The film that saved “Hollywood’s a**” was rewarded for its heroism with a paltry Oscar for Best Sound at The 95th Academy Awards Sunday night.
So why did “Top Gun: Maverick” get burnt by The Academy despite its high-flying success? Well, Hollywood bigwigs cannot openly give too much credit to the highest-grossing film of 2022 for its success; Doing so would admit that their anti-American and woke crusade has been an abject failure that has hurt their bottom dollar.
Ultimately, leftists can never admit they were wrong about a topic because doing so would weaken their power — whether that be cultural or political. The reality is that the audience does not want to go to movies for a lecture and forced diversity — they want to be enthralled by the magic of film and a cinematic experience.
“Maverick” hauled in $719 million at the box office last year. The instant classic received rave reviews, including from the legendary producer/director Steven Spielberg, who recently told Tom Cruise at the 2023 Oscar Luncheon, “You saved Hollywood’s a**, and you might have saved theatrical distribution.”
“Seriously, ‘Maverick’ might have saved the entire theatrical industry,” he emphasized.
TOM CRUISE SAVED the entire movie industry with Top Gun Maverick, according to Steven Spielberg.
"You Saved Hollywood's A**"
Spielberg told Cruise at the Oscar luncheon, Top Gun 2 saved the theatrical distribution business, likely because he produced a traditional film that… https://t.co/QI8jYaF18Z pic.twitter.com/opvwooB76q
— Mr. Cardinal Truth (@mrcardinaltruth) February 15, 2023
So why didn’t a film like that experience more success Sunday night?
Its critics would say that the film is too pro-America, too anti-Chinese, and too pro-military. All things that Hollywood — Hollyweird as some people like to call it — despise.
To admit that a masculine movie of that caliber is popular — unifying even — would be to admit that the American people do not welcome their message — no matter how hard they try.
Detractors would say that the film is simply Pentagon propaganda. Maybe so. But that’s still more fun than the woke propaganda we typically get out of Tinseltown.
Better yet, everybody going into the movie understood what they were getting — an entertaining experience displaying good ol’ U-S-of-A bravado. That is a better sell than the usual mental rot of diversity, equity, and inclusion snuck into movies, if not the central plot device.
Again, that lesson can never be outright admitted in Hollywood; Dissent is never tolerated by the Left. As documented in numerous instances, if you dissent and offer even a semi-conservative viewpoint, then you are treated like an outcast.
Yet thanks to the near-universal praise of “Maverick” from outside leftist circles, Hollywood execs were reminded that “there’s money on the table” for movies such as “Maverick,” The Federalist’s Emily Jashinsky observed. As she put it, Hollywood was reminded of the “monocultural magic” films can hold and their ability to attract customers.
As a result, the Oscars show was relatively scant on politics. The entire gambit, Jashisnky concluded, might be too late to save the industry.
Whether that is true remains to be seen.
Yet, one thing that is evident is that, like so many industries infected by leftist politics, Hollywood cannot humble itself to admit that it has failed because of its ideology. For now, it seems that if wokeness is going to end in Hollywood, it will go out not with a bang, but with a whimper.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
