DiscussMormonism.com

Before Big Love the only mainstream depictions of LDS characters in entertainment I ever saw were characters who were cleancut, family men who didn't drink or smoke and was known for trustworthyness. No mention of polygamy or undergarments, but just those traits I listed. I wonder if this is "stock character" is very widespread, so I'd like to hear from the members any mentions of LDS characters who might fit this mold.

One such character I distinctly remember is in the Tom Clancy novel The Hunt for Red October. This character was a doctor, hard working, had a number of kids, and was distinctly listed as a Mormon. If I recall correctly he also didn't drink caffeine. He was trusted with watching over a [cold war era] Russian of some sort who had sensitive material dealing with the plot.

Another person who I remember from a documentary [real life I know but I think it continues the idea of Mormons as super honest super upright people] concerning the rape case of Roman Polanski, and was the prosecutor Roger Gunson, who in the docu was listed as prosecutor in the case because to paraphrase "he was a Mormon, and thus was the only person [in the prosecutor's office] who hadn't done what Polanski had done, had sex with an underage girl".

Anyway I just wanted to hear if people think this has become a stock character in media and for examples.

Wasn't there the two brothers in Ocean's 11 that were LDS and part of the team doing the robbery? They were clean cut but thieves.

Paint Your Wagon. Personally, I think that was an accurate portrayal of Mormons of that era.

Weren't Ozzie and Harriet accurately portrayed as a Mormon couple, except for having two rather than seven children?

Tom Hanks and Steve Martin were rumored to be Mormon.

Jason Bourne wrote:Wasn't there the two brothers in Ocean's 11 that were LDS and part of the team doing the robbery? They were clean cut but thieves.

Well yeah they were [Thanks for busting my stock character thought :P] although they are a relatively recent.

Also: Mormon polygamists were shown in the movie They Call Me Trinity [the title character was even offered marriage to two sisters If I recall correctly] as docile peaceful farmers that need protecting from cattle barons who want their land for grazing.

I wonder how often Mormons are mentioned in Westerns. I seem to recall in the John Wayne movie Cahill: US Marshall that a "Mormon drover" was mentioned as being robbed.

"Around the World in 80 Days" didn't have a good image of Mormons. Neither did Sherlock Holmes where we find the incredibly evil Brigham Young plotting murder and woman stealing.

I read a book as a kid (I was probably 7) about life in early Utah where the Mormons were seen as the semi-bad guys. I didn't realize until I reread it at about 10 that it was about my faith. For some reason I didn't connect Mormon with me at the younger age.

In Harry Turtledove's alternate history of the Civil War the Union Army was stabbed in the back when John Taylor rebelled against the Union. It had Orson Pratt(?) executed for treason and he quoted the Book of Mormon on the gallows. The impression most of the military had in the book was that as individuals Mormons were great individuals but in a group they were wrongheaded and evil. In the end the Union put down the Utahans and turned back to fight the South.

We've had a mixed bag of media attention.

Yes...uh...the only problem here of course is the fact that Big Love was not about LDS.

Droopy wrote:Yes...uh...the only problem here of course is the fact that Big Love was not about LDS.

Exactly what I was thinking.

Droopy wrote:Yes...uh...the only problem here of course is the fact that Big Love was not about LDS.

It might not be about the mainstream LDS church, but Big Love is certainly about Mormons, which is what the title of the thread is.