I was very interested by the PBS documentary that aired last night, entitled “The Mormons”. I was very impressed with how professional the whole thing was. It was certainly interesting to see the many perspectives on some interesting points of Mormon History. PBS also hosts a companion website to “The Mormons”, which I found to be a great resource to learn a little more about those being interviewed as well as a very well-done list of FAQs of Mormonism. You can even view part one online.
My wife and I both noticed that a lot of time was devoted to polygamy and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but I think that may have been because they are both topics that are not well understood by the general public. I must admit that I only learned about Mountain Meadows a year ago, and I would certainly say that it is a topic that isn’t understood by the general population of the Mormon Church, either.
While I don’t necessarily agree with everything that was presented in the documentary, overall I was extremely impressed. I’m definitely looking forward to part two tonight.
Hey, dude! I am a top commenter … or commentator … or common tater … yeah.
I watched only about twenty minutes of the first one (it was on at 9pm here; was it airing that late everywhere??) but have the both segments to recorded.
I don’t mind that they did Mountain Meadows and polygamy (especially polygamy; that is an important part of our history that should be addressed). But I didn’t see that part, anyway.
I did watch the part about Joseph Smith and didn’t like their word and image choice. Comparing him to a “shaman” or a “magician” out to gain power over people was hard to hear.
And then there were a couple of pictures (especially the one of that angel or Christ or whoever that looked all red and scary) that I didn’t like.
And some of the things they chose to focus on were weird … like, do people get that we’re not worshiping out in a grove of trees (a la days of Baal) when we’re watching a *theatrical* performance (the Hill Cumorah Pageant)? Do people really think that we believe that, like a magician, Joseph Smith pulled the Book of Mormon out of a hat (though I understand that Joseph may have used the stones in a hat; there is one *somewhat* credible source that says that which I’ve found)? And why mention that the angel Moroni was naked-under-his-clothes (yipe!) and then skip over his entire message?
Anyway, there seemed to be plenty of things in that part I watched that would re-emphasize that the Mormons are a *peculiar* people.
My seminary kids seemed to like part two better (I don’t know how they can stay up late enough to watch it, though).
Also, maybe I should have just trackbacked, since my comment could be its own blog post based on length.
Yup, you’re the top commentator..er. I changed it, because I don’t really like the word commentator. Commenter sounds better.
I definitely agree that there were some weird parts of the documentary, but I must admit, it seemed to be quite well done overall. I do agree about the images, too; Julia mentioned that she thought they were weird, too.