Have you ever seen a movie made by a Mormon and thought "I'm glad that movie was so clean and inspirational. It's a refreshing change of pace from Hollywood".
Have you ever got home from that movie and realized "Wait a minute. The only thing that movie had going for it was that it was clean and inspirational. I guess that's all I was looking for, but if it were a normal Hollywood movie I forked out $10 to see, I would have thought it was awful."
That's the case with basically every Mormon movie I watch. It's clean and inspirational, but it's really missing the quality I expect out of a normal movie.
In my experience, Mormon movies are generally worse movies than movies made by someone who isn't Mormon.
Now, I'm not talking about a clean movie, or an entertaining movie, or an uplifting movie. I'm talking about a movie that uses the tools of storytelling and the tools of filmmaking to present a good story, well told. I'm talking about characters, actors' performances, visuals, sound design, soundtrack, story elements, plot holes, campiness, structure, and all the other things that make a movie like Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and The Avengers undeniably good.
Don't worry, this phenomenon isn't the Mormons' fault, and definitely isn't the Church's fault.
They just don't know how to make a good movie.
And they don't have the budget to do what they need to make a really good movie.
But sometimes, they're not even trying to make a good movie. They're just trying to make a movie.
But that doesn't really matter. I don't care who's "fault" it is. I care what's causing the problem so we can fix the problem.
Why?
Because Mormons never learned how to make a good movie by studying a lot of movies that exemplify great filmmaking like:
Watching David Fincher's work to learn good directing
Watching Aaron Sorkin's work to learn screenwriting
Watching Mad Max: Fury Road or The Raid to learn perfect action
Watching The Prestige and The Shawshank Redemption to learn perfect foreshadowing to twist endings
Watching Birdman to learn the techniques of effective long takes
Why?
Because these movies are all rated R (except The Prestige, which is still dark enough that many Mormons don't want to watch it).
I'm not going to comment on whether Mormons OUGHT to watch R-rated movies. But I will say that Mormons typically DON'T and therefore miss out on a lot they could learn.
Because Mormon audiences will watch anything that's clean and uplifting regardless of its quality. After all, when we want to watch high-quality movie, we usually watch something Hollywood made, but we make sure it's on the cleaner end of Hollywood like Captain America. When we choose to escape Hollywood, it's so that we can see clean movies, not good ones.
Since audiences replaced their expectation for quality with an expectation for cleanliness, Mormon filmmakers rose to their audience's expectation for cleanliness and inspiration, but fell to the audience's standards of quality.
Filmmakers generally meets your expectations.
You might notice that when a bad film is rewarded, that studio and director tend to make more bad films, and when a good film is rewarded, the studio and director tend to make more good films (and vice-versa).
Because Mormons focus on NOT being like Hollywood. Which certainly makes Mormon movies cleaner, but we kind of threw the baby out with the bathwater by throwing out whatever quality Hollywood movies still have left.
Because Mormons emphasize thrift, and sometimes forget to spare no expense when they really need to.
The Work and the Glory was made for almost $10M*. But another period drama set in the 1800s and released around the same time (The Illusionist) was made for almost $22M.
Saints and Soldiers was made for approximately $1M, while another war movie focusing on Christian values (Hacksaw Ridge) was made for $41M.
Church Ball was made for barely over $1M, while another sports comedy (The Waterboy) was made for $35M.
When Mormons tried to make a Book of Mormon movie, they made it for less than $2M, while some prominent action movies with generally the same setting (Gladiator and Prince of Persia) were made for $148M and $227M.
I am all for lower movie budgets, but trying to make a movie for less than $2M really puts some constraints on the quality. Obviously, a low budget doesn't automatically mean a bad movie, and a high budget doesn't automatically mean a good movie. But many (though not all) movies made for under $2M (ballpark number), can't afford to hire a better crew, make better effects, commission yet another script rewrite, and get advice from people who have made lots of movies before. And yes, there have been some fantastic low-budget movies. Some people might cite Deadpool ($13.5M) as a fast example. But those movies are generally good in spite of their budget. Generally, ultra-low budget movies tend to be mediocre-to-downright-awful.
Here's the real budget problem: Since Mormon movies generally don't get wide releases, they generally lose money. If they manage to not lose money, their gross at the box office is usually less than $3M. When it comes to the film industry, you can't make much profit off of $3M. So investors usually aren't willing to invest enough money to give Mormon movies the budget they deserve.
As long as Mormons are consistently making low-budget, low-quality movies with low returns, Mormons are successfully making their own little refuge from Hollywood, but they're not influencing Hollywood to become cleaner.
On the contrary, Mormons are accidentally sending a completely false message to Hollywood: that the only way to make a good movie that makes money is to make it morally bad and not inspirational.
If Mormon movies ever get big enough for Hollywood to notice them, Hollywood will make their movies morally worse in a mistaken attempt to avoid making movies with poor quality and poor box office performances.
BUT...
Mormons COULD still make a good movie if they were determined to make it.
Mormons have lots of determination.
Mormons are willing to learn.
Mormons have an all-powerful God on their side and experience miracles every day.
Mormons can learn ABOUT how David Fincher directs, how Aaron Sorkin writes, how Mad Max: Fury Road and The Raid pulls off near-perfect action, how The Prestige and The Shawshank Redemption foreshadow twist endings, and how Birdman creates effective long takes without actually watching the movies.
Yes, it's possible to learn about a movie's technique and what a filmmaker should learn from that movie without actually watching the movie. I do that for fun.
Mormons can focus on making a quality movie that happens to also be clean and inspirational.
They simply have to make quality their top priority and make cleanliness and inspiration serve the film's quality.
Mormons can LEARN from Hollywood instead of eschewing EVERYTHING about it.
Take what's good. Leave out what's bad.
If Ezra Taft Benson can be in the middle of American politics and not get corrupted, Mormons can at least stand on the outside of mainstream cinema and learn what we can from mainstream cinema without getting corrupted.
And don't worry about the Church spending $150M of the tithing money of the widows and fatherless to make a movie.
Because we're not talking about the Church making a good movie.
We're talking about Mormons making a good movie. And a Mormon could make a movie whenever he or she wants without the Church's involvement or the Church's funding.
And yes, Mormons have made generally mediocre-to-truly-awful movies. But that doesn't mean they could never make a good movie.
Mormons can focus on getting wider releases and making more commercial films that are genuinely good and still clean and inspirational.
Most importantly, Mormons can pray for and stay worthy to receive the blessings God needs a film to have in order to fulfill His purposes.
Because Mormons NEED to make good films.
We can have our movies be a refuge from the storm, giving Mormons the entertainment they want and leaving everyone else confused.
Or we can make our films a light to the world that will lead others into the Church, giving Mormons AND investigators the entertainment they want and the spiritual edification they need.
And Ezra Taft Benson said that he had "a vision of artists putting into film... great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon" (Teachings of the Presidents: Ezra Taft Benson, Chapter 10).
If we're going to turn the most important book on earth into a movie, we need to do it justice.
Mormons can make a good movie. They just need to approach it a little differently, by learning how to make something that is virtuous and lovely as well as of good report and praiseworthy.
*all monetary amounts are adjusted for inflation to help control for release year, and are rounded off to make for easier reading.
Have you ever got home from that movie and realized "Wait a minute. The only thing that movie had going for it was that it was clean and inspirational. I guess that's all I was looking for, but if it were a normal Hollywood movie I forked out $10 to see, I would have thought it was awful."
That's the case with basically every Mormon movie I watch. It's clean and inspirational, but it's really missing the quality I expect out of a normal movie.
In my experience, Mormon movies are generally worse movies than movies made by someone who isn't Mormon.
Now, I'm not talking about a clean movie, or an entertaining movie, or an uplifting movie. I'm talking about a movie that uses the tools of storytelling and the tools of filmmaking to present a good story, well told. I'm talking about characters, actors' performances, visuals, sound design, soundtrack, story elements, plot holes, campiness, structure, and all the other things that make a movie like Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and The Avengers undeniably good.
Don't worry, this phenomenon isn't the Mormons' fault, and definitely isn't the Church's fault.
They just don't know how to make a good movie.
And they don't have the budget to do what they need to make a really good movie.
But sometimes, they're not even trying to make a good movie. They're just trying to make a movie.
But that doesn't really matter. I don't care who's "fault" it is. I care what's causing the problem so we can fix the problem.
Why?
Because Mormons never learned how to make a good movie by studying a lot of movies that exemplify great filmmaking like:
Watching David Fincher's work to learn good directing
Watching Aaron Sorkin's work to learn screenwriting
Watching Mad Max: Fury Road or The Raid to learn perfect action
Watching The Prestige and The Shawshank Redemption to learn perfect foreshadowing to twist endings
Watching Birdman to learn the techniques of effective long takes
Why?
Because these movies are all rated R (except The Prestige, which is still dark enough that many Mormons don't want to watch it).
I'm not going to comment on whether Mormons OUGHT to watch R-rated movies. But I will say that Mormons typically DON'T and therefore miss out on a lot they could learn.
Because Mormon audiences will watch anything that's clean and uplifting regardless of its quality. After all, when we want to watch high-quality movie, we usually watch something Hollywood made, but we make sure it's on the cleaner end of Hollywood like Captain America. When we choose to escape Hollywood, it's so that we can see clean movies, not good ones.
Since audiences replaced their expectation for quality with an expectation for cleanliness, Mormon filmmakers rose to their audience's expectation for cleanliness and inspiration, but fell to the audience's standards of quality.
Filmmakers generally meets your expectations.
You might notice that when a bad film is rewarded, that studio and director tend to make more bad films, and when a good film is rewarded, the studio and director tend to make more good films (and vice-versa).
Because Mormons focus on NOT being like Hollywood. Which certainly makes Mormon movies cleaner, but we kind of threw the baby out with the bathwater by throwing out whatever quality Hollywood movies still have left.
Because Mormons emphasize thrift, and sometimes forget to spare no expense when they really need to.
The Work and the Glory was made for almost $10M*. But another period drama set in the 1800s and released around the same time (The Illusionist) was made for almost $22M.
Saints and Soldiers was made for approximately $1M, while another war movie focusing on Christian values (Hacksaw Ridge) was made for $41M.
Church Ball was made for barely over $1M, while another sports comedy (The Waterboy) was made for $35M.
When Mormons tried to make a Book of Mormon movie, they made it for less than $2M, while some prominent action movies with generally the same setting (Gladiator and Prince of Persia) were made for $148M and $227M.
I am all for lower movie budgets, but trying to make a movie for less than $2M really puts some constraints on the quality. Obviously, a low budget doesn't automatically mean a bad movie, and a high budget doesn't automatically mean a good movie. But many (though not all) movies made for under $2M (ballpark number), can't afford to hire a better crew, make better effects, commission yet another script rewrite, and get advice from people who have made lots of movies before. And yes, there have been some fantastic low-budget movies. Some people might cite Deadpool ($13.5M) as a fast example. But those movies are generally good in spite of their budget. Generally, ultra-low budget movies tend to be mediocre-to-downright-awful.
Here's the real budget problem: Since Mormon movies generally don't get wide releases, they generally lose money. If they manage to not lose money, their gross at the box office is usually less than $3M. When it comes to the film industry, you can't make much profit off of $3M. So investors usually aren't willing to invest enough money to give Mormon movies the budget they deserve.
As long as Mormons are consistently making low-budget, low-quality movies with low returns, Mormons are successfully making their own little refuge from Hollywood, but they're not influencing Hollywood to become cleaner.
On the contrary, Mormons are accidentally sending a completely false message to Hollywood: that the only way to make a good movie that makes money is to make it morally bad and not inspirational.
If Mormon movies ever get big enough for Hollywood to notice them, Hollywood will make their movies morally worse in a mistaken attempt to avoid making movies with poor quality and poor box office performances.
BUT...
Mormons COULD still make a good movie if they were determined to make it.
Mormons have lots of determination.
Mormons are willing to learn.
Mormons have an all-powerful God on their side and experience miracles every day.
Mormons can learn ABOUT how David Fincher directs, how Aaron Sorkin writes, how Mad Max: Fury Road and The Raid pulls off near-perfect action, how The Prestige and The Shawshank Redemption foreshadow twist endings, and how Birdman creates effective long takes without actually watching the movies.
Yes, it's possible to learn about a movie's technique and what a filmmaker should learn from that movie without actually watching the movie. I do that for fun.
Mormons can focus on making a quality movie that happens to also be clean and inspirational.
They simply have to make quality their top priority and make cleanliness and inspiration serve the film's quality.
Mormons can LEARN from Hollywood instead of eschewing EVERYTHING about it.
Take what's good. Leave out what's bad.
If Ezra Taft Benson can be in the middle of American politics and not get corrupted, Mormons can at least stand on the outside of mainstream cinema and learn what we can from mainstream cinema without getting corrupted.
And don't worry about the Church spending $150M of the tithing money of the widows and fatherless to make a movie.
Because we're not talking about the Church making a good movie.
We're talking about Mormons making a good movie. And a Mormon could make a movie whenever he or she wants without the Church's involvement or the Church's funding.
And yes, Mormons have made generally mediocre-to-truly-awful movies. But that doesn't mean they could never make a good movie.
Mormons can focus on getting wider releases and making more commercial films that are genuinely good and still clean and inspirational.
Most importantly, Mormons can pray for and stay worthy to receive the blessings God needs a film to have in order to fulfill His purposes.
Because Mormons NEED to make good films.
We can have our movies be a refuge from the storm, giving Mormons the entertainment they want and leaving everyone else confused.
Or we can make our films a light to the world that will lead others into the Church, giving Mormons AND investigators the entertainment they want and the spiritual edification they need.
And Ezra Taft Benson said that he had "a vision of artists putting into film... great themes and great characters from the Book of Mormon" (Teachings of the Presidents: Ezra Taft Benson, Chapter 10).
If we're going to turn the most important book on earth into a movie, we need to do it justice.
Mormons can make a good movie. They just need to approach it a little differently, by learning how to make something that is virtuous and lovely as well as of good report and praiseworthy.
*all monetary amounts are adjusted for inflation to help control for release year, and are rounded off to make for easier reading.
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