Update: The video was taken down. Shocking, isn't it?
Here is another clip of the endowment ceremony on Big Love!
Big Love has opened the discussion on the Mormon temple and it's ceremonies. For those who don't know, Big Love is a series on HBO about polygamous families and their lives. I don't have HBO, so the only thing I have seen is this clip of a ceremony:
Go ahead believing Mormons... yell and scream at me for posting the ceremony. I am prepared.
Anyway...
I thought the ceremony was portrayed with respect. They were obviously showing the scene from the eyes of someone who honored the temple and it's ceremonies... they were not making fun of the temple in my opinion.
A discussion brewed about people sneaking into the temple because one of the characters sneaks into the temple during the show. Many were wondering how this was even possible, and I am here to remind everyone that it is definitely possible. There are many examples, although I am only aware of this one at the moment:
Eight Hour Lunch Podcasts: Possummomma Goes to the Temple
Possummomma was raised a Catholic and became roommates with a Mormon in college. Said roommate was questioning Mormonism and you will have to listen to the rest!
Andee
March 16, 2009 at 2:36 PM
Uh-oh... video removed. I heard about this and have GOT to see it.
March 16, 2009 at 3:00 PM
Having been through the temple several times myself, I can say that the representation was very fair and respectful. It showed what actually happens, and if that's creepy (and it is), that's not HBO's fault, that's Mormonism's fault.
March 16, 2009 at 9:41 PM
Craig,
I agree!
The whole thing was tasteful and from the point of view of a faithful member. Nothing was making fun of the ceremony in any way... it was just showing it like it is.
Why are they so afraid of that?
Because its WEIRD!!!
March 17, 2009 at 9:47 PM
Its been taken down because it's from a copyrighted show, not because of us in anyway.
As for the temple and our response to it, I have not much to say really. I've covered all I feel about the temple in another post sometime ago. But I think this is another classic example of where TV or the Movies and society butt against each other at times. Whilst the former seems hell bent on revealing every aspect of human interaction, society sometimes reacts badly against that. I personally have a very critical view on mass media and how they have invaded every single facet of daily life. Whether it be sex, intimacy, reality television and family life or the Mormon Temple, I'm afraid that I have to agree with one commentator (on another topic completely) who said that mass media leaves nothing sacred and nothing personal anymore.
You may find it weird, strange and portrayed in this show completely right, but we don't. And we believe it to be a sacred place, even if you don't. Shouldn't that warrant some belief that ok, these people find this area sacred and deeply personal and as such we should allow them their privacy???
Mass Media has left our world completely devoid of spaces not found on the television screens or magazines. Its a deeply philosophical question I concede, but what place of authenticity and subjective sacredness exists anymore. Perhaps the temple for us was one of those places we could go and feel at peace. Kinda similar to the way I feel standing alone on the top of a mountain and taking an opportunity to rethink my life.
That opportunity would seem slightly empty to me if it were the case that in the back of my mind, thousands or millions of people were now either mocking or making fun of my sacred space.
March 18, 2009 at 1:53 PM
Shouldn't that warrant some belief that ok, these people find this area sacred and deeply personal and as such we should allow them their privacy???
No. I don't believe in sacredness, let alone secretiveness.
In this instance, the reason I think people deserve to know anything and everything about the reality of Mormonism is because The PR from that Mormonism puts out is totally unrealistic and deceiving. People deserve to know all the facts about Mormonism before getting sucked in with the cultish "milk before meat" teaching practices.
But even more importantly, the idea that something is sacred means that it can never be questioned, criticised, or shared. And that is incredibly dangerous.
As an Ex-Mormon who went through the temple many times, it is not any Mormon's place to tell me that I'm not allowed to share my own personal experiences with whomever I desire, including on TV.
March 18, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Well the problem I see Craig (sorry I can't get my keyboard to do the way your name comes up...call it a lack of technological savvyness) and I'm not criticizing you as a person here because I think your point is valid (hey now...call me different!), but the problem I see with that ideological perception is that nothing is sacred and everything is up for public scrutiny.
I feel as though the ex's of the group look too cynically at the church rather than with a more cultural focus. And that's fine. But I don't think that we should subject all aspects of subjective lives to the world. Does it need to be critiqued from an unknowledgeable public?
What about those of us who find the whole temple ceremony fulfilling and subjectively rewarding? The problem as you know about temple ceremonies is that people do need knowledge in order to understand it. Mass media doesn't do that in my opinion. It just shows things for its sensational value and then allows the public to disseminate it according to their sliver of knowledge on the issues at hand.
Anyway I bumble on. You can view these things quite cynically and argue that all social institutions and all social interactions regardless of perceived sacredness or not (and this includes Sex on screen) as open for public scrutiny and media interpretation, or you could be a humanist who argues that if a social group considers an area, interaction or ritual in this case to be quite significantly sacred, then what right do we as westerners or media proponents have to let this for public scrutiny?
Deeply philosophical debate I know, but one that cuts to the heart of the problem I find with allowing TV cameras into areas that I find sacred. Without proper knowledge, people are going to consider me now, crazy, weird and insane because of the things I do which I consider sacred in the temple.