Actors/Producers/Directors of negative "Mormon" shows...

[unixknight]

Ugh, that would be the worst.  Many a stand-up comedy act has been ruined in the same way.

[tesuji]

It's one of the biggest decisions you have to make as a novelist, and I guess with other arts as well: How much do you put your own views into it?

The more you put in your own views, the more loved you will be by people who agree with you. But the narrower your audience.

[Guest MormonGator]

1 minute ago, unixknight said:

Ugh, that would be the worst.  Many a stand-up comedy act has been ruined in the same way.

YES. Most liberal stand ups are really funny (George Carlin, Louis CK, Lewis Black). I accept the fact that I am almost certainly the sole conservative in the crowd.

[tesuji]

6 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

YES. Most liberal stand ups are really funny (George Carlin, Louis CK, Lewis Black). I accept the fact that I am almost certainly the sole conservative in the crowd.

These comics play primarily to urban audiences, which trend liberal and secular. So they can easily forget about  "rednecks" in the "flyover" states - that people, in Utah for example, might not agree with their usual audience.

Edited April 27, 2016 by tesuji

[Guest MormonGator]

Just now, tesuji said:

These comics play primarily to urban audiences, which trend liberal. So they can easily forget about us "rednecks" in the "flyover" states. that we might not agree.

 Yup. That's another interesting topic as well. Even though LadyGator and I live in the rural part of the state, we spend the majority of our free time in cities going to art galleries, nice restaurants, etc. So our interests are urban, but our politics rural. 

[tesuji]

2 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

 Yup. That's another interesting topic as well. Even though LadyGator and I live in the rural part of the state, we spend the majority of our free time in cities going to art galleries, nice restaurants, etc. So our interests are urban, but our politics rural. 

Careful, your views might get corrupted by those "Godless city folks"

;-)

Edited April 27, 2016 by tesuji

[Guest MormonGator]

1 minute ago, tesuji said:

Careful, your views might get corrupted by those "Godless city folks"

lol!

[LeSellers]

2 hours ago, unixknight said:

Generally I just prefer not to know.  I don't like watching what would otherwise be a great performance while distracted by knowing a performer's politics.

That's one of several, similar reasons I don't watch movies much. I cannot abide giving Jane Fonda, for example, one red cent because she is the kind of person who would subject soldiers to the tortures of the Hanoi Hilton prison. With so many actors so virulently anti-America, much less anti-mormon, it just plain makes it hard to put any of my limited money down so they can mock my most cherished ideals.

Lehi

[Guest MormonGator]

1 hour ago, LeSellers said:

That's one of several, similar reasons I don't watch movies much. I cannot abide giving Jane Fonda, for example, one red cent because she is the kind of person who would subject soldiers to the tortures of the Hanoi Hilton prison. With so many actors so virulently anti-America, much less anti-mormon, it just plain makes it hard to put any of my limited money down so they can mock my most cherished ideals.

Lehi

I agree LeSellers. I avoid them too. I'd rather go out to dinner, a baseball game or stay home totally. 

[tesuji]

I love movies myself. For needed escape. And also for the same reason literature can be so valuable - give you a vicarious experience, help you learn about the world. 

For example, just recently:

The movie Brooklyn completely gave me insights and empathy for a young female Irish immigrant.

The movie triology Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight gave me the experience of travelling in Europe and working through a relationship.

Slumdog Millionaire transported me to India and gave me great empathy for people growing up in the slums there.

(Note: I watched these movies heavily content-filtered using Vidangel, which I recommend.)

Cinema is an amazing modern art form that combines theater, photography and music to provide vicarious experience. We're here in mortality to get experience and learn, after all.

 

[Guest MormonGator]

4 minutes ago, tesuji said:

 

Cinema is an amazing modern art form that combines theater, photography and music to provide vicarious experience. We're here in mortality to get experience and learn, after all.

 

It does, but I've always strongly preferred plays. You can't yell "Cut! Do that scene over!" in the middle of a staged version of Hamlet. My degree is in English and in fairness, I do like certain filmed versions of Shakespeare plays. 

[LeSellers]

3 hours ago, tesuji said:

Cinema is an amazing modern art form that combines theater, photography and music to provide vicarious experience. We're here in mortality to get experience and learn, after all.

I first read "… combines theater, photography, and music …" as "… combines theater, pornography and music …" and didn't catch the mistake for a few seconds. Then, again, I wonder if it was a mistake.

Lehi

Edited April 28, 2016 by LeSellers

[Vort]

On 4/27/2016 at 2:40 PM, MormonGator said:

You can't yell "Cut! Do that scene over!" in the middle of a staged version of Hamlet.

Actually, you can.

[Guest MormonGator]

1 minute ago, Vort said:

Actually, you can.

No, you can't. When the audience laughs because the guy playing Hamlet said "To be, or not to...wait, how does it go again? Line!" It sort of effects the ambiance. 

[Vort]

1 minute ago, MormonGator said:

No, you can't. When the audience laughs because the guy playing Hamlet said "To be, or not to...wait, how does it go again? Line!" It sort of effects the ambiance. 

I didn't say the result would be any good. But, you know, you can do it. Or have you never watched a high school stage play?

[dahlia]

I know Mormons have a problem with 'Big Love,' but watching the show made me think about Mormons (not on my radar before), showed some Mormon behaviors, and got me thinking about polygamy, boys, and women as social as well as religious issues. I'm not sure I would say it was anti-Mormon as the characters were not Mormon and polygamy is illegal (for now). They were people using a Mormon base (the 1st wife) and an extremely flawed FLDS-type base (Bill & the 2nd wife) to create a new religion. To me, that's a different story than if the show had purported to be about observant Mormons and made fun of them. 

Am I a Mormon because of Big Love? I don't know. Maybe a little. 

[Guest MormonGator]

2 hours ago, dahlia said:

I know Mormons have a problem with 'Big Love,' but watching the show made me think about Mormons (not on my radar before), showed some Mormon behaviors, and got me thinking about polygamy, boys, and women as social as well as religious issues. I'm not sure I would say it was anti-Mormon as the characters were not Mormon and polygamy is illegal (for now). They were people using a Mormon base (the 1st wife) and an extremely flawed FLDS-type base (Bill & the 2nd wife) to create a new religion. To me, that's a different story than if the show had purported to be about observant Mormons and made fun of them. 

Am I a Mormon because of Big Love? I don't know. Maybe a little. 

OMG, same here!!! I grew up in New England, where there aren't many of them. Big Love actually helped my testimony! 

[Anddenex]

On April 25, 2016 at 10:39 AM, NeedleinA said:

There are from time to time, TV shows/movies that portray things/stereotypes/inaccuracies about members of the church. How do you feel about the actors/producers/directors of such "negative" shows? Just doing their "acting" job? Indifferent? Do you see them as neutral parties? Is an actor considered less invested than the actual producer?

Television is one of our many avenues of human interaction. Human interaction centers around our belief (ideological/theological) system, personal intent and motivation, collective intent and motivation, and our desire to be entertained. Producers have intent, their intent determines the main emphasis of each episode or full movie. Producers and actors are able to also have a combined intent. In light of this, actors are able to be neutral parties (less invested), and they are able to also be active participants, not indifferent, not neutral. Producers, on the other hand, appear to be very much enticers. 

The producers of Mountain Meadow Massacre movie (and its timed released), I believe, were not neutral (nor indifferent) pertaining to the Church and its members. How many movies have been made, by an outside source (i.e. MMM), pertaining to the rape, murder (even of children), and pillage of Mormon settlements from our Pioneer history? I will admit, the lead characters in this movie, whether they were indifferent or neutral, lost credibility in mine eyes. Proper portrayal of historic event should be accurate; unfortunately, they are not and people have a tendency to accept false portrayals of actual events. 

Media, popular episodes, are often liberal leaning (i.e. fornication is celebrated, selfishness is celebrated), and one of the most popular TV shows during my time celebrated both during college years. As my knowledge increased in gospel light, I now understand why Mom and Dad would turn off certain shows, or invite us to turn them off as they weren't praise worthy, good, or of good report (in light of gospel standards), and yet....we unshamefully watch them and praise them. 

In the same light of this OP, one might ask the same questions for book authors.

Edited April 30, 2016 by Anddenex

[Echo2002]

On 4/27/2016 at 0:19 PM, MormonGator said:

Yup, same here. But when they stop a concert and start preaching it's impossible to now know. Oddly, the few vocal conservatives in punk and metal usually don't stop the concert to spout off. Dave Mustaine from Megadeth would say something here or there, but it wasn't like Eddie Vedder or anything. 

This is why there's some musicians I have no desire to see in concert because I don't want to pay for a ticket only to hear about their political views, no matter what they are.

[Guest MormonGator]

9 hours ago, Echo2002 said:

This is why there's some musicians I have no desire to see in concert because I don't want to pay for a ticket only to hear about their political views, no matter what they are.

The wonderful Lemmy from Motorhead said it best. When Rage against the Machine duct taped their mouths over some silly protest he said "If I went to that concert I'd demand my 50 bucks back". 

Highly edited for language.