Portrayals of Mormons in popular media
Encyclopedia
Mormon
s have been portrayed in popular media many times. These portrayals often emphasize controversy such as polygamy or myths about the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
Arthur Conan Doyle
's detective novel A Study in Scarlet
is one such portrayal that caused controversy. Mormons viewed the portrayal of the Danites in the book as highly erroneous, being yet another instance of anti-Mormon
antagonism in popular media. Conan Doyle, according to his daughter, had relied upon what had been published about Mormons by former Mormons (historians believing these probably to be Fannie Stenhouse, William A. Hickman, William Jarman, John Hyde, and Ann Eliza Young
), believing those accounts to be factual. Conan Doyle visited the United States in 1923, and one leg of his lecture tour took him to the University of Utah
, to lecture on spiritualism. During his stay he received a letter from a Dr. G. Hodgson Higgins, who had formed his impressions of Mormonism based upon the portrayal in A Study in Scarlet, which "gave the impression that murder was a common practice among them", and who suggested that Conan Doyle "express his regret at having propagated falsehoods about the Mormon Church and people". Conan Doyle refused to withdraw what he had written about the Danites and the murders, on the grounds that it was a matter of historical record, but stated that his treatment in the novel was more "lurid" than the treatment by a history textbook would have been, and promised that in the future his portrayals of the Latter-day Saints would be based upon his firsthand experience of them on his visit. Subsequent Mormon characters in Conan Doyle's work were indeed more sympathetic.
Jules Verne
's classic novel Around the World in 80 Days references a "Mormon Elder" who launches into a diatribe about his religion in a railcar where passengers Phileas Fogg, Detective Fix, Princess Auooda, and Passepartout become a captive audience. Verne follows the 19th century propensity to view polygamy as central to Mormonism, going so far as to call it, "the sole basis of the religion."
Portrayals of Mormons and of Mormonism in movies have also drawn criticism, with critics such as d'Arc describing the bulk of what the world heard of Mormons in the 19th and early 20th century, via the literature of the day, as "polygamy, mystic revelations to modern prophets, golden bibles, and scheming missionaries adding continually to their harem of wives", and stating that that this portrayal found its way into movies. He gives two examples of the films from 1905 to 1936 that incorporate this: the 1911 Danish film A Victim of the Mormons
, where a young Mormon missionary in Copenhagen lures the fianceé of a close friend to elope with him to Utah, whereupon he locks her in his basement (a film whose showing Governor of Utah William Spry
fought to prevent); and the 1917 film A Mormon Maid, incorporating what d'Arc describes as "the innocent-daughter-catching-the-eye-of-powerful-Mormon-leader formula". D'Arc argues that the reason that such portrayals became sparse in the 1930s was the introduction of the Hays and later Breen regulatory code
s, which sharply curtailed the portrayal of polygamy in movies.
Portrayals of Mormon characters in popular writing have not been universally viewed as negative by Mormons. The portrayals of Mormons in the work of Orson Scott Card
, himself a Mormon, have been viewed as sympathetic portrayals of the Mormon world view that reach hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide, and thus that form a useful starting point for Mormons to explain Mormonism to non-Mormons. Similarly, the portrayals of Mormons and of Mormonism presented by Charles Dickens
(describing the industrious, orderly nature of the Mormon emigrants he encountered on a ship leaving England), John Stuart Mill
(using Mormon beliefs as test cases for his assertion that government should not interfere in the private lives of individuals), George Bernard Shaw
(carrying Mill's argument further), Wallace Stegner
(in The Gathering of Zion), and Harold Bloom
(extolling Mormonism as the quintessential American Religion and Joseph Smith as "an authentic religious genius, unique in our national history") are all seen to be sympathetic to Mormons.
Mormon literary critics such as Michael Austin consider the portrayal of Mormons in popular writing to have completely changed over the course of the 20th century, with the portrayal of Mormonism in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century being that of "a harsh, theocratic, and conspiratorial frontier community" and "a sinister secret society bent on tracking down and destroying its enemies wherever in the world they tried to hide" and of Mormons being icons of lawlessness, chaos, and sexual promiscuity, conceptions of Mormons and Mormonism that he views to have been incorporated into the works of Mark Twain
, Robert Louis Stevenson
, Jack London
, Arthur Conan Doyle
, and Zane Grey
(and even the 1995 made-for-TV movie The Avenging Angel); whereas the portrayal at the end of the 20th century, in works by writers from Tom Clancy
to Tony Kushner
, being that of people who are "hyperobedient, patriotic, conservative, and, in all probability, sexually repressed". He argues that although the portrayal has changed, its relation to mainstream society has not. In both cases, the portrayal of Mormons and Mormonism is highly distinct from the mainstream, he argues, with the 19th century portrayal being in stark contrast to the Victorian values of the time, and the late 20th century portrayal being (ironically) that of a "Victorian misfit in a promiscuous society". He argues that the rôle of Mormons and Mormonism in popular writing is "to establish a foil for the [mainstream] values supported in the text".
After a lengthy analysis of Mormon stereotypes in popular fiction, Austin draws the following conclusions:
is the story of a young Mormon who gets roped into making a pornographic movie.
stars Bill Paxton
as Bill Henrickson
, a modern-day polygamist who lives in suburban Salt Lake City with his three wives and seven children. Commentators such as Jesella and Ryan point out that polygamy was banned by the LDS Church "more than 100 years ago" and is against the law in Utah, the state where the show is set; and that the family explicitly isn't Mormon, with a statement to that effect preceding the first episode, but is presented as "being some sort of cult-like offshoot of the church". Other commentators have simply described the Henricksons as a "Mormon family" and left it to others to draw the distinction. The show has caused controversy, with Mormons and Church leaders reacting to what they perceive as being a veiled stereotype. The LDS Church released an official statement saying:
HBO defended its show, asserting that its portrayal of the characters as outside of the LDS Church and continually having to hide their status from other people actually helps to educate non-Mormons about Mormonism, with Carolyn Strauss, president of HBO Entertainment, saying:
The show again hit a sensitive spot when, in 2009, they recreated a temple ceremony that members of the Church consider to be sacred. The creators deemed it "a very important part of the story" and made it clear that they were going to air the episode as planned after "apologizing" for offending anyone.
The Church's response to the news about the ceremony stated that as an institution, they would not call for a boycott. Also, they stated that despite assurances three years ago from HBO and the creators of "Big Love" that the show was not about Mormons, Mormon themes and increasingly unsympathetic characters were being woven into the show.
Commentators have been surprised by the portrayal of Mormons in South Park
. Mormon commentators have described it as "unexpectedly, our best treatment". In South Park, while Mormon characters are "generally pollyannas with bike helmets and missionary tags", and an entire episode, "All About Mormons
", is devoted to lampooning Joseph Smith, Jr. and the founding of the religion, the portrayal is considered to be generally positive. In the episode Super Best Friends
, Joseph Smith is portrayed positively, appearing in a Superfriends parody involving other religious figures who are allied in the fight against David Blaine
. In South Park it is only the Mormons who "got it right" and who go to Heaven after death and all adherents of other religions go to Hell, though this 'reversal of fortune' is likely just a literary device for giving debates of religious salvation
a humorously ironic
twist, rather than a meaningful endorsement of Mormonism (note creator Trey Parker
's parodic portrayal of a Mormon character in Orgazmo
). And the Mormon characters in the series are the only ones who commentators view to be "consistently compassionate, or even courteous".
was released in 2003. Set in Los Angeles, California, it portrays a young party animal who sets out to seduce an LDS missionary, but ends up falling in love with him. The film received mixed reviews, and was banned in one movie theater chain. However, reception of the film at some film festivals was very positive, including standing ovations. The movie was a commercial success and has received at least nine 'best film' awards.
's film, Last Days
, which is inspired by the final hours of Kurt Cobain
's life, shows an addled musician being visiting by Latter Day Saint missionaries. The character is unresponsive and puzzled by their presence.
entitled The Strangers
, two children—named "Mormon Kid 1" and "Mormon Kid 2"—make a brief appearance at the end of the film. They hand Christian
pamphlets to the 3 murderers as they drive away from a murder scene.
musical
opened on Broadway
entitled The Book of Mormon. Conceived by Trey Parker
, Matt Stone
, and Robert Lopez
, the play tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries
sent to a remote village in northern Uganda
, where a brutal warlord is threatening the local population. Naive and optimistic, the two missionaries try to share their scriptures — which only one of them knows very well — but have trouble connecting with the locals, who are worried about famine
, poverty
, and AIDS
.
features an episode about religion in which the Mormon missionaries turn up at her house and discuss religion. She mistakes them for undertakers, and holds them "hostage" for a couple of hours.
to run for United States President in 2008.
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
s have been portrayed in popular media many times. These portrayals often emphasize controversy such as polygamy or myths about the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
In the 19th and 20th centuries
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
's detective novel A Study in Scarlet
A Study in Scarlet
A Study in Scarlet is a detective mystery novel written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, introducing his new character of Sherlock Holmes, who later became one of the most famous literary detective characters. He wrote the story in 1886, and it was published the next year...
is one such portrayal that caused controversy. Mormons viewed the portrayal of the Danites in the book as highly erroneous, being yet another instance of anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed at members of the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
antagonism in popular media. Conan Doyle, according to his daughter, had relied upon what had been published about Mormons by former Mormons (historians believing these probably to be Fannie Stenhouse, William A. Hickman, William Jarman, John Hyde, and Ann Eliza Young
Ann Eliza Young
Ann Eliza Young also known as Ann Eliza Webb Dee Young Denning was one of Brigham Young's fifty-five wives and later a critic of polygamy...
), believing those accounts to be factual. Conan Doyle visited the United States in 1923, and one leg of his lecture tour took him to the University of Utah
University of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
, to lecture on spiritualism. During his stay he received a letter from a Dr. G. Hodgson Higgins, who had formed his impressions of Mormonism based upon the portrayal in A Study in Scarlet, which "gave the impression that murder was a common practice among them", and who suggested that Conan Doyle "express his regret at having propagated falsehoods about the Mormon Church and people". Conan Doyle refused to withdraw what he had written about the Danites and the murders, on the grounds that it was a matter of historical record, but stated that his treatment in the novel was more "lurid" than the treatment by a history textbook would have been, and promised that in the future his portrayals of the Latter-day Saints would be based upon his firsthand experience of them on his visit. Subsequent Mormon characters in Conan Doyle's work were indeed more sympathetic.
Jules Verne
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's classic novel Around the World in 80 Days references a "Mormon Elder" who launches into a diatribe about his religion in a railcar where passengers Phileas Fogg, Detective Fix, Princess Auooda, and Passepartout become a captive audience. Verne follows the 19th century propensity to view polygamy as central to Mormonism, going so far as to call it, "the sole basis of the religion."
Portrayals of Mormons and of Mormonism in movies have also drawn criticism, with critics such as d'Arc describing the bulk of what the world heard of Mormons in the 19th and early 20th century, via the literature of the day, as "polygamy, mystic revelations to modern prophets, golden bibles, and scheming missionaries adding continually to their harem of wives", and stating that that this portrayal found its way into movies. He gives two examples of the films from 1905 to 1936 that incorporate this: the 1911 Danish film A Victim of the Mormons
A Victim of the Mormons
A Victim of the Mormons is a 1911 Danish silent film directed by August Blom. The film was controversial for demonizing the Mormon religion, and its box-office success is cited for initiating a decade of anti-Mormon propaganda films in America...
, where a young Mormon missionary in Copenhagen lures the fianceé of a close friend to elope with him to Utah, whereupon he locks her in his basement (a film whose showing Governor of Utah William Spry
William Spry
William Spry was an American politician and the third Governor of Utah.Spry was born at Windsor, Berkshire, England. He emigrated to Utah Territory with his parents at the age of eleven....
fought to prevent); and the 1917 film A Mormon Maid, incorporating what d'Arc describes as "the innocent-daughter-catching-the-eye-of-powerful-Mormon-leader formula". D'Arc argues that the reason that such portrayals became sparse in the 1930s was the introduction of the Hays and later Breen regulatory code
Production Code
The Motion Picture Production Code was the set of industry moral censorship guidelines that governed the production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios from 1930 to 1968. It is also popularly known as the Hays Code, after Hollywood's chief censor of the...
s, which sharply curtailed the portrayal of polygamy in movies.
Portrayals of Mormon characters in popular writing have not been universally viewed as negative by Mormons. The portrayals of Mormons in the work of Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card
Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...
, himself a Mormon, have been viewed as sympathetic portrayals of the Mormon world view that reach hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide, and thus that form a useful starting point for Mormons to explain Mormonism to non-Mormons. Similarly, the portrayals of Mormons and of Mormonism presented by Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
(describing the industrious, orderly nature of the Mormon emigrants he encountered on a ship leaving England), John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
(using Mormon beliefs as test cases for his assertion that government should not interfere in the private lives of individuals), George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
(carrying Mill's argument further), Wallace Stegner
Wallace Stegner
Wallace Earle Stegner was an American historian, novelist, short story writer, and environmentalist, often called "The Dean of Western Writers"...
(in The Gathering of Zion), and Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
(extolling Mormonism as the quintessential American Religion and Joseph Smith as "an authentic religious genius, unique in our national history") are all seen to be sympathetic to Mormons.
Mormon literary critics such as Michael Austin consider the portrayal of Mormons in popular writing to have completely changed over the course of the 20th century, with the portrayal of Mormonism in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century being that of "a harsh, theocratic, and conspiratorial frontier community" and "a sinister secret society bent on tracking down and destroying its enemies wherever in the world they tried to hide" and of Mormons being icons of lawlessness, chaos, and sexual promiscuity, conceptions of Mormons and Mormonism that he views to have been incorporated into the works of Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
, Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
, Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, and Zane Grey
Zane Grey
Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the Old West. Riders of the Purple Sage was his bestselling book. In addition to the success of his printed works, they later had second lives and continuing influence...
(and even the 1995 made-for-TV movie The Avenging Angel); whereas the portrayal at the end of the 20th century, in works by writers from Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
to Tony Kushner
Tony Kushner
Anthony Robert "Tony" Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1993 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Life and career:Kushner was born...
, being that of people who are "hyperobedient, patriotic, conservative, and, in all probability, sexually repressed". He argues that although the portrayal has changed, its relation to mainstream society has not. In both cases, the portrayal of Mormons and Mormonism is highly distinct from the mainstream, he argues, with the 19th century portrayal being in stark contrast to the Victorian values of the time, and the late 20th century portrayal being (ironically) that of a "Victorian misfit in a promiscuous society". He argues that the rôle of Mormons and Mormonism in popular writing is "to establish a foil for the [mainstream] values supported in the text".
After a lengthy analysis of Mormon stereotypes in popular fiction, Austin draws the following conclusions:
- To the extent that popular literature is able to reflect popular sentiment, Mormons are not as well perceived in the larger American culture as most people would like to believe.
- Most of these negative images have been fixed since the 19th century.
- These stereotypes should not be confused with genuine political critique.
- By studying the way that Mormons are portrayed in popular genre fiction insight can be gained into the way that Mormonism functions as a category in American culture.
In the 21st century
Positive portrayal of Mormons in popular media is still seen by Mormons as rare in the 21st century, with most portrayals being viewed as "usually just polygamy jokes for a cheap laugh, or the 'hip' thing nowadays — gay Mormon missionaries."Orgazmo
OrgazmoOrgazmo
Orgazmo is a 1997 comedy film written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated series South Park, and directed by Parker.-Plot:...
is the story of a young Mormon who gets roped into making a pornographic movie.
Big Love
The HBO show Big LoveBig Love
Big Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
stars Bill Paxton
Bill Paxton
William "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
as Bill Henrickson
Bill Henrickson
William Orville "Bill" Henrickson is the fictional protagonist husband in a polygamous family in the HBO series Big Love, portrayed by Bill Paxton. He is married to three wives, Barbara Henrickson, Nicolette Grant and Margene Heffman...
, a modern-day polygamist who lives in suburban Salt Lake City with his three wives and seven children. Commentators such as Jesella and Ryan point out that polygamy was banned by the LDS Church "more than 100 years ago" and is against the law in Utah, the state where the show is set; and that the family explicitly isn't Mormon, with a statement to that effect preceding the first episode, but is presented as "being some sort of cult-like offshoot of the church". Other commentators have simply described the Henricksons as a "Mormon family" and left it to others to draw the distinction. The show has caused controversy, with Mormons and Church leaders reacting to what they perceive as being a veiled stereotype. The LDS Church released an official statement saying:
- The Church has long been concerned about the continued illegal practice of polygamy, and, in particular, about reports of child and wife abuse emanating from polygamous communities today. It will be regrettable if this program, by making polygamy the subject of entertainment, minimizes the seriousness of the problem. Placing the series in Salt Lake City, the international headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is enough to blur the line between the modern Church and the program's subject matter, and to reinforce old and long-outdated stereotypes. Big Love, like so much other television programming, is essentially lazy and indulgent entertainment that does nothing for our society and will never nourish great minds.
HBO defended its show, asserting that its portrayal of the characters as outside of the LDS Church and continually having to hide their status from other people actually helps to educate non-Mormons about Mormonism, with Carolyn Strauss, president of HBO Entertainment, saying:
- It is interesting how many people are ignorant about the Mormon church and think that the Mormon church actually does condone polygamy. So in an odd way, the show is sort of beneficial in drawing that distinction.
The show again hit a sensitive spot when, in 2009, they recreated a temple ceremony that members of the Church consider to be sacred. The creators deemed it "a very important part of the story" and made it clear that they were going to air the episode as planned after "apologizing" for offending anyone.
The Church's response to the news about the ceremony stated that as an institution, they would not call for a boycott. Also, they stated that despite assurances three years ago from HBO and the creators of "Big Love" that the show was not about Mormons, Mormon themes and increasingly unsympathetic characters were being woven into the show.
Cold Case
The portrayal of Mormons in Cold Case has also drawn criticism for being disrespectful by Chris Hicks. He has criticized the show for being an example of the unequal treatment of Mormons, stating that where insane people of other religions are portrayed in television drama, pains are taken to point out as part of the plot that they are "non-practicing", yet no such pains are taken when it comes to Mormons; and that instead, the faith is seen as directly related to the insanity of one character and that all Mormons were strange people. He also expressed concerns that the temple garments of Mormons did not receive the same sympathetic dramatic treatment or respect as do the sacred symbols of other religions.South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
. Mormon commentators have described it as "unexpectedly, our best treatment". In South Park, while Mormon characters are "generally pollyannas with bike helmets and missionary tags", and an entire episode, "All About Mormons
All About Mormons
"All About Mormons", also known as "All About the Mormons?", is the twelfth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 108th overall episode of the series. It was originally broadcast on Comedy Central in the United States on November 19, 2003...
", is devoted to lampooning Joseph Smith, Jr. and the founding of the religion, the portrayal is considered to be generally positive. In the episode Super Best Friends
Super Best Friends
"Super Best Friends" is the third episode of the fifth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 68th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on July 4, 2001. The episode depicts several religious figures, including Muhammad,...
, Joseph Smith is portrayed positively, appearing in a Superfriends parody involving other religious figures who are allied in the fight against David Blaine
David Blaine
David Blaine is an American illusionist and endurance artist. He is best known for his high-profile feats of endurance, and has made his name as a performer of street and close-up magic. He has set and broken several world records...
. In South Park it is only the Mormons who "got it right" and who go to Heaven after death and all adherents of other religions go to Hell, though this 'reversal of fortune' is likely just a literary device for giving debates of religious salvation
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
a humorously ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
twist, rather than a meaningful endorsement of Mormonism (note creator Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
's parodic portrayal of a Mormon character in Orgazmo
Orgazmo
Orgazmo is a 1997 comedy film written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated series South Park, and directed by Parker.-Plot:...
). And the Mormon characters in the series are the only ones who commentators view to be "consistently compassionate, or even courteous".
Latter Days
The gay romantic drama Latter DaysLatter Days
Latter Days is a 2003 American romantic drama film about a gay relationship between a closeted Mormon missionary and his openly gay neighbor. The film was written and directed by C. Jay Cox. It stars Steve Sandvoss as the missionary, Aaron, and Wes Ramsey as the neighbor, Christian. Joseph...
was released in 2003. Set in Los Angeles, California, it portrays a young party animal who sets out to seduce an LDS missionary, but ends up falling in love with him. The film received mixed reviews, and was banned in one movie theater chain. However, reception of the film at some film festivals was very positive, including standing ovations. The movie was a commercial success and has received at least nine 'best film' awards.
Last Days
Gus Van SantGus Van Sant
Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician, and author. He is a two time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1997 film Good Will Hunting and his 2008 film Milk, both of which were also nominated for Best Picture, and won the...
's film, Last Days
Last Days (film)
Last Days is a 2005 American film directed, produced, and written by Gus Van Sant, and is a fictionalized account of the last days of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. It was released to theaters in the United States on July 22, 2005, and was produced by HBO. The film stars Michael Pitt as the...
, which is inspired by the final hours of Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
's life, shows an addled musician being visiting by Latter Day Saint missionaries. The character is unresponsive and puzzled by their presence.
The Strangers
In the 2008 American horror filmHorror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
entitled The Strangers
The Strangers
The Strangers is a 2008 American horror film written and directed by Bryan Bertino, and starring Liv Tyler, Scott Speedman, Glenn Howerton, Gemma Ward, Laura Margolis, and Kip Weeks...
, two children—named "Mormon Kid 1" and "Mormon Kid 2"—make a brief appearance at the end of the film. They hand Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
pamphlets to the 3 murderers as they drive away from a murder scene.
The Book of Mormon musical
In March of 2011, a religious satireReligious satire
Religious satire is a form of satire targeted at religion and religious practices. Religious satire can be the result of agnosticism or atheism, but it can also have its roots in belief itself...
musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
entitled The Book of Mormon. Conceived by Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
, Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....
, and Robert Lopez
Robert Lopez
Robert Lopez is an American composer and lyricist of musicals best known for co-writing the Broadway musical Avenue Q and for co-creating the musical The Book of Mormon, receiving Tony Awards for both works....
, the play tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries
Missionary (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
sent to a remote village in northern Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
, where a brutal warlord is threatening the local population. Naive and optimistic, the two missionaries try to share their scriptures — which only one of them knows very well — but have trouble connecting with the locals, who are worried about famine
Famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
, poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
, and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
.
Mrs Brown's Boys
Irish hit series, Mrs. Brown's BoysMrs. Brown's Boys
Mrs Brown's Boys is an Irish sitcom created by and starring Dublin writer-performer Brendan O'Carroll, who plays the title character Mrs. Brown. The programme is a co-production between BBC Comedy and BocPix in association with RTÉ....
features an episode about religion in which the Mormon missionaries turn up at her house and discuss religion. She mistakes them for undertakers, and holds them "hostage" for a couple of hours.
See also
- Media biasMedia biasMedia bias refers to the bias of journalists and news producers within the mass media in the selection of events and stories that are reported and how they are covered. The term "media bias" implies a pervasive or widespread bias contravening the standards of journalism, rather than the...
- Mormonism and ChristianityMormonism and ChristianityMormonism and Christianity have a complex theological, historical, and sociological relationship. Mormons express the doctrines of Mormonism using standard biblical terminology, and have similar views about the nature of Jesus' atonement, bodily resurrection, and Second Coming as traditional...
- Mountain Meadows massacre and the mediaMountain Meadows massacre and the mediaAlthough the Mountain Meadows massacre was covered to some extent in the media during the 1850s, its first period of intense nation-wide publicity began around 1872. This was after investigators obtained the confession of Philip Klingensmith, a Mormon bishop at the time of the massacre and a...
Footnotes
Further reading
— Day, d'Arc, and Lambert analyse the portrayals of Mormons in the visual arts, film, and fiction, respectively. — Helman and Paulson report on attempts using popular media to demystify Mormons and Mormonism to non-Mormons, aimed at countering "the nearly two centuries of prejudice against Mormonism" and at paving the way for Mitt RomneyMitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
to run for United States President in 2008.
- Latter-day Saint Characters in Media — a web site listing movies and television shows that have major characters that are Mormons — a discussion of the best and worst portrayals of Mormons and Mormonism in popular fiction, from Conan Doyle's perceived use of the "Evil Mormon" stock characterStock characterA Stock character is a fictional character based on a common literary or social stereotype. Stock characters rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics. In their most general form, stock characters are related to literary archetypes,...
to Robert A. HeinleinRobert A. HeinleinRobert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
's Sixth ColumnSixth ColumnSixth Column, also known under the title The Day After Tomorrow, is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein, based on a story by editor John W. Campbell, and set in a United States that has been conquered by the PanAsians, a combination of Chinese and Japanese...
where Mormons are portrayed as "good practical people who are religious, but who are also kind of opportunistic (religiously speaking) and, therefore, perfect for the heroes' plan" — Evans prescribes ways for Mormons to address what they consider to be negative portrayals of Mormons in popular media, opining that such portrayals are "ultimately [...] the cost of doing business as the restored Gospel" and "should receive their proper level of attention on [Mormons' parts]: that is, none at all". Evans exhorts "Let us not respond to evil by debasing ourselves with plaintive campaigns or angry rebuttals; rather, show people what our religion is really about by being the same kind, fun, interesting people we've always been. If people ask you about the book? Yawn, and respond that people are always saying crazy stuff about the mormons."