Sorry MAGA, turns out people still love “woke” art.

As this year Oscar The nominations were published this morning, I told my friend Sinnerswith a total of 16 names, made history. He replied: “He woke up again.”

He was joking (don’t come for him!), but his joke highlights a very stark dichotomy. Last year, as everyone of the president Donald Trump The dangers of DEI have been talked about, the biggest cultural achievements –Sinners, Demon hunters in kpop, Hot competition, Battle after battle– Everyone showed diversity in new ways. And I succeeded. These works were not only popular among leftists or critics, but were real cultural phenomena.

Sinnersa horror film set in the Jim Crow South Vampires as a metaphorical device To explore systemic racism and cultural theft — and director Ryan Coogler has made a breakthrough in his deal with Warner Bros. Which gave him the film rights for 25 years. Demon hunters in kpopthe story of a Korean-Canadian director who had been waiting more than a decade for her chance to direct a feature film, focused heavily on authenticity and already brought in huge numbers. Subculture around K-pop Even more in the mainstream. Hot competitiona small Canadian television production picked up by HBO, had A very subversive take on hockey By chronicling the exciting and moving love story between two close professional players. and Battle after battle—denounce by conservative commentators who felt it celebrated left-wing violence – offering complex views on motherhood and activism while criticizing ICE-like agent Colonel Stephen J. Lockjaw and his desperate attempts to fit in with other racists.

In a year in which the White House issued several executive orders eliminating DEI programs in the federal government, the successes of those projects seemed like a form of resistance. Corporate media followed Trump’s lead, with Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon, Paramount Global and Disney All have reportedly been downsized For their various efforts. Skydance, founded by David Ellison, the son of billionaire Trump supporter Larry Ellison, has acquired Paramount, which briefly… It has been removed Jimmy Kimmel was taken off the air for his joke about Charlie Kirk supporters and gave CBS News an apparent conservative makeover. Meanwhile, He appears Which offers red meat in the form of farmers, angry MAGA followers, cowboys, and Christian values ​​has been greenlit and promoted.

“There’s a feeling from…this administration that the only stories that matter are those of straight white men, and that’s simply not the case,” says Jenny Werner, executive artistic director of the New Harmony Project, which develops theater, film and television projects and says it is committed to anti-oppressive and anti-racist values.

“Audiences want to feel transformed. You want to be able to sit down and watch something, whether it’s in your home or in a theater, that takes you somewhere new and maybe gives you a new understanding of something.” She adds that she believes artists will continue to “push the boundaries” even if it becomes more difficult.

Even before Trump’s second term, trying to get unconventional stories produced in Hollywood was daunting. according to UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Reportwhich was released in December, nearly 80 percent of theatrical film directors in 2024 were white, along with about 75 percent of the lead actors.

The report also notes that this discrepancy leaves money on the table, noting that BIPOC moviegoers are “overrepresented as ticket buyers for films that are more than 20 percent BIPOC.” Sinners grossed $368 million at the box office, a feat that places it in the Horror Hall of Fame. Per The New York Times.