Last week, baseball gave us a way into the holiday: tradition, gathering, and the small rituals that make community visible.

This week, as America turns 250, the more interesting question isn’t which patriotic movies belong on the annual watchlist. Anyone can search for that. The better question is: what kinds of American stories are people still asking for?

That’s where projects like A Great Awakening and Young Washington become useful reference points. One looks at the friendship between George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin during the Great Awakening. The other turns young George Washington’s early failures into a story about courage, loyalty, and responsibility. Neither is trying to be a simple flag-waving exercise.

That matters because American audiences are more diverse than Hollywood’s typical feedback loop can sometimes account for. When a story respects what people value — no matter where they’re from or what they believe — people tend to recognize it. And often, they show up.

Set against one of the defining spiritual movements in early American history, A Great Awakening examines how preaching, public life, and the founding era intersected before independence became a nation’s story. It’s a quieter pick than a battlefield epic, but that’s part of what makes it worth sharing. The film treats faith not as a side note to American history, but as one of the forces shaping it.

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Before George Washington became a legend, Young Washington follows the soldier still being formed by failure and ambition. From Angel Studios and Wonder Project, the film turns an early chapter of Washington's life into an action-adventure story perfect for celebrating America's 250th birthday. While it's a more traditional patriotic pick, its focus on character keeps it from feeling like simple hero worship.

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The more interesting story isn't that patriotic movies are suddenly back. It's that the audience for American stories has never been as easy to define as the industry conversation around it would have you believe.

People come to these films from different places. Some viewers come for history. Others come for faith, family, or the chance to see the country taken seriously. Then there are those who just want a story that lets ordinary people rise to the moment.

That's why the phrase "flyover country" is useful mostly as a warning. It shows how easy it is to reduce whole parts of the country to a simple label. But the audience behind that label isn't a stereotype. It's full of people with diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and reasons for caring about what America has been and what's still worth carrying forward.

That's what makes projects like A Great Awakening and Young Washington worth watching this 4th of July weekend. One looks at the spiritual currents that shaped early American life. The other returns to the origins of a future founder before he became a national icon. Both suggest there's still room for serious American stories that aren't overly simplistic.

The industry may be adjusting to that appetite. Studios and streamers have been investing more in faith-based films, Westerns, and outdoor lifestyle stories to reach audiences that have often been underserved.

The better lesson isn't to chase a caricature of "middle America." It's to remember that American stories work best when they make room for more of the country to recognize itself — or, as producer Brian Grazer recently put it, when movies are made to unite audiences rather than sort them.

The results are in! 50% of you voted for It carries so much history in last week’s poll: Why do you think baseball has endured as America’s pastime?

This week's Funding Watch highlights Founders Films, a new Dallas-based production company seeking investors for a slate of films and television projects built around American stories.

The studio is backed by tech and defense industry veterans and is aiming to develop projects that emphasize history, ingenuity, and national identity. Its proposed slate reportedly includes 102 Minutes, a feature about the evacuation of the World Trade Center on 9/11, a three-part adaptation of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, and other projects centered on military and geopolitical stories.

What makes Founders Films worth watching is the bet underneath it: that there’s still an audience for big, serious, commercially-minded stories about America. Whether that model can travel beyond its natural base remains to be seen, but its arrival points to a larger shift. American storytelling is becoming not only a creative lane but a funding strategy.

_{*Plumb News is not affiliated with Founders Films and does not receive compensation for featuring it. We’re just highlighting it because we believe projects like this deserve support.}

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” – Galatians 5:13 (ESV)

Freedom can be easy to celebrate as independence, but Scripture asks more of it.

It isn't only release from what binds us. It's an invitation into responsibility: the kind that turns us outward, toward sacrifice, humility, and love.

That's the harder part of freedom. It asks more than celebration. It asks what we are willing to carry, what we are willing to lay down, and who we are willing to make room for.

Maybe that is why stories about courage and sacrifice tend to stay with us. They remind us of something we already know: freedom isn't just something we claim. It's something we practice in the way we love our neighbors, honor our responsibilities, and care for one another.

Until next time,

THE PLUMB NEWS TEAM