Is Paying for It woke?
Paying for It (2024)
Movie
Released: January 1, 2024
Wokeness Score
7/10
Strongly Ideological
Woke messaging is very prominent and often feels forced or shoehorned in. Characters and plot are primarily shaped to serve the ideology. Many viewers feel the agenda overshadows the entertainment.
Key Summary Points
- Portrays sex work as valid labor and challenges its stigma through authentic female-gaze depictions.
- Advocates non-monogamy and rejects traditional romantic possessiveness in favor of personal autonomy.
- Explicitly links themes to labor rights, women's rights, and broader progressive social norms.
Wokeness Analysis
Paying for It (2024), directed by Sook-Yin Lee and adapted from Chester Brown's graphic memoir, centers on an open relationship where the male protagonist turns to sex workers after his partner seeks non-monogamy. The film explicitly aims to destigmatize sex work by portraying it as legitimate labor through a female gaze, centering the perspectives and humanity of the workers rather than objectifying them. Director statements emphasize viewing sex work neutrally as labor, challenging traditional monogamy and possessive romantic love in favor of autonomy, choice, and diverse forms of intimacy including polyamory. It draws parallels to broader rights movements like labor, women's, and LGBTQ+ issues, and casts actual sex workers for authenticity. While presented as a personal, humane story with humor and grounded intimacy rather than overt preaching, the intentional messaging on decriminalization, rejection of normative relationship structures, and empowerment through non-traditional arrangements makes the progressive social commentary prominent and shapes character arcs and plot resolution. This ideological framing often feels purposeful, prioritizing social reevaluation of intimacy and sex work over pure escapism or neutral storytelling, leading many viewers to perceive an agenda-driven narrative.
Plot
Set in late 1990s Toronto, the film follows introverted cartoonist Chester Brown and his girlfriend Sonny as their relationship evolves into an open arrangement. When Sonny falls for someone else, Chester begins hiring sex workers, discovering new forms of intimacy and connection while questioning conventional ideas of love and monogamy. The story explores their parallel experiences, eventual drift, and Chester's long-term bond with one worker, emphasizing consent, honesty, and diverse relationship models. Based on Brown's autobiographical graphic novel and directed by his ex-partner Lee, it blends comedy, drama, and personal reflection in a modest, character-driven format.