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The Sexual Stereotyping of Mormon Men in American Film and Television

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The Sexual Stereotyping of Mormon Men in American Film and Television “ACCORDING TO THEIR WILLS AND PLEASU RES”: THE SEXUAL STEREOTYPING OF MORMON MEN IN AMERICAN FILM AND TELEVISION Travis Sutton, B.A. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2009 APPROVED: Harry M. Benshoff, Major Professor Sandra Larke-Walsh, Committee Member Claire Sahlin, Committee Member Sam Sauls, Program Coordinator Melinda Levin, Chair of the Department of Radio, Television and Film Michael Monticino, Interim Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Sutton, Travis, “According to Their Wills and Pleasures”: The Sexual Stereotyping of Mormon Men in American Film and Television. Master of Arts (Radio, Television and Film), May 2009, 187 pp., references, 107 titles. This thesis examines the representation of Mormon men in American film and television, with particular regard for sexual identity and the cultural association of Mormonism with sexuality. The history of Mormonism’s unique marital practices and doctrinal approaches to gender and sexuality have developed three common stereotypes for Mormon male characters: the purposeful heterosexual, the monstrous polygamist, and the self-destructive homosexual. Depending upon the sexual stereotype in the narrative, the Mormon Church can function as a proponent for nineteenth-century views of sexuality, a symbol for society’s repressed sexuality, or a metaphor for the oppressive effects of performing gender and sexuality according to ideological constraints. These ideas are presented in Mormon films such as Saturday’s Warrior (1989) as well as mainstream films such as A Mormon Maid (1917) and Advise and Consent (1962). Copyright 2009 by Travis Sutton ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................2 Power Systems, Ideology, and Cultural Discourse.................................................5 Sexual Identity and Queer Theory........................................................................11 Sexual Perspectives and Religious Discourse.......................................................16 “A Religion that Became a People”......................................................................19 Defining a Mormon .............................................................................................25 Mormons and Movies ..........................................................................................29 Chapter Summaries..............................................................................................34 2. FRUITFUL AND TRUE: THE PURPOSEFUL HETEROSEXUAL IN MORMON CINEMA .....................................................................................38 Inventing and Enforcing Heterosexuality .............................................................39 Theological Heterosexuality ................................................................................44 Proselytizing Heterosexuality and Together Forever (1989).................................51 Independent Films and Saturday’s Warrior (1989)...............................................59 God’s Army (2000) and the Rise of Mormon Cinema...........................................69 The Singles 2nd Ward (2007) ................................................................................72 Conclusion...........................................................................................................79 3. AN AMERICAN OTHER: THE MONSTROUS MORMON POLYGAMIST IN FILM AND TELEVISION .............................................................................81 iii “Fearsome” Elements of Mormonism: Danites, Blood Atonement, and Polygamy...........................................................................................84 Sexuality, Horror and the Other ...........................................................................90 The Displacement of Patriarchal Oppression onto an Other..................................94 The Development of the Monstrous Polygamist and A Mormon Maid (1917).......99 The Post-Code Polygamist and September Dawn (2007).....................................107 Negotiating the Monstrous Polygamist in Big Love (2006 - )............................... 117 Conclusion..........................................................................................................125 4. WHEN THE CLOSET BECOMES DEADLY: THE SELF-DESTRUCTIVE MORMON IN GAY AND LESBIAN CINEMA ................................................ 127 Mormonism and Homosexuality .........................................................................129 The Closet and Heteronormative Power Systems ................................................ 136 Performance, Gender, and Mormon Masculinity................................................. 139 Mormons in Gay and Lesbian Cinema ................................................................ 145 Advise and Consent (1962) ................................................................................. 146 Latter Days (2003).............................................................................................. 154 Angels in America (2003).................................................................................... 162 Conclusion..........................................................................................................170 5. CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................172 WORKS CITED................................................................................................................ iv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Mormons and their views on sexuality received national attention during the theatrical release of Brokeback Mountain (2005), a critically-acclaimed film about two cowboys who maintain a closeted homosexual relationship throughout their lives. The Jordan Commons, a popular megaplex south of Salt Lake City, Utah, scheduled showings for the gay-themed film; however, hours before the first showing of Brokeback Mountain, Larry H. Miller, a prominent Latter-day Saint and owner of the megaplex, publicly refused his support for the film by canceling the scheduled screenings. His decision played out as controversial since Hostel (2005) and The Producers (2005) remained open the same day for exhibition at Miller’s megaplex. Miller’s decision appeared, to some, to communicate that the representation of a monstrous homosexual man performing gruesome human torture in Hostel was to be excused over the serious examination of male sexuality found in Brokeback Mountain, an examination that reached beyond the stereotypical effeminate gay men on display for audience laughter in The Producers. Miller, one Mormon man with heavy corporate power and influence in the Utah community, acted upon a value judgment that appeared to communicate that he preferred to mock or fear homosexual relationships rather than to seriously consider the reality of such relationships and the cultural climate that pressures such relationships to remain in the closet. 1 As can be interpreted from his decision, Miller is not comfortable with the way Brokeback Mountain presents male sexuality and American masculinity as having a potential for malleability, unpredictability, and nonconformity. Although Brokeback Mountain is commonly labeled as a “gay cowboy” movie, some critics resist and challenge the labeling of the main characters as “gay” because the two male characters do not self-identify as “gay” and their sexual activity within the narrative is predominantly heterosexual. In his reception study of the film, Harry Benshoff describes Brokeback Mountain as “an exemplary queer film, exploring diverse sexualities that cannot be easily labeled or described” (“Brokering Brokeback Mountain”). Benshoff’s use of the word “queer” to describe this particular film is significant because the main characters in the film challenge other popular labels such as “gay” and “straight.” The term “queer” recognizes a peculiarity that transcends known identity categories. Benshoff’s study acknowledges that “the film’s reception affirms, denies, and/or otherwise complicates the social constructions and popular understandings of male (homo)sexual desire” (“Brokering Brokeback Mountain”). Therefore, Benshoff’s study reveals that an inability for audiences to neatly categorize the two main characters in Brokeback Mountain within such binary social models as gay/straight or masculine/feminine potentially generates anxiety for both conservative and liberal communities who may respond to the film. Benshoff also identifies several theater owners in Texas who, like Miller, chose not to exhibit Brokeback Mountain at their particular venue, including one theater in Childress, Texas, where a portion of the story of Brokeback Mountain takes place. For social conservative Larry H. Miller, his decision to cancel the scheduled screenings of the film 2 reached a level of publicity to the extent that Heath Ledger, a star of the film, commented in an Australian newspaper about the “Mormons in Utah” and “their problem” with regarding the film as controversial (“Ledger Blasts”). Ultimately, Miller’s choice and its subsequent news coverage reveal the complexities behind such issues as representation and advocacy, values and tolerance, and Mormons and sexuality. This project will examine such complexities and their relationships to social systems of power; therefore, this project will examine Mormon representation in film and television and interpret what
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