Darryl F. Zanuck's Brigham Young was originally released on September 27, 1940. This film is arguably the most important film in Mormon history. Just 18 short years earlier the film Trapped by the Mormons was released, which negatively depicted the Mormons. And just 11 years before that A Victim of the Mormons, the first anti-Mormon film, was shown to large audiences. Because of these films and other popular culture it was only natural that people associate Mormons with polygamy, Utah, missionaries, and violence . To many, Mormonism represented all that was evil in the world.
Then in 1930 the Hays Production Code was passed which, among other things, provided that "Ministers of religion in their character as ministers of religion should not be used as comic characters or as villains," and " No film or episode may throw ridicule on any religious faith" (http://prodcode.dhwritings.com/index.php). All of the sudden depictions of Mormons in film took a 180 degree turn for the better. No longer were Mormons subject to scorn and ridicule, but in fact held up for praise as the embodiment of true patriotism and frontier courage and optimism. Members of the church were so encouraged by their new public image that they came from far and wide to view the film on opening night in Salt Lake City. 7 theaters were filled to capacity, smashing records for movie premiers.
(Vincent Price as Joseph Smith)
In general the movie respected the culture and religion it depicted. A Mormon would be hard-pressed to find anything in the movie that should have been excluded. However, in hindsight some may look at the film and wish the writers had chosen to include certain aspects of the Mormon religion and culture. Things such as baptism, the Book of Mormon, priesthood, apostles, and main points of doctrine are major themes of Mormonism that were obviously left out. Others may wish the film would have shown things a little differently, such as Brigham Young's struggle with doubts regarding his call as a prophet.
In my opinion "beggars can't be choosers." In light of the previous depictions of Mormonism, members of the church were (and should have been) grateful for simply being treated fairly and honestly in a film. Members of the church have the same dilemma today. We want to be taken seriously as a religious group and to be thought of as important enough to be the subject of documentaries and films, yet when we are we feel like we have to fight every little point they get wrong. It would be a hard thing to find a completely objective director who would be able to portray Mormonism in the exact way every Mormon would like themselves portrayed while at the same time making his film understandable to a larger audience. Such a task is virtually impossible.
(Tyrone Power as Jonathan Kent and Linda Darnell as Zina Webb)
Therefore I conclude that we can't have it both ways, and Darryl Zanuck's Brigham Young fulfilled what I think was it's purpose, which was to reverse the negative image of the Mormons and replace it with a depiction of Mormons as courageous, faithful, pioneering men and women with a clear vision of their mission in life.
3 comments:
Great post. It was nice to hear the exact wording of the production code regarding the depiction of religion. It makes me wonder, if Mormons were to formalize their own "code" of depiction, what would it be? Certainly it goes beyond objecting to the depiction of certain behaviors, doesn't it? It might be an interesting exercise. How would Mormons feel about the way that other faiths are represented within their own films? I'm thinking of how baptists, evangelicals, and Lutherans were depicted in States of Grace and also of how respectfully Pres. James E. Faust represented the Amish in his April 2007 General Conference address on forgiveness.
I think so too. We can't pretend we have the market cornered on truth, or good stories. President Faust's nod to the Amish is one example of the importance of keeping our minds open to those of other faiths. That was one element in "States of Grace" that I really admired. At the end of the film the characters found truth in a variety of areas. Obviously we know that the fullness of the gospel can only be found in one place but the respectful treatment of other faiths is a mark of a true Christian.
I will have to see if I can find this movie. I just recently watched "Brigham", filmed in 1977, which has Richard Moll playing the part of Joseph Smith. It was a decent movie but I couldn't help thinking of Richard Moll as the guy who played "Bull" in the old TV show "Night Court".
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