From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V1 #420 Reply-To: aml-list Sender: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk aml-list-digest Thursday, August 9 2001 Volume 01 : Number 420 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 22:07:08 -0500 From: "Preston" Subject: [AML] Re: [AML-Mag] Medved's Arguments >>>>Michael Medved has argued that Hollywood does not act as it >>>>would if it were really trying to maximize profit. Has his >>>>claim been refuted? >>> >>>Has anyone substantiated his claim? Yes, this is substantiated. The claim is beyond substantiation. It has been accepted by some studio heads and acted upon. Sen. Joe Lieberman actually did win a significant battle. He built up enough pressure on the entertainment industry that the movie theater chains adopted new guidelines for preventing under-age/non-accompanied attendance at R-rated films. And revenues dropped significantly. And, already this year at there are at least a dozen films which have been edited to get a PG-13 rating instead of an R. Here's the article: Rating Enforcement Changes Hollywood's Picture By: Sharon Waxman Source: Washington Post Date: 31 May 2001 URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A99794-2001May30.html [Preston Hunter] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 21:49:33 -0600 From: "Jacob Proffitt" Subject: RE: [AML] Medved's Arguments - ---Original Message From: John Williams > Chris is right. There is something more sinister than profit > margins going on > here. Read this brief article from the National Center for > Policy Analysis > (which I found quite easily by searching "R rated movies" at > google.com). The > URL is > > http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/pd102400e.html: I'm not going to take this point by point so I snipped a bunch. And I'm going to take this from something of an odd perspective. The thing is, I sort of agree with the premise that the artists in Hollywood tend to depict things out of proportion to reality and tend to give their own lives more validity than they truly have in the "real" world. How else do you explain that *every* sympathetic fictional Hollywood U.S. President is a liberal? Or that a successful professional can light up a joint in the middle of a session with no other affect on the character (seriously, a 50 plus year old professional woman tokes up like it's no big deal and she's not spacey or furtive or any other indication of what that would mean for the character? C'mon.)? It bugs me. That said, I hate this kind of analysis because there is just no way to gather the numbers needed to make such a judgment. Movie studios don't release the data you would need in order to figure out if a movie was profitable or not. They don't release that information to the people who *make* the movies, let alone to the public. In order to tell if a film is profitable, you have to look at costs (an unknown) vs. revenues (also an unknown despite what you might think). For costs, we don't have access to the figures for how much a movie costs to make. Salaries are typically secret (despite what you think you know about big-name star salaries), production costs aren't reported, marketing costs are estimates at best. Sometimes, a studio will release a film's *budget* as a part of their marketing (a $100 million film!). Sometimes producers and stars will discuss the budget pressures on the set. But the actual costs at the end of the day are not known, even by the director or producer (which is why they insist on taking residuals on the *gross receipts* instead of a manipulable net). How much executive oversight from the overall studio budget can be charged to an individual film? How much of the studio maintenance? Revenues are similarly obscured due to the huge variety of ways to make money on a film. We can tell initial box-office because movie theaters have to report those numbers. But we don't know video, DVD, foreign sales, or other derivatives. From licensing books and games to merchandising, there are an awful lot of sources of revenues that we will never know about because those numbers aren't released. Some movies release direct to video, so I have to assume that it isn't an insignificant sum. We can tell if certain publicly held studios make a profit from quarter to quarter (assuming they follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). We can tell what they let us know, like production *budgets*. But you can't tell if the non-audited numbers they give us are true. And we can't ever know the numbers that really matter--gross revenues vs. gross costs on a per movie basis. Since Hollywood keeps making money (they're still in business after all) and since they continue to be able to afford to pay individual actors upwards of $20 million per movie I would guess that rated R movies are profitable enough to keep the studios going. The very fact that the majority of rated G movies are produced by a single studio and that studio doesn't dominate the overall movie market shows me that rated G movies are *not* the best way for *every* movie studio to make money. Obviously, rated G is working out pretty well for Disney. But how well are they doing for anyone else? What happened to Don Bluth? If rated G really rocks like these people claim, why isn't Don Bluth a household name? Titan AE (the last movie I know about from Don Bluth) is an awesome movie. But my understanding is that it lost money (again, who knows? But supposedly, Don Bluth has said he lost money, though I can't remember where I read that--supposedly he'd know). It seems to me that it isn't rated G movies that make money, it's Disney. And even Disney is busy trying to branch out into R-rated movies (through subsidiaries). I have to ask myself why Disney wants to branch out into R-rated movies instead of pumping out another Pocahontas? Are you prepared to say that it is because Disney executives are evil? Jacob Proffitt - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 23:01:29 -0500 From: Robert Woolley Subject: [AML] Re: [AML-Mag] Medved's Arguments > > Chris is right. There is something more sinister than profit margins going on > here. Read this brief article from the National Center for Policy Analysis > (which I found quite easily by searching "R rated movies" at google.com). The > URL is > > http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/pd102400e.html: > > "More than half of the movies released between 1985 and 1996 were rated R. Yet > all but one of the 20 highest-grossing movies ever made have been rated G, PG > or PG-13. One reason may be that R-rated films -- portrayed as attacks on > conventional social and moral values -- attract a disproportionately large > share of Hollywood's on-screen and behind-the-camera stars. But in addition, > Hollywood executives are using a faulty decision model for evaluating movies > as economic prospects. > > > (Me again here) So, if the above statistics are correct, the idea that > producers in Hollywood make every decision based on money is--at the very > least--suspect. > > --John Williams Hmmm. Speaking of faulty decision models.... The most relevant factor for deciding what kind of movies to make is not even mentioned in the piece you sent. It claims that the studio would make more money by shifting production dollars from R to G/PG movies. It is impossible to determine that unless you know more about the mean return. I would guess that a huge percentage of R-rated movies are very cheap, raunchy stuff (with much going straight to video), meant for teenagers. The "Porky's" genre. I would also guess that those have a very predictable percentage return. Few of them are blockbusters, but they're probably safe investments, as movies go. Conversely, you can spend $200 million (or whatever it was) and get a "Waterworld." It seems unjustified to assume that movie studio executives knowingly conspire to sacrifice their own personal incomes (and that *all* the big ones are doing this) just so they can corrupt the world. [Robert Woolley] - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2001 22:55:27 -0600 From: Thom Duncan Subject: Re: [AML] Moderator Musings on Misinterpretation Jonathan Langford wrote: > * If you find yourself thinking uncharitable thoughts about the intelligence > or understanding of the person to whom you are responding, consider *very > strongly* the possibility that you are misunderstanding what he/she is saying. Why can't we just expect people who are being disagreed with to act like adults and not take personal offense? I agree that communication is a two-way street, but you may be asking the impossible here: for us to second-guess the motive of another person and to assume, in every case, that we are the one in the wrong. It just may be that the other person actually IS an idiot and deserves to be told so. [MOD: Not, however, on this list...] Thom - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 23:51:27 -0600 From: Scott and Marny Parkin Subject: Re: [AML] Writing About "Good" Mormons Chris Grant wrote: >Are you saying that the problem with Weyland's characters is >that they have too *much* internal consistency? Or are you >saying instead that, for some reason, internal consistency >requires people to be conflicted about their decisions? Neither. *At the moment of crisis* I think characters should face some fundamental issues--and perhaps even be conflicted by them. How they respond at that moment of crisis should have been established through characterization earlier in the story, and internal consistency comes when a character is true to their own prior characterization. I can't speak for Jack Weyland or how well he does this. I haven't read enough of his stories to comment. But inasmuch as Weyland is seen as the godfather of the teenage Mormon morality tale, he is often used as an icon to indicate that entire subgenre of Mormon lit. By and large, I think the Mormon morality tale subgenre most often associated with Jack Weyland has tended to assume that all Mormons will understand the moral basis of a character's decisions, so the author often fails to justify those decisions within the context of the story. When the character is then faced with a difficult moral choice (a hallmark of the genre) we the readers often have insufficient insight into the workings of this character's mind to truly understand how and why they make their choices. The character flattens and becomes less real. For me, this makes the story less engaging. I didn't say that I thought Mad Max was a moral character (actually, I believe he is a broken moral character in need of fundamental change), or that I though he made good decisions. But we did see a prior context for his character that made his later decisions consistent within the framework that had been established for his character. The character had shape, even when I disagreed with his choices, which made him engaging to me. >Scott continues: > >[...] > >It seems like so many of the morality tales just have > >characters doing what they do for no apparent reason. >[...] > >They rarely choose a less than optimal path. > >I've always associated rationality with choosing optimal paths. >Are you saying that people who live lives ruled by reason tend >to make more suboptimal choices than people who don't? No. I think most choices we face in life are impure, which is to say that there is not always a clearly optimal choice. And even when we identify an optimal choice, we are often either wrong (due to insufficient information) or we have personal, compelling reasons to choose the knowably suboptimal path (the basis of tragedy). Stories about characters choosing between clear opposites are less interesting to me than stories about choosing between relative goods, or relative evils. A character who knowingly chooses a destructive path is either stupid, broken, or misinformed. If he's stupid, the story is uninteresting and I walk away angry at the author. If he's broken or wrong, it's the characterization and internal consistency that determine how engaged I am in his further actions and choices. As I've said before, I find stories with undifferentiated characters and simple conflicts less interesting than those with unique (and imperfect) characters struggling with complex--and sometimes ambiguous--choices. Those are the stories that engage my personal interests and attention. But I wish power, luck, and success to all authors and all readers in finding or creating those works that satisfy their own goals. We need simple stories and complex, children's and YA and adult, happy and ambiguous and sad, violent and tame, emotional and intellectual, and illustrative of both optimal and suboptimal decision-making. All of these can be true, and thus should all be told. I do have my own preferences, however. That's my own choice and I'm content with it for now. Scott Parkin - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 00:58:27 -0600 From: "Eric D. Snider" Subject: Re: [AML] Medved's Arguments John Williams: >Chris is right. There is something more sinister than profit margins going on >here. Read this brief article from the National Center for Policy Analysis >(which I found quite easily by searching "R rated movies" at google.com). The >URL is > >http://www.ncpa.org/pd/social/pd102400e.html: I'm not sure how literally we are take the word "sinister" here. (I mean, does he really mean everyone involved is left-handed?) The numbers do show that R-rated films are not as financially successful as films with other ratings. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Hollywood is making them anyway for some evil purpose. For one thing, that assumes "R-rated movies" are evil. I'd be more likely to ascribe it to bad business sense or artistic reasons (the old "some movies couldn't be made with less than an R rating" argument). > >"More than half of the movies released between 1985 and 1996 were rated R. Yet >all but one of the 20 highest-grossing movies ever made have been rated G, PG >or PG-13. One reason may be that R-rated films -- portrayed as attacks on >conventional social and moral values -- attract a disproportionately large >share of Hollywood's on-screen and behind-the-camera stars. Actually, there are now NO R-rated films in the all-time top 20. "Beverly Hills Cop" has been pushed down to #22, thanks to "Shrek" and "Toy Story 2." [stats demonstrating R-rated movies are not nearly as financial successful as other films] > > > So, if the above statistics are correct, the idea that >producers in Hollywood make every decision based on money is--at the very >least--suspect. Exactly. And lately, the tide has been turning. With politicians and movie theaters getting antsier about under-age kids seeing R-rated movies, studios are actually beginning to demand a PG-13-rated product from their filmmakers. It used to be that even with an R rating, they could still expect a huge teen audience. But not anymore. Just this year, films like "Tomcats" and "Freddy Got Fingered" bombed -- and both are exactly the sort of thing teen-age boys used to flock to. Granted, both movies were horrible beyond all reason, but still. I suspect if they'd had a PG-13 rating -- or if they'd come out a year ago, when more kids under 17 could still get into R-rated movies -- they'd have done better. Jennifer Lopez's "Angel Eyes" didn't do nearly as well as expected. After opening weekend, someone polled a bunch of teen-age girls -- a group the studio had pegged as a key demographic for that film. I don't recall the numbers, but a very large percentage of the under-17 girls polled said they WOULD have seen the movie that weekend, if they'd been able to -- i.e., if it hadn't been rated R. (Another chunk, of course, had seen it anyway, and others still planned to try.) The studio estimated another $3 million is would have made over opening weekend alone, if the film had not been rated R. "Soul Survivors," due out Sept. 7, was edited down from it's R rating in order to attract more teens. I could cite other examples. So "Hollywood" (I still hate using that vague term, but I can't think of a better one to mean "people who make movies, from the actors to the directors to the studios") is slowly changing. It's not for the right reasons, of course: No one's insisting on a PG-13 film instead of R out of conscience of anything like that. But even if it's just for money, that's good enough. If it means removing some nudity or violence, and the director is OK with that, then that means the movie probably didn't need it anyway. Which means maybe after a while, they won't even bother trying unless it truly is necessary to their film. Eric D. Snider - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2001 02:42:31 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Writing About "Good" Mormons Chris Grant wrote: > In the same message in which you said that Weylandesque > conversions don't happen in real life, you praised the Mad Max > films. Do you think the things happening in the Mad Max movies > are more plausible than those happening in Weyland's books? Mad Max falls within the science fiction adventure genre, and the author played by the rules of that genre. Jack Weyland stories are presumably realistic fiction, and I believe he failed to play by those rules. Okay, I'll spell it out clearly---GENERALLY SPEAKING, this doesn't happen. Of course there are exceptions. There are always exceptions. But fiction is obliged to justify exceptions. Jack didn't. I never complained about an isolated Weyland story that presented one of these conversions. It was the relentless pattern of story after story where boy meets girl, and days later girl is taking missionary discussions. The occurrence was never foreshadowed or justified by circumstances or characterization. It just happened, as if this was how things always happen, without comment. So you see, it doesn't matter how many anecdotes everyone shoots at me from real life. I didn't believe it while reading the stories. I still don't. > I've looked around a little bit, but haven't been able to > figure out what collection you could be referring to. Do you > remember its title? _First Day of Forever_, published by Horizon about twenty years ago. I wrote up a review of it for AML-List, but it was so vitriolic, Jonathan bounced it back. I didn't feel like "sanitizing" my review, so I dropped it, and you never saw it. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 06:21:31 -0400 From: "Debra L. Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN An Evening of Music and Inspirational Words with Michael McLean: Jane Dumont 1Aug01 US DC Wash A2 An Evening of Music and Inspirational Words with Michael McLean WASHINGTON, DC -- An Evening of Music and Inspirational Words with Michael McLean recording artist, singer/songwriter, director/producer on Saturday, August 18th at 7:30 p.m. in the new 500-seat theater at Washington, DC Temple Visitors' Center. The concert is free and open to the public Michael McLean is the writer, producer and director of such favorite films as "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" with Jimmy Stewart, and "Nora's Christmas Gift" starring Celeste Holm. Other well-known works, include the videos, "Together Forever," "A Labor of Love," "What Is Real?" and "The Prodigal Son." Coloratura soprano Julie Duerichen will introduce and perform with McLean. She was inspired by Michael McLean's music and formed a longtime friendship which led to her own music career. Prelude music with The Lewis Strings, a professional stringed instrument group, begins at 6:50 p.m. McLean has written music and lyrics for twenty-one albums, including "Stay with Me," "You're Not Alone," "Celebrating the Light," "A New Kind of Love Song," and others. He also wrote and directed films for Bonneville International, where he was active in the creation of the award-winning "Homefront" television commercial series for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During his seventeen years with Bonneville, Michael McLean received the prestigious Cleo Award and Addy award as well as the Bronze Lion at the Cannes Film Festival. The evenings' theme, "Hold On--The Light Will Come," is from his latest album, "Michael Sings McLean," from Shadow Mountain/Deseret Book. Michael McLean and his wife, Lynn, are parents of three children. They live in Heber City, Utah. Washington, DC Temple Visitors' Center 9900 Stoneybrook Drive, Kensington, MD. 301-587-0144 >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2001 03:15:04 -0600 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Editing Literature I'm completely schizophrenic on this topic. I'd like to grab the output of other creators, especially film, and clean them up the way I want them to be. On the other hand, when I think of someone doing that to my own stuff, I cringe. All those Hollywood types are just out to corrupt us, so they deserve to be edited, right? But when I create, I struggle over every bit of my work, and when I include something, there's a reason for it--I'm not just dinking around. I would resent people chopping pieces out of my work that I believe should be in there. If art is, after all, to afflict the comfortable, letting the comfortable excise the parts that afflict them subverts the whole purpose of art. The parts someone might want to remove from my work may very well be the parts I feel most strongly about leaving in. Therefore, integrity compels me to come down on the side of this issue that is against editing art--even when I may be itchy to employ a pair of scissors on other people's art. If art is communicating one's worldview and values, then we have no business chopping up someone else's expression of his worldview and values. If we disagree with that communication, we should instead create a communication of our own to counteract it, confident that no one else will be chopping up _our_ expression. - -- D. Michael Martindale dmichael@wwno.com ================================== Check out Worldsmiths, the new online LDS writers group, at http://www.wwno.com/worldsmiths Sponsored by Worlds Without Number http://www.wwno.com ================================== - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 06:24:47 -0400 From: "Debra L. Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN Internet: Te Karere and Verkivick: Kent Larsen 7Jul01 US NY NYC I4 NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- This week we found just a few new websites, mostly link and personal pages. The most interesting page is a replica of a 1940 publication by LDS missionaries evacuated from New Zealand because of World War II. Also new this week is an LDS page on BellaOnline, a community website something like About.com. Pratt's LDS Church page includes a number of links, while a discussion list that Pratt runs provides Family Home Evening information. Also new is an author page by UK-based science fiction author Colin J. Fenwick. Newly Listed Mormon Websites: (edited to contain only those that deal with on-topic for AML) Verkivick http://www.verkivick.org.uk/ Home page of LDS author Colin J. Fenwick. Includes several short stories, one of which is about an LDS missionary. Also includes a news page and some links to LDS and science fiction pages. >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 06:26:29 -0400 From: "Debra L. Brown" Subject: [AML] Fw: MN LDS Drama Student Loses Profanity Case: Associated Press LDS Drama Student Loses Profanity Case SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- A court room drama ended Friday when U.S. Distric Judge Tena Campbell ruled to dismiss a lawsuit by University of Utah student, Christina Axson-Flynn, who claimed her rights were violated when she received a drama assignment that included reciting a script that contained profane language. The use of profane language was required only as an academic exercise and the curriculum did not take a position on religion according to the Judge Campbell's ruling. Assistant Utah attorney general, Alain Balmanno, applauded the decision. "The bottom line is you can't have a society in which everything you disagree with is in violation of your constitutional rights," he said. "This is a recognition that we have a system in place where people go to a university in order to learn things with which they may not be familiar or comfortable." Axson-Flynn argued her rights were violated because her religious beliefs, those of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prohibit the use of certain words. James McConkie, Axson-Flynn's attorney, said he would appeal the ruling. "The law can be changed favorably in the direction of freedom of expression," McConkie said. Yet, U of U attorney, Balmanno, said that an appeal is expected while calling Friday's ruling "very sound and well-crafted." "We have no reason to believe that Judge Campbell will be overturned." Axson-Flynn could not be located for comment late Friday. She dropped out of the drama course after the first semester after she told associate professor, Sandy Shotwell, that she would rather withdraw from the program than use profanity. Shotwell required Axson-Flynn to explain her decision to the class. Axson-Flynn was later told by adjunct professor, Barbara Smith, that she would allow her to omit the offensive language and still get credit for the assignment. As roles arose with offensive language, Axson-Flynn said she omitted the inapporopriate language or found substitutes. But in December, 1998, in a review session with some faculty members, Axson-Flynn was told she could no longer be accomodated. Later, she dropped out of the university. Attorney Steffen Johnson, an expert of First Amendment issues who was brought in to help represent Axson-Flynn, said the case isn't about academic freedom. He argued that his client should not lose her constitutional rights to freedom of speech and religion when she enters the classroom. Sources: Judge tosses suit over profanity Evansville IN Courier & Press (AP) 5Aug01 P2 http://www.courierpress.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?/200108/05+judge080501_news.htm l+20010805+news By Catherine S. Blake: Associated Press Writer Judge rejects U. theater student's bias lawsuit Deseret News 4Aug01 P2 http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,295015646,00.html By Maria Titze Deseret News staff writer U. drama student's bias suit rejected Deseret News 4Aug01 P2 http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,295015555,00.html By Maria Titze Deseret News staff writer See also: Judge Throws Out U of U Anti-Mormon Discrimination Claims http://www.mormonstoday.com/010601/D4CAxson-Flynn01.shtml Is the University of Utah Anti-Mormon? http://www.mormonstoday.com/010216/D2UofUAntiMormon01.shtml National Attention to LDS Actress' Profanity Objections Continues http://www.mormonstoday.com/000213/D2Axson-Flynn01.shtml Mormon Actress' Suit Gets National Attention http://www.mormonstoday.com/000116/D2Axson-Flynn02.shtml Mormon Actress Is Suing U. http://www.mormonstoday.com/000116/D2Axson-Flynn01.shtml >From Mormon-News: Mormon News and Events Forwarding is permitted as long as this footer is included Mormon News items may not be posted to the World Wide Web sites without permission. Please link to our pages instead. For more information see http://www.MormonsToday.com/ - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2001 06:55:10 -0500 From: Ronn Blankenship Subject: Re: [AML] Medved's Arguments I've heard another theory put forward as to why (specifically male) Hollywood producers prefer to produce R-rated movies (having to do with the audition process) but I'd probably get thrown off the list for explaining it in any detail. - --Ronn! :) - --------------------------------------------------------- I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed that I would see the last. --Dr. Jerry Pournelle - --------------------------------------------------------- - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2001 10:43:11 EDT From: BISH8@aol.com Subject: [AML] Sanitized Art D. Michael Martindale makes some interesting points about self-sanitizing a piece of writing before it is formally published. In my own work, I try to complete a first draft without worrying what anyone will think. I've come to the opinion over the years that swear words are simply lazy writing. They may appear as I speed through my first draft of a mainstream novel, but (now) almost always get excised or softened in the rewrite in a quest to create a more inventive level of word usage. So too with scenes of violence. This is an area with which I struggle. Having been a police detective for so long, I can go overboard writing a scene that I want to have shock value. I have learned to rely on my first editor (aka: my wife) and my formal editor (at the publishing house) to reign me in. If they say a scene is too harsh, I trust their judgement enough to go back and rewrite it even if my own sensibilities don't agree. Writing is rewriting and rewriting in a quest to make the final product appear effortless. Self-sanitizing, or self-censoring if you will, is merely a part of this process. Paul Bishop - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 10:14:16 -0600 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] GA Interview for Irreantum One of the things I've wanted to do with Irreantum is try to interview a GA about the creative literary arts. My first choice was Pres. Hinckley because he was an English major, he has often advocated good literature, and the AML recently gave him an award for _Standing for Something_. I even went so far as to invite him to do an interview and provide a list of proposed questions, but predictably the Church Public Affairs Dept. wrote back and said, "Because of pressures on his time, President Hinckley is not able to give all of the interviews that he would like to." However, the letter from a high-ranking Public Affairs director did say: "If you feel that there is some other individual who could provide you with answers to the questions you raise, I would be happy to pursue it on your behalf." So my question is, who would be some good Church HQ candidates to try to get an Irreantum interview with about the creative literary arts? I've pasted my cover letter and proposed questions below (if anyone has any suggested refinements to those, I'd be grateful). The first name that comes to mind is Neal Maxwell, because he's written many books, but I'm not sure he's the best fit for these particular questions. Anyway, have a look at my questions and tell me if you know of any Church officials who would be good candidates for answering them because of their backgrounds, connections, etc. (And/or let me know if you have ideas for different questions or approaches). Thanks! Dear President Hinckley: Greetings from the Association for Mormon Letters, the nonprofit organization that recently gave you an award for Standing for Something. The award was graciously accepted by your daughter Virginia, who is a member of our organization. It's been a pleasure to witness your willingness to speak openly with many media outlets. We are writing to see if you would be willing to give our organization an interview about your thoughts, feelings, and observations related to how the creative literary arts (fiction, drama, film, and poetry) intersect with Mormon culture. This interview would appear in our quarterly magazine Irreantum, which is read by most Mormon authors, scholars, and critics as well as by hundreds of avid readers. We've attached a list of questions for you to consider answering. We normally conduct our interviews via e-mail, so we would invite you to type or dictate your responses and e-mail them to us. Our interviewees have enjoyed this less-intrusive, low-pressure mode because it allows them to be more thoughtful in their responses and to rewrite or edit, luxuries that aren't available in face-to-face verbal interviews. If you're willing and able to do this interview, we invite you to respond to the questions and send us your answers. You are certainly welcome to change or skip any questions. Of course, we will seek your approval for any minor editing changes we make to your text, if any. We would also ask your office to provide us with a handful of recent photos we could select from to run with the interview. We look forward to hearing from you soon regarding this interview. If you or your staff have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Thanks in advance for your consideration. Questions You majored in English, and you have often encouraged members to take time for reading good literature. What have been some specific highlights in your own reading of literature? What authors and works have touched and influenced you the most, and why? You do a lot of writing yourself. What do you enjoy about writing? What do you dislike? When you write in the mode of personal disclosures about your life and feelings, is it difficult to choose what to include and what to leave out? How do you cope with opening yourself to scrutiny? Tell us more about how you develop your writing ideas. Do you jot notes, tap on a computer keyboard, or dictate? Do you use an outline? How many drafts do you typically go through? Do you get much feedback from others to improve your writing? What role does the Spirit play in your actual writing process? What do you think about the relatively recent phenomenon of Mormon historical fiction becoming so popular? What are the good results of that, and what concerns you about it, if anything? If you've read any of those works yourself, what do you think about their teaching value, entertainment value, and quality as literature? More recently, independent Mormon film has shown signs of a new blossoming. What thoughts and hopes might you have about what Mormon filmmakers can accomplish by telling Mormon stories in the medium of film? Have you seen any of the recent works by Richard Dutcher, and if so what has been your personal response? Let's talk about the role of the creative literary arts as it relates to the mission of the Church. As far as "proclaiming the gospel," what do you think about efforts to present Mormon stories to a national audience? Must such attempts be missionary-minded, or is it valid to aim to portray the Mormon experience more accurately and realistically, with hopes that people will grow in appreciation of us as fellow human beings? As far as "perfecting the Saints," what role can literature play in helping us understand and avoid pitfalls in life? With that goal in mind, is it advisable to take morally challenging journeys through literature? As Latter-day Saints, we seem to allow non-Mormon writers, such as Shakespeare, to delve into darker, earthier material than we tolerate from our own authors. We easily embrace stories about faithful people dealing with adversity that comes from outside themselves, such as persecution or illness or the elements, but we get uncomfortable with literature that examines flaws and limitations within the Mormon culture or within Mormon individuals. Is it possible for our writers to depict something bad and have the end result be good? The Ensign used to publish fiction but hasn't for several years. Recently, the other Church magazines have officially stopped publishing fiction as well. Do these policies signal that fiction is somehow not appropriate for Church members, or do the policies signal that plenty of other venues for fiction are available and official Church magazines simply have other purposes? Should today's Latter-day Saints be spending their time on absorbing fiction, drama, and other literary arts? Recently filmmaker Richard Dutcher announced plans for a $10-million independent film about the life of Joseph Smith, to be aimed not only at a Mormon audience but also at a broader national audience. While Dutcher has publicly expressed his faithfulness as a Latter-day Saint, the film will be completely independent of direct Church influence. As an outside observer, what are your thoughts, hopes, and fears related to this high-profile project? The Church recently built a 900-seat theater adjacent to the new Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City and mounted its first theatrical production, Savior of the World. What are your thoughts and observations related both to the Church's experience with Savior of the World and to future hopes and plans for this theater? What words of encouragement and caution would you express for the benefit of Mormon novelists, storywriters, playwrights, screenwriters, and poets? Are we still looking and hoping for "Miltons and Shakespeares of our own," in the oft-quoted words of Orson F. Whitney? What is your personal vision of the potential for the creative literary arts within Mormon culture and as a way of representing Mormonism to the world? Chris Bigelow - - AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature http://www.xmission.com/~aml/aml-list.htm ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V1 #420 ******************************