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People don’t want to be lectured to by wealthy entertainers, but the films they make can inspire us in ways that no acceptance speech ever could.
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At the Academy Awards ceremony on March 15, we can anticipate the familiar cycle: Winners will take the stage. Alongside thanking colleagues and family members, many will deliver speeches about politics. Some in the audience will applaud ‒ but most Americans will roll their eyes or tune out.
Surveys reveal widespread skepticism toward celebrity political engagement. For example, a 2024 YouGov survey found that only 11% of Americans say a celebrity has ever caused them to reconsider a political issue, and that only 20% think celebrity activism helps American democracy.
Yet the rejection of celebrity lectures shouldn’t obscure the fact that Hollywood has an important societal role to play. People don’t want to be lectured to by wealthy entertainers who seem disconnected from their everyday struggles. Celebrity activism is more likely to polarize than persuade.
This doesn’t mean that Hollywood’s only role is entertainment, however. Films can inspire us in ways that no acceptance speech ever could.
Hollywood movies often carry powerful messages
That’s because humans are “storied creatures” – meaning we see and process our experiences of the world through the lens of stories. Research by psychologist Dan McAdams has shown that we possess a “narrative identity,” which is our internal story of who we are and our place in the world.
The stories we consume, like the Hollywood movies that fill our screens, help us understand the world, ourselves and what the good life looks like.
Take the Oscar best picture nominee “F1: The Movie,”starring Brad Pitt. Sonny (Pitt) and Joshua (Damson Idris) are intense competitors placed on the same Formula 1 racing team who both realize, over the course of their character arcs, that life’s meaning isn’t attached to individual achievement but to the shared flourishing of others.
As team technical director Kate (Kerry Condon) admonishes them during the climactic race, “someone has to sacrifice” if the team is to win. In more traditional religious language, we could describe the actions of both characters as acts of “repentance” for their selfish pride brought about by the epiphany that selfless sacrifice is what leads to the flourishing of us all.
Or consider another best picture nominee in Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein.” In it, we see an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s original Gothic novel, which provides timeless moral lessons about the upward limits of ambition, along with profound insights and questions into the very nature of what it means to be human.
Can technological achievement, unmoored from any real ethical consideration, create a monster we cannot control? What truly makes us human? Grappling with these questions is a perennial human endeavor, but it feels especially poignant in a new age of artificial intelligence.
Films can, and do, inspire people to act better
The most powerful films move us through the portrayal of moral beauty and human goodness. They showcase personal sacrifice and heroism that remind us of humanity’s capacity for courage.
They depict triumph over adversity, demonstrating the power of persistence and resilience. They portray redemption that illuminates our ability to grow and change. They display love, kindness and deep connection that affirm our fundamental need for meaningful relationships.
Even movies that appear to be made purely for entertainment, like the 2025 viral sensation “A Minecraft Movie,” serve an important social function. The positive emotions they generate as a theater erupts in chants of “chicken jockey!” along with actor Jack Black, as was experienced in theaters across the country, aren’t as trivial as they may initially appear.
In fact, studies have shown that when people are in a good mood, they are more motivated to improve the world.
Could “A Minecraft Movie” make the real world a better place? Based on the research, we shouldn’t rule it out!
We live in an era often dominated by cynical and divisive narratives about human nature and our shared future. The antidote isn’t more speeches from the stage. There are more uplifting stories on the screen.
Research finds that the more people consume media that makes them feel touched, moved or inspired, the more inclined they are to help others and engage in prosocial behavior.
So when the Oscar winners take the stage this year, we hope they’ll remember where their real power lies. It’s not in the speeches they give, but in the films they make.
Hollywood can make a difference if it focuses on the craft that brought everyone to the theater in the first place.
Clay Routledge is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Archbridge Institute. Paul Anleitner is a religion and culture fellow at the Archbridge Institute and author of a forthcoming book, “Based on a True Story: Vibe Shifts, the End of Deconstruction, and the Reboot of Meaning.”