Blog: Here’s Why Conservatives Aren’t Winning the Culture War…

For the past few years, Hollywood has been in free fall, producing flop after flop in the name of appeasing the mythical “modern audience.” However, while some may mourn the drawn-out death of Tinseltown, independent filmmakers are thriving as Hollywood lies in hospice, with numerous indie films – such as Backrooms and Obsession – grossing over a quarter billion dollars. But despite the conditions being ripe to take back the culture by writing stories that actually resonate with people, conservatives have been missing the mark. While some have been able to create good stories worth telling, others have fallen into the same vice that has destroyed Hollywood: mediocrity instead of excellence.

Some of the worst offenders here are from the Dailywire, unfortunately. A few years back, they announced that they were going to fight against Hollywood by producing their own movies and T.V. shows, with the capstone of it all being The Pendragon Cycle (which you can read my initial review of here). A lot of people were excited for it, but when the movies and T.V. shows began coming out, they were either mediocre or were obviously made with Dailywire’s fans in mind.

To start with the mediocre, we should look at The Pendragon Cycle. Having read the books and being a total fantasy nerd, I was excited for this show and hoped for the best. Then, after seeing the behind the scenes of its production, my hopes dwindled, and, after watching it, I felt that several hours of my life had been wasted. It was ridiculously overhyped for what it was, with the pacing being atrocious. From looking at the comments, it seems that only the most loyal Dailywire fans enjoyed the show…and the rest agreed that it was terrible.

Then, there’s the stuff that’s bad because it focused too heavily on the message. The best example of this was the movie Lady Ballers, which, in many ways, was the worst movie Dailywire ever produced. Not only is it a comedy that gets less funny the more you watch it, but it trades several storylines that could have made the movie more interesting for low-hanging gags and jokes. Storylines that could have provided more conflict and tension for the characters were thrown out the window in exchange for the message.

That, of course, leads to the main crux of the issue. It’s not that conservatives are incapable of writing good stories – it’s that those with the money to put these movies and T.V. shows out seem content to pander to the pre-existing audience. They put movies out to a fanbase that already is loyal to them and don’t seem to consider the actual quality of it. They do this by either putting in an overt message or just releasing stuff that would be given a B-rating because they know that their customers will likely eat it up.

This inevitably leads to the ultimate problem: mediocrity over excellence. If you aren’t shooting straight into mediocrity by not caring enough to make a movie worth watching, then you’re going there by focusing on the message over everything else. This is the issue that Hollywood has run into time and time again and is part of why it’s struggling to get out of hospice. For too long, Hollywood focused on including some sort of woke message in its movies to appease critics. To this day, Hollywood still panders to those critics because they are its built-in audience. They are the ones who really decide if it gets an Oscar, after all. If they aren’t doing that, however, they’re often making movies that aren’t worth watching because the story itself is stupid.

Conservatives shouldn’t do that if we want to retake the culture.

Instead, conservatives need to focus on quality over quantity, excellence over the message. We should take note of movies that have that have been universally enjoyed, such as Project Hail Mary, which was successful not for any sort of pandering to critics by putting in a message, but was successful because it told a story that resonates with humanity.

Additionally, instead of solely putting movies out on streaming, conservatives should work to get them out in theaters or on other streaming platforms like Fandango. Part of why we’re not taking back the culture is because a lot of people either can’t afford to or don’t want to pay for yet another subscription to watch a movie. Most people would rather get the movie ticket and have the movie theater experience or watch at home for $5 than pay $10 for a movie, plus a bunch of other stuff they aren’t interested in.

Instead of focusing on pandering to an audience that’s already there, conservatives should consider the people outside of their platforms. They need to produce media that appeals to everyone because it’s objectively good. If we don’t do that, then our mission of taking back the culture is doomed before it even began.

Until next time,

M.J.