08-13-2007, 02:28 AM | #11 | ||
AKA SeattleNewt
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 7,055
|
Quote:
1- The habit of filmmakers to present a dichotomy between good and evil, i.e. the Baker-Fancher party being 100% pure and the Mormon's being 100% evil. 2- The lack of context the film will provide. Specifically in relation to the political situation surrounding the Mormons, the treatment the LDS received in the Eastern United States, the context of BY's sayings, Parley Pratt's murder, and the behavior of LDS towards other settler parties. 3- It's silly to make such a serious and important movie and then center it around a love story. I really don't like that approach. It appears that Novak watched the film without attempting to understand the entire context of the massacre. I'm not saying that my above stated concerns justify the massacre, but to not show them in the film gives a distorted history. Not all Mormon's who lived in 1850's Utah were evil, murdering barbarians. I will be surprised if filmgoer's leave this film with that impression. Quote:
|
||
08-13-2007, 04:00 AM | #12 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 10,665
|
I recently went to a museum not far from my house called "The Nordic Museum." The neighborhood on the other side from where I live of the canal between Lake Union and Puget Sound was settled by Norwegians, Danes, Swedish, etc.
Two things at the museum made me think of Mormons. First, the depictions of Jesus were the same as I grew up with as a child, including a sculpture exactly like the Christus that kept recurring. It turns out the Christus is a replica of a famous sculpture by a Scandinavian that has been replicated many times. It made me think of how important Scandinavians were among the earliest Mormons, whose ancestors still are prevalent--all those Jensens, Sorensens, Swensens, etc. Second, there was a large old map of the United States painted on a plywood board hung on the wall. Abstracts were written all across the map describing important events in U.S. history. At a spot in southern Utah there was written, "Brigham Young orders the slaughter of 120 settlers from Arkansas by Mormons disguised as Piute Indians and Piute allies." It made me think that maybe outside my bred in the bone Mormon perspective rightly or wrongly Brigham Young's participation is taken as more of a given than I ever realized.
__________________
Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster |
08-13-2007, 05:36 AM | #13 | |
Senior Member
|
Quote:
Here's the original. Note the twelve apostles flanking the aisles, as well.
__________________
εν αρχη ην ο λογος |
|
08-13-2007, 02:50 PM | #14 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: The People's Republic of Monsanto
Posts: 3,085
|
I'll be seeing the film, and probably with an agnostic colleague or two.
__________________
"Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; " 1 Thess. 5:21 (NRSV) We all trust our own unorthodoxies. |
08-13-2007, 04:04 PM | #15 |
Assistant to the Regional Manager
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Orgasmatron
Posts: 24,338
|
Two things are discouraging me from seeing it. First, the "evil looking portrait" of Brigham Young makes it appear to be a hit piece.
Second, comments from Voigt make it sound as if they know withtout a shadow of a doubt that BY ordered the manslaughter. He may have created the social atmosphere or at least a part thereof, but nobody can honestly say, given the time consuming and limited communication we had over distance what BY knew. So, if a person is adamant in his conclusions, this movie cannot be profound. It sounds like a B-rated movie.
__________________
Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα |
08-13-2007, 04:30 PM | #16 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 5,084
|
When it comes to movies with religious themes, I don't think people really believe what is in the movie anyway.
I know when I watched "Witness", it didn't change my mind and make me think the Ammish had hot looking women who were willing to show their hooters. |
08-13-2007, 04:34 PM | #17 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Kaysville, UT
Posts: 3,151
|
|
08-13-2007, 04:35 PM | #18 |
Demiurge
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 36,368
|
|
08-13-2007, 04:41 PM | #19 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 10,665
|
What a beautiful chruch. Thanks, AA. Where is it?
__________________
Interrupt all you like. We're involved in a complicated story here, and not everything is quite what it seems to be. —Paul Auster |
08-13-2007, 04:50 PM | #20 | |
Assistant to the Regional Manager
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: The Orgasmatron
Posts: 24,338
|
Quote:
Point to me an objective historian who is certain BY ordered and knew of the murders.
__________________
Ἓν οἶδα ὅτι οὐδὲν οἶδα |
|
Bookmarks |
|
|