The people behind South Park and Avenue Q are writing a musical about Mormons. No doubt we'll be hearing an official statement form the Church about how sinful it is any day now. They have a habit of decrying any depiction of Mormons that doesn't come from within. Often their denouncements show that they have not read or watched the media in question. The 13th Article of Faith says "If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things." The problem is that my own standards the South Park episode about Mormons was praiseworthy (particularly the end monologue by the Mormon) but if I was a good Mormon I wouldn't have watched it because it was "a gross portrayal" according to the Church. By calling foul on every portrayal of Mormonism they injure themselves more than if they let it go every once in a while. The Catholic Church doesn't shit bricks every time people bring up the Spanish Inquisition, the Mormon Church looses it over History Channel documentaries. The Church needs to stop issuing statements about how they have nothing to do with fundamentalists (i.e. polygamists). The only people who read those press releases are Mormons who know the difference and reporters who might mention how appalled the Church is if news is slow. I don't know anyone under the age of 40 who's been seriously mistaken for a polygamist. And that's the thing, almost every negative depiction of the church in recent days has actually been a negative depiction of a fundamentalist offshoot that practices polygamy (there are exceptions, off the top of my head: Latter Days critiques the Church's stance on LGBTQ matters and the South Park episode mostly made fun of the Church's origins.)
Why does the Church get in such a tizzy about these movies and TV shows? Well there's three reasons that spring to mind. First, an attitude of us verses them encourages solidarity among members. Second, The Church did face serious, life threatening persecution from its inception all the way through the 1800's . Third, up until sixty years ago most depictions of Mormons were extremely negative.
The most negative reaction I ever had to my former religion was from someone who only knew Mormons from Arthur Connon Doyle's "A Study in Scarlet" in which Mormons murder, kidnap, and threaten to marry someone against their will. And this was the way Mormons were represented in pop culture up until about 60 years ago. However, in the time since then we've had many strong, realistic characters. Anyone who follows House remembers Cole, the Black, Mormon, single father, who was the next to last candidate to get eliminated in House's search for new fellows. He was presented as someone who was extremely intelligent, funny, friendly, and willing to momentarily set aside his religious vow not to drink in order to potentially save someone's life. We never doubt that he is extremely devoted to his religion, he attacks House when House enters a prolonged diatribe on how vile Joseph Smith was. Cole was a real, relatable character. For a less positive, yet still very realistic character look at Latter Days, a movie about a closeted missionary who falls for his gay neighbor. The missionary is so ashamed after kissing his neighbor "You found me out, all right? My worst secret. Now I'm humiliated..." When he is sent home, his family will have nothing to do with him and he eventually attempts suicide because of the guilt and pressure being put on him by his church and family. Watching his family reject him made my heart break, I've seen families do this in real life. Latter Days is not nice to the Church, however, unlike its predecessors it is a fairly accurate depiction. Of course, instead of watching this "abomination" of a film, the Church read a synopsis--you can tell because they didn't mention anything that happened in the second half of the movie, the half that shows how badly the Church treats LGBTQ people.
It's because of things like the South Park episode that Mormons are no longer showing up as kidnappers in Sherlock Holmes stories. Instead they're pegged as close-minded, conservative, naive, model citizens. Is that such a bad thing? These days people seem to be more interested in mormon's underwear and abstinence from alcohol than their belief that the devil has special power over water, why not keep it that way? So if I were the Mormon Church, I'd say "Bring on 'The Book of Mormon'! We'll be there with pamphlets and smiles! Those motherfuckers'll never know what hit them!"
Thanks to George for the link
Interesting take. I'd never particularly thought about the shifting pop attitudes on mormonism
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