"When you start to get confused
Because of thoughts in your head
Don't feel those feelings, hold them in instead"
"Turn it off like a light switch
Just go, click
It's a cool little Mormon trick
We do it all the time"
"When you're feeling certain feelings
That just don't seem right
Treat those pesky feelings like a reading light"
"And turn 'em off, like a light switch
Just go back
Really, what's so hard about that
Turn it off, turn it off"
The song, "Turn It Off" is a catchy tune that highlights the struggle faced by Mormon missionaries, urging them to banish thoughts about being gay by simply turning them off.
Apparently, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of The Book of Mormon, think Mormons are consumed by conflicting messages. Belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints requires you to deal with difficult issues like being gay, suffering from AIDS or being abused at home by simply "turning those bad thoughts off."
And therein lies the problem with the play: if you believe in a greater power, you are living a lie.
Its message is that religion is fake -- it doesn't solve any of our problems, doesn't fill empty stomachs or save the destitute, doesn't prevent cancer or help our football team to win the Super Bowl. But, if it makes people feel happy, then who cares if it sounds ridiculous? In the eyes of Parker and Stone (who are also responsible for TV's South Park,) religion is overbearing and torturous for young people (in this case it's young male missionaries assigned to Africa). It conflicts with today's "modern world" where people are accepting of gays, adulterers and sexually transmitted diseases.
The play's religious blasphemy is front and center, with an appalling emphasis on shocking the audience through song and story.
Examples include a song featuring characters sticking up their middle fingers to God while singing "hasa diga eebowai!" (f-ck you, God), performing the act of Holy Baptism as a sexual encounter between two virgins ("We just went all the way! I'm wet with salvation! I performed like a champ, praise be to God!"), and performing a pageant to "honor" the story of the Mormon's founder ("Joseph Smith, American Moses") by showing him having sex with Africans and frogs to cure his AIDS and dysentery. If that's not bad enough, there is an extended dream sequence showing Hitler enjoying oral sex with the devil, and a blown-up x-ray of a rectal blockage cause by the Book of Mormon text.
The New York Times, Washington Times and Rolling Stone (all left-wing rags) called it "courageous and fearless," "shrewd, remarkably well-crafted and wholly hilarious," and not surprisingly, "a feast of sweetness." It makes me wonder if they saw the same play that I did.
To its credit, the play does address some very difficult issues facing a small African village -- living in appalling conditions of famine, poverty and AIDS while being threatened by a repressive, murderous warlord obsessed with female circumcision and mutilation.
And it's a very well done production. It has fine acting and correctly captures the culture, terminology and idiosyncrasies of the Mormon church. It won Best Musical in 2011, Best Director and seven other Tony awards, including 2012 Best Musical Theater Album. It won, despite some stiff competition from War Horse, Catch Me If You Can and Scottsboro Boys.
Much to the dismay of a friend of mine, the play does have some redeeming aspects to it -- if you can get past the blasphemy (and I know that's not possible for some). I read a review that compared it to The Music Man, a great Broadway musical from 1957 starring Robert Preston. In the play, a stranger comes to town to sell a fake idea, but in the end the idea is real and it works. It changes people's lives and buoys their spirits. The same could be said for The Book of Mormon.
As offensive as the play is, it would be easy to ignore it if it failed miserably as nothing more than the ramblings of two sick comedians. The trouble is -- it's drawing huge crowds on its national tour to Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis and even Des Moines. The show that I attended was sold out, as it has been everywhere it goes. I don't understand how we could have moved from a society that used God in forming the Declarations of Independence and the Constitution to one where we now laugh hysterically at an actor portraying Jesus while wearing a dildo and screwing the natives. What has happened to us? Do we have no shame?
I think we're all familiar with the attempts the left is making to remove religion from public places and everyday life. It's on full display in Hollywood movies, broadcast television and now Broadway. Religious exhibits, prayer and even the Christmas holiday are regularly challenged -- and defeated -- in court under the auspices of "separation of church and state."
 |
It's interesting to note that while claiming to lampoon all religions, South Park has pretty much stayed away from Islam. In particular, they avoid saying the name of Muhammad or even showing him in character. When challenged by radical Islamic groups during a special 200th reunion episode, they self-censored themselves by bleeping out his name and showing a black box with the word "censored" on it whenever he appeared.
To be truly "courageous", South Park should practice what they preach. And The Book of Mormon should have put a character on stage, representing Muhammad. Throw in a few radical suicide bombers, lop off a few heads, and you might have something. As it stands though, that could never happen, because these people aren't really courageous. They're just opportunistic hacks, purveyors of anti-establishment and anti-morality. Throw in Jesus with Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, Genghis Khan and Johnnie Cochran and you have a funny play. The prophet Muhammad? Not so much.
After the play, a group of us went out to eat at a local restaurant, which allowed us to talk about what we had just seen. Reactions were mixed at best. Mike, my boss from a few years ago, asked if I was offended.
"Yes!" I said. "How could I not be?"
The look on his face was one of shock and surprise. "Seriously?" he asked. It was like I had just told him I voted for Obama.
"Yes, I was offended. What's funny about telling God to f-ck off?"
"Well...."
Mike and I have had a number of political discussions over the years, so I wasn't shocked to hear the surprise in his voice. What is disappointing is how he can be so strongly opposed to my way of thinking on abortion, gun control and welfare, but he can't understand my opposition to religious blasphemy. I guess it's the left's way of thinking that they are always intellectually superior to us, including any belief in a greater power. It must be beneath their pay scale, because they just don't get it.
There is a chorus line at the end of another song called "Making Things Up Again," sung by Arnold (one of the Mormon missionaries) which may someday haunt the writers of The Book of Mormon. It goes,
"You're making things up again, Arnold
(We're learning the truth!)
You're taking the holy word and adding fiction!
(the truth about God.)
Be careful how you proceed, Arnold.
When you fib, there's a price.
(We're going to paradise.)"
Whether that price is ever paid by Parker or Miller in hell, remains to be seen. But their play has certainly added to the continuing decay of human society. My Christian faith reminds me to forgive and forget, but sitting through this play has put it to the test. Based on the reaction our group had with The Book of Mormon, I think that a fair number wished they had been given a chance to "turn it off." At a minimum it made some question if they should applaud a song, or stand at the end to acknowledge the musical's finish.
If the play (in the words of Matt Stone) is an "atheist's love letter to religion," then it's my opinion that it never should have been opened.
AMEN. Beautifully and exceptionally done. Had I read this article prior to seeing it, I would have DENIED it, and I wouldn't have to work so hard to forgive and forget. Thank you for writing this review, Tim, written so eloquently and firmly. It brings me the same kind of therapy as attending church that post-show Sunday night... cleanses and resets my spirit to RIGHT.
ReplyDelete