A new wave in cinema: Conservative satire hits the big screen
A fresh take on low-budget films
Every now and then, a low-budget film emerges from outside the studio system and catches fire with a largely ignored right-leaning demographic, leaving mouths agape in Hollywood’s executive suites. The latest contender in this arena is “Am I Racist?”, a satire produced by The Daily Wire, marking the conservative media company’s first wide theatrical release. This “Borat”-style mockumentary, starring comedian Matt Walsh, takes aim at the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) movement and is set to open in 1,510 theaters today. This represents the most ambitious swing for the 9-year-old company founded by Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing.
Challenging Hollywood’s norms
Walsh, reflecting on Hollywood’s aversion to red-state sensibilities, states, “They’re leaving plenty of money on the table, and we’re happy to come in and take some of it. Because, at a minimum, you are explicitly refusing to serve 50% of the audience.” This sentiment underscores the film’s provocative conceit, which sees Walsh going undercover as a so-called beta male. He explores the world of high-paid DEI consultants, gets his DEI certification, and captures wild on-camera interactions with big names in the anti-racist cottage industry, such as Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility.” The result is either hilarious or offensive, depending on which side of the MAGA fence you sit on.
High production values and Hollywood talent
Despite its controversial subject matter, there’s no denying the film’s studio-level production values. Several of the principals hail from traditional Hollywood backgrounds. Producer Dallas Sonnier was a manager who broke the careers of Greta Gerwig and Leslye Headland before fleeing the mainstream industry because of its “politicized nature,” he says. Director Justin Folk worked on the visual effects teams of such films as “The Matrix Reloaded” before bailing to tackle stories “more about the war of ideas and what’s going on in our country,” as he describes it. Boreing ran Coattails Entertainment with Zachary Levi before teaming up with Shapiro.
Expanding into entertainment
From the Daily Wire get-go, Boreing and Shapiro envisioned expanding into entertainment content “that wasn’t deliberately insulting to our core audience,” says Boreing. Shapiro, who built his brand as an anti-woke social media firebrand, once went on a 43-minute video rant about the “Barbie” movie and has a history of embracing discriminatory views. Still, Boreing was skeptical when he heard Walsh’s pitch for his doc “What Is a Woman?”.
“I didn’t want to be in the 501(c)(3) space at all,” says Boreing of his initial interpretation of nonfiction films. “I wanted to make commercial entertainment. But as Matt expressed the vision for that project, I began to see that it really wasn’t a 501(c)(3)-style documentary. It was something else.”
Success and controversy
“What Is a Woman?” — which explores gender ideology and was also directed by Folk and produced by Sonnier — was made on a budget of less than $1 million. Sonnier says it earned more than 30 times its budget via DailyWire+. Naturally, the film sparked heated debate — some dubbed it anti-trans — globally. “Am I Racist?”, which cost about $3 million, will get a prints-and-advertising spend comparable to a Neon or A24 movie. The Daily Wire is counting on Walsh’s fan base to show. (He is one of the biggest conservative podcasters in the country, and his daily show consistently ranks in the Apple top 15.)
Filling a void in the multiplex
Sonnier sees a gaping void at the multiplex, which the “Am I Racist?” team is glad to fill. “Hollywood is focused on its own problems internally and can’t even contemplate what would resonate with an audience in the South or the Midwest today,” he says. “Conservative audiences have simply checked out of what Hollywood is making outside of the tentpoles.”
As Walsh sees it, the once-fertile genre of low-budget comedy is a wide-open lane. “The left was using satire to mock the views that they disagree with,” he says, noting Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” playbook. “Comedy died in Hollywood at some point. It just fell off a cliff. It got to a point where you can’t make jokes about anything anymore. There’s no one left that you can even poke fun at, except for white men, I suppose. But after a while, those jokes get pretty old too. So then, you know, everything’s stale, and I think it’s where we are now.”
Explore more
For those interested in diving deeper into the world of “Am I Racist?”, you can watch the trailer and find more information here. Similarly, if you want to explore the controversial documentary “What Is a Woman?”, you can find it here.
This new wave of conservative satire in cinema is not just a fleeting trend but a significant shift in the entertainment landscape. Whether you agree with its message or not, it’s clear that films like “Am I Racist?” are here to stay, challenging Hollywood’s norms and offering a fresh perspective to audiences across the country.