Peculiar Portrayals Mormons on the Page, Stage, and Screen P P eculiar ortrayals Mormons on the Page, Stage, and Screen Edited by Mark T. Decker and Michael Austin Utah State University Press Logan, Utah Copyright © 2010 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, UT USUPress.org ISBN 978-0-87421-773-5 (paper) ISBN 978-0-87421-774-2 (e-book) Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free, recycled paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peculiar portrayals : Mormons on the page, stage, and screen / edited by Mark T. Decker and Michael Austin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-773-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-774-2 (e-book) 1. Mormons in mass media. I. Decker, Mark T. II. Austin, Michael, 1966- P94.5.M67P43 2010 700’.4382893--dc22 2010000780 Contents Introduction      1 1. Center and Periphery: Mormons and American Culture in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America Cristine Hutchison-Jones      5 2. Four Consenting Adults in the Privacy of Their Own Suburb: Big Love and the Cultural Significance of Mormon Polygamy Michael Austin      37 3. Teaching Under the Banner of Heaven: Testing the Limits of Tolerance in America Kevin Kolkmeyer      62 4. Avenging Angels: The Nephi Archetype and Blood Atonement in Neil LaBute, Brian Evenson, and Levi Peterson, and the Making of the Mormon American Writer J. Aaron Sanders      87 5. Elders on the Big Screen: Film and the Globalized Circulation of Mormon Missionary Images John-Charles Duffy      113 6. “I Constructed in My Mind a Vast, Panoramic Picture”: The  Miracle Life of Edgar Mint and Postmodern, Postdenominational Mormonism Mark T. Decker       144 7. Jane Austen in Mollywood: Mainstreaming Mormonism in Andrew Black’s Pride & Prejudice Juliette Wells      163 8. Reality Corrupts; Reality Television Corrupts Absolutely Karen D. Austin      183 About the Contributors      197 Index      199 Introduction although always an object of both popular and scholarly curios- ity, Mormons and Mormonism have seen increasing scrutiny during the previous decade. For example, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) understandably used the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics as a pretext to mount an extensive public-relations campaign that capitalized on the extensive media attention that Olympic host cit- ies typically receive. In spite of a bribery scandal, this effort was largely successful, resulting in generally positive stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Unfortunately for the church, however, the media have also reported stories that do not present Mormons in the best light, like the 2008 raid on the polygamist compound at the Yearning for Zion ranch in Texas. And while the ranch was the property of fundamentalist Mormons who have no ties to the LDS Church, the full implications of that distinction were probably lost on many viewers and readers. Indeed, it is possible that the frequent repetition of the lack of connection between Warren Jeffs’s church and the one headquartered in Salt Lake City by a dutiful and risk-averse media actually intensified the popular connection between polygamy and mainstream Mormonism. One could not, say, watch the pioneer-dress-wearing YFZ mothers who appeared on Larry King Live to plead for the return of their children without being reminded of the his- tory that all Mormons share. Participation in politics by individual Mormons, as well as the insti- tutional LDS Church, has also generated media coverage and increased scrutiny. That coverage has generally aligned Mormons and Mormonism with the Right in America, Harry Reid notwithstanding. The tearfully partisan Glenn Beck is not the only prominent Mormon on the right. The media has not always presented the church or its members as polarizing figures. Mitt Romney’s failed, but highly visible, bid for the Republican presidential nomination—as well as his quieter, but equally unsuccess- ful, bid to be John McCain’s running mate—generated a great deal of press coverage. While some of that attention added to the “will America vote for a Mormon?” meme, much of it stressed the attractiveness of the putatively moderate former Republican governor of heavily Democratic 1 2 Peculiar Portrayals Massachusetts. After all, what’s not to like about a generically attractive, Ivy League–educated entrepreneur with a seemingly stable family life and bipartisan credentials? The LDS Church’s 2008 decision to support California’s Proposition 8, which denied gays and lesbians the right to marry, however, not only placed the institution well to the right on the American political spectrum but also allowed opponents of the mea- sure to wonder publicly why a church that had once openly advocated polygamy was now encouraging its members to donate more than 50 percent of the funding of an effort to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Mormons have often referred to themselves as a “peculiar people,” implying that their devotion to their faith and the unique truth of their gospel sets them apart from the rest of the world. But for many peo- ple who are unfamiliar with the faith, Mormons are just peculiar. Most people simply don’t have the time to think deeply about a group of people who try to present themselves as neat and orderly members of the American mainstream while they are simultaneously haunted by the specter of their nineteenth-century eccentricities. Instead, most people, when they think about Mormons at all, take at face value a conflicted public image with a long history. Well before the 2002 Winter Olympics, the 2008 presidential campaign, the raid on the YFZ ranch, or the con- troversy surrounding Proposition 8 captured the attention of the news media, Americans had easy access to pejorative literary and filmic depic- tions of Mormons and Mormonism. Many unsavory Mormons popu- lated the pulp novels of the nineteenth century, and more respectable authors like Mark Twain crafted critical depictions of Mormon customs and theology. Silent film audiences were sometimes treated to the spec- tacle of beautiful women entrapped by scheming Mormon polygamists. Contemporary portrayals of Latter-day Saints have been no less problematic. For example, Tony Kushner’s Angels in America focuses on a politically dangerous Mormon character whose religion has turned him into a hypocrite. Lighter entertainment sometimes features Mormon characters best described as absurd, such as the missionary- turned-porn-star in Orgazmo. And while Big Love’s portrayal of polyga- mist and businessman Bill Henrickson is sympathetic, the show’s appeal rests heavily upon its creation of a fundamentalist Mormon suburban surrealism. Even authors who had a Mormon upbringing often create peculiar Mormon characters, such as the sometime-Mormon main char- acter of returned Mormon missionary Brady Udall’s The Miracle Life of  Edgar Mint, who finds his life permanently altered when the postman runs over his head. Introduction 3 Although peculiar Mormon characters have haunted America’s literary and filmic imagination for decades, few studies have investi- gated this cultural phenomenon. There has been much comment on the uniqueness of Mormonism as a religion and historical phenomenon, yet it is also true that Mormons are unique literary characters that may represent a peculiarly American trope. Naturally Mormon intellectuals have sometimes attempted to explain their faith’s place in American cul- ture to Mormon audiences. And prominent non-Mormon intellectuals have written about the faith’s uniquely American characteristics. But there has not been a concerted effort to explore the ways that Mormons and Mormonism have been characterized in literature and film. This col- lection of articles provides a broad perspective on the way Mormons and Mormonism are depicted in contemporary fiction, theater, and film that begins to map out the peculiar terrain these characters inhabit. As with most rudimentary exercises in physical or intellectual car- tography, however, Peculiar Portrayals creates a map that is more sugges- tive than definitive. Individual articles clarify the texts and issues they address, but tantalizing gaps remain. For example, astute readers will notice that most—but not all—of the essays in this volume focus on texts whose authors or creators are male. Unfortunately, in the diverse group of texts that explicitly discuss Mormons and Mormonism for a national, secular audience, male authorship or auteurship is typical. And because it is difficult to trace thematic continuity among works like Under the  Banner of Heaven and Orgazmo, essays are not grouped into categories but are instead offered on their own merits. As readers will see, each article finds Mormons and Mormonism interacting with notions of Americans and America in ways that are both peculiar and familiar. Cristine Hutchison-Jones’s “Center and Periphery: Mormons and American Culture in Tony Kushner’s Angels  in America” concludes that the playwright’s texts are not so much anti-Mormon as anti–Mormon orthodoxy. Consequently, Mormonism signifies the tendency for radical American movements to degener- ate into hidebound, reactionary orthodoxy, a trend that Kushner finds deeply troubling. Michael Austin’s “Four Consenting Adults in the Privacy of Their Own Suburb: Big Love and the Cultural Significance of Mormon Polygamy” sees the HBO series as a meditation on the way Americans describe “normal” families that is designed implicitly to inform contemporary debates about gay marriage. Kevin Kolkmeyer’s “Teaching Under the Banner of Heaven: Testing the Limits of Tolerance in America” uses empirical evidence gathered in a composition class- room—refreshing for a literary study—to argue that an ethnically and