Jonathan Groff Quotes

Art and mass entertainment and propaganda, they can all be plotted on the same graph, but there is a difference.

If critics of 'readable fiction' want literature to change the ways people dream, they need first to come down from the mountain and speak to the people.

You were doing a TV show - you don't realise that you're also making social commentary at the same time.

Pop culture is a reflection of social change, not a cause of social change.

I wanted to make films that were culturally relevant in my own country, that challenged people, and that people talked about.

It really is true that when an issue becomes pop culture, it changes faster, and it's really great for the issue.

The cultural value of 'Gossip Girl' was this interesting question. Sure, it seemed to have been a worldwide, cultural phenomenon for some time. And, yes, anywhere I go, I do get recognized. At the same time, it also lacked the kind of importance that people might anticipate.

What's so great about 'Gone Girl' is the conversations it provokes.

I believe that art can make relevant and progressive contributions to culture and society.

I have to admit that all of us creatively involved with 'Commander' absolutely intended to put the term 'Madam President' into the zeitgeist. I can't deny it.

I always say 'The Bachelor' doesn't create and drive social issues. We're a microcosm of what's happening in the world.

There's this moment happening in our culture where the power of the audience and the influence that people of color have is undeniable at this point.

I think “The Book of Mormon” has made that difference in its field. It changed the game. It’s something that 20 years from now people will still be talking about, hopefully. That’s my goal as an artist, as a creator, as a work for hire, is to choose projects that make people think, make people talk, and make people interested in having a dialogue.

Popular culture is inescapable in the U.S. Why not use it?

People have an actual bias against there being some kind of popularity for political films, and when they get acknowledged, it helps keep the conversation going.

If you use Hollywood as the test tissue for mankind, what could the prognosis be?

The O. J. Simpson trial was the launching-off point for a lot of our pop culture and news culture habits and touchstones.

Popular culture is most powerful when it offers us a vision of how our society should look - or at least reproduces our reality.

It can't change anything immediately, but films can absolutely be catalysts for conversation.

Queer art is as much about starting conversations as it is about making dramatic statements.

Films can't change the society; they can simply open the space for the discussion which can lead to social change and can start new forms of social activism.

Films are the largest and most impactful medium.

I never believe any politician talking about popular culture.

I agree with Ru that it'll never be mainstream, because mainstream means everybody knows it, everybody loves it, everybody accepts it. That's never gonna happen with drag, but it's definitely become more mainstreamed for people that never knew anything about it, being opened up to it as a form of art.

This is more in regards to celebrities. What we've got to understand is that we are the influencers of the hip-hop culture, the black culture. We are the way out, you feel what I'm sayin'? As far as who we look to and where we get stuff from - hip-hop culture is influencing the world, really, but especially the black communities.