Actually, Movies do matter...

It's a common criticism of Hollywood that it is frivolous, out of touch, and unimportant in the grand scheme of things. Certainly, the upper echelon of Hollywood personalities are in a bubble. They can be tone deaf and self-important. But that's true of any group of people who are absurdly rich and live in a closed community. It's not unique to Hollywood. More importantly, the art these people work together to produce (along with many average, middle-class tradesman and artists, btw) is vitally important. Don't write it off. Movies do change the world.

In fact, it is precisely because of how effective and important film is in changing people's perceptions that Conservatives often find themselves at odds with Hollywood. Actors and writers have long been, in general terms, more progressive or liberally-minded people, and for that reason have been ridiculed or censored by the right. Not to get too far in the weeds of film history, but in the late 1920s, to fight what some saw as 'obscene' lack of guidelines in the film industry, Production Codes (Hays Code) were put into place to limit things like swearing, sexual content, miscegenation, etc. Basically, anything that would be deemed obscene by a conservative audience would not be permitted. The Code even applied to actors and actresses outside of work. The Code was mostly abandoned by the sixties when it became impossible to enforce. In the 1950s, of course, there was McCarthyism, rooting out 'Communists' from the Film Industry before they could spread their obscene ideas. So hysterical was 'The Red Scare', films like It's A Wonderful Life were considered 'communist propaganda' for maligning the banking industry. At this time, actors, directors, producers, and writers were called before U.S. Congress to defend themselves against accusations that they were using the film industry to brainwash the masses into hating Capitalism or embracing Communism. While there were some actual Communists in the industry, most of these people were just making movies, telling human stories. Some of those stories just happened to have come to odds with American Nationalism or Exceptionalism.

One cannot ignore the fact that film has a huge impact on the people who watch it. Writing it off as frivolous is the desperate hope of people who do not wish for these films to have an affect on audiences. Since audiences watched that 'first' film of the the train coming into a station (L'Arivée d'un Train Ä la Ciotat), Film has evoked a specific and strong response from humanity. Moving picture changed how we viewed the world and how we spread our messages. One-hundred and twenty years later, Film has become one of the most widely consumed artistic mediums. With more and more access to it, filmmakers are able to convey a story, or message, or feeling to a mass audience, globally. The importance of this shared experience cannot be overstated. Language and culture might divide us, but Film can and does bring us together. For this reason, the political forces that are less than liberal or progressive have sought to delegitimize the medium, or in some cases, outright ban it. Illiberal societies enforce strong censorship rules on film so that the impact of these movies cannot incite their populations to act against them. If people see other people, lifestyles, cultures, religions, races, etc on a daily basis through the medium of film, it becomes harder to demonize those groups.

For anyone who argues that film can't change the world, I offer you examples to prove you wrong.

• Birth of a Nation (1915): This D.W. Griffiths film which celebrated the Ku Klux Klan as the savior of Southern Whites in the face of post-slavery black 'aggression' is remembered for its horrifying racism. What you might not know is how that racism impacted the entire nation. While the KKK has mostly disbanded by the time the film was released, it resurged after, and its numbers topped 4 million by the mid-20s leading to a new era of violent race discrimination. 
• The Triumph of the Will (1935): This Nazi Propaganda film, though appalling, was like rocket fuel under the Nazi movement, mobilizing support for the Nazis and marking the surge of Geman Nationalism and hero worship (of Hitler) that would give him the political capital he needed to do his mass-murdering, war mongering deeds. 
• Citizen Kane (1941): While not drastically changing the social make-up of America or the world, Citizen Kane did set a standard for every film that followed. The industry changed after this movie, employing many of its techniques in modern pictures. This movie was the best of its age telling a story that resonated with a mass audience. 
• Rebel Without A Cause (1955): This film is the first of its kind to highlight the underlying depression and angst in the picturesque 1950s, while taking on the topic of generational divide. Things were changing and the chasm between the older generation and the younger was never more artfully and articulately depicted as in this James Dean classic. What followed was a rebellious, activist generation of young people who would not be satisfied with the status-quo. 
• Jaws (1976): Yeah, I said Jaws. Jaws was the first of its kind 'Blockbuster'. The expansion of the film market increased the number of people regularly going to the movies. Moreover, the film led to a group of Japanese documentaries that uncovered lethal levels of mercury in fishing waters which allowed for a class-action lawsuit against the company that poisoned the waters. 
• Philadelphia (1993): Released after the height of the AIDS epidemic but still timely, this story of a gay man, suffering from AIDS, fighting a lawsuit against his employer for wrongful termination is not only a must-see, it humanized gay people and AIDS victims in a way that is not actually hard to quantify. There was a massive shift in perspective about AIDS after the release of this movie. 
• Pay It Forward (2000): A touching and heart-breaking movie about a boy who devises a plan to help people with the condition that they 'pay forward' that act of kindness with three other acts of kindness. It seems a simple premise, but the impact this movie had on culture is astounding. 'Pay it Forward' has now become a regular part of our North American lexicon, prompting regular people to 'pay it forward' in ways as small as buying coffee for the person behind them in line to building companies that help the impoverished have a chance at upward mobility. 
• Crash (2004): Often considered one of the most 'undeserving' Best Picture Oscar Award winners, Crash does have problems. But it is often forgotten how much this film challenged stereotypes and humanized the race-relations issue in America. 
• Thank You for Smoking (2005): Not a runaway hit, but Thank You for Smoking sheds comical light on how lobbying works and the lengths corporations will go to, to get specialty treatment from lawmakers. Perhaps the only other film to ever hit this point so hard and so impactfully was Mr. Smith Goes to Washington almost 70 years before. 
• Blackfish (2013): This disturbing documentary about Orcas in captivity in America's largest Marine Attraction Park, SeaWorld, led to the company abandoning its Orca exhibit altogether. It enraged millions who lobbied the Orlando-based company to either stop capturing and tormenting Orcas or face boycotts. 

This list is only a tiny sample of the ways films have made an impact on society, directly. There are an infinite list of real life impacts that individual films have had. Did you know that the wine tasting comedy Sideways actually hurt Merlot sales as people began buying more Pinot Noir? But more important than these concrete, quantifiable, results of particular movies is the hazy, slow marching progress that films have helped lead us to. 

Among the most controversial issues to be articulated by Film to an audience that might not be totally ready were race relations and race mixing, gay rights, women's rights, religious hypocrisy, and poverty. While Conservatives often have seen these social issues in film as 'propaganda' or 'brainwashing' the truth is that film was not necessarily intended to be 'mindless' fun. It is an artform. In its highest form, it should make you think, change your perspective, and introduce you to moral dilemmas that you might not have considered before. That's art. The cultural impact of that art being readily available to the masses has had as much impact on society as the printing press, in my opinion.

Today, we can walk into a movie theatre and be exposed to worlds, perspectives, and realities that might be foreign to us, but they are real for someone. That exposure makes it hard for us to marginalize, hate, or discriminate against those who are different. The 'Harry Potter Generation' is the most tolerant, least obsessed with differences, generation in history. It is no accident that this change has come with the widely read titular work as well as life-long (or nearly) access to a global community of people who are different via the internet. It is easy to fear illegal immigrants when you don't know any. It becomes harder when you can go to the movies and immerse yourself in a story from their world.

Film matters and, yes, it's also a generally liberal medium. That's no reason to demonize it. Time marches on. Society progresses. If film helps people make connections and set aside hate, fear, and resentment that should be celebrated, not demonized. You don't have to agree with the perspective of every filmmaker. In fact, you shouldn't. But you should not seek to silence them. And you certainly shouldn't pretend their medium is frivolous. Clearly, it isn't, or the right-wing wouldn't have spent the last century trying to either censor it or bend it to their will.