American conservatives have developed a culture of complaint. It’s becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy that will prevent them from winning the culture war.
I recently posted a review of the book An Odyssey: A Father, a Son, and an Epic by Daniel Mendelsohn. An Odyssey is an examination of The Odyssey, and timely in light of Christopher Nolan’s new movie. Nolan’s movie has been accused of being too “woke” and destroying a classic of Western Civilization. My piece on An Odyssey was an attempt to offer a more accurate and yet invigorating exegesis on Homer’s epic. Still, some commenters got angry—not only at Nolan, but at me. Here’s one on the movie:
It ain’t the Odyssey. Just a bastardized woke version of it chock full of race swaps and “representation” that shows zero respect to the source material or society, to the point that a Greek myth has no actual Greeks in it and Helen of Troy is a coal black woman who looks and acts like a shrieking welfare queen in the checkout line at Walmart. And that’s to say nothing of shoehorning in a trans idiot, passing off a hundred pound woman as a great male warrior who isn’t even in the original story. It’s an attempt to destroy yet another piece of western civilization by attacking it at its historical source, trying to turn it into just another wokescold screed. I hope with all my heart it fails miserably.
The comment then got this response: “Yeah! And reading this article was giving me a headache.”
I don’t disagree that much with the first comment—wokeness and mandatory DEI casting has ruined a lot of Hollywood movies. What got me was the comments blasting even my attempt to offer an alternative. In right-wing circles it’s verboten to offer any joy. One of the reasons I abandoned the left was liberalism’s relentless dour and buzzkill view of the world. I don’t want the same thing from the right.
Last year I came up with the idea of holding an Anti-Communist Film Festival. The response was instantaneous and enthusiastic. People from all over America were contacting me asking me when it was happening (October) and where (the Victims of Communism Foundation). Then it began to gain notice in more elite circles. National Review. Grover Norquist. The Washington Times. As I said at the Wednesday meeting with Norquist that I addressed, movies are sexy, glamorous, and get into the psyche more than think tanks or position papers. On top of that, 2026 is the 20th anniversary of The Lives of Others, the Oscar-winning film about the East German Stasi.
Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform office is just a few blocks from what was the original 9:30 Club, the legendary 1980s punk and New Wave music stage where I saw bands like R.E.M. the Replacements and Siouxsie and the Banshees when I was in college during the Regan era. Before my Wednesday address I stopped by the old entrance. (OK, I did get kicked out once). I wanted to recall a time when talent and great ideas were supported by a community of positive fans, colleagues and family. We didn’t complain. We produced. Don’t like your newspaper? Create your own. I suppose you could argue that that’s exactly what places like the Daily Wire have done—except all Ben Shapiro does these days is complain about Candace Owens.
In 2023, I met filmmaker Paul Roland. I came across his film Exemplum, which was made for $10,000 and shot in black and white. Exemplum tells the story of a priest who goes bad and the repercussions of his actions. Roland wrote, directed and stars in the film. The story’s smart and compelling. It’s a thriller that effectively quotes Solzhenitsyn.
After producing and directing a spot-on parody of Christopher Nolan's imaginary version of A Christmas Carol, Roland’s new project is a radical departure. Punch the Line is a dramatic podcast that explores the lives of kids in a high school improv team. These existed in California when Roland, 36, was a kid in the 2000s. It stars Nick Searcy, Allegra Edwards, Francis Cronin and Austin Kane. The cast and crew just wrapped recording and after post-production is aiming for a fall release.
Conservatives concerned about the culture should be throwing money and praise at Paul Roland. As Director of the Anti-Communist Film Festival, I should have a full-time salaried position instead of scraping by via GoFundMe. The conservative culture of complaint wears people like Paul Roland and down. They’ll put millions of dollars and endless hours into tearing apart The Odyssey.
