrepreneur), we have mothers like Jayce's and Caitlyn's mothers (who are contrasted with Mel's warmongering Noxian mother who is the polar opposite), we see Caitlyn who isn't physically strong but is a great shot and has a strong moral compass.. etc etc, it's refreshing to see this wide breadth of female characters in one show without trying to put down the more feminine women or the men in the show (like most woke shows do). And I wouldn't call Arcane woke, I only see it as a masterpiece and a triumph in animation and storytelling, that's all the needs to be said about it.

Arcane set the bar really high for disney and all the other animation studios....great writing, amazing animation and just some of the best characters i've ever seen in animation....so "human"....dynamic and easy to sympathize with...astonishing job done done by forthiche and riot games man.....this show was a breeze of fresh air we all needed.

Something that I loved about arcane was finally seeing Jinx as something more than just funny eye candy. Like this is a girl that MAKES WEAPONS. On the REGULAR. She's an engineer! But all she is in the game is "crazy waifu with funny crazy person voice lines! She likes explosions!" In arcane, there are multiple scenes specifically dedicated to showing us how brilliant she is, how she cracks how the hextech gem works in days even though it took Jayce years to even begin to understand what they were, we see her working in her own studio, making the fake firelights, we see how creative she is, always drawing stuff on her inventions, giving her weapons personalities and making dolls. All this without romanticizing her mental issues and giving her flaws. Because even though she's a really cool character with all these great traits, she's definitely not a Mary sue. They finally put all her potential to good use.

What i love from arcane is that every frame seems like painting

I LOVE that none of the female characters are sexualized I hate it when serious shows break their tone just for fan service

If by woke you mean politically progressive, which is what I usually see people use it as, then absolutely yes. It's one of the most political shows out there, and it is impossible to interpret the story or the characters' motives without taking into account the show's theme of inequality and conflict of ideas. If by woke you mean using progressive trends to make a quick buck by pandering to the average person, then no, by no means does it tokenize minorities as a marketing ploy, yet it's representation of them is a breath of fresh air with how rapidly these trends caught on, seeing actual characters with human aspects. People relating with groups they may not interact with a lot in the real world, thus being prone to falling for misinformation about them, will hopefully help show those reasonable enough that we are all human with more often than not shared struggles, which is an important tenant of intersectionality. Completely blown away by this show in all aspects.

Arcane does it right. They don't focus on the woke, they focus on the characters and their life's and just show them for what they are. I watched the show because I wanted to know more of the story, that's what Hollywood is missing. Great stories go a long to way and bring characters to life.

I wouldn't even call it "diversity done right" because it seems that Arcane is not trying to be "something" or to represent certain values. Arcane is just a great show with cool characters and a really good story.

Never thought about any of the characters as "woman", "man", "black" or "white", not once, because that clearly didn't matter. Arcane did an incredible job at creating every character without falling into tropes.

I hate the term woke, this is a great story with incredible animation and a team of people who cared, that’s why it’s amazing.

i think what really helps arcane is that the creators see their characters as human, not as brownie points for doing something progressive. i've seen so many shows/movies with lgbtq+ or poc characters having zero personality, always being the good guy, or having no plot development. a lot of times they are there just to say "hey, we're diverse!" but then the writers are too scared to give those characters a storyline out of fear they might say or do something to misrepresent a minority group. in arcane, they portrayed different races, disabilities, mental illness, and lgbtq+ relationships where they feel so real because they actually are flawed and have a personality/storyline for once. and to me, that is the definition of representation

I think you had a good point about having strong female characters without having to have them be antagonistic towards men. I am so tired of shows using that trope or having to show how strong the women are by making all the men in a show be incompetent. Generally I don't like how the strong female characters in most shows are just a reskin of the classic macho man character, but with boobs, it does a disservice to both women and good writing.

i love how the show’s full of powerful women but it NEVER brings up their gender. it’s so refreshing to see a show writing strong characters, not strong WOMEN

Hearing " Netflix's Arcane" sounds so wrong

Reason #148 why I love Arcane: I get to say: "no, I do not have anything against strong female characters; it's just that your strong female character is an annoying over-the-top james bond rip-off with no actual personality - while it can be done right, as in Arcane".

I didn't realise how diverse Arcane was, man, even in the scenes after kid Ekko showed up i thought "Wait, was Ekko black?" For a split second even tho i knew his League version... THAT'S how immersive Arcane was

If it hasn't been said, the character designs actually deviate slightly from their LoL origins. The deviations are in two different types: 1. Making them a little less extreme so they feel more like real characters and not charicatures 2. Representing their Voice Actor better. The first point is pretty self explanatory. For the latter, characters previously in LoL (Cait and Jayce most noticeably) actually are drawn to slightly more represent their voice actors ethnicity. Ergo Cait is drawn a bit more Asian, Jayce is a bit more hispanic.

Trust me when I tell you that people who care about representation and diversity, care about it being done right, and will absolutely call it out when done wrong. Of course, there is always the gray area where folks disagree on whether representation was done right or not. But yes, people care. There's also a debate on whether bad representation is better than no representation. Something you may not be aware of is that people also want diversity within diversity. If diversity is done right, but always represents certain people the same way, even if it is positive, then it becomes an issue. People want to see different kinds of women, gay people, black people, etc... That means they want stories where the ethnicity/gender/sexual orientation/class of a character matters greatly to the plot, just as much as they want stories where that is merely incidental, and everything in between. I highly recommend you check out *Chimmamanda Ngozi Adiche* 's TED Talk *_The Danger of the Single Story_* which elucidates on this issue. It was very illuminating to me.

Riot:*Writes female character competently* Taylor: this is **absolutely** groundbreaking You know what fair. This is probably one of three times studios have done this. The only other movie I remember this happening in is alien

Whatever "wokeness" portrayed on the series, were not even discussed in the show. Things just happened. The characters made choices that matter to them. As a viewer, I never felt I was being spoonfed by any cultural ideologies.

I think that "Woke/Not woke" scale is absolutely irrelevant for Arcane. It's just great to watch whatever its "wokeness" is.

Finally! Something I've been waiting for in this debate...a middle ground! Diversity isn't ruining comics, movies and TV...bad writing is! Diversity can and should work in stories...it just needs to be done well...not used just as a political talking point/and or to disguise bad writing...

2:28 - 2:39 really hits the nail on the head. Being inclusive is great. But making the viewer forget to think about stuff like inclusivity is even better.

The one thing I love about Arcane: The amount of serious discussions people have when talking about it. There is so much to pick apart, to relate, to learn from Arcane. That is incredible and I'm loving every moment of it

Thank you for pointing these out. All the "woke" marketed drivel out there are all just bad writing trying to hide behind virtue signaling. I hope this series guides every other shows to not bank on being "woke" - just be a good show please. Make them actual characters, not woke cardboard cutouts obviously written by selfish, self-absorbed people that have no idea how people in reality behave.

Interesting thing about arcane is that it has many female characters that are loved by male audience It is so rare in western media nowadays that male audience actually care about female leads Male demographic is Not the problem though The problem is those perfect independent female leads that have no flaws But female characters in Arcane are so flawed and yet they’re loved BECAUSE of their flaws People love Caitlyn’s naivety People love jinx cuz she is crazy because of her terrible past and terrible mistakes People love vi because she has hope against all odds that she can save her sister and can undone her mistake by calling her sister jinx & leaving her At the same time, arcane gave us one of best male antagonists of all time and a caring father figure

All that people are asking for is good writing that is also inclusive.

This is my favourite representation because it’s done what people have been asking for for years, putting the character before the diversity. These are characters who just happen to be male/female, characters that happen to have darker skin, character that just happen to be LGBTQ+. So much of Hollywood thinks it’s better to write a strong FEMALE character over a strong female CHARACTER which does nothing but allow them to Pat themselves on the back and cause some people to view female led media as nothing but woke SJW garbage.

I'm not against diversity or having characters of other races or sexualities,I'm against characters who's only defining trait is being a minority or being female,I like characters who actually have,well character,it's the reason I liked Miles Morales but disliked a character like Rey,because Rey is a female Jedi and Miles is a spiderman that happens to be black,the only trait Rey has is that she's female and Miles has more depth to his character than just being a black spiderman...

Pardon me, but I wouldn't call a show that does diversity right "woke." Imo, I'd call that "quality storytelling." At the end of the day, it's the quality and execution that matters, not "ticking boxes." You did great in helping prove that point, sir.

Also, no same face syndrome! The design is amazing. They have different bodytypes so it is easy to tell the characters apart. Vi has always thrown punches, so it makes sense she's buff, it all feels so natural.

One thing I will never understand is why people complain about stories being political or having social commentary, when stories have always had social commentary, the bad ones and the good ones. The reason you study Shakespeare and Mark Twain's books in high school English class is precisely because of the social commentary, not in spite of. Comic books and fantasy stories have social commentary too, but we don't study them in high school, because elites tell us they have no/low cultural value. Meaning, its social commentary is stupid, which is not true. When you watch a sitcom from 60s vs the 80s vs the 90s vs the 2010s, they all have social commentary, about the kind of world we live in and the people who inhabit it. Nothing is made in a vacuum. Every element of a TV show or film, is a comment on the world we live in, whether we like want it to be or not. Imagine a TV show that takes place in the 60s. That TV show will feel different to you if it was made in the actual 60s, vs if it's made in the 80s, vs if it's made today. That's because we don't look at the 60s the same way from those different vantage points. The differences that you will notice between those shows, that's commentary.

I disagree strongly with one statement. "If their gender or race or sexual orientation is something you list off when you talk about who they are as a character, then that is just a poorly written character" While I agree it should not be something needed to describe every character, I do feel it is integral for some characters. Like if I have Rosa Parks as a character in a civil rights story, she should probably be a black woman, and that would be integral to her identity, as should Black Panther be black. But skin color or gender of say Wolverine is much less important.

Checked every "woke" trope like 1. Strong female characters 2. A smart black kid 3. Weak men 4. Bi Gay Relationships It proves that "BAD SJW" media are bad because of bad writings. You can write a great "SJW" media.

I don't consider Arcane a "woke" show. Whenever I think of "woke" I think of pandering. Arcane is an exellent show with diverse, multi-layer casts done the right way.

What I love about Arcane, I see people before troupes. Emotional turmoil before political agenda. Relatability before subversive tactics. Arcane proves you don't need to unpredictable to tell a good story. Arcane shows you believability before troupes. Silco is a villain, but a loving father. Vi is a 'hero' but with many mistakes. In a post-modern storytelling era, a lot of writers want to 'shock' the audience, while failing to perceive the credible steps the lead to the 'twist'. We know the fate of these characters not because of what happens in the games, but by the expressions and the depth of every character's emotional motivations. Tonal consistancy further emphasizes that this series can go both ways: melancholic yet hopeful; or realistic, sad and gritty. Compare it to the likes of other post-modern plots that want to 'subvert expectations', Arcane devices you to understand why they'd make these choices. That predictability in storytelling does not always mean its a bad story; its the matter of how you tell it.

As a disney fan and an Arcane show fan(I never played the game) I can agree that Arcane is doing something disney doesnt do as often as they should. " Show not tell". All the live action movies can go to the trash, because they do not do this at all. I love how Arcane and classic disney movies made quality storytelling with their dialogue AND nonverbal actions.

You realize that most characters shown in Arcane were built a decade ago for the game League of Legends. I don't think the people who designed Vi, Jinx, Ekko or any other character made them so they could check 'diversity' boxes in a film they didn't even know would one day exist. They are just cool design and unique personnalities... And if 10 years ago, the game dev made Vi a boy and Ekko a white dude with a german accent, the story would probably be (almost) the same. League of Legends definitely has a lot of diversity (something needed to easily identify the heroes and make the game more colorfull), the diversity of the game naturally spill onto the serie but it doesn't mean it has any political/societal decision behind, it's just how it is: a fun world with unique heroes.

Vi's relationship with Caitlyn is what Korra qnd Asami in turf war should've been Vi is also not a bland overpowered Mary sue like Mulan and Rey. She takes hit, punches and even get stabbed. She's also strong after suffering all those losses in life.

I would not consider Arcane to be Woke. The essential characteristics of Woke are the primacy of ideology over story and the creators' contempt for the audience. A show that is well written and entertaining isn't Woke. A show that does not smear the fans or attack specific demographics on screen or in its marketing is not Woke.

i love how they did not make viktors disability a very difficult thing for him ... he struggles , but he push hard against it . i also use cane to walk and the way jayce does not push viktor boundary is so wonderful ! seeing genius viktor being independent even though he has physical trouble is perfect representation .

Thanks for articulating the many things that were so well-done by the writers without even being central to the story. I hope other writers and studios will pay attention.

I wouldn´t say Arcane is woke not as such, as woke shows will often be quite mean spirited towards men and politics they don´t like. I would rather say that Arcane does everything, that the woke shows claim that they represent and gives voice, but do it the right way. Or if i can use a food analogy woke shows often claim they deliver a fresh baked apple pie, but often their pies are half baked and filled with not enough sugar and way too much salt, because they ran out of sugar and then all kinds of other bits and pieces of stuff that looks like apples, but isn´t. Arcane is on the other hand a great apple pie, perhaps a little over baked at the very edges (here i am talking about the speaking animations, if you seen Singing and moving characters from Baldur's Gate 2 Shadows of Amn video, sometimes the animation reminds a little about that), but there is only apples in it and the both sugar and salt are just in the right amount same with the other spices. Also as a side note (yes i am that kind of boomer) i do hope what we are seeing now with shows such as Castlevania and Arcane is the Ironman or videogame adaptations and NOT a Batman Returns of videogame to show adaptations. Because if it is the Ironman of videos games the best is yet to come.

This video pretty well nailed it I think. One of the most successful ways to do progressivism in story-telling is to move towards an arbitrariness of representation. Write characters who could be gender swapped, ethnicity swapped, etc. etc. without the story changing and you can make anyone and everyone any gender, ethnicity, etc. you want. This creates a story with the imagery of wide representation without disorienting viewers by drawing direct attention to that representation. The product is a 'medium is the message' sort of scenario: You normalize in the viewers' minds the relative equality of all genders, races, etc. (at least in this setting). The impact is more intrinsic and subtle, and thus, to many viewers, more palatable. You can even do stories like this where discrimination and injustice still exist (socio economic for example) without having that injustice revolve around gender or racial inequality. Typically, this style fits best in entirely fictional stories set somewhere far removed from our experience (like sci fi epics, fantasy settings, etc.). It helps too if, like Arcane, you surround these diverse characters with an engaging setting, solid plot, and top notch writing. As a caveat, there are great stories that exist where racial and ethnic inequality are actually important, and in these cases, 'arbitrary' representation doesn't work. For example, the plot of the colour purple (verbatim anyways) wouldn't work if every character were played by Caucasians or Koreans. This is also a valid form of depicting progressivism in story telling, and again, is well bolstered if the writing is, you know, good.

What i liked in Arcane that it shows how brutal, complex life is without cliche.

Arcane is great for representation when you actually want it. a lot of producers add rep just to tick a box to say ‘look we added a gay guy we are so woke and epic’ - then the gay guy is full of stereotypes and he has no character depth whatsoever. arcane ads rep not for the sake of it - because they want to they want to show younger audiences that you can be a woman, a person of colour, someone who likes the same sex while the storyline not being about that. honestly it was great to see vi and caitlyn liking eachother without it being about them both being women. i also like the rep about how the wealthy people aren’t always the good people and actually the ones seen as bad are good and the ones seen as good are bad. great hint to the way society actually is within politics!

I dont consider it to be a ’woke show’, no. While I agree it tics a bounch of surface-level boxes woke-positive people like, what I think bother woke-critical people such as myself, is when a show is overtly preachy about its politics, or when it tics all of these surface-level woke boxes ’just because’, in a way that doesnt suit the story or is even in conflict with it. If Vi would have said ”look, women can fight too”, or something silly to that effect that doesnt flow naturally within the story, and often feel like the script-writer is trying to say overtly ’look what strong independent female character we created, arent we just the best of people’, that would be super annoying and takes the viewer out of experience and back to the real world, but HAVING a strong independent female character, just being her natural and believable self as shown by her actions, is not annoying at all. When an overtly woke writer tries to make these ’strong women characters’, they tend to fall into the trap of making them flawless or near flawless, which just doesnt make for a good character. All of Arcanes characters are flawed, and belivable within the world, which is one of the things that make them feel so real, and why we the viewe feels for them. Loved the show, one of the best new releases in quite some time, to me at least!

What a hard subject to approach, great execution. This is good content, please do more.

I haven't even watched a minute of this video and I just wanted to say a thing: I love how "centristic" the series ends up being. But not the ignorant centrist type. During the start, Vi actually wants to riot against the topsiders, akin to Silco's goal, but when given the chance to show herself to the Council, she wanted to stop Silco's operations though what Silco technically wanted, she also wanted at the start. It takes into account the consequences of the actions taken regardless of political view in the world, and I love that. Silco was technically a revolutionary and that took him... places. Basically, it's neutral to the point that it sees the wrong in "both sides", but it acknowledges it deeply and not just in a nihilistic "I'm woke and I know better because the world is sad" way esp with that scene where Vi fought with Jayce. No propaganda to appeal to audiences. Just truth. Love it.

Thank you for taking the time and effort to make this, Hope ye have a happy new year

as someone who plans on making (2D) adult animated series in the future, Arcane and a bunch of other series and movies have been amazing case studies on how to do it right

The only character change they made was (arguably) to Caitlyn, who in previous depictions appears to be white but in Arcane is of Asian descent, like her voice actress. But your point still holds - Arcane doesn't spend a single second dwelling on Caitlyn's or anyone else race, gender or sexuality. None of those attributes define them or affects their decisions.

It isn't really a "woke" show, the characters do have those traits, but the entire show isn't solely based on those traits, and they aren't the only way to describe the characters. Still, props to arcane, it made a story with a diverse cast, with each character having strengths and weaknesses, and also not having their race defining what person they will be.

it's small things as well that make it so well done. I'm a cane-user, and i remember how much I loved Viktor once we got to know him a little more, but I was SO worried about how he would be handled. (like...disabled guy whos entire motivation revolves around "curing" his disability...) when really, the choices Viktor makes in arc 3 are entirely motivated by the fact he wants to live long enough to help his own people in a way that has so far been denied to him.

Insightful. Subbed!!

So, I've only watched a few seconds of this video, but I gotta say, although by some it would be considered "woke". To me Arcane simply look realistic, it's the 1st time in a while I see an animated show and think "this is natural". Of course the scenes aren't of this world, it's sci-fi and fantasy, but still, the characters are realistic. The diversity is also realistic, some shows some either unnatural lack of diversity or unnatural representation of diversity, but in this show it just felt natural to see. I see black people in my day to day life, I see powerful women in my day to day life and I see tons of LGBT ppl in my day to day life, while most shows try to keep these things marginalised, hidden or as if they were something special just to keep things family friendly. Arcane just...shows it as it is, as if it's nothing special, as if it's how things should be. And it's also realistic that those women are strong, muscular, rough etc., cuz they grew in freaking harsh environments, it would be weird if they were delicate hot babes/housewives in a place where ppl fight and kill each other, especially in a fantasy world where sex and gender roles didn't have to evolve the same way it did in ours. So for me rather than "woke", it's just how shows and things should be, just cuz most main characters and fighters aren't straight white men doesn't mean it has to have its own category of "woke", sometimes in real life the protagonists can be diverse, and it's what this show showed.

I'm all for diversity and natural use of all people's sexualities etc. Thank you to all those who made honest comments without letting politics guide them. I'll check it out

This was such a great and enlightening a video. Thank you for this video good sir.

One thing I love about Arcane is how realistic the emotions are. It’s just.. AAAAAAAAAAAAA 😩

Being based on a MOBA is sort of has a built in diversity that comes from the need for visual variety, but that does lead beautifully into a tale that just ticks those boxes. I'm sure they had some discussion about it and considerimg how smart the writing is I'd assume they're aware of the times we live in in regards to the supposed woke/culture wars but they don't let it dominate there narratives. This show deals mainly with what should be at the heart of politics, the wealth gaps of rich and poor and the lack of empathy from living such different lives.

I think people who are unironically "woke" take it further than it needs to be, while people who irrationally oppose it don't understand the concept nearly enough as they should.

While I don't agree with all your points, I appreciate the calm tone of the video and hope others can do the same :) .

Yea, no... Arcane is not "woke". When you do a show like Arcane in the *wrong* way it becomes woke. Ever since GamerGate (and even before that) everyone on the anti woke side has been saying the same thing. "There is nothing wrong with having strong women, or gay people, or Minorities in your movies if do it right". References to Sarah Connor, Ellen Ripley, Samus Aran, Lara Croft the list goes on forever. Not doing it right is "doing it woke" hence calling something "woke done right" is literally an oxymoron. It's like saying "intactly broken" it doesn't work. Woke is when you FORCE these roles into your story to further your political beliefs even if it makes no sense. Essentially pandering to the "woke left". It makes perfect sense that Vi is a badass fighter, it's been literally her entire life on a daily basis and she has some pretty dangerous gear further increasing her threat level. We've seen this, we know this. And she doesn't just win every fight without a challenge, she gets hurt... Bradley on multiple occasions. An unarmed 80lbs Kristen Stewart throwing around a trained assassin three times her size without breaking a sweat in Charlie's Angels *doesn't* make sense. It's nothing but 100% "Women rules, men drools" and "you go girl". Do you see the difference The ONLY thing in this show that even leaned towards pandering is the really rather rushed Vi+Cait relationship. This is a Trencher and an Enforcer, two people who were raised to hate eachother. Added the fact that literally everything horrible that ever happened to Vi was directly or indirectly due to enforcers. Both her actual and surrogate parents killed, her sister taken, herself jailed and tortured on a daily basis for 7 years. All of it and that's just what we saw in the show. Vi *CLEARLY* have no love for the enforcers from way before the story takes place. And they go from that to being the best est friends ever, possibly lovers in 48 hours? That makes no fakking sense. That's not how reality works, you don't sweap away a lifetime of hatred and mistrust with 30minutes of pillow talk. If they wanna make them lesbians that's fine but it should've happened at the end of season three or something. This is why I think they did it they way they did. They hinted strongly at it to hook in all the LGBT lobby fanatics cuz they knew it will be atleast 2 years untill season 2 and they didn't wanna miss out on that demographic but they didn't *actually* confirm them to be a couple or even gay cuz they knew that everyone who know the first thing about the lore would go "yea that's some BS right there". That really gave it a pander-y aftertaste. They held it to a minimum tho and the rest of the series is so fakking fantastic that this ends up like a nitpick Either way, it's not nearly enough to make the show a "woke" show.

The thing is, i LOVED Arcane. I recognized the woke parts but they are parts inside a really good story. A strong character is someone who fights its own flaws to succeed. Not a smurky mary sue.

Arcane and Alita Battle Angel did it right. It didn’t feel forced. And both are in my all time favorites

I aim to achieve this kinda writing, like into the spiderverse and THIS. JUST THIS. it's so perfect and I enjoyed the characters so damn much

Hey just wanted to drop a message saying: good job. I like that you refused to alienate people you were trying to convince. This is how I believe people should argue online. With respect and understanding. Full stop.

Arcane didn't fall into the "look!! we have two strong female characters as protagonists!!!!" because the entire focus was on their relationship as siblings. This is the very core of the show, and one that everyone - regardless of gender - with a sibling can relate to.

I just want to live in a world were we can appreciate stories for good characters that are very charismatic and forget about gender or race, like when we were kids or maybe 10ish years ago were avatar and other shows were popping up and it was amazing. Arcane is amazing, riot people are amazing, they really love those characters and I just hope that this show can promote a shift in taste and maybe even move the industry to a more quality focused product over gender/race tickbox one. I feel like once upon a time a piece of media changes the world for the future, like witcher 3 did, i hope arcane can do the same to animated shows of already existing IP's.

Finding someone on YT discussing modern entertainment with a calm voice of reason is both really refreshing and way to rare. And just what’s needed when most discourse seems to be made up of one side angrily trying to tear down something the other side puts on a 1000 meter high pedestal, and arguments get used, bend or dropped solely based on how well they confirm ones already existing viewpoint.

I disagree. Arcane is not woke. Woke is only something that forcefully shoves ideas through it's narrative to the audience. This is nothing like that. It's just a good story being told in a good way.

I've never once thought about real life politics and all such troubles while watching the series until I hoped unto the internet. This series was amazing.

calling arcane woke is just disrespectful

O would say what one of the show greatest streghnts is what it trully feels something what break bounderies: Here you find women (and men too) of all kinds interact and slowly but surely come to understand what the actions of the other are motivated by reasons and interest. People in Arcane's world do things because sometimes they have no choice and this sometimes results in conflicts. The scene where Caytlin hugged the scientist now addict Shimmer and beggard, because he told her what she used because he didnt want to feel weak, was one of the mlst powerfull in the series in my oppinion. I think this is something really important to us and we can learn from this. Us in this age of technology were communication have become thr easiest thing thing yet we are more separated than ever. In this age when prejudice and groups issolations and personality cults are rampant, and yet information is avaible to all of us. We can learn from this.

Anyone really curious about how Jericho's food is? Or that there is a tiny chance of a scene between the 10yr jump where Viktor and Jayce just being bros while Viktor shows him what the Undercity is like starting off with visiting Jericho? Edit: Omg thanks for the one like I knew people cared

In Runeterra (fictional world where Arcane takes place) there’s confirmed to be no racism based on skin colour or ethnicity. There is however discrimination such as hating mages, darkins etc. So for you to say that Arcane having characters of colour and that having nothing to do with their identity is a good thing is maybe right for Arcane, but not for non fiction worlds. Race is a huge part of poc’s identity. If it’s something that they would struggle with everyday it defines them, their actions, how they’re treated and ultimately the outcome of their lives. Good story telling shouldn’t ignore race for the sake of white fragility, however if it’s based in a universe where people magically cannot be racist then it’s fine. I find it interesting that you seem to have such an issue with portrayal of strong women, homosexual relationships, poc’s identity unless it’s being portrayed to your comfort. You as a cis gendered heterosexual white man wouldn’t know how much people of minority appreciate representation even in the smallest instances.

It reminds me a bit of when I watched Angelina Jolie's Salt for the first time. The movie was so good that it didn't occur to me that it was anything special because the action lead was female. I cringe when I hear the word "woke", because it insinuates a vapid use of diversity, a shallow way to ignore systemic discrimination that can be stamped onto neoliberal policies. But to critique "wokeness" does not require you to abandon progressivism.

You said it perfectly. These characters are good because their gender/race/sexuality is NOT their main traits. Their personalities, flaws, choices and beliefs are what drives them. As a woman myself nothing irks me more than a Mary Sue, and Arcane really dodges that bullet. Everyone in the show is flawed and their motives and drives are always clear, which makes them all relatable

I like how they hint at vi and Caitlyn are gay, but they don’t go down the rabbit hole of there being homophobia or the typical conflict, sure arcane is woke but it is done in a way where the writers didn’t say “this is good or this is bad,” they simply said “this is,” and let the audience do the rest

Being woke is always a good thing. But good story telling is a whole other thing. The creators of Arcane just happen to be both.

No I don't consider Arcane to be a woke show

There was another show like this in a more military view with a male leader and a female 2ed command and a genetically engineered and enhanced blue human, called Expsquad, where the show focused on the characters more than the action pieces. Because of the fact that it came out in 1993 and was released as a Saturday morning cartoon, it was sadly mostly ignored and only lasted 2 seasons before it was canned. Even the villains had their own understandable motivations. The good news is that it's on Peacock streaming Service for free but was left in the kid's suction.

The thing that really works for Arcane is that the diversity is not forced, you see so many people from different culture and ancestry because a whole world is already established there. Everything just makes sense because their Lore actually makes use of their world, Runeterra. It feels as if it has been there since the beginning of time and will probably continue to live on even after the series ends.

The reason why it's hard to criticize "woke" shows is because the criticism always get bandwagon hated by bitter dudebros who prefer going back to NO representation than bad/poorly written representation

It's so rare to watch something so inclusive and not notice it... If you explained what the show was about you can hear the political agenda in it but it's so we'll written you just don't care.

For me, tell a good story and I know that the story is good if I'm choosing how I should feel about it. Instead of story telling me how I should feel. This is a well put together video essay.

I'm really on your side on this! But you gotta admit the ekko vs jinx scene gets 10 times more awesome just because you don't only feel , but also see the diversity between the two characters. This is another example of the writers team of arcane doing a great job and making a scene that you expected to happen from the moment on the older ekko gets introduced seem surprisingly serious while still exiting not only from an action based point of view

Well said. I agree. I'm tired of badly done, forced diversity. I want ppl to get back to telling good stories, about all types of characters. The story's entertainment value should come first.

they wrote not only FEMALE CAST...MALE CAST TOOO!!!

You hit the nail on the head, man. Only disagreement I have is that it's not a "Woke show done right." It's just a "Show done right." It's awesome because it ISN'T woke. As a preface: I started this show with zero knowledge about the source material, and am beyond tired of being virtue signaled to. I'd seen the trailers, and assumed Arcane was gonna be a virtue-signaling mess, so I held off on watching the first episode...I've now watched the entire season 3 times. That's how good it is. The show works because the writers put the story and the characters above all else. They weren't focused on "The Message." The diversity feels natural, not forced. As you said, the characters are much deeper than their identities. They feel REAL because they're strong, but they have weaknesses that most people can relate to. Their actions and choices feel realistic, like something they'd each do, based on their characters. And, as you also mentioned, they don't crap all over the male characters. The writers respected all of their characters, male or female. I'm pumped for season 2...just hope Netflix doesn't "Netflix" it up...

The show is very well executed. And you can see that the focus is the human condition and how people try to do their best with their lives given to more or less success. Their outer and inner conflicts are the driving motivator and their skin, orientation etc doesn't make the story. It is just part of them. I like for that reason your example with the cool set-piece that filmmakers want to have and wrap around the story of the action movie which makes the whole thing less genuine and engaging. That's why for instance Matrix 2 & 3 that I rewatched recently felt so out of place at times. You can really sense that so many action scenes were just screwed in because rule of cool. And not because it made sense and they were too drawn out. If a movie forces stuff and lets the story and its progress have a backseat it just lessons the enjoyment.