The Confusing History of How Super Mario Bros Became an Anti-Woke Symbol

• Various right-wing pundits have heralded The Super Mario Bros. Movie as being "anti-woke." Other conservatives, however, have said the movie pushes progressive values.
• The film has also been praised by some progressives due the character of Princess Peach being portrayed as a leader.
• The movie opened on Easter weekend and became a massive box office hit.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie dominated the box office when it opened last weekend, exceeding predictions by raking in $377 million globally and shattering multiple records in the process.

Among the many people lauding the success of the animated feature have been right-wing pundits who claim that the success of Super Mario Bros. is due to the film being "anti-woke."

For those not familiar, the movie centers on Mario and Luigi, two Brooklyn plumbers who find themselves helping Princess Peach defend her magical kingdom from a powerful villain named Bowser. The film is adapted from Nintendo's immensely popular video game franchise, and Hollywood stars such as Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day and Jack Black lend their voices to the big-screen production.

But why has the family film generated so much political talk, including from some conservatives who have argued that Super Mario Bros. is in fact very "woke"?

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was among the first to tout the film's supposed conservative values in a Sunday night tweet in which he said it succeeded at the box office because "Nintendo refused to let Mario Bros go woke!"

The following day, conservative podcast host Steven Crowder called the movie "anti-woke" during a segment, and his guest, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, agreed. Within days, social media was full of comments proclaiming Super Marios Bros. is an anti-woke triumph.

Kirk contended that Nintendo—and ostensibly co-producers Universal Pictures and Illumination—found success despite negative words from actor John Leguizamo, who portrayed Luigi in a 1993 live-action take on the franchise. Prior to the new film's opening, John Leguizamo said he would be boycotting it since the production "messed up the inclusion" that the first feature possessed by having him, a Latino, as a lead.

Super Marios Bros. had already generated some controversy well before Leguizamo's comments, though, when it was announced that Pratt would be voicing Mario. Critics complained the role should have gone to an Italian American instead. (Day managed to avoid the same criticism due to having some Italian heritage.)

Mark Harvey, an associate professor at the University of Saint Mary and author of the book Celebrity Influence: Politics, Persuasion, and Issue-Based Advocacy, told Newsweek that Pratt's casting created "a cultural grey area."

"If you get the actor you want and have him imitate an Italian dialect, would that be offensive in today's media climate? Or do you get an Italian actor who happens to have an authentic accent to play the character?" Harvey said. "Ultimately, the studio avoided the issue (or perhaps didn't give it much thought) and went with the neutral American dialect."

He continued, "When the studio didn't change the film—and at this point, a reshoot would be prohibitively expensive anyway—conservative pundits can frame the argument as if the movie is making a political statement against multiculturalism."

Along with the idea that the film is "anti-woke" because it—according to some—didn't give in to pressure to be more inclusive is the claim that it lacks any kind of "woke" storylines. Alt-right activist Jack Posobiec voiced this opinion on Twitter, writing that by having "as little plot as possible," the film felt "like one of the games."

"It has no woke narratives and all the characters are exactly like the original games," Posobiec wrote.

Posobiec's assessment aligned with Crowder's, who said of the film: "It's not even necessarily anti-woke, it just shuns the idea of trying to be woke."

However, not everyone feels Super Mario Bros. is "anti-woke." In fact, some argue the exact opposite, including figures on the right.

Anna Perez, the conservative host of the Wrongthink podcast, accused the film of "brainwashing" young females "to be a feminist" due to Princess Peach being portrayed as a strong protagonist not afraid to take the lead.

"What they are doing is they're trying to brainwash society into thinking that's how young girls are supposed to be. And this is dangerous because then we have women who go out there and think they're men, and they wind up getting hurt. They wind up getting raped," Perez said during a recent broadcast. "The reality is this has actual ramifications on society. Young women see stuff like this, and this brainwashes them to be a feminist..."

Not everyone saw Princess Peach's prominence as negative, and several progressives on social media praised the depiction.

"Super Mario is destroying the box office with its EXTREME WOKE GIRLBOSS POWERS!" The Serfs, a liberal outlet, tweeted.

A member of The Serfs who identifies only as Lance, further commented on the film in an email to Newsweek.

"The new Super Mario Bros was the Trojan horse of wokeness. It features not only a kickass girlboss but a drag performer as well. It will unleash the great wokening and nobody could have seen it coming," he wrote.

When addressing how something as seemingly innocuous as the Super Mario Bros. became part of a heated debate, Harvey said "this 'taking sides' of celebrities and entertainment is a fairly recent phenomenon. It used to be that it was unsafe for celebrities and brands to be overtly political. Now, if a celebrity or even a film lacks political content, it is subject to potential criticism."

He noted how conservatives frequently attack Hollywood by looking for "anything in a film that might advance more liberal and progressive values and use that as evidence to suggest that the entertainment media landscape is stacked against them."

Unlikely as it may be, Super Mario Bros. "represents a group of partisans looking at popular media like it is a Rorschach test and interpreting it according to their own interests."

But why is this happening across what can seem like all forms of entertainment?

"People feel increasingly politically threatened because of the vilification of their political opponents," Harvey said. "They are looking for validation for their positions and evidence of the wrongdoing of the other side.

"The culture wars have intensified and expanded, and no corner of the political or social universe seems immune."

Newsweek reached out to Universal Pictures, Illumination and Nintendo via email for comment.