From Noise to Signal: The Devilish Controversies of Angel Studios

The Christian streaming and distribution service Angel Studios is a lightning rod of contemporary disputes about the place of Christian belief in mainstream media production and reception. The company's Mormon founders, the Harmon brothers, are overtly motivated by belief-based principles to “tell stories that amplify light.” Jeff Harmon says “truth should not be something that people look at subjectively.” Yet the studio has been mired in controversy since its inception. Sued by Disney, losing the series The Chosen in legal arbitration, and generating sharp contention about representation in Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin (2024) and Sound of Freedom (2023), the company’s beliefs impact the way they do business. Although owned and run by Mormon brothers, Angel Studios has established itself as a darling of the far-right, attempting to appeal to a wide Christian viewership. Angel Studios serves as a contemporary gauge of disputes about what mainstream Christian media is, what it can do, and what it should do.