by Candy Eash
Posted 5.7.08 @ 9:54 pm
BYU Broadcasting is showcasing student films from Brigham Young University in their new series First Look. In this series, before viewing the film the student filmmakers are given an opportunity to discuss (briefly) some thoughts on the making of their films.
Episode 202
I was first given the chance to view Only the Pizza Man Knows at the 2007 LDS Film Festival and was so taken by it’s honesty and candor that I highlighted it in my article in the BYU Studies issue Mormons and Film (which I highly recommend perusing if you haven’t yet). Scott Chrisopherson said this project was difficult for him due …
Last weekend my dad and littlest brother were in town from Florida for my graduation. After the festivities and celebration were over, the three of us decided to drive up to Smithfield, Utah and visit my grandparents for a day. My grandparents have lived in the same house since 1971 and my dad hadn’t been there in over 20 years, so naturally, he was excited. But maybe moreso to show my brother and I the rich, memory-laden history of his past. That’s what I want to delve into here: the power of nostalgia memory evokes and why such emotion is important both in our lives and to Mormon literature.
This week the Mormon Times section of the Deseret News included recommendations of several blogs discussing LDS film on its Bloggernacle beat. Reporter Emily W. Jensen referred to Karen Lee’s recent analysis of MormonWebTV here on Mormon Renaissance, to Trevor Banks’ blog on LDS Cinema, and to various blogs and posts from students of my Mormons and Film class at BYU. I’m glad some good conversations are getting going!
This week on the AML email list Kent Larsen was musing on the connection between Mormon home literature and romantic literature. These were my thoughts.
The home literature period for Mormon literature (1880-1930) was all about creating literature by and for Latter-day Saints so that (as with other home industries of the late 19th century) Mormons would not have to depend upon the world’s products–especially given the taint of so much of the low-grade fiction of that day. Orson Whitney’s 1888 speech to the Young Men organization, titled “Home Literature,” is the eloquent call to arms for this movement and contains the prophecy of Mormons having Miltons and Shakespeares of our own. He took himself literally, imitating Milton’s Paradise Lost …
Evangelical Christians have GodTube, will Mormons have their own video sharing space on the Internet, too? Perhaps they already do: MormonWebTV.com. Over the last couple of years the site has accumulated close to 400 videos. Since we try to keep track of all Mormon movies within the Mormon Literature & Creative Arts database, we’ve recently turned our attention to the evolving genre of Internet-distributed Mormon films. MormonWebTV is not the only outlet for LDS videos online. For example, Dean Duncan’s series on everyday Mormons (Fit for the Kingdom series) is available for free online. Also, LDSFilms2Go is an inexpensive commercial site for downloading full-length LDS films. Another recent addition is CTR movies (a site promoting an LDS-sponsored film festival in Mesa, Arizona, now in its second year). But none of these sites has what YouTube does: the chance to post amateur videos, making MormonWebTV the current contender for hosting the growth of amateur LDS film. Given the growth of user-generated content and the enthusiasm shown by LDS filmmakers at the increasingly popular LDS Film Festival, it would be more surprising for a Mormon version of YouTube not to come into being. Enter MormonWebTV.com
After BYU’s Daily Universe published an article on Mormon film last week a lively discussion ensued on the ldsfilm email list. Robert Starling has allowed me to post his comments on Mormon Renaissance. As he explains, he’s been thinking about the dawning of a brighter day for Mormon film and media for a long time.
As in any genre, we can find both good and bad among LDS-oriented films. Let’s just hope that the genre survives long enough so that the “refiner’s fire” of the “great critics” and paying audiences will reward the best and weed out the rest. We as a people and a culture have many great stories that we need to tell in movies. Go back and read our Prophet Spencer W. Kimball’s talk (Given initially at BYU) on his vision of the arts. It still inspires me every time I read it:
This might be more of a ramble than anything cohesive, or argument-driven, but I just wanted to comment on the “Writing Salon” held by creative writers and/or faculty members from BYU on March 26th, 2008. It was a well-attended event, and the discussion was interesting, albeit sometimes dominated by speakers who hadn’t been entirely invited. I just want to touch briefly on two subjects that came up with regard to writing. Being mostly Mormons, this again draws on the topics I’ve discussed in previous posts.
Language (and literature) has often been used as an effective means of conveyance: eliciting change, advocating change, perpetuating a discourse/conversation, even setting out a message that the writer feels strongly needs to be heard.
Known first to Mormons for her moving and lucid poetry, Carol Lynn Pearson attained new fame with the publication of Goodbye, I Love You, the tale of her life and marriage to her homosexual husband Gerald who dies from AIDS. Since his death, Pearson’s main goal has been to reach out and embrace gays and lesbians everywhere, especially those caught in the confusion and often paradoxical predicament of finding oneself gay and Mormon.
by Katherine Morris
Posted 3.19.08 @ 5:38 pm
James Goldberg recently sent me the essay he read before two series of New Play Project’s religious plays (”Psalms” in Oct. 2006 and “Thorns & Thistles” in Oct. 2007). His sentiments resonated with me, so with his permission, I share them here:
Toward a Mormon Renaissance
In 1920, while riding on a train, Langston Hughes wrote a poem on the back of a napkin. Maybe you’ve heard it. It was called “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” and it goes like this:
I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo …
My last post about the Mormon Literature & Creative Arts database generated some great suggestions for its improvement, and I thought I would respond by describing where we are at and how we see the MLCA feeding into a larger project of supporting Mormon Studies.
