Alex Lee Moyer is a filmmaker, director, and editor, but unlike most cinematic creatives, she isn’t defined by Hollywood capture.
Her edge? Telling the stories nobody wants to touch. “TFW No GF” (2020) dives headfirst into the isolation and alienation of young men in digital subcultures, like incels and Frogtwitter, while “Alex’s War” (2022) explores the rise and impact of controversial media figure Alex Jones.
But neither of these films aims to sway the viewer in any specific direction.
“I’m not trying to make propaganda films. I’m just trying to get to the heart of things … that people, including myself, have anxiety about,” she told BlazeTV host Nicole Shanahan on a recent episode of “Back to the People.”
Moyer isn’t interested in portraying someone like Alex Jones, for example, as the good guy or the bad guy. “More importantly, he’s a guy. He’s a real person. … Demystifying some of those [controversial] topics can actually kind of bring people together in conversation,” she says.
Ironically, Moyer’s pursuit of facts would have been considered “a liberal cause” just a few years ago. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, things changed. The hyper politicization of today’s culture has caused her work, which is intentionally apolitical, to be falsely labeled as “right wing.”
“The Hollywood narrative is so narrow right now that if you’re outside of it, you’re somehow unworthy or irresponsible or unethical,” says Nicole.
The reason we see so many films driven by left-wing political agendas is because high-up executives in the industry have an incredible amount of sway. “In order for something to get made, it has to go through so many different filters,” says Moyer, “and it’s not just about whether somebody perceives offense themselves. It has a lot to do with whether they think their boss, or you know, somebody at the streaming platform is going to take offense.”
“Hollywood is not going to be taking any risks — not when you have threats from AI, not when you have threats from appeasing people in other countries like China or … not wanting to run afoul of the homogeny of liberalism in Hollywood. There’s a lot of things that keep them locked in place,” she explains.
While many are tempted to relegate Hollywood to an irredeemable ash heap, both Moyer and Nicole argue it plays a critical role in society.
“We should care about what happens there because it’s one of the great sources of soft power for the United States, and it helps forge our identity here and in the rest of the world,” says Moyer.
Nicole agrees, stating, “A failure of Hollywood is a big deal, and a Hollywood that doesn’t represent America and American culture and ideals is scary.”
Instead of crossing her fingers hoping for a Hollywood revolution, Moyer is taking matters into her own hands. In late 2023, she founded her own production company called Onset Creative.
The company’s aim, she says, is “to focus first and foremost on developing projects that [cannot] be made anywhere else that reflect the cultural moment, namely the present and the recent past.”
To hear about Moyer’s next documentary “The Technologists” — an honest look into the rapidly advancing world of artificial intelligence and its cultural impacts — watch the full interview above.
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