Being a Mormon Artist

There are 2 main challenges that we face as Mormon artists. The first is being accepted as legitimate by the outside world. The world views us as non-alcoholic beverages. We're fun and flavorful, but there's no real substance. If you want the real thing, you have to order the real thing. This reductive analysis of LDS culture is tough to fight, and it's a real challenge to enlighten the world if we don't put out something with real substance. What is this "real substance"? Humanity. Human nature. The duality of man. In our effort to portray the perfection of the gospel and the beauty of our unique experience, we often fall into the pit of only showing the good. We remove the "human" element--true human emotion and imperfection--so as not to taint the beauty of the message. This strips our work of legitimacy. It becomes only a facade, devoid of substance. We must show ourselves as we really are--imperfect, but real, with real human emotion and real human experiences--and not be scared to do so. 

The second great challenge is being accepted as legitimate within the LDS community. I recently read an essay explaining why it is improbable that LDS publishers will ever establish a tradition of real Mormon literary art. The author's main point was that the publishing and distribution of Mormon literature--and by that extension film as well--is a business, governed by economics and market research. The demographic that consumes LDS media is generally well-rounded and cultured but the most vocal subset of that demographic--which also happens to be the smallest percentage of the whole--tyrannically and vehemently controls the selection, production, and distribution of said media. They disregard anything that does not fit their limited definition of decorum, which is generally not in accordance with the gospel principles they purport to believe. So in order to create according to their standards, we must remove any "real" human emotion or experience from our work.

Yes, it is a paradox. It's as if we cannot please both those in the church and those without. What are we to do? We must choose priestcraft or apostasy? What are we to do? The answer, in my humble opinion, is to create true to ourselves. If we create art that is honest to who we are, what we experience, how we feel, where we fall short, and what we believe, we will create something with substance. The outside world will recognize truth, and the inner circles of LDS culture will recognize humanity. There will still be those who mock and those who scorn, but the majority of people--within and without LDS culture--will respect our work for its artistic elements and its truth. Be yourself; be real.

As to where we find stories of light, I think it more important to find light in the stories we find. Inspiration is subjective. There are many places to find uplifting and enlightening stories, we need not look far. It is also important to avoid stories of darkness. But these lie at far extremes on the continuum of stories, and represent a minuscule percentage of what is available. A more valuable ability to cultivate is that of finding light in the stories that lie along the vast majority of the continuum, between the extremes.