Here’s the latest from the crossroads of faith, media & culture: 01/26/24

Bordering on Madness. If your finding yourself scratching your head wondering how America has produced political leaders who don’t believe America’s southern border is worth maintaining, you might want to catch watch Poison Ivy. That’s the really on-target title of a documentary I just caught hosted by Pete Hegseth that’s currently streaming on Fox Nation. The program effectively posits that the America Last ideas represented by the current administration were nurtured in the halls of our nations Ivy League universities (including Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth and UPenn). How did these institutions, many of which have religious roots based on Judeo-Christian theology and were built on the Western ideal of intellectual rigor and debate, become hotbeds of antisemitism and anti-Americanism, as well as Woke race and gender ideology? Hegseth, a military veteran and co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend on Fox News Channel who considers himself a (recovering) Princeton University grad “disheartened by the explosive and destructive developments that are playing out on campuses all across America,” does a good job of tracing the origins of the trend which now has parents, students and potential employers questioning whether the once highly valued diplomas from those institutions represent higher education or higher indoctrination. BTW, the documentary explains that the beginning of the decline goes back further than you might think.

The Bottom Line: Poison Ivy is highly recommended for anyone looking for historical insight into why America’s Ivy League colleges are seemingly dying on the vine.

The Frasier connection. While I give Fox credit for continuing to shine a light on this very important cultural subject that most of the corporate media does its best to ignore, I would really like to see the issue begin to permeate into the broader entertainment media.

One possibility involves Kelsey Grammer. Please follow my stream of consciousness here. He’s a conservative who actually hosts a Fox Nation show called Kelsey Grammer’s Historic Battles for America which is described as “a deep dive into key battles that left an indelible mark on America.” While that program focuses on military battles, certainly the battle for the hearts and minds of our nation’s young people on college campuses should be of interest him. He also is more famously is starring in the Paramount+ Frasier sequel series that finds his classic character now teaching at Harvard. The ten-episode first season of the show has garnered mixed reviews and has not yet been renewed for Season 2. I’m sure the actor’s recent endorsement of Donald Trump for president isn’t apt to improve the show’s chances.

Politics aside, I think one thing that has kept the new show from really gaining traction is that it has tried to hard to mirror the tone of the classic original show which was studiously atopical. That certainly worked brilliantly back in the nineties when the character was doling out psychological to listeners on a call-in radio – but, when the character finds himself teaching at the Harvard University of 2024, a different more topical approach is called for. Certainly there are All in the Family-esque laughs to be had at the goings on at perhaps America’s most Woke university. It’s an unmined area for a sitcom that I believe a large audience would respond to. Frasier is well set up to tackle the subject but, whether that show does or not, somebody should give such an idea a go. Maybe if Fox Nation gets into the sitcom business?
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A tale of two awards shows and a snapshot of the cultural divide. While garnering much less corporate media fanfare than the 2024 Academy Award nominations, this year’s Movieguide Awards nominees were also announced this week. A quick look at the films vying for the top prizes offers a clue to how different swaths of Americans view not just movies but life itself.

Vying for Best Picture Oscars are ten films. That number, BTW, is twice as many as there used to be or should be. The number was only doubled in recent years so more movies could advertise themselves as Best Picture nominees but it’s too many to remember and waters down the actual value of a nomination.

Anyway, the nominees are American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Barbie, The Holdovers, Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro, Oppenheimer, Past Lives, Poor Things and The Zone of Interest. Of this list, I have only personally caught Barbie (which I found to be quite creative, funny and well done) and Maestro (which hit a sour note with me as I thought it was about as dull as a movie gets). I would say only two of nominated movies were actually hits that broke through to the national zeitgeist. They were Barbie and Oppenheimer (which I want to see but somehow haven’t yet gotten to). You can’t blame the filmmakers for that awful Barbernheimer meme that swept the internet when the movies happened to open on the same date.

Meanwhile, going for the Movieguide Epiphany Prize are After Death, Big George Foreman, Jesus Revolution and On a Wing and a Prayer. In the Best Movie for Mature Audiences category are Boys in the Boat, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Godzilla Minus One, the aforementioned Jesus Revolution and the surprise summer hit Sound of Freedom. I’d kinda suggest combining those two categories into one climactic Best Picture prize and, like the Oscars, limiting the nominees to five.

Anyway, the Academy Awards nominees may indeed include some very good films (i.e. Barbie) but, I think, they generally tend to take a more jaundiced and less optimistic toward America, Western culture and life in general. On the other hand, the faith-based Movieguide Awards tend to veer more toward a less cynical and more optimistic view of all three. There’s room for both kinds of movies, of course, but as a steady diet I think the audience is better served by an emphasis on hope.

The 96th Academy Awards will air on ABC Sunday, March 10th at 7:00 PM ET.

The 31st Movieguide Awards will be presented February 9th and air on Great American Family Network this spring. That’s great but if you want to generate buzz and ratings, maybe next year they can shoot for a live TV presentation.

With over 89-million monthly users Movieguide is the number-one family review service for movies and television shows. The organization consults with major studios on what types of films will appeal to family audiences. Statistically, family films produce the biggest box office draws and the family film audience is the largest single demographic of movie-goers and television viewers.
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John W. Kennedy is a writer, producer and media development consultant specializing in television and movie projects that uphold positive timeless values, including trust in God.