Rick Santorum on Art

Rick Santorum speaks on art and America.
Santorum quoted the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, reminding the audience that he once said, “Give me the storytellers and I will control the nation and a generation.”

“For us to sit here and think we’re going to win the country back politically when the culture continues to show your children when they watch that people like them are weird, people that hold your values are bigoted or hateful, it’s no wonder young people overwhelmingly are supporting the other side because they don’t know the truth,” Santorum said.

Santorum admitted that Christian-themed films and art were often times “inferior productions” even though they reflected traditional values.

As recently appointed CEO of EchoLight Studios, Santorum said his new mission was to go out and make “faith and family films” to affirm social values.

“I say to you: Can’t we make God beautiful?” he asked as the crowd applauded. “Why can’t we tell the truth the good and the beautiful in a way that’s compelling and entertaining and inspiring?”

Santorum said he would stay involved in politics but that true success would come from something outside of the political battle.
You've heard much the same thing here. He's quite right about it.

8 comments:

Eric Blair said...

Good luck with that, Rick. I'm pretty sure that train left with the abolition of the Hays code.

Probably even earlier.

Grim said...

Maybe not. There's some evidence that there's a market for it -- the success of the Bible miniseries last year (which, I admit, I did not watch at all) suggests that there was a large untapped market for shows like that.

The problem is partially that "Christian" versions of movies, music, etc., have chiefly been low-budget copies of the existing pop-culture. They need to be something else entirely. Instead of trying to say, "See, you can still have the music you love, and Jesus too!", they need to aim at the creation of a sense of the sacred -- something very different from everyday life, not something just like everyday life.

It certainly is possible to do that beautifully. Most of the great works of art of the last thousand years engage these things.

E Hines said...

...the success of the Bible miniseries last year....

That's only part of it, too. There's also a market stories about the individual succeeding against the majority, rejecting the easy ways out in favor of individual risk, individual responsibility, and so on. And for stories about an overreaching government official--or overreaching government--being stopped in this or that nefarious deed.

Even Hollywood could make these on occasion.

Eric Hines

douglas said...

Eric, you mean make stories like that where the government official or current regime (in the movie) isn't Republican. Yeah, that'll happen. The problem is, it's hard to break in to positions of power if your not a full card carrying member of the tribe in Hollywood, Broadway, or other entertainment centers.

The only way that changes is if people with money decide to start alternative mechanisms to get productions going and bypassing the current machinery.

Texan99 said...

I have a fantastic six-CD set called "Goodbye, Babylon" with old gospel music of the kind you might have heard on the radio in the 30s. The guy who put the set together said in an interview, "Why should the Devil have all the good music?" I don't know why it's hard to find good modern gospel music. We're in a disastrously namby-pamby phase. Check out "Goodbye, Babylon," though. It's made its way onto iTunes now, so you can browse and see if you like it.

The literature/cinema scene appears hopeless for now. I found myself picking up "That Hideous Strength" again last night, to read it for perhaps the 20th time. It would be amazing to find something new along those lines.

"The shadow of that Hideous Strength
Six miles and more it is in length."

(Referring to the Tower of Babel)

Eric Blair said...

Well, Hollywood did do "Christian" Epics once upon a time, but it's not like they think it will sell now.

Still, from what I've seen this summer, none of the "blockbuster" movies actually did the business they were supposed to, so maybe something else will have to be tried.

Ymar Sakar said...

Propaganda takes money and ruthless will power. Good luck getting that with the IRS sucking up all your disposable cash.

I guess George Soros and other Democrat billionaires can justify it as trickle up economics.

Ymar Sakar said...

“Why can’t we tell the truth the good and the beautiful in a way that’s compelling and entertaining and inspiring?”

Because the LEft won't let you.

When people wanted to vote in Good Democrats and think it was going to work because people are "reasonable", they misjudged the real problem.

There's no particular need to fund such projects. Denizens of the world has already produced the product. It merely has to be marketed here.

But once it is marketed, the Left will recognize it for what it is and send out the goon squads.