When I was a student at BYU- way back in the 80's- there was a fair amount of talk about great works of Mormon Art. Of course there weren't any actual great works of Mormon art to discuss so the conversations centered around the future great works of Mormon Art we would create.

Since the Holy Ghost was the source of inspiration for all the past great masters it was only a matter of time before Mormons would dominate in every area of creativity and art. It couldn't be otherwise because everybody knows Mormons own The Spirit and only loan it out on special occasions.

There I was, a theatre student at God's own university. I was surrounded by mediocrity just as I had been my whole life. Of course some of the students actually believed that Saturday's Warrior was the pinnacle of human achievement. The honest students and many of the faculty actually recognized what an embarrassment it was and we longed to do better. Unfortunately we couldn't do better. It wasn't allowed.

Every production I was involved with had limits placed on it. Language had to be cleaned up, costumes had to be more modest, dance moves could not be too suggestive. In short, real life had to be replaced with something more acceptable. I was in a film class and half way through the semester the professor made an announcement. We would no longer be discussing any films that were rated R. Up to that point we had weekly discussions about the merits and short comings of whatever movies we had recently seen. Someone complained and suddenly the most important segment of the movie industry was now off limits in a class that was supposed to be about the movie industry. I cringed then and I'm cringing again at the memory.

I guess Del Parson's beef cake paintings of buff Lamanites is the best we are going to get out of the Mormon art community. Meanwhile the brazen and profane creators of South Park have created absolute magic with a play that pokes fun at Mormons. This leads me to ask:

WHAT THE HELL IS THE HOLY GHOST THINKING?

Art very often needs to be free. I want that freedom so my art will be free and I might actlay get something done.

Apparently, the holy ghost has inflicted some brain damage by beating his bloody head against the mormon barriers.

In one of my figure drawing classes, the instructor sketched the head and very top of the shoulders of the female model. A student complained that the bare shoulders implied the model was nude (which of course she wasn't because the models had to wear swimsuits) and a few days later the instructor had to add in some straps. The entire balance and focus of the drawing was thrown off and ruined.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2011 06:49PM by Queen of Denial.

The Holy Ghost is creature of emotions, God The Father of idealised parenting, and Jesus of sympathies.

Real Empathy is lacking.

The only thing I ever heard about BYU theater was that in 'The Music Man' Mayor Shinn's daughter had to say "Ye gosh!" instead of "Ye gods!"--I thought it was kinda stupid because, of course, it was in reference to greek gods, but I realize now that to some TBM's, a reference to multiple gods, well.....

I don't what they did with Harold Hill's lyrics "I hope, and I pray, for Hester to win just one more A..."

Also, I bet they never did a production of 'Waiting For Godot', and if they did they didn't know what it was about.

The stated mission of BYU is “to assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life”. All instruction, programs, and services are subordinate to that mission.

BYU’s application to establish a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa honor society for the liberal arts and sciences has been rejected three times because BYU was not deemed “academically mature enough”. PBK was of the stated view that BYU's "narrow mission statement precludes inquiry. . . . If students are unable to question, there is no liberal arts education." (see “The Lord’s University: Freedom and Authority at BYU” by Bryan Waterman and Brian Kagel)

I'll add with the fact that no one in church is ever encoraged to do art past a hobby and scrapbooking because it's not a real job and wont get them much of a ten percent. Infact all things that involve thinking arnt stable so they arent encoraged.

For the past 20 years I've regretted my decision to do the "right" thing and put art aside to pursue a more morally acceptable career. Mormonism is so bland. It's so white bread-all day- every day.

Stunted Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Since the Holy Ghost was the source of inspiration
> for all the past great masters it was only a
> matter of time before Mormons would dominate in
> every area of creativity and art. It couldn't be
> otherwise because everybody knows Mormons own The
> Spirit and only loan it out on special occasions.
>
Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of art history would have to ask why they had loaned the Holy Spirit out to adherents of the Great and Abominable Whore for so many centuries, then. Gli Uffizi, anyone? The Vatican Museum?

And what about those ancient Greek and Roman pagans? I believe they produced some pretty good stuff.

Of course, if one wants to discuss "excellence and achievement" out of all proportion to the number of adherents of a faith, what about the percentage of Jews who have won Nobel Prizes?

It makes one wonder what they discuss in literature classes. I'm guessing the whole Romantic period is off limits. A good chunk of Shakespeare is out, especially the sonnets. No Chaucer, no Whitman. It is incredibly dismall.

It's doubtful they could even talk about the contemporary Mormon Author works of Twilight (dear god the horrible writing) or Ender's Game.

I don't know if it's just the TBMs here in Utah county, but I really hate it when more than two of them get together. One on one it's possible to have a discussion, but add a few more and forget it. It's like a sacrament meeting breaks out right there in the theater.

...not even Hollywood could honestly deal with the literal ending of Grapes of Wrath, which was otherwise a noble cinematic treatment of the Steinbeck classic. The forces of Judeo-Christian ethics and the puritanistic censorship it generates remain pervasive throughout American society, not just at BYU.

That being said, why would you expect to be served meat in a vegetarian restaurant? BYU is perhaps one of the last places one should expect an uninhibited exploration of great art, literature, and music.

I was a musician for most of my entire life, and for the entire time that I was a Mormon. When music went from being a career to a hobby, I started working on production. Mostly, I worked with local Mormon folks that I knew. They were all great musicians, and I produced a few amazing albums.

Most of the songs were about faith, or family, or the holy spirit, or Utah life.

Besides that, you have great artists such as Ryan Shoop or Peter Breinholt who are largely considered examples of Mormon music. Breinholt specifically has done a few EFY albums which have been very interesting.

There are good examples of Mormon paintings as well. Besides the huge buff pictures of Nephi and Lamanites, there are a lot of representations of Bible stories and pictures of jeebus that are quite nice. I remember once staring at a Mormon painting of The Prodigal Son for hours. It completely engulfed me.

There is no comparison between Catholic art that has been around for longer than the Mormon church, and Mormon art that has been around for only a short period of time. I don't think any rational person is trying to make that comparison. However, to make any claim that there is no excellent or successful art in the Mormon church is absolutely silly.

Of course, to make the claim that the church is true because of excellence and success is even sillier.

Other than what's her name on Dancing With the Stars, I'm having a hard time naming a Mormon who would be considered an absolute, world class Master in a specific discipline. The Osmonds maybe, in the Squeaky Clean Pop Rock category?

The point I was trying to make is that if mormonism really were what it claimed to be, then every single museum in the world would be filled with Mormon Art. Radio stations would play music by Mormon artists. Television and movies would all have Mormon stars playing the roles and the scripts would be written by Mormon writers.

Beyond the arts, political parties would be run by Mormons. World leaders would be mostly Mormon. Corporations would seek out Mormons to be CxOs etc. How could you expect any less from a group of people who are God's elect and chosen people. Mormonism is filled with the choice spirits who were held back so they could come to earth at this time! Even though the church is relatively small compared to world's population there should be an overwhelming number of Mormons rising to the top of whatever field of endeavor they enter. I just don't see it.

My guess is that Mormons don't even represent at the expected statistical levels of the general population. Mormonism kills creativity rather than encourage it. Mormonism exalts conformity and thus mediocrity. The Mormon individuals who excel do so in spite of the church, not because of it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2011 04:51PM by Stunted.

"The point I was trying to make is that if mormonism really were what it claimed to be, then every single museum in the world would be filled with Mormon Art."

I couldn't agree with you more on that one. Mormonism definitely is not what it claims to be :)

Let's hear it for the APOLOGISTS!

. . . . now if they could just make it a bit more convincing.

There was always better music, movies, etc. ANYWHERE else. I had no desire to listen to Saturday's Warrior after a student played some of it for me.

At YBU, I think International Cinema, even though they did censor movies, got away with a lot.

The holy spirit seems to be awfully fond of the gays, if the holy spirit truly is responsible for artistic inspiration.