Wayne State University Wayne State University Dissertations 1-1-2014 In Particularity We Trust:richard Dutcher's Mormon Quartet And A Latter-Day Saint Spiritual Film Style Mark Sheffieldr B own Wayne State University, Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations Recommended Citation Brown, Mark Sheffield, "In Particularity We Trust:richard Dutcher's Mormon Quartet And A Latter-Day Saint Spiritual Film Style" (2014). Wayne State University Dissertations. Paper 1067. This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@WayneState. It has been accepted for inclusion in Wayne State University Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@WayneState. IN PARTICULARITY WE TRUST: RICHARD DUTCHER’S MORMON QUARTET AND A LATTER-DAY SAINT SPIRITUAL FILM STYLE by MARK SHEFFIELD BROWN DISSERTATION Submitted to the Graduate School of Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 2014 MAJOR: ENGLISH (Film Studies) Approved by: __________________________________________ Advisor Date __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ DEDICATION To Dennis and Laurie Brown, without whom I never would have started. To Suzy, Maryn, Avery, and Parker, without whom I never would have finished. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks, of course, to my generous, insightful committee members, Drs. Chera Kee, Lesley Brill, and Eric Samuelson. Particular appreciation goes to Dr. Steven Shaviro whose openness and support saved this project from doom. Thanks to the people who showed me early on in my academic career that it is possible to earn a PhD while still maintaining a real life, sanity, a teaching load, and a sense of decency: Rodger Sorenson, Scott Samuelson, and Michelle Payne. I want to be you guys when I grow up. Thanks also to my friends and extended family members who encouraged, listened to, and generally put up with me through this process. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication__________________________________________________________________ ii Acknowledgements __________________________________________________________ iii Introduction “Mormonism and Movies” __________________________________________ 1 The Problem of Spiritual Film ______________________________________ 6 Religious Film &/Vs. Spiritual Film _________________________________ 14 In Particularity We Trust __________________________________________ 16 Chapter 1 “Mormon Context” __________________________________________________ 23 The Ground Upon Which __________________________________________ 27 Chapter 2 “Mormon Spiritual Film Style: Emphases and Intensities, Form AND Content” ___ 29 Form: Spirit and Body Together _____________________________________ 31 Form: Light and Spirit ____________________________________________ 39 Content: The Salvific Effect of Violence ______________________________ 41 Content: The Efficacy of Priesthood Ordinances ________________________ 47 All Things Denote There Is A God ___________________________________ 50 Chapter 3 “Richard Dutcher: Mormon/Filmmaker” __________________________________52 Early Life: Mister Dutcher Goes to Provo ______________________________52 Post-BYU: Learning What Not to Do _________________________________54 The God’s Army Epiphany and the Birth of 21st Century Independent Mormon Cinema ________________________________________________________55 Loss of Faith ____________________________________________________60 Chapter 4 “God’s Army: The Work Begins” ________________________________________65 Hollywood/Holywood Style ________________________________________66 Go Toward the Light: Light Metaphors as Spiritual Indicators _____________ 72 Showing the Sacred: Priesthood Ordinances in God’s Army _______________ 77 Violence: Creating a Space for Salvation ______________________________85 iv Chapter 5 “Brigham City: Complications and Darkness” ______________________________89 Body/Spirit Fusion ________________________________________________92 Shrouded in Darkness: Light Metaphors in Brigham City _________________102 Strong Violence/Strong Salvation ___________________________________108 Taking Christ’s Name: Priesthood Ordinances in Brigham City ____________114 Chapter 6 “States of Grace: Crowning Glory” _____________________________________120 Hollywood Style + Spiritual Style = Mormon Style _____________________122 Ecumenical Light and Flickering Halos ______________________________134 Violence/Ordinance/Salvation in States of Grace _______________________140 Chapter 7 “Falling: Fallen From Grace” __________________________________________159 Not Holywood, Barely Hollywood: Stylistic Absences in Falling __________163 The Darkest, Lightest Place ________________________________________165 Nothing Welded: The Absence of Ordinances in Falling _________________166 The Wild Elephant in the Room: Violence in Falling ____________________168 Non-Mormon Fusion _____________________________________________169 Conclusion “Memoir, Autoethnography, and Style That Parts the Veil” _________________ 178 Bibliography________________________________________________________________185 Filmography________________________________________________________________193 Abstract____________________________________________________________________199 Autobiographical Statement ____________________________________________________201 v 1 INTRODUCTION Mormonism and Movies As an introduction to this project, I begin with two personal stories. They may seem a little disconnected at first, but I hope to show how the link between these two experiences are at the heart of this dissertation. One of my very earliest memories is of the movies. I can actually remember the first time I ever went to the theater to see a film. I was four or five years old and my parents took my older brother and me to see one of the many late-70s re-releases of Star Wars (Lucas 1977). It was at a single-screen theater in a tiny Idaho town called Rupert. I was sandwiched between my mom on my right and my brother on my left, and as the famous yellow- worded crawl moved up the screen, my mom whispered in my ear and read to me: “It was a period of civil war….” At five, I didn’t have a strong grasp on what a “galactic empire” was or what “sinister agents” were, but I got the gist and knew they weren’t good. The words disappeared into the inky black, John Williams’ score turned quiet and pensive for a moment, the camera panned down to a star field and distant planets, and suddenly a small white spaceship screamed into view, desperately trying to outrun the gigantic, triangular craft blasting hot red lasers in its direction. Like almost every other American at the time, I was utterly transfixed. Of course, I loved Luke Skywalker’s pure, deadly-looking blue light saber and Darth Vader’s obsidian samurai helmet. I loved the Wookie, the droids, the cantina, and the fantastic explosion of sparks that marked the destruction of the Death Star. I loved the movie, of course, but more than that, I knew at that early age that I loved The Movies. Everything about the experience of film and filmgoing enchanted me -- going to the theater, waiting in line for tickets, the sound of the popcorn machine, examining the posters for all the coming attractions, waiting for the lights to dim, the 2 previews, everything. With the advent of VHS a few years later, I looked forward to going to the local video store, carefully making my selection, and then sitting on our couch in the basement, popcorn at the ready, and letting the novelty of a real movie in my own living room wash over me. Watching movies, talking about them, and eventually writing about them have been major components of my life for literally as long as I can remember. My second story comes about ten years later. I was a teenager attending Sunday School like the good Mormon boy I was raised to be. I was in a dim, cinderblock-lined classroom in an LDS meetinghouse in Rexburg, Idaho. The lesson was about developing our talents, particularly in the service of the church. If we could play a musical instrument, we were told, it would be a huge opportunity to accompany the hymns in church. If we were good at math, we could be called to be the congregation’s financial clerk when we were older. At one point in the lesson, the teacher gave me a quote from Spencer W. Kimball, the man who had been president and prophet of the church from 1973 until 1985. The speech, “The Gospel Vision of the Arts,” was given in 1967 to a group of LDS educators and is a kind of pep talk for Mormon artists. Most talks given by church authorities revolve around repentance, forgiveness, faithfulness, missionary work, and other religious topics. Kimball’s unusual talk is still held in high regard by Mormon creative types even today. The quote from the talk read: “We are proud of the artistic heritage that the Church has brought to us from its earliest beginnings, but the full story of Mormonism has never yet been written nor painted nor sculpted nor spoken. It remains for inspired hearts and talented fingers yet to reveal themselves. They must be faithful, inspired, active Church members to give life and feeling and true perspective to a subject so worthy. Such masterpieces should run for months in every movie center, cover every part of the globe in the tongues of the people, written by great artists,