Our Focus on LDS Kids Videos

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LDS Kids' Videos - Download Online at Sun Swing TheaterRecently we pushed live a new page discussing our focus on LDS Kids videos and family entertainment.  Our reason for doing so was purely strategic, but it also allowed us to turn our attentions to those terms that people could be using to find more information about our project. In other words, I’ve kind of been shying away from branding our animated series of stories from The Friend magazine as being “LDS Kids Videos,” but at the end of the day, we realized that we were not giving people the information that they needed to find these videos online.

LDS Kids' Video - The DecisionSo does the Sun Swing Media Company produce LDS Kids’ Videos? The answer is an emphatic “Yes!” So why wouldn’t we want to be noted as such? We are very strongly opposed to the notion of segregation that tends to come with the label of LDS Kids Videos. Yes, these stories are intended for LDS children, but are they not also intended for Christian children, Catholic children,  Jewish children, and Muslim children, as well? Of course, they are.

At home, we find ourselves watching (and enjoying) Christian films, Muslim films, Jewish Films, and even Atheist films (you know, any film where there is no open acknowledgement of God’s hand influencing the course of the movie’s events…that seems to be the majority now a days).

However,  unfortunately, there will be those of other denominations and faiths who will take occasion with the subtle nuances of doctrinal distinction in an LDS film and cry “foul play!” For example, in our kids’ first film, “The Decision,” at the very end of the film, the father reinforces his position against pornography by stating “the prophet has warned us to stay away from it.”  “The Prophet” is  the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, distinct from other faiths. We could have easily swapped that out and simply said “God has warned  us to stay away from it.” However, in an effort to be more faithful to the source text, and because there are no direct Biblical statements about avoiding pornography, it made more sense to be clear and direct. (For as long as I can remember, I have heard prophets warn me to “avoid pornography…  like the plague.”)

So the issue we find ourselves asking is if it is necessary to sanitize the “LDS-ness” out of of our children’s videos so that they are more broadly accepted.  To this, our solution is to keep it as it is, and by so doing we feel it will be more universally true. In this sense then, our videos are truly LDS Kid’s Videos.

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Brent is married to a very supportive woman, is father of a large family, and went into business for himself in 2006.

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