Hello! To Controversy
* Ding Dong** Hello! My name is Elder Dina! And I would like to share with you the most amazing book!
This sentence (with a personal touch) is the opening line to a song from one of the most acclaimed Tony Award-winning Broadway shows, The Book of Mormon. The relationship between religion and popular culture is evident from the simple title, however, the fact that the musical is purely satirical is not. The show is provocative because it demonstrates the fine line between what is ‘acceptable’ in religious discourse and comedy. This hilarious, beautifully written and performed show recently visited Toronto to show the city how religion is seen by some as a subject that creates a variety of opinions, including the point of view of ‘absolutely ridiculous’.
The first reaction for most in the theatre was shock at most of the content. The glaring statement in everyone’s minds- ‘the gaul of the writers of the book for this play for making fun of a people’s beliefs!’ Then comes the thought- ‘I can’t believe I’m finding this funny, those poor Mormon people being made fun of, but I just can’t help it!’ A mix of emotions overwhelms the audience, clearly the director’s goal has been achieved. The show plays fast and loose with foul language, sexual references and actions, and other forms of obscenity to get their audience hooked, and definitely lives up to the aura of the age rating it has been given, 18+. I was fortunate enough to witness this glorious spectacle of controversy with a few friends, here is a visual of our reactions:
The story line goes as follows: street contacting is a part of being a Mormon, it is a traditional way for missionaries to reach potential converts. Elders Price and Cunningham are new graduates begrudgingly assigned to be partners and missionaries in Uganda who try to convert the local population. Elder Price, is an enthusiastic go-getter with a strong dedication to his faith, while his partner, Elder Cunningham, is a socially awkward but well meaning nerd whose tendency to embroider the truth soon lands him in trouble. Upon their arrival in Africa, Elders Price and Cunningham learn that in a society plagued by AIDS, poverty and violence, a successful mission may not be as easy as they expected. Not to spoil the show, but both missionaries are tested in their faith, and the results are ludicrous.
Songs in the show include ‘Hasa Diga Eebowai’, the translation of which in the show is ‘F*** You God’, a statement which would be considered offensive to many practicing monotheistic followers. Other songs such as ‘I Believe’ start off as innocent and sincere proclamations of faith until lines such as “I believe that God lives on a planet called Kolob/I believe that Jesus has his own planet as well/ And I believe that the Garden of Eden/ Was in Jackson County, Missouri”. Clearly ridiculous (though entirely possible) in its lyrical choice, the rest of the songs follow the same line of preposterousness and catchiness.
However the controversy of this play between religion and pop culture begs the question- how did the Mormons react when this show came out? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) are a small religious sect of Christianity mostly located out of the state of Utah in the United States of America and makes up approximately 2% of the religious population of the nation. The church’s response to this musical: “The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ” (Mormon Newsroom). The question of whether or not the show goes too far apparently does not disturb the Mormons, they view the show just as it was intended to be, a show. But what if this had been a satirical take on any other religion, such as Islam, Judaism, or Catholicism? What would the reaction have been? I assume that no playwright would dare go near the subject for fear of reprehension. If a simple cartoon about Islam can spark international controversy, a musical may not be received well. It could be that because of the Church’s reaction and size that this show was able to be produced and prosper in the entertainment realm.
Jack Nachbar and Kevin Lause provide a “Popular Culture Formula” in Popular Culture: An Introductory Text, which they define as “the popularity of a given cultural element (object, person or event) is directly proportional to the degree to which that element is reflective of audience beliefs or values” (Forbes, 5). The Book of Mormon actually disproves their formula as it highly popular and is meant to mock both the audience and the subjects’ (The Mormons) beliefs or values. The added shock value of the musical, that it takes a religion and turns it into a comedic display, is what attracts the audience. The Book of Mormon appears to be an anomaly in the modern world, a clear intersection of religion and popular culture, providing an outright statement and an inevitable reaction from audiences all over the world.
Sources:
Forbes, Bruce David. “Introduction: Finding Religion in Unexpected Places.” In Religion and Popular Culture in America. Ed. B. D. Forbes and Jeffrey H. Mahan, 1–20. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
Kirkland, Lyman. “Book of Mormon Musical: Church’s Official Statement.” Mormon Newsroom. http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/church-statement-regarding-the-book-of-mormon-broadway-musical 11 Oct. 2014
