Conservatives love to talk about the progressive movement’s efficacy at penetrating culture, dominating the spheres of everything from entertainment to sports to education. Over the decades, the far left has conquered the institutions and the right side of the aisle is just beginning to retaliate. Some say conservative values are making a comeback while others contend that Western Civilization is too far gone to save. The jury is still out, and the verdict may depend on one crucial skill—the art of storytelling.

Those who stand firm in traditional values and mores will never gain ground in the culture wars until we manage to improve the craft that progressives have seemed to master. Conservatives may be armed with facts, stats, and policy, but we are low on ammunition when it comes to the art of inciting the passions within the world of entertainment and popular culture.

The Appeal of Conservative Stories

Maybe that’s because most conservatives, at least those rooted in Judeo-Christian traditions, have been taught to tame our emotions and passion with reason. We know the heart is a fickle liar. While it may serve as a good guide at times, an unfettered heart can often lead to self-absorption and sin. Jesus never said, “Follow your heart.” He said, “Follow me.” 

Facts may not care about your feelings, but feelings stir the soul to action. Matthew, a tax collector, dropped his worldly life of riches because he was moved to do so. He didn’t decide to follow Jesus after a cost-benefit analysis or a multiple regression.

Stories provide a legitimate framework of how to live well or demonstrate the consequences of a life distracted by lower ideals. It is why the Bible is known as “the greatest story ever told.” In his book, “The Power of Myth,” Joseph Campbell speaks to the universal themes and symbols of ancient narratives that continue to bring meaning to birth, death, love, and war. Without good storytelling, we can end up living a dull or dreadful existence, sans any appetite for adventure, beauty, or meaning. 

Progressive films and shows tend to center around simplistic narratives of good and evil that, particularly in our current culture, beat the viewer over the head with some sort of moral or social justice theme. However, conservatives know that there is not one simple narrative capable of encapsulating the complexity of the human soul. And while “complex” more accurately describes what it means to be human, it’s easier, and perhaps more satisfying, to watch or read a story where the villain and hero are clear and defined. 

The conservative story is a complicated one and people’s ability to metabolize complexity has drastically diminished over the past few decades. Many, especially the younger generation, are unable to hold seemingly contrasting ideas in tension with one another. Two things can be true at the same time: the United States, for example, is the greatest example of freedom the world has ever known and during our founding years and beyond, we failed to uphold that standard for many. Knowing the truth that all humans, including ourselves, the highest good and the most vile of sin, makes us capable of achieving great feats while maintaining a spirit of humility. Great stories acknowledge this dualistic and fallen aspect of human nature and explore what that looks like acted out in the world—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Some companies—notably the Daily Wire—have recognized this blind spot in entertainment and made it their mission to fight back. But blatant conservative aims are only effective in a parallel economy. While their children-friendly on-demand video service, “Bent Key,” is a small victory—because really, who wants their kids learning self-hatred or that they can be any gender they want—their mainstream entertainment endeavors seem to have had less success permeating a wider audience. However, others are knocking it out of the park by “reaching the moral of the story without moralizing,” as one production company puts it.

The Success of Yellowstone

Taylor Sheridan’s epic Yellowstone and its prequels, 1883 and 1923, epitomize all the elements of conservative storytelling. They’ve been so successful that Sheridan has multiple spin-offs in the works including 1944 and a sequel, 2024. 

No matter the epoch, all of the plot lines involve characters that are messy without any clear-cut distinctions of good and evil. There is perhaps no messier, wonderfully complicated character than Beth Dutton. She’s not beautiful in a traditional cover girl kind of way, but rather in a “woman who has seen hard times and survived” kind of way. She’s both homegrown and down to earth, and a cosmopolitan kind of sexy. She can be as vulnerable as a sick child and 30 seconds later, vindictive enough to make the devil jealous. 

To women, she reflects the multitude of personalities we often inhabit. She is simultaneously tragic and inspiring. That dichotomy resides in us all, no matter our political leanings. 

Still, with its themes of family first no matter what, the traditions and wildness of the American northwest, and fighting for a legacy built by love and sweat equity, the whole saga feels notably conservative. 

The viewer instinctually roots for John Dutton and his family to triumph over big city progress. At the same time, we are confronted with the reality that the Dutton family itself represents progress in relationship to the Native Americans that also inhabit their land. 

While the patriarch (played by quite possibly the most Americana actor in the past five decades, Kevin Costner) may knock off a few people by taking them to the “train station,” he does it for the sake of protecting his family and his land. Doing bad things for noble reasons is often championed. We cheer on the father, played by Samuel L. Jackson, in A Time to Kill, when he is acquitted of murder for killing a man who rapes his daughter. Men often do what needs to be done, either for survival or justice, but rarely in the absence of consequence. We don’t know for sure how it all ends for the Duttons until the fall, but I’m assuming there will be no happily ever after. There rarely is in real life. 

Success Stories

Angel Studios, who came to prominence with the first mainstream story about Jesus, The Chosen, also has proven conservative stories can compete in the marketplace. The hit series is cinematically impressive, with sets and costumes that entice the eyes and music that stirs the soul. 

In addition, the independent studio has found success via a unique crowdfunding “pay it forward” business model that helps the audience feel invested in the show’s development. This has led the company to produce more traditional box office hits like the Sound of Freedom. Despite some fierce opposition from the other side of the aisle (seriously, who is opposed to exposing the evil of child trafficking?), the summer film did gangbusters, outpacing monster-budget productions from major studios including another tired tale from the Indiana Jones franchise. Proof that America has not completely lost its moral compass.

This isn’t to say that all stories have to be about cowboys or Christians. Top Gun: Maverick proved that audiences still love an action-packed all-American adventure movie with an old-fashioned love story between a man and a woman. Tales that aren’t explicitly conservative appeal to a broad base. The film harkened back to a time before ideology was being shoved down everyone’s throats. There seemed to be a collective sense of relief that some Hollywood hotshot wasn’t telling us how awful Western Civilization is. Like Yellowstone, it reminded us of the spirit of adventure that characterizes the American dream and the good that stems from a healthy sense of pride of country. It remains a mystery why these ideals are now considered “conservative,” but that seems to be the prevailing narrative. 

The Chosen and Yellowstone both tell of the greatest story of human history—the fall and redemption of man. The choice to focus on the victory rather than the victim is perhaps the strongest asset in conservative storytelling. This does not necessarily mean a happy ending, as we will likely find out in Yellowstone and as we know for sure in The Chosen. What it does mean is that the human spirit is capable of enduring immense amounts of suffering rather than eradicating it completely. In that, we claim ultimate victory. 

But we shouldn’t rely solely on the titans of the film and television industry to tell these stories. Grandparents and mothers and fathers should be relaying the tale of their own family and the sacrifices they made around the dinner table. Our educational institutions need to be conveying them truthfully, in all of their complexity. Most of all, our churches need to have the moral clarity and conviction to, once again, tell the stories of the Bible as they are meant to be—not as some progressive culture would like to interpret them to suit their comfort and assuage their sin. 

Maybe conservatives should be grateful for the left’s assaults on their values and the war on the reality they inflict. Self-reliance and freedom necessitate pushback and pressure to fully blossom. 

If all of us will join the brave handful in the entertainment industry and rise to the occasion, we will once again be able to tell the greatest story ever told.