Hollywood’s Influence Has Viewers Seeking Older Shows

There’s a reason some of the biggest streaming hits are often ten or more years old.

The Hollywood that produced “Friends,” “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation,” and “Seinfeld” wanted one thing — to entertain and, by extension, bag big ratings.

Today’s Hollywood is different. So says the general public, which just dramatically noted that modern films are worse than they were just a decade ago. Re-issues of classic films like “Hocus Pocus” sometimes lap newer titles at the box office.

What changed? You might pin some of the blame on propaganda.

While many modern TV shows and movies remain apolitical and free of culture war fallout, many others embrace the new shift.

Not only are today’s storytellers eager to insert their progressive agendas into new projects, but the industry calls upon groups tasked with helping them do just that.

The stories in question often suffer as a result, forcing viewers to scramble for older product.

A new report from Just The News shared how Good Energy Stories works with Hollywood to “insert political messages regarding climate change into television, film, and media.”

It’s unclear how many studios or screenwriters have tapped the group’s resources, but it’s hard not to notice how its preferred themes infiltrate movies and TV shows. There’s even a term used for fictional yarns with climate change themes: cli-fi.

TV and film characters routinely name drop “global warming,” “climate change,” and similar phrases even when the stories have little to do with the environment.

The hard-feminist comedy “Barbie,” for example, featured this line:

You set the feminist movement back 50 years, you destroyed girls’ innate sense of worth, and you’re killing the planet with your glorification of rampant consumerism

Or consider this bloated bit of dialogue from “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One:”

The next world war isn’t going to be a cold one. It’s going to be a ballistic war over a rapidly shrinking ecosystem. It’s going to be a war for the last of our dwindling energy, drinkable water, and breathable air. Your days of fighting for the greater good are over.

Other movies, like “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom,” directly address eco-concerns.

If a film doesn’t name-check climate change it might embrace other parts of the progressive agenda, like open-border policies. For that, Define American stands ready to advise eager screenwriters. The group, formed by illegal immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas, says it consulted on 75 film and TV shows as of 2021.

Since then, we’ve seen more fictional stories pushing an open borders narrative like 2023’s “Unseen” documentary and Fox’s “The Cleaning Lady” series.

The upcoming Zoe Saldana drama “The Absence of Eden” suggests yet another sympathetic portrait of “undocumented immigrants.” Here’s the official synopsis:

The Absence of Eden takes place at the border between the United States and Mexico … When Esmee (Saldaña), a young woman working as a private dancer in Mexico, is forced to commit a violent act of self-defense that results in the death of a cartel member, she flees her homeland for sanctuary in the United States… Before crossing the border, the mother is taken from the group, and Esmee promises to protect her daughter and help them reunite again in America, touching off an interlocking story about people struggling to survive on America’s border with Mexico.

Hollywood also loves gun control narratives, despite cranking out endless action films teeming with so-called “gun violence.” For that, screenwriters can turn to Everytown for Gun Safety, a group that regularly canoodles with Hollywood talent to inject their narratives into the stories we see.

Its Creative Council, including Oscar-nominee Julianne Moore, has a long history of shaping Hollywood stories. The Netflix drama “House of Cards” created a storyline tied to new gun laws that steered viewers to an Everytown website sharing similar messaging.

Films like 2016’s “Miss Sloane,” which leaned heavily on outside consultants to shape its gun-centric storyline, offer more blatant examples of the collaborations in play.

The University of Southern California (USC) joined the movement, producing a handbook last year for Hollywood creatives to follow.

Trigger Warning: Gun Guidelines for Media” “provides guidance on how TV shows, movies, and even news shows should approach issues such as officer-involved shootings, gun storage, mass shootings, school shootings, and partner violence.

Hollywood’s woke revolution offers another propaganda-like product. Gender-swapped stories abound, becoming so commonplace it’s now a source of mainstream ridicule thanks to “South Park.”

And then there’s Late-night television, often indistinguishable from DNC talking points.

The line between comedian and White House press secretary blurred beyond belief recently when “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert took part in a Biden fundraising soiree. Colbert’s appearance didn’t surprise anyone. The far-Left host relentlessly uses his CBS show’s platform to attack Republicans, deify Democrats, and ignore stories that paint progressives in an unflattering light.

He’s joined, to varying degrees, by fellow late-night hosts Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver and Jimmy Fallon. Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” offers a rotating lineup of far-left comedians who essentially do the same.

Their propaganda-riddled monologues inspired the birth of a new phrase — “Clapter,” meaning “jokes “meant to draw more applause than laughter.

In that regard, Colbert is in a class by himself.

Colbert cherry-picked comments from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s testimony tied to President Joe Biden’s document scandal. The comic’s monologue could be a gaslighting primer, suggesting Biden’s memory is far sharper than we realize.

That’s not comedy or entertainment. It’s propaganda. And, sadly, it has plenty of company in Hollywood.

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Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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