Friday, March 27, 2009

"Passionately adhere to the guideline that it is better to tell an R-rated truth than a G-rated lie." Really?

The article is probably a bit long to read, but the gist of it is that the fellow who made God's Army and some of those other early commercial "LDS" movies left the church. (Actually, the article is a couple of years old, but I'm slow...) The irony in it, if you read the article, is that some of the very approaches to filmmaking that Mr. Dutcher proposes current LDS filmmakers embrace appear to be some of the direct reasons why he is now choosing to leave the church.
 
 
While the art of LDS filmmaking has certainly exuded a disproportionate amount of cheesiness in the past, encouraging LDS filmmakers to "Passionately adhere to the guideline that it is better to tell an R-rated truth than a G-rated lie" not only expresses a wickedly false dillemma, but also belies Mr. Dutcher's expression of continued support for the LDS church notwithstanding his leaving it. Encouraging a generation of artists to trade their souls for their craft in the name of a false dillemma is hardly support, and is defenitely not any defense of the gospel, but is instead a subtle, backhanded betrayel of those very values Mr. Dutcher purports to simultaneously publicly acknowledge & personally reject.
 
Joseph Smith expressed it the best when a Brother Behunan (sp?) once stated that if he ever left the church he would leave it alone and would go somewhere where he would not interfere with the work. The prophet's response? "You do not know what you would do." He explained that if you leave the church it can only be under the influence of the evil one, whose sworn purpose is to destroy the work of God.
 
I for one am confident that faithful members of the LDS church can and will produce film and other art of the utmost quality that is also wholesome. I for one am confident that G rated truth is a noble goal. Shouldn't those two words, "quality" and "wholesome" really be synonymous anyway?

No comments: