This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This editorial has been bugging me for a few days. It also made me think of the above video clip. Now I've looked at it (the sketch, that is) again and I feel better. I bet you will, too.
— Welcome the Sundance Film Festival — Deseret News Editorial
" ... It has been our longstanding view that any media that manipulates audiences through violence and sexually explicit content comes with high social costs. The cumulative consumption of such fare weakens our social fabric and corrodes individual dignity.
"Consequently, we would hope that festival organizers and judges would consider not only high production values, but also high personal values (e.g., compassion, courage and virtue) when making selections and awards. Our hope is that today's most innovative cinematographers would use their craft to delight audiences with stories that honor and enhance, rather than shock, our moral sense. ..."
Which would exclude, let's see, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, maybe Romeo and Juliet, Arthur Miller, David Mamet, Tennessee Williams, large sections of the Bible. You get the idea. No, not a lot of "sexually explicit content" in those, but sex is a major theme. And not the kind that leaves everyone smiling.
Here's me on this a few years ago:
— Film first, criticism afterward — George Pyle | The Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 18, 2013
" ... critics from the ultra-right Sutherland Institute are again finding fault with the fact that the state of Utah is one of the financial sponsors of Sundance Film Festival. The fact that the annual movie marathon brings some $80 million in prized economic activity doesn't, according to these critics, balance the fact that many of the films on the menu are 'obscenity' or 'pornography'.
"These are conclusions reached by reading blurbs about film plots and characters but not, as far as anyone can tell, having actually seen the films. Or realizing that the whole point of art is to look at all facets of human life, including racism (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), anti-semitism (The Merchant of Venice) and great big murderous fish (Moby Dick) without, necessarily, advocating or glorifying those downsides of our nature. ..."