When I was at RightOnline a couple of weeks ago, I went to a panel discussion on “Pop Culture and Politics”. Much of the discussion centered around Hollywood, since that is where much of our pop culture generates from, and of course there were plenty of stick-in-the-mud conservatives (in the audience) who just want to stamp their feet and thumb their noses at Hollywood. One of the panelists, though, made the point that we will never win the battle of ideas without embracing art, culture, storytelling, music and the countless other creative outlets that makes American pop culture so compelling. His advice, rather than turning our backs on and rejecting Hollywood in entirety, was to “see the good and praise it”.
I love that. I feel as though I’ve long been alone in my passion for pop culture and my desire to redeem creativity to a holier and more truthful narrative. I don’t want to shut up the liberal/atheist/anti-whatever moviemakers and celebrities, on the contrary, I want to know what they think, and I want freedom to enjoy and exalt art that celebrates my beliefs as well. To that end, I’ve decided to be more intentional about calling out pieces of pop culture that I believe in and celebrating why I think these statements are valuable.
This is a partial list (just off the top of my head) of movies and TV shows that I’ve seen in the last year that I think celebrate something valuable (truth, beauty, conservatism, Judeo-Christian beliefs, etc.) That is not to say that they are flawless, but I do believe in their messaging and want to do my part to “see the good and praise it”. I’ll also link to any reviews of these that I’ve done, and commit to reviewing more of them as I am able and giving the reasons why I believe in these works.
Movies
- Battleship
- Act of Valor
- The Avengers
- Battle: LA
- Four Christmases
- CrazyStupidLove
- The Conspirator
- Captain America
- The Blind Side
- Atlas Shrugged
- Water for Elephants
- Up
- Life As We Know It
- The Help
TV
- Top Shot
- American Pickers
- Blue Bloods
- Once Upon a Time
- Game of Thrones
- Modern Family
- John Adams
- Friday Night Lights
- Parks and Recreation
- LOST