The House (2022)
Directed by Marc James Roels
No — The House is not especially woke, scoring 32 out of 100 on our wokeness meter.
The House arrives as a three-chapter stop-motion anthology for Netflix, an object so painstakingly assembled that the seams of its own construction become part of the pleasure.
Consciousness Markers
The third segment is set in a post-apocalyptic world submerged by rising seas, with the floodwaters literally uprooting the house — a clear climate-crisis allegory, though it is woven into a fable rather than delivered as a message.
Wealth, greed, property, and the landlord-tenant dynamic drive all three chapters — a family corrupted by a free mansion, a debt-ridden developer, and a landlady clinging to a drowning asset — giving the film a steady eat-the-rich undercurrent.
The voice cast is notably diverse for a stop-motion anthology, with Susan Wokoma voicing the lead of the third segment and drag performer Bimini Bon-Boulash cast as a police officer, though the anthropomorphic-animal characters mute any explicit representational statement.
The first and third segments are anchored by female protagonists (Mabel, then Rosa) who take decisive action, but the film frames this as character-driven storytelling rather than an explicit feminist thesis.
The second segment implies a same-sex romantic attachment between the developer and his dentist, and the casting of a non-binary drag artist adds a mild queer presence, but neither is foregrounded as a theme.
The special is atmospheric and existential rather than preachy; its themes of madness and greed are suggested through imagery, not sermonized.
No racial themes or commentary appear; the characters are humans, rodents, insects, and felines, and the narrative never engages with race.
The grotesque, mutating bodies of the second segment are deployed for horror and disgust, the opposite of any body-positive intent.
No neurodivergence themes or characters are present.
The film is a surreal original fable spanning invented eras, with no historical revisionism.
Why it received this score
The House arrives as a three-chapter stop-motion anthology for Netflix, an object so painstakingly assembled that the seams of its own construction become part of the pleasure. Three directors, three eras, one dwelling. A Victorian family is ruined by a free mansion. A rodent developer is devoured by tenants he cannot evict. A feline landlady clings to a house the sea is slowly claiming. The animation was largely shot in camera, which explains why the whole thing feels hand-worn, like a chair someone has sat in for a century.
The social consciousness on display is present but quiet. The final chapter drowns its world in rising seas and lets the floodwater physically uproot the house, a climate parable delivered through fable instead of pamphlet. All three stories circle property, debt, and greed: the family corrupted by a gift, the developer crushed by a loan, the landlady hoarding a drowning asset. Female protagonists drive two of the three chapters, and the middle segment implies a romantic attachment between the developer and his dentist while a non-binary drag artist voices a police officer. None of this is foregrounded. It sits in the furniture, doing its work without announcement.
The special is atmospheric and existential where it could have been preachy, and that restraint is its saving grace. The grotesque bodies of the second chapter exist to unsettle, not to affirm. There is no racial argument here, no historical correction, no neurological framing. Just madness, wealth, and the pursuit of happiness, rendered in felt and foam. A weary viewer might call it slight. A patient one will call it exact.
Analysis generated by our Consciousness Algorithm
Synopsis
Across different eras, a poor family, an anxious developer and a fed-up landlady become tied to the same mysterious house in this animated dark comedy.
Questions about The House
Is The House woke?
No — The House is not especially woke, scoring 32 out of 100 on our wokeness meter. That earns it a verdict of Based.
Does The House have any woke elements?
3 of the 10 markers register at 30 or above, led by Climate Crusade (55), Eat the Rich (45) and Representation Casting (35). On Climate Crusade: The third segment is set in a post-apocalyptic world submerged by rising seas, with the floodwaters literally uprooting the house — a clear climate-crisis allegory, though it is woven into a fable rather than delivered as a message.
How does The House compare to other 2022 movies?
It ranks #52 of the 223 films from 2022 we've scored; their average is 22. The wokest is Bros (92).
How is the Woke Score calculated?
An AI-assisted process researches the film and its reception, scores it 0–100 on ten markers, then combines those into one 0–100 Woke Score. It measures a specific set of 2020s cultural themes, not film quality.