Conservatives have long had a strange relationship with entertainment. Attempts by conservatives to entertain often fall flat, and a long history of distrust toward Hollywood and other media has led to them to be of touch with popular culture.
Whenever a celebrity makes their political views known, like Jim Carrey did with gun control recently, conservatives instantly “boycott” all their movies and declare them talentless hacks. Suddenly, because Carrey put out a music video that mocked Country music and had an anti-gun message, “The Truman Show” is no longer a masterpiece. Carrey’s portrayal of Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon” is no longer comic genius.
Further, if a conservative politician is asked about his favorite music, and he responds with anything other than country music, the band he mentioned will suddenly issue a press release stating that the feeling isn’t mutual. It was somehow “ironic” that Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) liked Rage Against the Machine. Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) has had the same trouble with his unrequited love of Bruce Springsteen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is a huge fan of Tupac, which is similarly deemed “strange” and “ironic.”
But the truth is, a conservative who does anything short of move to the wilderness to set up a survivalist fortress and shut off all connections to the real world will have to experience popular entertainment and culture at some point in their lives. And they will probably end up enjoying some of it, too.
Conservatives have to accept that they will inevitably enjoy the music or artistic work of someone who doesn’t agree with their politics. Those who don’t accept this, try their hand at entertainment with a conservative perspective, and often fail.
Conservatives, because they’ve been so detached from comedy, Hollywood and popular culture in general, don’t do well when they try their hand at it. Their attempts at humor are largely unfunny and uncreative.
Why? Because conservatives try to make conservative films, conservative humor and conservative entertainment. If they try instead to make entertaining films, without an obvious political message, they’d be much more successful. The funniest conservative comedians are the ones who don’t explicitly try to take shots at their political opponents in their routine.
Essentially, conservatives who want to get involved in entertainment and media need to do more than just try to provide a counterpoint for liberal entertainment. They must create something genuinely entertaining, something that will have the widespread appeal – both critically and commercially – that any other film would have. An uncreative ripoff of “A Christmas Carol” that substitutes Ebenezer Scrooge with a Michael Moore clone isn’t the way to do this.
Conservatives, as has often been said, need to embrace pop culture and recognize that they can do so without “giving in” to liberalism. They can recognize that “Girls” is an exceptional TV show without having to agree with Lena Dunham’s political views. Chris Christie can be a Bruce Springsteen fan without agreeing with his politics. Jim Carrey is a talented actor and comedian even though he has a far left position on gun control.
It has often been said that “politics is downstream from culture.” Ignoring culture isn’t going to work, but neither is thinking that culture is downstream from politics. Culture colors our politics, not the other way around. Once conservatives recognize this, they might start having more influence over popular culture and over politics as a whole.
Keene is a junior majoring in political science, economics and public policy.
