Now you can meet even MORE Mormons
TWO YEARS AGO, the Mormon Church produced and released in theaters a film called Meet the Mormons. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from a documentary that a proselytizing church would make about itself. There’s no need to rue your bad luck if you missed it. You can see it in 28 different languages on YouTube and Netflix.
| Better yet, you can take in three, all-new, 20-minute sequels with the highly compelling title, Meet the Mormons: New Faces/New Stories. Unlike the original, these shorts won’t be shown in theaters, but for free in Mormon visitors centers around the world. On a positive note, you won’t have to pay for a ticket. |
| We can only assume that, since the release of the 2014 film, the public has been crying out to meet even more Mormons. A church press release reports that the original film “... was one of the top 35 highest-earning documentary films of all time.” This is less surprising when you consider that rank-and-file Mormons are an obedient lot, and that Church leaders encouraged the faithful to fill theater seats with themselves, their families, and their friends. Of the last, it’s quite possible that a significant number no longer consider themselves “friends.” According to an article in The Salt Lake Tribune, producer-director Blair Treu said the purpose of the films “... was not to proselytize or explain church beliefs.” Of course. The only conceivable reason a famously proselytizing church would make a movie about itself is, per Treu, “... to offer a glimpse of who [Mormons] are.” The Mormon Church hoping their films will make converts? Perish the thought. |    |
Treu said that another goal in making the films was “... to be very authentic.” Apparently, authenticity can be achieved without a look at children of gay parents who are refused baptism; members who are deeply troubled by quietly-released church disclosures about race, polygamy, and continually-changing backstories pertaining to church history and Mormon scriptures; church members who are struggling financially while pressured to give ten percent of their income to the church; and women who want to know why only men can be ordained to the Mormon priesthood. Besides stuff like that, we’re sure it’s way authentic.
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