The idea of a national divorce is now an oft-discussed and debated topic in this country.
It’s no secret that many Americans no longer recognize or relate to a culture or government that has become consumed with the absurdities and immorality of runaway wokeness.
What started as an effort asking us to suspend common sense in the name of political correctness of the early 2000’s has grown into the woke monster of today, demanding that we abandon reality. The natural outcome of this fallacy is now bearing fruit—as this culture of the absurd begins to self-destruct and implode on itself.
All of this has only heightened the disconnect many Americans now feel and their weariness of everything and everyday life being turned into a political battlefield. A recent poll showed more than three-quarters of voters say they want businesses to stay out of politics.
Some Americans are pushing back, fighting against the decline of our culture at school board meetings and in local legislatures and municipal governments. These battles over policies and laws are crucial and vital, but there is another way that Americans are responding as well.
There’s also a growing group who are bringing light to the darkness — not just decrying and fighting the effects of a woke culture, but showing what the pursuit of truth, beauty, and light look like. They are redeeming the culture, not withdrawing from it, and doing so using their hard-earned money as the vehicle.
The results are astounding and go against everything we’ve been told. The global hit series “The Chosen” on the life of Jesus emerged as the #1 crowdfunded media project in history. Neal Harmon, CEO and co-founder at Angel Studios, stated the goal behind this effort is to amplify the very highest and best in culture while allowing the audience a hand in creating it.
“[W]e’re allowing all the filmmakers who truly want to reflect light around the world to have a mechanism to do that successfully,” Harmon said in a recent interview. Ultimately, the people choose which projects see the light of day and are behind every success. Their preferences seem to fly in the face of the woke media narrative.
Critics have charged that The Chosen is a fluke — a one-off unique magical project. Yet recently, a crowd funded, animated musical feature film for kids called David — based on David of the Bible, one of best-known stories on earth — beat the crowd funding record formerly held by The Chosen.
This isn’t limited to streaming; we’re also seeing this at the box office.
In December of last year, Hollywood was stunned by a strong theatrical showing for The Chosen’s Christmas special, coming in #3 behind two Hollywood movies. Rather than creating a show and then hoping people would show up, its promoters knew where their audience was and roughly how many would show up in advance.
The people are part of the entire process and dictate the culture rather than the other way around. That’s the magic.
Noting that times have been rough for movie theaters over the last few years (unless your name is Tom Cruise), the Los Angeles Times recently suggested that others in the industry could try this innovative model and might see similar results.
”His Only Son,” coming to theaters nationwide on March 31, is the very first theatrical launch in which the print and advertising budget is crowdfunded. The decision of the crowd to invest was their reason for its creation. The response from presales indicates a box office success is in the works, right on the heels of another recent box office success from actor Kelsey Grammer and faith-based filmmaker John Erwin.
So at the end of the day, such movies are certainly not an anomaly in the entertainment industry — Americans want them so much that they are willing to donate their hard-earned dollars to finance them.
Other efforts like the upcoming Dennis Quaid-driven Reagan movie, and Roma Downey’s soon-to-release “On a Wing and a Prayer,” a movie based on a heroic true story, are indicative of a blossoming industry that Americans are hungry for.
A journalist who covers this beat regularly told me, “I used to hear about projects like this maybe three or four times a year, now I am hearing about a new project every week.”
This is how, slowly, a culture is redeemed, and how we save our country long-term. And it is distinctively and uniquely American. We, the People, are the answer in every vertical, in every sector and area.
Policy battles and elections are vitally important, and what our Founding Fathers expected us to be part of. But without a redemption of communities, a renaissance of culture, any political victory is nothing more than a hollow shell. People are sick of woke entertainment, and are seeking something that truly speaks to them.
As C.S. Lewis rightly observed, “If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun.”
Matthew Faraci is founder and president of Inspire Buzz and Gideon 300 and was a co-founder and executive producer of the award-winning Angel Studios orignial TV series The Chosen. He currently produces The Tuttle Twins, the #1 crowdfunded kids’ project of its time. His work in conservative, faith-based media has been profiled by media outlets around the world.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.