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ljwritesIt used to be that when I thought of Brigham Young University, the first words that came to mind were not "the future of computer animation." (The first words that actually came to mind were "Provo, UT Girls," but never mind that for now.) So the article When Hollywood Wants Good, Clean Fun, It Goes to Mormon Country came as a bit of a surprise. I liked the balanced look at what made graduates of BYU's animation program desirable for major employers like Pixar and Dreamworks--work ethic, maturity, pragmatism--and also the parts of Mormon culture could work against artistic honesty and growth--the relentlessly upbeat sensibility, a cultural resistance to taking up art as a full-time job. My favorite line from the article talks about another potential problem for the BYU animators: “One of the horrible things about Mormons is that we’re so polite.”
Reading this article got me thinking about how much of modern media is a collaborative, or rather mass, effort. It may very well be that the bulk of creative jobs are more suited to craftspeople willing to do repetitive, detailed work rather than solo visionary auteurs. When the employers in the article talked about how the BYU students might be less artistically talented but are better technical workers than some of the more conventional art-school graduates, I definitely got the vibe that artistic talent was only a small part of the equation. But then again, that's always been true of the arts--from Rembrandt's workshop to the factory productions of Thomas Kinkaid (and please don't kill me for putting the two in the same sentence), solid dependable workers have always been the backbone of art production.
More troubling may be what happens when BYU graduates go from rendering textures to creative positions. Will they sanitize the hell out of animation with their family values and upbeat courtesy? I doubt it--children's animation is so clean already, it can't be sanitized so much as sterilized. Besides, rumors of a Mormon takeover of the animation studios are likely highly exaggerated. Mormons have been in the film industry for a long time, so if they were going to brainwash us with their religious values they'd have done it a long time ago. The students in the article may have a bit of problem giving honest critique and dealing with the darker aspects of creativity, but they're students. Give them some time in the entertainment industry--the rest of us will corrupt them yet.
Reading this article got me thinking about how much of modern media is a collaborative, or rather mass, effort. It may very well be that the bulk of creative jobs are more suited to craftspeople willing to do repetitive, detailed work rather than solo visionary auteurs. When the employers in the article talked about how the BYU students might be less artistically talented but are better technical workers than some of the more conventional art-school graduates, I definitely got the vibe that artistic talent was only a small part of the equation. But then again, that's always been true of the arts--from Rembrandt's workshop to the factory productions of Thomas Kinkaid (and please don't kill me for putting the two in the same sentence), solid dependable workers have always been the backbone of art production.
More troubling may be what happens when BYU graduates go from rendering textures to creative positions. Will they sanitize the hell out of animation with their family values and upbeat courtesy? I doubt it--children's animation is so clean already, it can't be sanitized so much as sterilized. Besides, rumors of a Mormon takeover of the animation studios are likely highly exaggerated. Mormons have been in the film industry for a long time, so if they were going to brainwash us with their religious values they'd have done it a long time ago. The students in the article may have a bit of problem giving honest critique and dealing with the darker aspects of creativity, but they're students. Give them some time in the entertainment industry--the rest of us will corrupt them yet.
