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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   30744 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 21, 2022

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I think there are some trends that might help conservatives in areas like Hollywood. China is increasingly important for making a profit with films, games etc. The Chinese government insists on Family Friendly entertainment, while comic book hero-style stories are what Chinese audiences apparently likes from the West.

One precedent is 80s action movies. Home video, plus a Hollywood system that had grown sceptical of indulging "genius" New Hollywood directors after flops like Heaven's Gate, led to the production of a lot of conservative-leaning action films. Think Cobra, Rambo, Red Dawn, Conan the Barbarian, Red Heat, Death Wish etc. etc. Even Aliens has a heroine who is appealing to both conservatives and liberals: the warrior mother is a figure in conservative iconography that goes back centuries; her violence stems from protective maternal instincts that conservatives laud, and she confronts men only insofar as they are weak. Similar women are a stock figure of Western culture, at least in Northern Europe: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Douglas

There's also e.g. the Rocky films from that period, which are some of the best examples I know of traditional working-class American conservative values: nobody owes you anything, work hard, respect your elders, family comes first, don't forget where you came from, stand up for yourself etc. These values are popular among high-orderliness people in pretty much every culture, including China.

Of course, as some people here have already noted, the problems for conservative culture production seem to be more supply-side than demand-side. However, I think that 80s action has lessons here as well. Stallone wasn't consistently a big star until the 80s: Rocky and Rocky II were exceptions in a career of failure and disappointment. Ahnold, Dolph, Church Norris, etc. came from outside the standard Hollywood system. Charles Bronson was a salty veteran and Michael Winner (the Death Wish director) was a sleazy Limey:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=efl5pFTFnBU

So a conservative director looking to make an action movie should try to make something Chinese friendly and go outside the box for the star, e.g. a wrestler, MMA fighter, or boxer as the lead.

I think red tribe dominates podcasts. I guess this is akin to red tribe dominating talk radio in the 90s.

Yeah, I’m always a bit confused by the claim that all of cultural production is blue tribe stuff.

Podcasts and comedy are typically not super progressive blue tribe areas, and actually that’s where much of the thinking and cultural production goes on in our society.

There are still some red-flavored entertainment products, and some do very well. The Fast & the Furious franchise jumps to mind, as does the new Top Gun.

They're all still made by blue-tribers, of course, which means that entertainment is either made to appeal to both tribes or just blue, never just red. (with a few exceptions that prove the rule, like The Terminal List)

Wasn’t LOTR rather explicitly red tribe? The source material is inherently conservative.

Tolkien was English, not American, and the cultural groupings don't entirely translate. LOTR is conservative, across a great number of definitions, but different aspects of Tolkien's creation have resonated with various groups across the political spectrum.

Is it?

LOTR seemed to have pretty universal appeal as far as I’m aware.

red tribe and universal appeal are not mutually exclusive.

It did have universal appeal but that doesn’t mean the messaging wasn’t red tribe.

family comes first

a wrestler as the lead

Chinese director

How popular is the Fast & Furious franchise in China?

John Cena has been a runaway meme in certain corners of the Chinese internet after a video where he talks about eating ice cream in broken Chinese (while also pushing F&F 9), which I think generated ample buzz for it.

Very popular in China and basically everywhere. Interestingly, in the US, Hispanic audiences like it especially, and African Americans disproportionately so:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F9_(film)#Box_office

I have only watched a bit of one of this series briefly, but my impression is that it's the ultimate working class young man film.

Hispanics and African Americans also really like fast cars, so it makes sense it’s popular with those demographics.

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