I usually like what Clifton Duncan has to say, and I even appreciate what he is saying here, but I have to take issue with some things. It's Time for a Renaissance. - by Clifton Duncan
I do agree with the first part of his statement, or part of it anyway. The Right abandoned the arts and pop culture. Or to be more direct, we were booted out on some level, and some conservatives just couldn't be bothered with something so nebulous.
When I first moved to Cincinnati I went to the theater regularly. The city had a small but modern theater and arts complex, and the theater company put on several wonderful, and a few not-so-wonderful productions. When I moved back to Cincinnati, after about 10 years in Florida, the company had gone so woke that I stopped going. A few of my friends who also had attended regularly had stopped going. Do you want to be lectured about how evil you are because of the color of your skin? Neither did we.
While you could look at a lot of film studios, and dissect where they went woke, Alan Ng of Film Threat has thoroughly documented the downfall of Disney Animation in his series The D-Files. In the case of Disney, white men, old or otherwise, were forced out along with anyone who dared to question the Woke agenda.
But Clifton is focusing more on what the Right is, or in a lot of cases is not, creating.
Many stars of New Media call themselves “Culture Warriors,” and they need to stop.
They are pundits. Posters. Podcasters. Talking heads with no passion or aptitude for the arts. They create ZERO culture.
On the rare occasion they notice the arts, it's to voice tired complaints about "the left" having destroyed them. They lament the lack of beauty or depth or transcendence in today's art and entertainment, the crassness and emptiness of modern music, or the ugliness of modern architecture. They create nothing themselves.
Now maybe Clifton is watching different YouTube personalities than I am, but a lot of the folks I watch are very passionate. I'm guessing, only guessing, that they are passionate about art forms that Clinton doesn't consider art.
As one of Clifton Duncan's commenters points out, Daily Wire has been producing art. Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, Run, Hide, Fight, and they have an entire channel devoted to children's' programming. I don't subscribe to the Daily Wire's website, so as far as I know I don't have access to any of their programming. But it does exist.
The documentary Am I Racist was the highest grossing documentary of 2024, and perhaps of the past 10 years. Even though it meets all of the criteria for consideration for an Oscar - racial composition of crew, etc. - the Academy was insulted when Matt Walsh submitted it for consideration. How dare a conservative think he could rate an award!
The movie that jumps to the front of my mind from the past few years would be Sound of Freedom. Produced by Fox, it was suppressed by Disney, until Angel Studios finally managed to get it released.
Angel Studios also produces a fair bit of content, but because it is Christian in nature, my guess is that Mr. Duncan discounts it. (Everyone else does.)
But let's get back to the "none of the pundits on the right are creating art."
Will "The Critical Drinker" Jordan wrote a series of books, and had one of them, or related scene involving the characters produced as a short film that is on YouTube.
Shad Brooks, of Shadiversity, Knights Watch, and Friday Night Tights (all YouTube channels) wrote a fantasy novel, Shadow of the Conqueror, which he has listed as volume one of Chronicles of Everfall.
And then there is the art that I assume is beneath Clifton Duncan. The quintessential art form of the 21st Century is the video game. As an industry it is 10 times the size of movies and television. And while the Woke mind virus has been infecting that industry, as it infected Hollywood, gamers are having none of it, and several game studios have closed following expensive, high-profile, woke failures. The companies, mostly from Asia at this point, that are resisting the Woke scolds are making a bunch of money.
There is no mention of video games in his article. My guess is that he doesn't consider them art.
But it costs millions of dollars, in some cases 100s of millions of dollars, to create a video game. What about art that can be created on a smaller scale? What about graphic novels and comic books? Does Clifton Duncan even consider that to be art? Most of the Right doesn't.
RazörFist, who has the YouTube channel The Rageaholic, wrote and published Ghost of the Badlands.
Jay "Drunk3PO" David created the comic series Achromatic Chronicles. Jay was a fifth grade teacher when he got the idea to write a story that "taught purpose and value." While they are aimed at kids, kids need art as well.
Gabe Eltaeb was a colorist for DC Comics, and then an independent contractor in the industry. Because of the Woke insanity he was faced with, he quit and started Big Man Comics. Their current offering is DEAN CAIN: ALL- AMERICAN LAWMAN.
And then there is Eric July. Eric created the company Rippaverse to counteract the downfall of his beloved comics from Marvel and DC. The Rippaverse wasn't started to be Right Wing comics and graphic novels. It was started to be apolitical. ISOM, Blood Ruth, Alphacore, Yaira, The Horseman, and more.
So some people are creating art. And encouraging others to do so as well. It just may not be coming to Clifton Duncan's attention because of his training in the classical arts.
