Where Have All the Poet Songwriters Gone?

My family loves art in pretty much all of its forms. My husband, A, and I could spend forever in art museums. The type that like to look at every single piece of artwork in the gallery, we usually bore the others in our group to tears and find them camped out on benches waiting for us to finish. We watch films from across the globe. Undaunted by subtitles, we press on through country and decade in our quest to discover what world cinema has to offer us. And we can’t get enough music. We play it while driving in the car or cleaning the house. We even put on music in the evenings and dance with our boys. This is great fun and is also a great way to wear the kids out before bedtime.

But lately I’ve been thinking about this art that we love so much. It seems to me that there was a great deal more creativity and artistic talent in years past than there is now. Society does not seem to be producing, on the whole, the kind of artistic masterpieces that earlier generations produced. Why? I believe it’s our fault as consumers. We accept mediocrity. Let me give you an example.

In LDS or Mormon culture (the culture of those belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, of which I am one), there exists what is affectionately – or otherwise – known as the cottage industry. Essentially, the cottage industry is LDS artists – be they painters, musicians, poets, etc – producing works of art that pretty much only other LDS people would enjoy. Don’t get me wrong. In principle, it’s a great idea. There is so much in mainstream entertainment and art that is offensive. I wouldn’t want my children exposed to it and wouldn’t expose myself to much of it either. Enter the LDS cottage industry - providing art and entertainment without the offense. So where’s the problem? It all comes back to mediocrity. The cottage industry knows that they have a captive audience of sorts. There will always be LDS people willing to buy LDS cottage industry products. Therefore, the cottage industry has no incentive to make their products any better. Crank out those CDs and artwork calendars as fast as possible! The public is waiting! Never mind that the artistic quality of said products is about on par with a Jerry Bruckheimer film sans explosions. (Think about it – would you really have shelled out $8.50 just to listen to the dialogue from Pearl Harbor? Didn’t think so…). As long as the LDS public continues to support the cottage industry, the cottage industry will never have any reason to improve the quality of their products. After all, if the consumer is satisfied with mediocrity, the producer will be too. And this problem is not just confined to the LDS culture.

Which brings me to my original question: Where have all the poet songwriters gone? Answer: They have been stifled by our complacency. We the people, accepting mediocrity, have killed them.

So pay your $8.50 to see the latest not-much-in-the-way-of-a-story-but-they-blew-up-the-entire-Eastern- seaboard movie if you must. I, on the other hand, will be saving my pennies to support real art. And that CD of remade remakes? You can keep it! I’ve got my Simon & Garfunkel (or insert your favorite poet songwriter here).