ry series, etc. One actor that has really caught our attention and admiration is Kirby Heyborne. After his supporting role as Dallen Martin in The Singles Ward, he played major roles in The R.M., Saints & Soldiers, The Book of Mormon Movie, The Best Two Years, Sons of Provo, Pirates of the Great Salt Lake, Take a Chance, and more. He seemed to become the face of LDS film.Unfortunately, the film industry is not like your typical 40 hour a week job and you have to work hard and pray harder as you audition for new roles in upcoming films, hoping that you can stay active as an actor in order to continue to support your family while doing what you love to do. No roles means no money for food, clothing, shelter and the other necessities of life for your family. That is the difficult decision Kirby faced when he was given the opportunity to play a small role in a Miller Lite beer commercial. The job would pay enough for his family to live for the next six months while he worked to get his next role, but I am sure you recognize how difficult this decision must have been for him. I wonder if he imagined just how much criticism and condemnation he would receive when he decided to go ahead and do the commercial.
I want to share with you the following article from MormonTimes.com written by LDS writer Orson Scott Card, author of the popular sci-fi story Ender's Game, and his take on Kirby's situation:
Heyborne in the age of purity
By Orson Scott Card
Published: Thursday, Jun. 19, 2008
I am so thrilled to be alive during this new Golden Age of righteousness and purity in the Mormon Church.
I wrote an essay a few weeks ago about how we all had to find our own place to draw the line between what the world asks of us and what we believe is consistent with being a good Latter-day Saint.
After all, the world has all the money and bestows it according to its own corrupt rules. Yet we must support ourselves and our families, and try to get in a position to make the world a better place.
So I figured we had to make some accommodation with the world, while trying to maintain righteousness and spirituality in our lives.
But now I see that I was wrong.
I've learned my lesson from what happened to Kirby Heyborne.
I had a chance to direct him in a play a few years ago and found him to be extraordinarily talented, disciplined, reliable and generous, both as an actor and as a man.
I was glad to think of him representing the church and gospel on movie sets throughout Hollywood.
But then he faced the temptation to work in a beer commercial. Enough pay for his family to live for half a year. A chance to be seen by Hollywood bigwigs. Not actually drinking beer or even pretending to drink beer. Fully clothed.
Me, I would have thought only a crazy man would turn that down. Apparently, he thought so, too.
But from the storm of condemnation Kirby has had dumped on him, I realize now that the church is far more pure than I had supposed. Good Mormons don't make such compromises!
We are in a golden age of righteousness!
That is why Mormons are resigning from any advertising agency that handles alcohol advertising, or creates ads that use seductive models or that entice people to spend beyond their means.
Mormons who work at TV and radio stations and for networks that accept advertising that in any way violates church standards are also quitting their jobs.
The Marriotts are ceasing to serve alcoholic beverages in their hotels; their own wine label is being shut down, and the current stock is being destroyed.
Mormons who own or work for convenience stores and restaurants and airports and broadcasters and, in short, any business that requires any employee to work on the Sabbath are now going to resign.
Not only that, but Mormons who teach at universities where atheism and anti-religious beliefs are taught by anyone are resigning their positions rather than lend their support, by implication, to such anti-Christian activities.
Mormons in government office, elective or appointive or merely hired, will all resign in protest whenever their branch of government passes a law or enforces a policy that is contrary to the teachings of the gospel.
In California, every Mormon in state government is writing a letter of resignation right now, rather than be part of a government that has, by judicial fiat, corrupted the meaning of marriage.
And no Mormon will remain in office in any state that runs a lottery or has legalized gambling.
Mormon lawyers will cease to represent any client whose actions might not have been righteous at all times.
Mormon businessmen will refuse to buy from suppliers or sell to customers or work in partnership with anyone who does not conduct their business according to the principles outlined in the Doctrine and Covenants -- which includes management according to Section 121 and accounting by the Law of Consecration.
Mormon writers will now refuse to depict or mention any act of violence or other sin of any kind. We will show only good people doing good, in a world of perfect goodness, where nothing thwarts or distracts people in their pursuit of righteousness.
Furthermore, the Bible, Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price are being revised to eliminate all reference to sin, making the scriptures so brief that now we can expect Primary children to memorize them in their entirety.
And, above all, because of Kirby Heyborne's tragically bad example, all Mormon actors will refuse to play any role where someone does something bad.
No Mormon will play Goneril or Regan or Edmund in King Lear, or Macbeth, or Othello, or Iago; the current temple films are being withdrawn, so that the character of Satan can be eliminated, lest some actor be required to portray him.
The temple ceremony will also be vastly shortened, since Adam and Eve now remain in the Garden forever.
In all this new purity in the church, there is no redemption for Kirby Heyborne. Despite his years of being the only thing worth watching in Mormon comedies, he not only helped sell Miller Lite to beer drinkers, but also, in his brilliant performance in "Saints and Soldiers," he played a character who smoked incessantly.
Yes, a lighted cigarette was in his mouth. There was no excuse for this. Plus, his character did and said things that weren't nice.
Never mind that in the story as a whole, the cigarette was a pivotal symbol used for profound moral teaching. Kirby, how could you?
You should have played only Glinda the Good Witch -- oh, wait, that would be cross-dressing.
OK, you should have waited for the chance to play Peter in a film about the life of Christ, and -- oh, wait, he denies Christ three times, and young Mormons might follow your example.
No, Kirby, you are forever condemned. Meanwhile, the rest of us, who are all living lives of perfect purity, are looking for manna from heaven so we can feed our children, since we will certainly not get any money from the world.
I don't mean to be sarcastic here, but ... Oh, wait. Yes I do.
Actors portray characters who do things that the actors themselves would not do. They take part in films in which there are scenes that don't meet church standards. The audience is supposed to understand that the actor did not actually do those things. That's why actors are not prosecuted for murder after playing Macbeth.
That is why actors playing characters in commercials are not considered to be endorsing the product being sold.
Mormon actors do exercise their own judgment and refuse to take part in productions that require them to violate their personal standards. A naked actor is as naked as the character. But that's a private decision, even if theirs is a public art.
Likewise, to the Mormon lady who wrote to me that she was sure I must not have been a Mormon when I wrote "Ender's Game," because of the "graphic violence" in the book: I was a Mormon then, and am a Mormon now, and would hand that book to the Savior if the occasion arose, because I'm proud of the complex moral reasoning in that story. I believe that those who read it with understanding are changed for the better by the experience.
Will anyone be changed for the better by Kirby Heyborne's appearance in a beer ad?
I doubt it. But because his career as an actor has been prolonged by another half year, he may be available to play a life-changing role when it comes along. Meanwhile, he has done no harm to anyone.
I just have one question. Now that I've resolved to write only pure books, how long will my family go hungry before the manna starts showing up in the morning?
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Orson Scott Card is a writer of nonfiction and fiction, from LDS works to popular fiction. "In the Village" appears Thursdays in the Deseret News.
http://www.mormontimes.com/ME_blogs.php?id=1346
I also recommend reading Kirby Heyborne: Mormon, actor, not yet a millionaire at MormonTimes.com where he discusses how carefully he and his wife made their decision to do the commercial.
7 comments:
Noelle asked me to take a look at this and weigh in. First of all, Orson Scott Card is a snarky creep. There's a good reason his comments are oozing with venom. He writes some disgusting things and has a fetish for little naked boys.
That has nothing to do with his arguments though, which are weak to the extreme. He takes the fact that we live in an imperfect world and uses that as an excuse to make any choice we want just to get by. We don't need to dance with the devil to earn a living. The problem wasn't with Kirby appearing in a movie where evil things are portrayed, the issue was the morality of waiting in line, auditioning and accepting the role endorsing a product that is forbidden in our religion. That's a huge difference from merely working for a company that sells alcohol, for instance.
Another point, is that each of us are in the process of becoming more and more holy. We're learning from our mistakes, and we make decisions now that we wouldn't in a few years. All of us do that. Kirby doesn't need to be vilified because he's made, in my opinion, a mistake. He just loses credibility with his target audience because of his choice. I'm willing to give him the space of a few years of growth to look back and shake his head that acting in that commercial seemed like such a good idea at the time. If making it big in the acting profession requires you to make sacrifices like personally endorsing alcohol, wouldn't it be better to find a different job? Maybe acting in theater? Or having a flexible day job and acting only when the right project turns up? It's easy for us to decide these things for someone else, but we've all had to make similar choices and have chosen wrong. That doesn't make Orson Scott Card right though. He's not. There's my two cents!
Personally, I love what Orson Card had to say. And I thought the commercial was hilarious. I loved Ender's Game, and many other of Mr. Card's works. Of course I also read and loved The Silence of the Lambs as well.
There are so many more important things to worry about than what some mormon actor is doing with his career. There are so many things in our own lives to worry about. We each have our own sins to work out. We don't need to point out the sins and flaws in others.
I don't think that by appearing in this commercial, Kirby personally endorses alcohol. He just took a job. I've had to take jobs that require me to work on sunday. I watch the Superbowl. I read Orson Scott Card and love his work. I don't consider any of those things sins.
Anyway, I haven't had a whole lot of time to think this out, and lunch is over for me, so I'll call it quits for now!
I was very sad to see that Missy's personal dislike of Orson Scott Card colored her comments so heavily. Card's comments were hardly venemous; sarcastic, yes (as they were intended), but not venemous. He did not attack a single soul. He used sarcasm (quite cleverly and humorously I might add) to illustrate how easily we judge other people's decisions and how wrong we are to do so. We don't know how hard and how long Kirby may have looked for something else; anything else. We don't know if he even personally auditioned for this part or if they saw him in something else and asked him to do it. We don't know what the Lord directed him to do in this difficult situation. That is between him and the Lord.
I know from personal experience the difficulty to make decisions that compromise what you would normally do. I normally would not choose a job that requires me to work on Sunday, but in order to provide for my family's needs and keep my wife in the home with our young children, I took a second job that has such a requirement ... and we have been blessed because of it. Getting another job isn't always the right answer because I did that and it still wasn't enough even though I received a bump in pay when I signed on. Maybe it wasn't the right answer for Kirby either. Who is qualified to be judge and jury to say we have chosen wrong?
To this day, I don't advocate working on the Sabbath and Kirby does not personally endorse drinking beer. We both made a decision that was outside our typical realm of comfort in order to provide for our loved ones. In the meantime, I do strive to be more holy. I attend church, read my scriptures, magnify my callings, do my home teaching, serve others at every opportunity and try and love everyone as Jesus did.
These decisions are never as cut-and-dried as they seem to the outside observer. Kirby did lose credibility with his typical target audience, but who knows what good will come of his being able to stay in that particular career another six months.
When all is said and done, I find Brother Card to be right in that he advocates that we not judge Brother Heybourne for his choice.
"...He that is without fault among you, let him first cast a stone...." (John 8:7)
No Andy, my personal opinion of him didn't color anything, and yes, I've read a lot of his books. No, I don't consider that a sin. His arguments are based on a false assumption. Personally endorsing something that's use would lose Kirby his his temple recommend crosses a line that I wouldn't cross. I don't condemn him for that, but I do think it will disappoint his fan base. Perhaps your strong opinions on the subject prevent your ability to discuss the subject objectively? Hmmm? If you only wanted agreement, you should have said that to begin with! I thought you wanted a discussion on the merits of Card's arguments and my opinion. My bad.
Missy, it is comforting to see that you, Brother Card and I are all making the same point - that we do not need to condem Kirby for his personal choices.
I swear Blogger.com is dropping letters every time I post a comment. I was sure I had spelled "condemn" in my previous post with an "n" at the end. Every comment I have made in the last two days has had a word with a letter left off the end. I am really not as illiterate as I come across in my comments.
The only thing I feel for Kirby is the compassion of experience. Every time each of us sell our birthright for pottage, even in tiny ways, it brings suffering eventually. No support or condemnation from others will spare him that. It's how we all learn that it hurts to sin. It's a good thing that no single choice is the end of the story.
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