By Christos Zabounis

In Luca Guadagnino’s latest film, After the Hunt, the viewer, apart from witnessing Julia Roberts’ brilliant performance, is confronted with various themes of the woke agenda. The issue of gender, for example, is central – both in its female dimension and in the much-discussed non-binary “they”. Even though the director insists in his interviews that his film is not a “#MeToo movie”, the accusation made by a student claiming she was raped by her professor, and the way the University – Yale, in this case – handles it by dismissing him with summary procedures, demonstrates precisely the opposite. By following the students’ dialogues, one can reasonably wonder about the influence of woke culture on the youth of the United States of America, and not only there. At the same time, the film reveals the power of cancel culture – the public annihilation of an individual through denunciation. Two hours and more of tension until catharsis arrives. We are then transported to the present day, five years later, when the accuser admits she has finally found peace, leaving behind her urge for revenge. Regretfully, I reveal the ending of the film, but it is necessary to justify the title of this article. The “deflation” of wokisme, following its brief dominance, is a natural evolution, given its counterproductive nature. We all understand that, regardless of political views or ideological principles, woke culture created more inequalities and divisions in its path than it sought to correct. After the Hunt, as it is rendered in Greek, is of course not limited to this theme alone; it also examines other modern social issues, such as power and moral boundaries.

Photos Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios