Frontline/American Experience Presents: The Mormons

[LyLMyssChaos]

I know of a few people that watched this. Did anyone else watch it?
What did you think about it?

[cocoa_femme]

I watched it! I missed a bit of it, so I stayed up to watch it again at 2 a.m. :eek:.

I am so intrigued by different religions and watching it gave me a better understanding of Mormonism.

What I want to know from you is - did you think it gave a accurate representation of Mormons? I actually thought of you and LDS Angel when I was watching. You're the only Mormons I "know" :).

[LyLMyssChaos]

LOL

I DVR-ed it, so I've been trying to squeeze it in between kids shows. But I really do think it is accurate. I preferred the first 2 hours to what I've seen of the second two so far. I know there are church members who are really upset by them talking about the "bad things" but I feel that they happened, and we need to learn about them, talk about them and keep them from happening again.

The Mormon church really is one that is plagued by rumors, folklore, etc. I'm glad that someone has created something to put the rumors to rest and put the proper information in the mainstream.

I actually plan on purchasing a copy of this program on DVD so that I can use it as part of our American History curriculum.

[IrishEyes]

I watched it.

I do not have any friends who are LDS, but my husband does. I think that with all the things (right and wrong) I've heard said about the LDS church, I wanted to be better educated. My husband was very interested since he's had good friends who are LDS. So we both learned a lot.

It seemed like a well-balanced account, since it explained a lot of the inaccurate rumors and also discussed some of the possibly negative parts of the church (i.e. excommunication, homosexuals, baptism of Holocaust victims). I still have a lot of questions, especially about the beginning of the church, but in some ways they're the same questions I have for my own religion.

[twinnyme]

I keep missing it. I think I saw part of the first hour of the second part. :) I was intrigued when I was flipping through the guide and saw it, and stopped to watch it once. But now I keep missing it. I hope to see it sometime. (I don't have TIVO or DVR or anything.)

I don't know anyone who is LDS but I have always been interested in other religions and cultures.

[KGif]

I had not even heard of it but would love to watch and will be doing a TiVo search right when I get home today! Hopefully it will be shown again :) Thanks!

[ThreeYell]

I was excited when I saw it was coming on. I'm fascinated by the Mormon religion. A lot of the early history I had already read in Under the Banner of Heaven but the more modern stuff was new to me. I especially liked the shots inside temples - such mysterious stuff, at least for outsiders.

[Mrs. M.]

I watched it online (the whole thing is available to watch at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/ ) and I thought it was very interesting.

[LDS Angel 19]

I was waiting for a thread on this.... I should have just started it myself, lol.

I must say though, it's almost like watching American Idol. People's opinions of the same show can be super different. While I thought it was pretty well-done overall, I liked the second part a lot better than the first.
One thing I wish they would have done is identify some of the people more specifically. Like there were people who were titled as 'English Professor' or 'Author'. English professor where and author of what? Not a huge deal, it just bugged me.

[Mrs. M.]

Good point. I also would've liked it if they added whether the person was a LDS member or not.

[ysolde]

I really liked it. Thought it was fascinating, particularly the first part, which talked about Joseph Smith, his early years, and what was going on in the US at the time, which put his experience in context. I also liked what they said about his family, and how his experience was accepted by them because of their own experiences. It raised a lot of questions for me -- look this happened not too long ago, so what happened? It seemed each Mormon had a different answer, which I thought was great! I also loved what they said about the building of the first Temple, how people were having visions (or collective hallucinations, or something). Again, all of this was relatively recently, so how can so many people be sharing the same experience? There is a sense here of what Bishop John Spong would call, "Something happened," and I guess, not being a Saint, I will leave it at that.

I was also tremendously impressed with the LDS response to Hurricane Katrina. Say what you will of the church and its hierarchy, but when push came to shove, they were there, getting their hands dirty, when no one else was. So the next time missionaries ring my bell, they are coming in, and I am offering them some water or chamomile (depending on the season). They are young, they work hard, and they deserve a rest.

[honeygirl]

I've seen most of it and read a lot of the information on the PBS website. If you want to know more about the people interviewed look at that site. It also has their full interview transcripts (or so it seems).

I have many friends and family who are LDS and although I feel like I know a fair bit already I did learn from the documentary.

In many ways it saddened me. I also continue to have questions, which I know is normal for all religions.

[LyLMyssChaos]

I thought that I'd post a link to the site at PBS for anyone that wanted to check it out. They also have the show in it's entirety; The Mormons on PBS (http://www.pbs.org/mormons/)