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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The First Wave: The Clawson Brothers And The New Frontier (1905-1929), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
The First Wave: The Clawson Brothers And The New Frontier (1905-1929), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
In calling this era the new frontier, there is some danger of forgetting the large industrial organizations that supported film’s early pioneers. The analogy, however, is of some use here not only because of Utah’s recent pioneer past at the turn of the century—only a generation removed—but primarily because of the proud, isolationist stance LDS filmmakers were forced to assume in response to the mainstream industry’s attacks on their religion. With no political redress or recourse to non-Mormon allies, the Latter-day Saints were left to their own devices to depict what they saw as the glories of their scriptures, forebears, …
A History Of Mormon Cinema, Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
A History Of Mormon Cinema, Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
LDS Church members who heralded Richard Dutcher's 2000 film, God's Army, as the first Mormon movie may not have known about similar public sentiments expressed about previous landmark Mormon movies, like the 1940 motion picture Brigham Young. The history of Mormon cinema stretches back to the early 1900s and is divided into five "waves." The authors examine the waves in detail, discussing each era's Church-made films, Mormon-themed films made by independent filmmakers, mainstream films made by Latter-day Saints, and films that depicted Mormons—accurately or not. The authors also touch on developing trends in how film is made, criticized, …
The Third Wave: Judge Whitaker And The Classical Era (1953-1974), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
The Third Wave: Judge Whitaker And The Classical Era (1953-1974), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
The Third Wave of Mormon cinema is unquestionably the age of Judge Whitaker. He represents the development of Mormon film from its pioneer infancy into classical maturity. The similarities to Hollywood’s classical era are numerous (with important exceptions). Most obviously, Mormon film finally left behind the multitasking artisanal mode of prior decades in favor of a studio-based industrial infrastructure featuring specialized workers. Equally important, the BYU studio produced films of an identifiable, consistent, and aesthetically and culturally conservative style deeply rooted in Hollywood norms. It supplied a steady stream of products to a vertically integrated distribution and exhibition network. Finally, …
The Mormon As Vampire: A Comparative Study Of Winifred Graham's The Love Story Of A Mormon, The Film Trapped By The Mormons, And Bram Stoker's Dracula, James V. D'Arc
BYU Studies Quarterly
Between 1911 and 1926, novels and films fueled anti-Mormon sentiment in Great Britain. Winifred Graham's novel The Love Story of a Mormon portrayed a mesmerizing polygamist deceiving and enslaving girls. Later, Graham's book was made into the film Trapped by the Mormons. Both the novel and the movie drew images from vampire lore made popular by Bram Stoker's Dracula. The Mormon villain in Trapped by the Mormons has come from a faraway land, promises the possibility of eternal life, and can mesmerize victims, like Count Dracula. Though sensationalistic, the film colored British audience's perceptions of Mormon missionaries as …
Finding An Audience, Paying The Bills: Competing Business Models In Mormon Cinema, Eric Samuelsen
Finding An Audience, Paying The Bills: Competing Business Models In Mormon Cinema, Eric Samuelsen
BYU Studies Quarterly
The Hollywood business model most filmmakers employ involves both a production company and a film studio. The two entities make a deal, and the production company shoots the movie before the studio promotes and sells the movie. Hence, films that don't attract the support of a studio often can't be advertised and distributed as widely. In many cases, the movies can't even be made without a studio's financial backing. In the Mormon film industry, some filmmakers have employed the usual Hollywood business model. Others have created their own studios to market their films, like Halestorm, and some filmmakers bypass the …
Toward A Mormon Cinematic Aesthetic: Film Styles In Legacy, Thomas J. Lefler, Gideon O. Burton
Toward A Mormon Cinematic Aesthetic: Film Styles In Legacy, Thomas J. Lefler, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
Latter-day Saints aspire to movies that enhance, rather than undermine, their spiritual lives and that respect their religious convictions. However, discussion among Mormons about film tends to focus primarily on content—the presence of inappropriate content or the desire for more family-friendly subjects. Mormons are not alone in looking to film as a way of powerfully presenting religious themes and ideas. Biblical films, for example, have been a staple from the beginning of motion pictures. However, a film’s content is not its only religious dimension. Many films that portray ostensibly religious subjects, argues film theorist Michael Bird, “have too often erred …
Establishing Shot: The Scope Of Mormon Cinema, Gideon O. Burton
Establishing Shot: The Scope Of Mormon Cinema, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
Gideon O. Burton introduces the special issue dedicated to Mormon cinema by giving a brief overview of the other articles appearing in the issue and clarifying what Mormon cinema is: any film made by or about Mormons, from Church-produced movies used for teaching and training to YouTube segments; from student-made films to theatrically released movies. He also discusses the importance of film criticism in creating a quality Mormon cinema tradition.
The Second Wave: Home Cinema (1929-1953), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
The Second Wave: Home Cinema (1929-1953), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
The Second Wave differed from the First in various respects. For instance, by the 1930s the global film industry was well past its primitive pioneer era, and, within Mormonism, the increased sophistication of Second Wave films reflects this progress. In addition, technical advances (principally sound, but also color) renewed enthusiasm about the medium, both generally and among the Latter-day Saints. While this optimism did propel institutional and independent Mormon filmmaking toward some major projects, the decade of the 1930s—and to a lesser extent the 1940s— has generally been described for its lack of Mormon film production. Such a perception, however, …
"There Is Room For Both": Mormon Cinema And The Paradoxes Of Mormon Culture, Terryl L. Givens
"There Is Room For Both": Mormon Cinema And The Paradoxes Of Mormon Culture, Terryl L. Givens
BYU Studies Quarterly
Sometimes a culture includes more tension than harmonious cohesion, often due to paradoxes within the culture. Such tensions provide material for artists of all kinds to explore in their works. Mormonism presents at least three paradoxes: first, the necessity to be certain in one's testimony but to also always be asking questions in search of further truth; second, the tendency to diminish the distance between the sacred and banal; and third, the desire to be a peculiar, chosen people but not to feel isolated. Terryl L. Givens discusses the treatment of these paradoxes in Mormon movies, particularly those made by …
A Manifesto For "Fit For The Kingdom": Dean Duncan's Proposal For A Mormon Documentary Series, Gideon O. Burton
A Manifesto For "Fit For The Kingdom": Dean Duncan's Proposal For A Mormon Documentary Series, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
Developments in Mormon cinema in the last few years have taken place not only with popular narrative feature films intended for theatrical exhibition. Independently produced documentary film, which actually has a stronger tradition within Mormonism, has also been growing. One group, a coalition of Brigham Young University faculty and students and independent filmmakers led by Dean Duncan of BYU’s Theatre and Media Arts Department, has been creating a series of documentary films entitled “Fit for the Kingdom.”
Active Spectatorship: Spiritual Dimensions Of Film, Sharon Swenson
Active Spectatorship: Spiritual Dimensions Of Film, Sharon Swenson
BYU Studies Quarterly
Menacing music signals something ominous. My three-year-old grandson, Gavin, looks up at me, and we hug each other closer under the quilt, shivering in anticipation. In the background is . . . something . . . and it’s getting closer and closer. What seemed like something small and close by is really something large and far away and getting closer by the second. Squeeze tighter; Gavin glances up at me and giggles, but I remain serious and calm, preparing for whatever might come. It’s a whale! Zooming toward us!
The Fourth Wave: The Mass Media Era (1974-2000), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
The Fourth Wave: The Mass Media Era (1974-2000), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
The Fourth Wave deserves to be known as the Mass Media Era for at least three reasons. First, it was the first period dominated by video technology and various media besides traditional film; though I shall continue to use the term filmmaking, the majority of productions were now distributed electronically, even if they did not originate that way. Second, because of electronic distribution and the inexpensiveness and ubiquity of video, this era was marked by an incredibly wide dissemination of film compared with previous eras. Television, VHS, and satellite broadcasts revolutionized distribution by making obsolete the exhibition of an …
The Fifth Wave: Cultural And Commercial Viability (2000-Present), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
The Fifth Wave: Cultural And Commercial Viability (2000-Present), Randy Astle, Gideon O. Burton
BYU Studies Quarterly
The Fifth Wave of Mormon cinema is the current period, in which a culturally robust and commercially vibrant new art form is beginning to emerge. Its most obvious manifestation is in the stream of Mormon-themed theatrical feature films, produced independently of the Church, made by and for Latter-day Saints. Richard Dutcher’s much-celebrated God’s Army, released in March 2000, made him widely recognized as the father of this new movement in Mormon film, but his groundbreaking work actually marks a return to the past. The LDS filmmakers of the First Wave also sought to create 35mm films to be distributed …