This past weekend, my parents and I went and saw The Book of Mormon in Dallas. Going into the theater, I had no idea
of what to expect. All I knew was that
it was a musical comedy created by the creator of South Park and it was about
Mormon missionaries. What I did not know before watching the musical was
how crude and negative the humor would be.
For those of you who do not know what the musical is about,
you can read a synopsis here (warning: there are spoilers).
While the entire musical is riddled with negative humor, I
am going to focus on one scene. As
the Mormon missionaries arrive in Uganda and begin speaking with the Ugandans,
the villagers tell the missionaries that they sing a song to cheer them up when
they are distressed about their daily hardships. This song is in their native tongue and essentially means
“F*** You, God!”
For many in the audience, they were prepared for obscene and
degrading language. For me, I knew
that the musical was a religious satire, but I was not prepared for the berating
and assailing language used. I
looked over to see my mother’s reaction, knowing she is a deeply religious
person, and saw that she was appalled.
She was shocked at the concept while I was shocked at the fact that the
musical has had so much success despite its demeaning messages.
My speculation is that the majority of the audience felt superior
to the developing country of Uganda.
There is a certain sense of disengagement from the situation considering
that the audience is predominantly American and that the musical is performed
in the United States by mainly American actors. While the audience may be disengaged, the situation, in
particular, was still offensive because it insulted the majority religion of
the United States; according to a Gallup poll,
77 percent of Americans identify as Christian.
While the strong negative humor shocked me, I understand
that the musical was a “somewhat innocuous” medium to ridicule certain groups
of people since the majority of the audience seemed to be prepared for the
musical …unless they were like me.
I've actually never seen the Book of Mormon, so I'm pretty uneducated about the plot, but what I can say is that I'm shocked about how obscene it is. The Book of Mormon play traveled to Los Angeles last winter and played at the Pantages Theatre, which is the popular theatre in the city. I heard it was a slight comedy, but I didn't realize how obscene and blunt the language and humor was. Now that I know it's a satire, it makes more sense, but it's still disappointing that our culture has made it to be such a glorified play when the satire has deep, deep roots in cultural differences.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of the Book of Mormon. I also know a few Mormons who like the musical. To me, it is odd and concerning that they enjoy the musical. There is a musical that attacks Christianity, Jesus Christ Super Star. I have never seen it, but I know people like that musical as well. There must be something about religious satire that people really like. I assume that most of the jokes are half-truths and that makes it funny.
ReplyDeleteI have not seen this musical but I can tell from your synopsis that negative humor seems to be prevalent throughout. I think that through television, music, and even plays and musicals, negative humor has become much more apparent. The writers are trying to use humor to make money but they straddle the line between funny and offensive often. It is too bad that it continues to be this way, especially when humor is supposed to be positive.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I haven't seen Book of Mormon, I have seen other things by the creators of South Park. I completely agree with you that they focus almost entirely on negative humor. It seems humorous until they target something you care about, then it becomes distasteful. Surprisingly, as I learned in my Survey of Musical Theatre class last year, Book of Mormon ranks among the highest grossing shows to ever hit Broadway. I think this goes to show just how numb we have become to the harmful effects of negative humor in our society.
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