Woke Hollywood, Broke Hollywood
26th June 2022
Steven Hayward at Power Line.
Buzz Lightyear (voiced by the great Tim Allen, one of the few right-leaning stars in Hollywood) became an iconic character in the Toy Story series of films, but the new standalone Buzz Lightyear movie, with Buzz voiced by Chris Pratt instead of Allen, has bombed at the box office, perhaps because it decided to go fully woke by prominently featuring a lesbian relationship. As Kyle Smith puts it, “today Hollywood’s message is, ‘Let us entertain you! But first, a brief lecture on what’s wrong with you, the audience . . .’”
The three largest grossing movies of the last 20 years are The Passion of the Christ, American Sniper, and, by the time it is done with its theatrical run, Top Gun: Maverick. Notice something in common with these films? The first celebrates straight-up Christian piety, and not some tormented clergyman or a revisionist gay Palestinian Jesus. The latter two depict Americans as unabashed heroes, fighting for a just cause.