“We aggregate the culture war so you can avoid it.”
This is the promise made by a crowdsourced review site that allows users to filter movies by various metrics that indicate “wokeness”—which it despises.
Zeitgeist Reviews’ metrics include “gay stuff,” feminism, neo-Marxism, and affirmative action. The site also uses facial recognition and other open-source tools, including a platform called “Jew or Not Jew,” to determine actors’ races and the overall racial breakdown of the cast, which it compares to global and domestic demographics.
It’s like Yelp for movies if Yelp included the racial demographics for each business’ employees.
Founder Michael, who declined to give his last name, claims that Zeitgeist Reviews has amassed “the world’s largest database of actors’ race and gender.” He said that he created the site, formerly known as Right Wing Tomatoes, after an argument with a friend about diversity in Hollywood.
“I just wanted to prove academia wrong about how diversity does not increase sales,” Michael told the Daily Dot via email. But his effort to make this point has resulted in the creation of a movie review site steeped in bigotry.
The underlying premise of Zeitgeist Reviews is basically that people want to consume entertainment that aligns with their worldview and personal identity. The site says it stands against two things—large studios and being woke—and that it “obsesses about race, politics & finance so you don’t have to.”
Zeitgeist isn’t even the only site of its kind—Rolling Stone reported that another similar site was founded earlier this year. Zeitgeist does appear to have been the first, however. It’s been active on social media since at least 2021.
Zeitgeist is also the only site of its kind that includes the demographics of the cast and production. This information factors in to some reviews, such as one who claimed to have been surprised that The Night Agent wasn’t created by women because it had so many “stronk wahmin” (strong women) characters. Each individual’s race is automatically determined by consulting multiple sites, including the aforementioned Jew or Not Jew and facial recognition sites. It appears that most of the individual’s races and ethnicities are correct. Zeitgeist allows reviewers to submit corrections if they believe anyone’s race or ethnicity is inaccurate.
According to Zeitgeist, it has nearly 60,000 movie reviews, 15,000 TV/streaming reviews, and 300 video game reviews. Some of the reviews are written by Zeitgeist’s anonymous users; others are from various websites and influencers that seem to be primarily right-leaning.
Every day more are added.
Based on their reviews, Zeitgeist’s users overwhelmingly oppose movies that promote equality for women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ people. They like their movies straight, white, and patriarchal.
Everything Everywhere All At Once, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, was panned by one reviewer for being “predictably anti-patriarchal” and “token gay stuff.” Another warned would-be watchers, “this movie is full of homosexuality, butt plugs and other gobltygok [sic].”
Conversely, Zeitgeist’s anonymous reviewers loved Matt Walsh’s transphobic pseudo-documentary, What is a Woman? “Baby’s first redpill,” one gushed. Another said it “really gives you insight into how insane these people are.”
In April, one of Zeitgeist’s anonymous reviewers characterized Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as “strong Black women who don’t need no man.”
Another anonymous reviewer recently slammed the buddy comedy Me Time starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg as “everything wrong with Netflix.”
“Make a drinking game out of the affirmative action. Every time they say a woke buzzword or introduce a token diversity character take a shot. You will be shitfaced,” they wrote.
Zeitgeist is capitalizing on the culture war that’s being waged on multiple fronts, primarily around LGBTQ rights, racial equality, and women’s rights. While there is no real consensus as to who or what issue started it, the conflict is largely a political one between conservatives who believe America has adopted progressive positions too quickly versus liberals who believe the changes make the nation more just and accepting.
The movie business itself has dealt with escalating attacks from people who feel as Zeitgeist’s users do. Boycotts, review bombs, and even death threats are increasingly common experiences in the entertainment industry.
To meet the demand for anti-woke cinema, two years ago the Daily Wire announced it was launching its own studio for conservatives.
Zeitgeist Reviews is helping that same anti-woke audience avoid movies, shows, and video games that offend their sensibilities.
While Zeitgeist might not like woke entertainment, it doesn’t seem particularly optimistic about any conservative studio’s chances of producing quality content. The site acknowledges that “lefties are much better at art” and describes most conservative art as “trash.”
Zeitgeist is active across most major social media platforms. Its 2,500 Facebook followers represent its biggest audience outside its website. It also takes donations from multiple major platforms, including PayPal and Patreon. Or, if you’re so inclined, you can send a crypto donation.
Posts on its Telegram channel provide a window into Zeitgeist’s credo.
In October, the site posted a meme in response to a Black actress playing the lead character in the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, which outraged a number on the right. The meme suggested that having a Black mermaid would cause an increase in underwater crime.
While it is possible to use Zeitgeist for the inverse purpose—to find movies, shows, and games to play that do feature diverse characters and themes—these are far more likely to rack up negative reviews from its anonymous users.
Of Dune: Part One, a reviewer wrote, “I nominate this award to my reformed Orthodox Rabbi Bill Clinton’ – Timothée Chalamet,” seemingly referring to the actor having a Jewish mother and liberal views. Another person who recommended the movie said that Dune was good “despite its diversity.”
“It’s a shame that characters had to be race and gender swapped,” they added.
Wonder Woman 1984 got similar treatment. A person who uses the screen name “N-Stomper” quipped, “Gal Gadot belongs in the kitchen.”
Zeitgeist’s users’ raved about The Northman, an action movie based on a Scandinavian legend. A reviewer wrote of the movie, whose main characters are all white, “A big budget, mainstream, pro-white film at last.” Another wrote approvingly that it “doesn’t have a single non-European character or actor/actress in it or transgenderism or feminism” but lamented that it wasn’t making money is a sign that “it is just as likely for film producers to go based, go bust” as to “go woke, go broke.”
A user who recommended Nobody, which features a former government operative exacting revenge on a Russian crime family, nevertheless described it as a “bait and switch” because the villains are white. “You will not be getting a White guy on a rampage against hoodlums that you come across in real life (Mexicans/Blacks),” they wrote.
Zeitgeist founder Michael insists that he doesn’t take issue with diversity in film. But he did admit that he’s “pretty sick of whatever the gay community has turned into,” that he thinks parents affirming their child’s gender identity is “child abuse,” and believes that consuming entertainment with LGBTQ characters makes you more likely to become LGBTQ.
“I know some shitlibs will claim they were just in the closet before. Yeah, ok Groomer,” he wrote via email.
Michael scoffs at the notion that his site is bigoted but acknowledged its users are.
“It’s hard for normie White Liberals to understand because it causes cognitive dissonance, but we genuinely love each other and are also racist,” he said.
