Hollywood is wallowing in angst, and at least half of America couldn't be happier.

It started with the release of Top Gun: Maverick.  The film was a stunning success and was devoid of the typical wokeness that has slithered into just about everything they have created in recent years.  None of Hollywood's usual box-checking to fill the woke agenda was present.  Worse yet, it is a pro-American movie, filled mostly with males doing military stuff. 

The media's reaction?  While bragging about the box office takes, they bemoaned the film as being a tribute to toxic masculinity.  There were wails that it was not equitable for Tom Cruise to be in the movie and not Kelly McGillis, with some pundits calling her exclusion "age discrimination."  The social justice warriors clearly had their collective underwear in a wad because the film was successful and it didn't smack at all of their woke ideals. 

It put the industry and Paramount into a predicament.  Do they do the kinds of movies that Americans want to watch, even if it doesn't fit their nasty woke criteria?  Or do they continue to pander to the cancel culture crowd and make far less money? 

The folks at Paramount were not the only ones chafing in the film industry.  Disney found itself in front of yet another public relations debacle, one of its own making.  Some clearly deranged morons threatened and used racial slurs against actress Moses Ingram from the series Obi-Wan on social media.  Disney's response on Twitter: "We are proud to welcome Moses Ingram to the Star Wars family and excited for Reva's story to unfold.  If anyone intends to make her feel in any way unwelcome, we have only one thing to say: we resist."  They added, "There are more than 20 million sentient species in the Star Wars galaxy, don't choose to be a racist."

The message was awkward at best — seeming to say Disney's fan base had been infiltrated by racists.  Fans, even the left-leaning ones, pointed out that when The Force Awakens opened in China, Disney, at the behest of censors in that socialist nation, shrank the image of actor John Boyega on posters and other promotional media because he was black. 

Furthermore conservatives were outraged that when Gina Carano was bullied and threatened online for her right-leaning views only a year earlier, Disney's response was to fire her.  There was no puffing of chests in defense of that actress.

Disney's response on the Ingram threats backfired quickly.  Leftists said it wasn't a fair comparison.  After all, Ingram was black, but Ms. Carano was threatened, shamed, and bullied.  Disney's patent and blatant lack of consistency, and bias against conservatives, was obvious.  Once more, the House of the Mouse stepped in a big pile of poo.  

Speaking of defecation, we move on to the conclusion of the Johnny Depp–Amber Heard trial.  Amber latched onto the Me Too movement at its peak and used the court of popular opinion to take a figurative dump on Depp's career/bed.  In the end, she lost in a significant way to Depp in a ruling that seemed to rekindle a sense that the court system can and does work. 

Her reaction was to complain that she was being denied her right of free speech.  The hosts of The View claimed that this was not a setback at all to the Me Too movement — they arbitrarily distanced Amber Heard from the movement.  Their former poster child for the movement found out that the values and loyalties of the Progressives are subject to whims and change. 

Hollywood, long a bastion of leftist ideology, got a well deserved kick in the crotch last week.  Top Gun's sequel is a great film, gloriously pro-American, and people loved it.  Conservatives are starting to speak up at companies like Disney, who treat their right-leaning talent with such open disregard.  Disney's launch of a much anticipated series has become mired in mud of its own making.  Amber Heard's near complete defeat in court signaled that more lawsuits would be coming by people targeted by the Me Too crowd.  Despite their attempts to distance themselves from Heard, the Me Too folks know that their use of the media to ruin accused men's careers is greatly diminished.

The winner in all of this is mainstream America.  Wokeness was hammered on many fronts, right in Hollywood, the hotbed of Progressive ideals.  Conservatives always have had power, speaking with their money, and Top Gun: Maverick showed that.  The courts and outcry from fans joined in on the dog pile.  When Hollywood feels pressures like this, it is a good feeling for those who don't share its ideals, or lack thereof.

Blaine L. Pardoe is author of Blue Dawn: The most chilling "what-if" in history...the progressive overthrow of the United States and The Democratic Party Playbook, Election 2022 Edition.  Pardoe is an award-winning New York Times bestselling author who lives in Virginia.  He is the author of numerous science fiction, military history, true crime, horror, and business leadership books.

Image via Pxhere.