From: owner-aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (aml-list-digest) To: aml-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: aml-list-digest V2 #236 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 Tuesday, December 30 2003 Volume 02 : Number 236 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 13:09:28 -0700 From: "Eric D. Snider" Subject: Re: [AML] Eric Samuelsen on Singles Ward > Richard R. Hopkins wrote: > > >In the search for great cinema, I think we often forget that audiences go to > >movies to be entertained. This does not necessarily mean the same thing as > >we often think of in the term "great cinema." Shouldn't filmmakers consider > >the need to entertain in addition to considering what makes great cinema? > Of course they should. But too often, audiences settle for either/or: Either a movie is entertaining, OR it's smart and well-made. Movies CAN be both, you know. I'll cite the "Lord of the Rings" series, as well as "Spider-Man" and everything from Pixar ("Finding Nemo," "Toy Story," etc.), just to name a few. You'll notice these films are also extraordinarily popular. People go back to see them again and again. Why? Because while audiences like things that entertain them, they LOVE things that entertain them intelligently and with a modicum of technical ingenuity behind the camera. "The Singles Ward" didn't make me want to leave the church, but it did make me want to leave the theater. To me it simply wasn't entertaining, which makes the whole discussion moot, at least for me. Eric D. Snider Then you see something that's both, and you remember that if filmmakers tried harder, they could have it all. Filmmakers settle for mediocrity, and so do audiences, a lot of times. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 14:08:30 -0700 From: "Paris Anderson" Subject: Re: [AML] Eric Samuelsen on Singles Ward Thom Duncan wrote: Also, let's not forget the fact that, on occasion, art can serve to = open and enlarge our minds -- make us see things as they are =20 That is percisely what I didn't like about the singles ward. It = showed a lot of obscene parts of Mormon culture, but didn't even hint = that the obscenities might be wrong or at least stupid and immature. =20 Bit then again the film probably was a lot of fun to make. As long as = the film makers enjoyed themselves and made a buck they are successful = artists. As long as I am honest about liking or disliking then I am a = successful audiance member. Paris Anderson - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 13:50:33 -0700 From: "Kirk Strickland" Subject: [AML] _Latter Days_ (was: Angels in America) On this same thread dangles the film "Latter Days" which is scheduled to open in Salt Lake City on January 30, 2004. Check out the film's website: http://www.latterdaysmovie.com Here is the plot summary/teaser posted there: Christian (Wes Ramsey), a hunky, 20-something, West Hollywood party boy gets more than he bargains for when he tries to seduce 19-year-old Elder Aaron Davis (Steve Sandvoss), a sexually confused Mormon missionary who moves into his apartment complex. When Christian exposes Davis' secret sexual desire, Davis' rejects Christian for being shallow and empty, The encounter shatters each boy's reality and draws the two into a passionate romance that risks destroying their lives. Latter Days is a charming, sexy, and moving tale that will leave you believing in the transformational power of love. Several scenes from the trailer are disturbing, including a scene that I assume is set in a church court that is lit like a Spanish inquisition. I had to view the trailer twice to more accurately distinguish the clean-cut Elders from hardened practitioners of the gay lifestyle--characters in both categories wear short-cropped haircuts, white shirts, and ties. I think the GLBT fascination with our culture goes beyond their search for an artistic contrast to promote their credos and values. They obviously find our image attractive, worthy of counterfeit emulation, and a threat deserving of a full offensive assault. Kirk Strickland - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 13:47:06 -0800 (PST) From: "R.W. Rasband" Subject: Re: [AML] _Johnny Lingo_ (was: Box Office Figures Nov. 28) - --- Eric Samuelsen wrote: > > > Why did I go see Bad Santa? Lots of reasons. I > like Billybob Thornton. > I think the director is interesting. I read five > reviews, all which > said it was disreputable, gross-out, vulgar fun. I > was in the mood to > laugh. I love the title. The previews made it look > funny. > So, Eric, when are you going to review "Bad Santa"? (I'm serious.) ===== R.W. Rasband Heber City, UT rrasband@yahoo.com __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New Yahoo! Photos - easier uploading and sharing. http://photos.yahoo.com/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 15:45:24 -0700 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (DesNews) Satirical Smart kidnapping play N.Y. play to satirize Smart kidnapping The Elizabeth Smart kidnapping inspired a TV movie and now an off-Broadway play. "Right as Ron" will run Jan. 29-Feb. 14 at the Bank Street Theatre in Manhattan. Judd Bloch's play will offer a satiric spin of the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case. It will be directed by Max Williams. The play will follow the homecoming of kidnapping victim April Starr. When producers come calling and the film starts rolling, however, the family falls a little short of the all-American ideal. The cast will include Mark Auerbach, John Dohrman, Kathryn Ekblad, Susan-Kate Heaney, Jono Hustis, Carolyn Ladd, Yvonne Lin, Ben Lizza, Seth Michael May, John McAdams, Mike Mosley, Erica Rhodes and Jas Robertson. In August, five months after Elizabeth Smart was found alive, filming on a two-hour TV movie began. That movie aired Nov. 9 on CBS. Tickets for the new play will be $15 and can be purchased by calling 212-868-4444. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 15:48:13 -0700 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (DesNews) Local Scriptwriters Sought Local scriptwriters sought Plan-B Theatre Company is looking for two local writers to join Tobin Atkinson, Julie Jensen and Aden Ross as the writing team for the company's "SLAM," scheduled for May 22. Those interested must be able to create a 10-minute script in 12 hours. Send an e-mail with a writing sample and resume to jerry@planbtheatrecompany.org, or mail no later than Jan. 15 to Jerry Rapier, Plan-B Theatre Company, 129 Layton Ave., Salt Lake City, UT 84115. - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 16:54:05 -0800 From: AML Subject: [AML] News from the AML Happy holidays from the Association for Mormon Letters, the nonprofit organization that seeks to advance significant Mormon fiction, film, drama, poetry, and memoir. This newsletter contains the following items: * New Issue of Irreantum * Call for Papers for AML Annual Conference * Call for Entries for Irreantum Fiction Contest +++ New Issue of IRREANTUM The newest issue of the AML's literary quarterly features provocative interviews and novel excerpts from two authors who explore the intersection of Mormonism with class and economics. In addition, this issue features the winning entries from the 2003 Irreantum fiction contest. Following is the table of contents for this issue, followed by ordering information. Interviews Jack Harrell John Fulton Eugene England's Last Interview Novel Excerpts "Vernal Promises," Jack Harrell "More Than Enough," John Fulton Stories Toaster Road, Coke Newell Trying, Angela Hallstrom Neighbors, Brian Evenson Screenplay Excerpt Haun's Mill, Coke Newell Essays Neglected Stories Brought to Life: A Report on the Documentary Film "Eleventh Hour Laborers," Margaret Young Put Your Gun Away, Bishop: "Brigham City" and the Problems of Rural Theocracy, Samuel Brown Poetry Heritage, Lorraine Jeffrey The Little Motel Girl, Keith Moore 20 in 1953, 70 Next Week, Kris Bluth Wheel, Jana Bouck Remy Connotation Study, Keith Moore Fisherman, Lorraine Jeffrey Reviews of the following works: Jack Harrell, "Vernal Promises" Beverly Campbell, "Eve and the Choice Made in Eden" Dorothy Allred Solomon, "Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy" Mark Twain and Lee Nelson, "Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer Among the Indians" Warren Studki, "Boy's Pond" Tamara Norton, "Molly Mormon?" Kathryn Elizabeth Jones, "A River of Stones" Susan Law Corpany, "Brotherly Love" "The Book of Mormon Movie, Volume 1: The Journey" Mahonri Stewart, "Farewell to Eden" (play) Plus Mormon Literary Scene, AML-List Highlights, and more. To order just this issue, send $6 (postpaid) to AML, PO Box 51364, Provo, UT 84605 and include a note requesting the Harrell/Fulton issue. For a 4-issue subscription to Irreantum, send $16 to AML, PO Box 51364, Provo, UT 84605. For full membership in the AML, which includes Irreantum, a copy of the book-length AML Annual, and discounts to AML events, send $25 to AML, PO Box 51364, Provo, UT 84605. +++ "Wrestling With the Word" Call for Papers 2004 Annual Conference The Association for Mormon Letters March 5, 2004 -- Utah Valley State College, Orem March 6, 2004 -- The new Salt Lake City Public Library (Mark these dates in your calendar so you can plan to attend!) Submission deadline: January 30, 2004 Papers invited on all Mormon literature: Novels Short Stories Poetry Drama Essay/Personal Essay Oratory Film Folklore Biography Sacred Writings Young Adult Fiction Science Fiction Missionary Narratives Cultural Studies Criticism Submit an outline, abstract, or paper by January 30, 2004, to Jen Wahlquist, Chair Department of English and Literature Utah Valley State College 800 West University Parkway, Mail Stop 153 Orem, Utah 84058 E-mail submissions: wahlquje@uvsc.edu or Gideon_Burton@byu.edu +++ IRREANTUM Fiction Contest The Association for Mormon Letters is pleased to announce the fourth annual IRREANTUM fiction contest. Because IRREANTUM is a quarterly literary magazine dedicated to exploring Mormon culture, all contest entries must relate to the Mormon experience in some way. (However, authors don't have to be LDS.) As long as an entry doesn't exceed 8,500 words, any fictional form will be considered, including short stories and excerpts from novels. Any fictional genre is welcome, including literary, mystery, romance, science fiction, fantasy, historical, and horror. The first-place author will be awarded $250, second place $175, and third place $100 (unless judges determine that entries are not of sufficient quality to merit awards). Winners agree to give IRREANTUM first publication rights. To facilitate blind judging, entries must be submitted with a removable cover sheet that includes the author's name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and manuscript title, with only the manuscript title appearing on the rest of the manuscript. For a list of winners, include a self-addressed stamped envelope. Entries must be postmarked by May 1, 2004. Send to IRREANTUM Fiction Contest, c/o AML, PO Box 51364, Provo, UT 84605. +++ ==================================================================== Update your profile here: http://aml.u.tep1.com/survey/?a84D2W.beg3l6.YW1sLWxp Unsubscribe here: http://aml.u.tep1.com/survey/?a84D2W.beg3l6.YW1sLWxp.u Delivered by Topica Email Publisher, http://www.email-publisher.com/ - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 18:47:43 -0700 From: "D. Michael Martindale" Subject: Re: [AML] Eric Samuelsen on Singles Ward Richard R. Hopkins wrote: > Shouldn't filmmakers consider > the need to entertain in addition to considering what makes great cinema? > Singles Ward was entertaining. Say what you will about its elements, it had > a lot of humor, an engaging romance, and a positive resolution. These are > elements that audiences enjoy. It has always made me somewhat incredulous > to observe, both in Hollywood and on this List, that those who produce > entertainment rarely see eye-to-eye with those whom they seek to entertain. > Shouldn't we strive to be a little more in touch with our audience? Shouldn't we strive to give the audience our best effort and not condescendingly put out dreck because we know the audience will like it anyway? No one's complaining that Singles Ward tried to entertain. What people are complaining about is that the quality is bad bad bad. Even entertainment should be of high quality. - -- 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 ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 15:54:29 -0700 From: Christopher Bigelow Subject: [AML] (SLTrib) Missionary documentary LDS missionaries give thumbs down to filmmaker's documentary By Peggy Fletcher Stack The Salt Lake Tribune Nancy du Plessis is not the first outsider to propose following Mormon missionaries around as they knock on doors, but she may be the most dogged. From the time du Plessis encountered two U.S. missionaries on the Munich subway in 1997, it took the freelance documentary filmmaker more than five years to complete "Get the Fire! Young Mormon Missionary Abroad." Two years of research and talking LDS leaders into it. Two years of following three Utah boys as they proselytized across southern Germany. And another year to edit the piece that will be shown on KUED Channel 7 on Tuesday at 11 p.m. The film was not meant to showcase The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or its theology, du Plessis said in a phone interview from her home in Munich. "It's a picture-book example of what happens in a rite of passage." For those missionaries at the heart of the film, however, the project was an exercise in manipulation. "She'd always ask fishy questions, but they got worse and worse," Brady Flamm said Friday. "I was hurt when I saw the film, to say the least." "Get the Fire!" begins in the Salt Lake County living rooms of Flamm, Jake Erekson and Matt Higbee in 1999 as they got their assignments to the Munich mission. LDS officials had given the filmmaker their names and allowed her access to church services and rites normally off-limits to journalists. The camera follows Flamm, Erekson and Higbee through their language training and then to German city streets and homes. They are shown speaking imperfect German right off the plane, having doors slammed in their faces and singing hymns with fellow missionaries. She filmed Erekson getting engaged over the phone and later receiving a Dear John letter. Within months, du Plessis' camera crew resigned and she tried to raise money, receiving some from the Utah Humanities Council and a New York arts agency. She bought a video camera and finished the film herself, which accounts for the amateurish lighting and sound, Flamm says. About a year into the process, the LDS Church withdrew its support. Flamm's mission president gave him the choice of whether to continue, and he did. "I got nicer and nicer to her, thinking it would be harder for her to trash me," said Flamm, now married and studying finance at the University of Utah. "But she did anyway." All told, du Plessis compiled 300 hours of tape, which she edited down to less than 30 minutes. She then interspersed interviews with five former missionaries who have since left the church. One was gay, and the others had cultural and intellectual issues with the church. The film has no narrator. Du Plessis defended the inclusion of critics, saying, "Test audiences were always frustrated because they had questions to things that my subjects never wanted to talk about." But Flamm felt her editing created misleading or false impressions. One day, for example, du Plessis begged the missionaries to come to a German festival with traditional clothing, singing and dancing. It would be so colorful, she promised. It was just a beer fest. She filmed the young men's disgust at being tricked, making it seem that they were upset at people drinking beer. Flamm said he understands the need for objectivity, and that an entirely positive movie wouldn't be accurate either. But he felt that du Plessis juxtaposed critical comments with the missionaries' everyday lives to "make us look naive or stupid." The film premiered last year in Europe. Flamm, who visited Germany last summer, said "every church member I talked to was offended." Flamm hasn't spoken with Higbee about the film, but said Erekson told him good-naturedly, "At least we have a scrapbook video of our missions." - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 13:14:42 -0700 From: Gideon Burton Subject: [AML] 2004 AML Conference - "Wrestling with the Word" - Call for Papers The Association for Mormon Letters announces its 2004 Annual Conference = to be held March 5-6, 2004 at Utah Valley State College (Friday, March 5th) = and the new Salt Lake City Public Library (Saturday, March 6th), on the = theme of "Wrestling with the Word." Papers are invited on any topic pertaining to literary expression and Mormonism, including novels, short stories, poetry, drama, = essay/personal essay, oratory, film, folklore, biography, sacred writings, young adult fiction, science fiction, missionary narratives, cultural studies, etc. Submit an outline, abstract, or complete paper by January 30, 2004 to Jen Wahlquist, Chair Department of English and Literature Utah Valley State College 800 West University Parkway, Mail Stop 153 Orem, Utah 84058 Email submissions or other inquiries may be sent to Jen Wahquist (wahlquje@uvsc.edu) or to Gideon Burton (Gideon_Burton@byu.edu). URL: http://english.byu.edu/faculty/burtong/AML2004.htm - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 09:21:09 -0800 From: "Richard R. Hopkins" Subject: Re: [AML] ARNETT, _Defending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints_ (Review) Paris Anderson asks: > >So why defend the Church? It seems futile. Because the lack of a rational answer to concerned objections can damage the faith of those who choose to believe. Richard R. Hopkins - -- AML-List, a mailing list for the discussion of Mormon literature ------------------------------ End of aml-list-digest V2 #236 ******************************