Martin McDonagh didn’t use the word woke. That’s my interpretation. But when you read what he said, I think you’ll find it’s a fair interpretation.
McDonagh, who wrote and directed this year’s Oscar contender The Banshees of Inisherin, as well as the Oscar-winning Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri (2017), said that the same theaters that offer to put on his plays now want to censor certain words to make them “more palatable to them or what they think their audience” wants.
“In the last two or three years, yeah, I’ve had theaters ask me to change words in my plays from 20-25 years ago and refuse to put the plays on when I say no. And that’s dangerous.”
“It is much more problematic now than it has been for many years,” he said.
“Only in the past few years have I had theater companies refuse to do my plays because they don’t like some of the wording in them,” he said, adding:” And that’s for an established writer, who sells tickets.”
He continued by saying the situation is creating a “dangerous place” for writers.
He was speaking to BBC radio and said, “It seems like governments are becoming increasingly more scared of dissenting voices.”
“I think it’s a very frightening time,” he continued and suggested new writers “get off social media,” “stop checking the internet,” and “go out and outrage.”
McDonagh has won all kinds of awards on the stage. He’s also written and directed three well-received films: In Bruges (2008), Three Billboards (2017), and Banshees (2022). Three Billboards is one of the best movies of this new century and won Frances McDormand her second Best Actress Oscar. In addition, Sam Rockwell took home Best Supporting Actor. Nevertheless, there was a woke backlash against it. The movie wasn’t only too white and too Christian; it dared to portray Rockwell’s racist cop as redeemable. Inisherin, which I haven’t yet seen, also faced a “too white” backlash this year.
I don’t know anything about McDonagh’s politics, which is to his credit. He’s a genius who works through theme and character. He’s unquestionably a humanist, and that’s good enough for me. But does anyone doubt it’s woketard leftists demanding that these words be censored?
And I’m glad McDonagh refuses to allow these theaters to make changes. Writers at his level do not use words just to use words. Those words are there for a reason. Great writers will tell you there is only one correct word and that sometimes they spend weeks looking for it. To alter a writer’s words is not only a fascist act; it’s an act of artistic vandalism.
‘Three Billboards’ interview: director Martin McDonagh bemoans “bland P.C. filmmaking” (exclusive) https://t.co/AbEg2y1hxG
— Sara D’Ignoti ♉️ (@Saruppa) January 14, 2018
The same is true with the books of Agatha Christie and Ian Fleming—these obscene sensitivity rewrites. Or the trigger warning at people will read at the beginning of Gone with the Wind, a warning that tells you what to think about that particular piece of art, how to interpret it.
History has never looked back kindly on censors.
I hope to live long enough to witness their shame.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.