Is Eddington woke?
Movie · 2025
Eddington has a wokeness score of 2/10, which we rate as Not Woke. No political or woke messaging whatsoever. Focuses entirely on story, characters, fun, or escapism.
Key points
- Satirizes performative activism, BLM protests as clout-chasing by white teens, and progressive hypocrisy.
- Depicts woke elements like mayor's insincerity and youth slogans as shallow, tokenistic spectacles.
- Praised by critics for skewering wokeness; prioritizes story over ideological indoctrination.
Wokeness analysis
Eddington (2025) stands out as a rare Hollywood production that delivers unapologetic satire of the very forces driving woke culture, making it one of the least woke films in recent memory. Directed by Ari Aster, the movie skewers performative activism, social justice posturing, and progressive hypocrisy through sharp, biting humor that resonates deeply with audiences exhausted by ideological overreach. BLM protests in the small New Mexico town are depicted not as noble uprisings but as absurd spectacles led by mostly white teens chasing clout, hormones, and Instagram likes—one character adopts anti-racism rhetoric solely to impress a girl, only to pivot to conservative influencing later for more fame. The town's mayor, played by Pedro Pascal, embodies the insincere 'hick lib,' flaunting multiracial campaign ads while pushing a shady AI data center that betrays local interests. Woke youth scream slogans like 'cops and the Klan go hand-in-hand' at the town's sole Black deputy, highlighting the ridiculousness of their tokenism and virtue-signaling. Reviews from Reason magazine praise its 'skewering of performative wokeness,' portraying anti-racism protesters as 'misguided, clout-chasing buffoons,' while conservative-leaning outlets like Unherd call it 'no country for woke men.' Even left-leaning critics in The New Yorker note Aster's particular sting toward 'the conviction of the young and woke.' Far from promoting progressive messaging or marginalized representation as redemptive, the film treats such elements as cynical commodities or distractions from real threats like big tech and social media fragmentation. The sheriff, Joaquin Phoenix's Joe Cross, starts sympathetically resisting mask mandates in a town untouched by COVID, reflecting libertarian skepticism of overreach without descending into caricature. While critiquing extremism on all sides—conspiracy nuts, QAnon vibes—the wokeness is relentlessly mocked as shallow, annoying, and hypocritical, never integrated organically to advance a plot serving ideology. Entertainment dominates: a neo-Western blending dark comedy, thriller elements, and Coen Brothers-style absurdity, focusing on human folly, community breakdown, and 2020 chaos. No lectures on diversity quotas or systemic oppression; instead, a mirror to how woke posturing fueled division, alienating everyday folks. This bold anti-woke stance explains its controversy—liberals decry it as 'both-sides-ism' or right-leaning, while it earns cult praise for finally calling out the emperor's new clothes. In a landscape force-fed progressive sermons, Eddington prioritizes story, characters, and unflinching truth over indoctrination.
Plot
Set in May 2020 in the fictional New Mexico town of Eddington, Ari Aster's neo-Western follows Sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) as he clashes with Mayor Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal) over COVID mask mandates and lockdowns. Tensions escalate amid a proposed AI data center, George Floyd-inspired BLM protests, conspiracy theories, and personal grudges. Joe's wife Louise (Emma Stone) and mother-in-law grapple with online radicalization, while teens engage in performative activism. What begins as a standoff spirals into violence, social media-fueled chaos, and a powder-keg confrontation exposing societal fractures. Blending dark comedy, satire, and thriller, the film critiques polarization through a microcosm of America tearing itself apart.
Analyzed by AI on January 12, 2026