If you think Amazon’s Fallout is woke, you’ve clearly never played the games
No matter how great something is, there's always that vocal minority that's kicking up a fuss. It's become even more of a problem recently, with complaints that society is being ruined by 'woke snowflakes.' Despite its rave reviews, Amazon's Fallout has been hit with the same critiques.
When it comes to fandom, few are as volatile as gamers, so when you take someone's favourite game and give it the live-action treatment, they tend to become even more outraged at the smallest change. We saw it with HBO's The Last of Us being review-bombed for its LGBTQ+ representation, and now, Fallout is being tarred with the same brush.
Fallout was always 'woke'
Proving this is why we can't have nice things, there's a small portion of Fallout fans who are calling out Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy's first season as "woke trash." The biggest problem seems to be the emphasis on Ella Purnell's Lucy, because you know, some people can't handle a strong female lead.
Other complaints include an interracial romance between Maximus and Lucy, the inclusion of trans actor Xelia Mendes-Jones as the non-binary Dane, and the 'forced' diversity of Vault-Dwellers. Sure, an overseer with one eye is fine, but heavens forbid the idea that other Vault-Dwellers aren't all Captain America poster boys.
Thankfully, others are here to remind us that the Fallout games have always been 'woke,' with Fallout 2 pioneering same-sex marriage in 1998. Black Isle Studios' RPG broke the mould and is regarded as the first Western video game to allow same-sex marriage.
Fallout creator Tim Cain is openly gay and fought for the dignity of transgender people while at Interplay, New Vegas actually rewards you for being bisexual, and Fallout 76 featured the series' first non-binary character with Burke. Sorry to break it to you, but Fallout has always been 'woke.'
Ella Purnell claps back at the trolls
These haters caught the attention of Ella Purnell before Fallout even aired. She spoke out against the backlash to Refinery29 and explained, "Fallout is an inherently political game," said Purnell, adding that part of it has always been its comedic take on society.
She continued, "I really like the mirror it holds up to society and I really liked the comedy. They've managed to nail the tone of the game so well and blend this mix of comedy and drama. Humans have this way of finding humour and comedy as a coping mechanism to deal with quite heavy topics."
Purnell also praised the show for its representation of women as more than damsels in distress: "Seeing women be violent and gory and not shy away from having to make really brutal decisions... Anything that's smart and, I suppose, political in a way — and I think Fallout hits on all those points."
For those still triggered by Fallout having a diverse cast and not being afraid to poke fun at the world we live in today, bad news because Fallout has just been confirmed for Season 2. Get ready for more angry internet rants in the near future.
