Last week, one of my friends posted a comment on Facebook "I can't decide whether the song
from "The Book of Mormon" performed on the Tonys offends or amuses me..." Not having seen the Tonys, I went online to find the performance , and I found myself laughing despite myself. It sounded a lot like the kind of jokes made about Jewish people in Fiddler on the Roof, and a lot like the jokes that LDS college students at BYU make about themselves in Divine Comedy performances. I can laugh at the "I Believe" performance for the same reason I can laugh at this.
Like any roast, you've got to be ready to laugh at yourself. I think any Latter-Day Saint who was honest with themselves would laugh with what the show is poking fun at.
Feeling a little guilty for laughing at something I was SURE was offensive, I wikipediaed the show to read the synopsis. I learned there that the show was nominated for 14 tony awards, and won 9 of them! Although I may not seek out that entertainment myself, I think it is wise to know something about it.
Let me make one thing clear: I do not like South Park. I think it's gross. But I can't deny that it's humor is REALLY intelligent until it gets to the gross parts.
Let me make one thing clear: I do not like South Park. I think it's gross. But I can't deny that it's humor is REALLY intelligent until it gets to the gross parts.
I'll probably never go see the musical for myself for the same reason I have chosen not to watch rated R movies, but not necessarily because I'm offended by the religious jokes. I don't like watching shows that have the F word in them, nor do I really enjoy entertainment that has themes of the type of inequality to females that occurs in Africa, but if those types of issues were taken out of the show, I think it'd be as entertaining as any BYU satire I've ever seen. I think I'd watch an edited version of The Book of Mormon Musical, and I agree with the show's biline: God loves Mormons, and He wants some more!
I think it is more dangerous to watch edited content.
ReplyDeleteThink of watching a war movie like Braveheart. That film has scenes of graphic violence which are disturbing for most viewers (and rightly so). When viewers are no longer confronted with this violence (i.e. when it is edited out) they end up with a film that is fundamentally different than the unedited version. Mainly, they are presented with a war film without any of the horror of war that can be seen in the original. If the unedited Braveheart glorifies violence (which it still manages to do, despite the horror) the unedited Braveheart glorifies violence by making it into an unseen abstraction without consequence.
Likewise, rendering "Hasa Diga Eebowai" as "F you, God" or "Bleep you, God" has a little different sentiment than that found in the original. And, while it is fine if you aren't comfortable confronting those sorts of ideas, I think that "softening" or "editing" them is a way of wanting to be entertained (and that includes having something be a little "thought-provoking") without having to be disturbed and forced into more serious self-reflection.
P.S. That's what it means to be a real man! lol
Just like you said, as Casey and i were watching the Youtube video of "I Believe" we couldn't help laughing.
ReplyDeleteWe're fans of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and he had Parker and Stone on the show to talk about the musical. They talked about how in musicals, everyone just bursts into song and is happy all the time. And they began thinking, "Who is most like that nowadays? The Mormons." I totally agree with you that the satire in Book of Mormon the Musical is pretty much what the Singles' Ward movie did, but in a more offensive manner. Which is why I will probably never go see it, but it sure sounds like one where I'd be laughing a lot.