Then someone said, “Oh, by
the way. You’ve got eight minutes.”
I am honored to be among you. I
come mostly to applaud you. To admire you. To encourage you
and wish you the spectacular lives you imagine on the wondrous
journey of creativity that can be yours.
Today you leave the sanctuary of
theory and the security of creation without commercial expectation.
Today you face the uncertain — and even frightening —
reality of finding your place, constructing a life, building
a career and making a difference in the remarkable worlds of
visual arts, communications, music, theater, media arts and
movies. Or most hopefully — your own ambitious vision
of who you are and what you are destined to become.
My life has been defined by motion
pictures. I can’t presume to offer pointed advice to so
many varied talents and so many diverse aspirations. But in
one thing I believe we are all the same. We were born with that
inexplicable passion to create.
The world believes the creative
process is largely based on the unconscious mind and some mystical
interaction of subconscious forces about which very little is
known or understood. In using your the talents — and as
you experience the joys of creativity — I urge you to
remember from whence those “forces” truly come.
You must never forget that you have been blessed with these
gifts. They come from God. And with those talents and this awareness
come an enormous responsibility that is not without consequences.
Prophets understand with clarity
and have declared, “The spirit of Christ is the medium
of intelligence that guides inventors, scientists, artists,
composers, poets, and authors — when they set their hands
to do that which is for the benefit and blessing of their fellowmen.”
(Bruce R. McConkie)
Philosophers recognize the connection
between great art ? and the powers of heaven. Ruskin said it
perfectly. “All great art is the expression of man's delight
in god's work and not his own.”
Missionary Moment
You imagine a future defined by
creativity fulfillment — but it will not be realized without
difficult decisions and consequential choices. I learned that
early in my career. When I was nominated for an Academy Award
— they announced that Raquel Welch was presenting the
Oscar. If you win, the proper protocol is to kiss the presenter.
Now that is a difficult decision and consequential choice.
I can sense you don't appreciate
the terror I felt because you are too young to remember Raquel
Welch. Well, you can glean from the grin on the face of your
favorite gray-haired professor all you need to know about “this
woman.” Oh. And they are saying, “So what’s
the problem?”
But you have to look at it from
my perspective. If I kiss this glamorous movie star in her plunging
neckline gown, not only do I have to explain it to my darling
wife sitting in the fifth row. I have to explain it to my very
old fashioned mother watching on television in Farmington,
Utah. On the other hand, if I don't kiss her ? well, I have
to explain it to the Elders Quorum.
In the days that followed... What?
Oh. Dean Jones wonders if I kissed her. Well Dr. Jones, my father
taught me to love my neighbor as myself. So… Besides,
you never want to miss a missionary moment.
All About Me
You can be sure the criteria for
making all of the difficult decisions and consequential choices
along the path of my passion to be a filmmaker began to take
form. In the days that followed the Academy Awards I was adored.
I was applauded. I was sought out, praised and honored by men.
It was awesome! But the worst of it is that I really began to
believe it. I really began to think I was terrific. That it
was all about me. That I was, “way cool and brilliant
and gifted and the hot shot young...”
And then my 8-year-old daughter
tugged on my pant leg. With all the flashing lights I hadn’t
seen her for days. Forgotten her really. It was about me after
all! Wasn’t it?
“That little gold doll you
brought home is really important, isn’t it Daddy.”
“Very important.”
“Do you love it?” she
asked.
“I do. I think I do. I love
it.”
“Do you love it more than
you love me?”
Like an avalanche of stone it fell
on me. I wasn’t suddenly some break-away brilliant filmmaker
or “auteur." I wasn’t even a real celebrity.
I was my little girl’s dad. I was the gospel doctrine
teacher. But in that brief and blinding moment of counterfeit
fame — in the rush of ego and intoxication of self-centeredness
— I had brushed my children aside and let go of the iron
rod.
I dropped to my knees, embraced
my sweet little girl and said, “There is nothing in this
world I love more than I love you.”
“Good, may I take it to show
and tell?”
Well, the glittering gold Oscar
did go to show and tell. It was dressed in doll clothes and
pulled about in a little red wagon. It was eventually dropped
and broken by a very sick little boy in the children’s
hospital who had wanted to hold a real Oscar before he died.
New Perspective
These events put my life as a filmmaker
into an important new perspective. They left me determined to
measure the probable consequence of every choice by two criteria:
My family and the principles of the gospel. The mist of darkness
frightened me. The parable of the iron rod was suddenly very
real. I grasped hold and have clung in desperation every since.
My failings and foibles notwithstanding,
these choices have guided me and been a source of creative confidence.
Priorities of family, gospel and iron rod have worked for me
and I am impressed to recommend them to you. It’s free
advice. But I promise it has great value.
Today you march into the raging
flames of popular culture. Media in all their marvelous manifestations
are the most powerful and important influence on culture, humanity,
politics, religion, morality and ultimately the future of civilization.
It is a bold and brutal battle for the hearts and minds of men
and women — and increasingly, our children.
It seems a new phenomenon but is
in fact a conflict started long ago in a kingdom far away. Hostilities
increase. We are relentlessly bombarded with dazzling images,
pulsating sounds, mesmerizing music and increasingly messages
of potential mass destruction.
But at the same time ? it is the
most exhilarating place on earth. There is no better place for
you to be to focus your energy, use your talent and make a difference.
As a warrior in the battles of popular culture you have wonderful
weapons and truly terrific toys that will enable you to communicate,
educate, enlighten and entertain in ways unimaginable only a
few years ago.
Though I have to say, as one
who has worked so hard to create spectacular images for the
giant screen, it is painful you can now watch my movies on your
cell phone.
The challenges are great and those
with “ears to hear” may catch the clarion call to
speak in the universal language of art to “every nation,
kindred, tongue and people.”
Commitment Needed
Today is called “commencement”
for good reason. It is the end of your formal education but
the moment of your beginning. And you have arrived just in time.
The world is in desperate need of your talent, your passion
and most of all your commitment ?
In the 40 years since there has
been a wellspring of marvelous creativity bubbling up within
the Church. Much of it has come from BYU Alumni ? a lot of it
from students who were trained right here in the excellent College
of Fine Arts and Communications. In word, paint, clay and stone,
music, recording and song. A profusion of remarkable fine art
and illustration, sculpture, world-wide broadcasts, television,
theater, home fronts, literature and films have begun to tell
“our story.” Some proclaim the prophecy fulfilled.
But I believe it has only begun.
Telling "Our Story"
With some important and notable
exceptions we have largely been speaking to ourselves and inspiring
each other. It is time for us to speak — with an even
more excellent voice — to all the world. And I don’t
mean with movies about missionaries, paintings from scripture
or books about pioneers.
“Our story” is much
richer than our history and much broader than our culture. It
is a story of universal themes and eternal truths that appeal
to the good in people everywhere ? themes embracing family,
traditional values, virtue, faith, Christianity, brotherhood,
charity. The list is very long.
As you enter the world of media,
communications and art, I believe you have a remarkable opportunity
to tell “our story” by the example of your professional
lives — by making difficult decisions and consequential
choices. You can tell “our story” by the spirit
of who you are and what you do ? by the magnitude of your impossible
dreams that hopefully embrace righteousness, goodness, virtue
unceasingly and the consequential choices of immortality.
“Tomorrow” is now.
You are the vision that the prophet saw when he said, “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,” —
and now I paraphrase — “To their myriad creations
of great worth and value.”
Impossible Dream?
Impossible dream? Perhaps.
You will need to run where the
brave dare not go. You will need to fight for the right without
question or pause and I hope each of you can find the courage
to strive for “unreachable stars.”
The universe may be a well-ordered
whole, but your place in it is up to you. You create the cosmic
rhythm of your life.
And now more free advice.
Live your life deliberately. Impose
your creative will. Use your imagination. Change the pattern
of things. Create a life defined by your actions — not
by a reaction to people or circumstances just because you suppose
“that’s the way things are.”
Do not allow your life to take
its course without your permission. When everything seems to
be moving you in one direction, look to the right and look to
the left. Pause at the curb of the information superhighway
like a child about to cross a busy street and wonder. Is it
the wisest course? Is the crowded pedestrian walkway —
though seemingly safe and predictable — truly the path
that leads you to your aspirations — to your distant star?
Kick over every rock. Open every
door. Opportunity is often found in unexpected places and getting
to unexpected places usually requires leaving the comfort zone.
Exploring the unpredictable. Remember this: Your own creativity
is ultimately the only real security.
“What man can imagine he
can achieve. Impossibles are impossibles only as thinking makes
it so. I always have to dream up there against the stars. If
I don't dream I'll make it I won't even get close.” My
first film was based on this vision of Henry Kaiser. I called
it, What Man Can Imagine.
You are the vision that the prophet
saw. Dare to dream impossible dreams. Embrace your gifts with
gratitude and humility. And one day looking back across your
life you will see there was a destiny.
I promise you today that there
is great purpose in your life. I applaud your accomplishment.
I admire your gifts. I encourage you and wish for each of you
the spectacular life that you imagine on your wondrous journey
of creativity and life.
God speed.
