Conservatives May Never Have a Pop Culture Chance Like This Again
Mainstream Hollywood abandoned Red State USA at the worst possible time
Progressives hold so much sway over pop culture conservatives swoon over microscopic wins.
It’s their only option.
Take Gina Carano’s upcoming thriller, produced by The Daily Wire and a cadre of right-leaning voices. It’s just one movie, and a seemingly apolitical one at that, versus an entire industry genuflecting toward the Left.
Just this week we’ve seen a documentary comparing President Donald Trump to Hitler and a newly woke sitcom spouting Black Lives Matter talking points.
Wait ‘til next week.
Yet the cultural landscape suggests conservatives can plant a creative flag thanks to a perfect storm of gaffes, lies and incompetence. Opportunity – vast, deep and likely here for the foreseeable future – awaits those who open their eyes, hearts and, most importantly, wallets.
The world is on fire, again. Our leaders are taking lids and hiding from reporters, most of whom give them little to fear save fawning queries and magazine profiles.
Last year, journalists hid a blockbuster story to protect their preferred candidate with “great success” as Borat might say, and they’ve grown more corrupt since then.
Our elites have never looked so broken, so bereft of intellect or kindness. They lie with impunity, punish without shame, suggest our freedoms exist at their whims.
The man who once ruled Hollywood said exactly that before doubling down on the sentiment. Hasta la vista, freedom, the Governator cried before a shutterbug caught him maskless.
National leaders call half the country names few of us ever deserve. Big Tech’s hunger to silence debate has never been more obvious, or more transparent.
What are conservatives waiting for?
This isn’t a political battle cry. That fight will happen during the 2022 election cycle, and it’s deeply important for all the obvious reasons.
This is a fight for our culture, a battle Andrew Breitbart warned us about a decade ago but we’re only now willing to listen.
It’s right-of-center Hollywood’s moment.
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Most Americans can see through the media smoke screen, knowing too much entertainment is meant to distract or deny the hard truths around us.
We need smart, sane, free-thinking content, and it’s clear Hollywood, Inc. would rather woke-ify another beloved IP than deliver anything close to that.
Conservatives in media and in Hollywood must do the heavy lifting, but not via the traditional channels.
NBC isn’t pining for a single late-night host willing to call out President Biden. Hulu, busy cranking out progressive content for its apolitical customer base, won’t give right-leaning projects a second look (let alone a first).
The gatekeepers keep adding barbed wire to their fences, fearing discordant voices may get a hearing. Pitching to them isn’t just futile. It’s wasted energy. Every calorie moving forward must be burned efficiently.
Enter the new platforms on the block.
- Epoch TV
- Creado
- The Daily Wire
- Rumble
- Fox Nation
- SalemNow
- Angel Studios
- CloutHub
More are coming sooner than you think. Each promises a fresh perspective for those exhausted by woke groupthink.
Think Americans aren’t hungry for something fresh, raw and real? Joe Rogan remains the undisputed podcast king. How? He serves up three hours of talk, the kind that might get us canceled for all the wrong reasons.
YouTube superstars like Ryan Long, JP Sears, Buddy Brown and Tom MacDonald show what can be done when you speak uncomfortable truths. Rising stars like Chrissie Mayr and Tyler Fischer prove you can start a community with modest budgets and sizable courage.
Angel Studios reminds us there’s a market for something fresh, amplifying religious voices and free market champions alike via “The Chosen” and the upcoming “Tuttle Twins.” Both went the crowdfunding route and collected all the pennies needed … and then some.
Imagine if Long’s first feature-length film out-grosses any Hollywood comedy on its opening weekend?
Picture a documentary debuting on YouTube that shames the “Do As I Say” Democrats like Gov. Newsom, Mayor Lightfoot and AOC.
Almost anyone can start a podcast, make a YouTube-ready video or send $10 to fulfill a crowdfunding dream. Yes, performers risk the modern Blacklist for sharing their talents with the neglected half of the country, but their silence only emboldens that list.
If they rise up they can be authentic and strike a blow for freedom at the same time.
Let’s be clear. The elites across the cultural board have let us down too many times to count. Netflix would rather broadcast “Cuties” than give a pro-life story its undivided attention. Showtime shoveled $40 million to tell a miniseries chock full of lies with “The Comey Rule.”
Mainstream comedians like Stephen Colbert protect the status quo, do PR for the Biden administration and mock their fellow Americans before making anyone laugh.
Hollywood movies won’t dare embrace Red State USA, faith or institutions we hold deer. They’d rather insult America, think “The Suicide Squad” third-act wrinkle, than celebrate its greatness.
The Suicide Squad is reasonably enjoyable but I am mostly here for the Marvel and DC cinematic universes becoming dueling pro/anti-American propaganda outfits https://t.co/fHVqPNym3w
— Adi Robertson (@thedextriarchy) August 9, 2021
None of this will be easy. Wealthy conservatives still seize up before writing checks for the arts.
That must stop.
The entertainment media will either attack this cultural revolution or ignore it, hoping a lack of oxygen will be its death knell.
There’s another factor here.
Conservative in-fighting will only get worse should the Right take on this vital mission. Remember that Carano film project, the one sticking it to Disney for unfairly canceling an actress? The Daily Wire wrote about it, of course, as did The Federalist. Did every right-leaning site do the same?
If not, why not?
Smiting Cancel Culture should be more important than giving your competitor some free airtime.
When Michael Moore pushes his latest “documentary” he knows every major movie outlet will spread the word, and most of the minor ones, too. Conservatives don’t have that sprawling network of support. Conservative talkers who neglected to share the Carano news are part of the problem, whether they realize it or not.
The stars have never aligned like this for art that’s either right-leaning or simply free from woke dictates. There’s so much material being ignored that could spark an artistic firestorm and, with it, an American awakening to save the country from its worst impulses.
Let’s start by remaking the ’90s comedy “PCU,” shoot films showing how socialism crippled Venezuela and circle back to tales embracing freedom, pure and simple.
Here’s the best part.
This revolution might draw some surprising support. Think independent Americans exhausted by nonstop narratives. What about center-Left liberals shocked that calling their mothers “mother” is suddenly problematic?
They might give this new content a try, too.
That’s when Hollywood might come to its senses and realize the other half of the country wants to be entertained, too, without the same ol’ talking points.
By then, the artistic revolution will be too strong to stop.