A recent comment by Andy Weir, the writer of Project Hail Mary, has gone viral. There were a few loudmouths who objected, but for the most part, no one can read his common-sense opinion and see it as anything other than a lifeline for writers and directors in Hollywood. There is a reason so many people from all walks of life can watch Project Hail Mary: there is no whiff of “my side is better than your side,” there is no judgment placed on the “lesser” half of America. It’s just that rare breed of a universal story, well told.
I am not entirely sure where the quote comes from to give proper sourcing, but here is how I saw it:
Thank you. From the deepest place in my heart, thank you. THANK YOU.
I read this piece in the New York Times that ruminates on whether wokeness has left “us” better off. It is shockingly one-sided, as though nearly 100 million people in America just didn’t exist and weren’t invited in. I find it astonishing they would write and speak this way, and it reminded me of a conversation they might have inside a cult. These are “our” rules. Have they led us toward success or failure? Well, how can you ever know that if you have become so insulated from the rest of us?
To them, the big crime is that Trump won again. And while it’s true that wokeness has made the Left toxic (just because you scare people into silence doesn’t mean they agree with you), that isn’t the real crime. It is the “us vs. them” and “follow our rules or else” that has really collapsed the Left, and it isn’t going away any time soon. Just look at the stars of the party, Zohran Mamdani and AOC, who blend Democratic Socialism with Wokeness to create a hybrid movement that will swallow up the Democratic Party even if they pretend to be moderate with people like Gavin Newsom.
I used to love reading Stephen King and listening to Bruce Springsteen. I grew up on them. I learned so much about life from both of them. Maybe if I were still someone who existed inside the bubble that the Left has become, I might still be listening to them. I might cheer them on as they trash half the country and Donald Trump. But, to quote Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, I ain’t like that no more. I have been cast out and now exist among the Proles, per Orwell’s 1984. If you know, you know. To quote Bob Dylan, I was so much older then. I’m younger than that now. Meaning, I’m constantly seeing a bigger picture and a bigger world, and I chafed against the confined world of what culture on the Left became.
If you really want to know what destroyed American culture, read Jacob Siegel’s new book, The Information State. It describes it all, how culture was sucked into the same machine that built a utopian worldview and sought to bring everyone together as one whole, thus driving the same message everywhere, in books and movies, in schools, and in politics. It was a “whole of society” effort to build a better America. For a while, America was pretty great, but at some point, it felt suffocating and conformist. Even now, the Left is under a climate of fear and a culture of silence.
It reminds me a little of the movie The Stepford Wives, not the new one, but the original. Even though it was about feminism and how The Patriarchy wanted to turn free-thinking women into robots, it fits with what happened to the Left. There was and remains only one way to be, to think, to speak. That killed art. There’s just no two ways about it. It became dull, boring, predictable, and unwatchable. Gone were the daring filmmaking and free-thinking writers. In their place came an obedient class of robots who did everything they were supposed to do.
Or that great Twilight Zone episode, Number 12 Looks Just Like You, where everyone is expected to look, speak, and act the same.
I understand the whole point of the woke Left is to celebrate diversity and uniqueness, which is why it’s ironic that the ideology and allowable thought and speech are so uniform. But the better stories are the ones that will never be told because there is no system that will support subversive storytelling, because those who control culture are untouchable. In this world, for instance, Anna Wintour is a hero – a wealthy ruling class aristocrat, but because she appropriately genuflects and virtue signals, she is left alone.
This is why there is very little chance that The Devil Wears Prada, as The Studio, The Pitt, or any late-night show, will ever be honest enough to be truly great. They are aimed at one mindset, and if you are of that mindset, you will feel seen. If you are not, you will be bored and annoyed.
Anyway, now we know why Project Hail Mary is so good and why it’s made so much money. It’s universal. It’s a story that cares more about its audience than it does about driving THE MESSAGE. Hats off to you, Mr. Weir.
The Trump era is almost over. The “witchcraft” in Salem will be gone soon. Then what? Are we going to be a polarized and divided society unless the other half is strong-armed into compliance, 1984 style? If you can’t come back to the real world and make movies for everyone, then at least do what Andy Weir suggests. Keep your politics to yourself if you want to make movies. That is the best way not just to bring the country together, but to remind us that we have more in common than we realize. We are all still human beings capable of kindness and decency.
Paramount wins bid for WB
I am not really smart enough to write about this story except from the perspective of someone who wanted Warner Bros. not to go to Netflix. The main reason is that monopolies are killing Hollywood just as much as everything else. I know from personal experience. If Disney decides I am not an appropriate site to advertise on, then so does Fox, since it is owned by Disney. Netflix decided not to advertise, not to mention to exclude me from special screenings and access; the more market share they have, the more power they have to control what people think. I prefer more competition and less monopoly control.
Paramount, by contrast, has made an effort to challenge the status quo, and that thought has made the Left angry and in attack mode; it is healthier overall for creative output and free thought.
The conformists and monopolists have translated to ignoring what audiences actually love, choosing their compliant content instead. For instance, Landman is easily one of the best shows on TV now and yet, despite a fiery, brilliant performance by Billy Bob Thornton, it was completely shut out of the 2025 Emmys. Of course it was. We know how this game is played by now. If they decide you are on the wrong side, they won’t include you in your insulated world. And that is to their detriment, just as it is to their detriment that they keep giving awards to sycophants to the Democratic Party on late-night shows – John Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert, for instance. At least Bill Maher is trying to do something different.
The Paramount/WB deal, along with the kinds of movies and shows they are putting out, along with Andy Weir’s comments, give me hope for the future and I never thought I would ever feel that.
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