Hollywood's 'woke' era fades as culture-war stories turn to camp, NYT Magazine says

In a New York Times Magazine essay, Casey Michael Henry argues that Hollywood’s recent period of progressive sincerity has largely evaporated and the industry is now channeling culture-war conflicts into campy, caricatured entertainment. Henry says the shift accelerated after the 2024 election and describes a wave of shows that flatten ideological debate into exaggerated archetypes.

The piece points to examples including All’s Fair, a streamer drama built around a decadently affluent “girlboss” law firm; Netflix’s The Hunting Wives, about a former Democratic consultant drawn into a circle of glamorous MAGA housewives; Landman, which follows a fossil-fuel operator played by Billy Bob Thornton; and Eddington, which stages Covid-era polarities through a mask‑wearing mayor and a populist, mask‑averse sheriff.

The article argues that these programs often render politics as costume or punchline, with beliefs turned into cosplay or puppetry and rhetorical excess that can read as either parody or sincere chest‑thumping. Henry notes it is sometimes hard to tell whether on‑screen lines are the product of irony‑poisoned writers on the right or meanspirited left‑leaning creators.

Key Topics

Culture, Hollywood, All's Fair, Landman, Eddington, Billy Bob Thornton