Is The Royal Hotel woke?
The Royal Hotel (2023)
Movie
Released: January 1, 2023
Wokeness Score
8/10
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 outback mining culture as inherently toxic and misogynistic, with men as varied threats to women's safety.
- Emphasizes feminist themes of harassment, objectification, and the need for women to reject patriarchal norms.
- Ends with protagonists' empowered act of destruction symbolizing rejection of male-dominated oppression.
Wokeness Analysis
The Royal Hotel (2023), directed by Kitty Green (known for her prior #MeToo-themed film The Assistant), functions primarily as a feminist thriller examining toxic masculinity, casual misogyny, and the perils women face in male-dominated spaces. The narrative centers on two young female backpackers enduring relentless sexual harassment, objectification, microaggressions, and escalating threats from drunken miners in a remote Australian outback pub, with Hanna portrayed as the intuitive resistor and Liv as initially more tolerant. Reviews and analyses consistently frame it as a 'feminist psychological thriller,' 'exposé of violent masculinity,' and commentary on how women must navigate and ultimately reject patriarchal entitlement, culminating in the protagonists burning down the hotel as symbolic empowerment and retaliation against the system of abuse. While rooted in a real documentary (Hotel Coolgardie), the film amplifies these elements into a didactic critique, with male characters depicted as a spectrum of toxicity and the story prioritizing messaging on female strength, boundaries, and systemic misogyny over pure entertainment or neutral storytelling. The heavy emphasis on gender dynamics, workplace harassment as inherent to male spaces, and cathartic female rage makes the ideology prominent, often feeling intentional and foregrounded rather than organic subplot.
Plot
Two young American backpackers, Hanna and Liv, run out of money while traveling in Australia and take jobs as bartenders at the isolated Royal Hotel pub in a remote outback mining town. They encounter rowdy, mostly male patrons who subject them to casual sexism, inappropriate advances, misogynistic jokes, and increasingly threatening behavior, including from locals like Dolly. While Liv initially brushes it off, Hanna grows increasingly disturbed. Tensions escalate with harassment and danger, leading the women to take drastic action by burning down the hotel before escaping. The film is loosely inspired by the 2016 documentary Hotel Coolgardie.