Entertainment by conservatives: can it work?

Ben+Shapiro%2C+editor-in-chief+of+The+Daily+Wire

The Daily Wire

Ben Shapiro, editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire

The release of “Run Hide Fight” marked conservative outlet The Daily Wire’s entry into the entertainment industry. 

Ben Shapiro, who is the editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, explained why he and his outlet is venturing into the entertainment industry in a YouTube video titled “Why The Daily Wire Is Getting Into The Entertainment Business”.

“We are in the middle of a culture war. The fact of the matter is that the culture is dominated by the left… their content caters almost solely to the left… you need an alternative,” Shapiro said.

This is an idea that most conservatives and moderates have been fighting with: the culture war, which is the idea that mass media and entertainment is dominated by the left. While most of them complain and do nothing about the left’s takeover of Hollywood and entertainment in general, there are also the ones that actually do something about it, like Mr. Shapiro. 

There’s one important piece of advice that needs to be conveyed, though: Don’t. Make. It. Partisan. Just offer alternative forms of content with no political activism, and that’s the end of it. 

If it is politicized, then what would be the point of having this alternate form of entertainment if it would just be the same as Hollywood and all the other mainstream outlets? 

Shapiro goes on to explain that there is a growing cultural gap between Hollywood and the rest of the United States, and that movies are being reviewed simply because of their political messages. He uses the examples of Wonder Woman 1984, Ghostbusters, Atomic Blonde, and Us in order to convey this point.

Shapiro also makes a good point that if you are an entertainment lover who doesn’t want to be barraged with political messages, you can now have an alternative. 

“We want people who aren’t political to engage with different content instead of disengaging entirely”, Shapiro said. This is a very good point because, like Shapiro said before, there are entertainment lovers who don’t want to be barraged with political messages that they don’t necessarily agree with or they just don’t want to see at all.

The bottom line is that there’s a choice to be made in how this is going to be executed. The only way that this will work is if it is not politicized, and it just focuses on good entertainment.