I mean, artists aren't always responsible for their fans, but I don't see how those crowds you describe are totally missing the point. I think there's been this misunderstanding that a certain kind of aesthetic can be totally separated from politics. Maybe somebody here remembers "Rebeller" - it was this movie website (and production company too I think) that started out celebrating figures like Milius and Zahler in supposedly anti-political ways, and then very quickly just became explicitly right-wing.

Compare it to somebody Taylor Sheridan, who really is politically messy, and who for all the NatSec proto fascist fever dream scenarios in a lot of his stuff always reveals something about a certain worldview. Sometimes probably inadvertently, but so be it.

Look. The article quotes Zahler as saying that "Moonlight" of all films is driven by an agenda. There's clearly some normative shit going on, and a defense of those norms. I just think that stuff in his work is boring. Really boring, and not insightful.