When Big Love first came out, I was intrigued. I wondered if it would portray the Church in a negative way, if it would anger me. But, I have to say that in the beginning, I really had no issue with the way the Church was portrayed. I thought they did a good job of showing the clear distinction of the Church, and those who have strayed from the Church.
Today, however, I have a different opinion. With each episode this season, the show has progressively been more and more antagonistic towards the Church. The characters on the show that are supposed to be members of the Church are all shown as naive, nosey, manipulative, scheming, etc. Then today I received an email from a friend at Church, one that I'm sure everyone else has seen circulating the Internet, about an upcoming episode of the show. In this episode, they apparently show sacred ordinances that take place inside the temple. With the email came an attachment, a copy of an article in TV Guide about the show, with a picture of Barb (first wife) in temple clothing.
In the article, the spokesperson for the show states how they are not airing this for shock value, that they hired an ex-communicated member of the Church as a consultant, to get every detail correct, and that they wanted to show it in the utmost reverence and respect...BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. First of all, is an ex-communicated member the best person to consult if you want to show the utmost reverence and respect? Probably not. This person probably has a lot of anger and resentment, so what if they were to use this as an opportunity to manifest their own personal agenda. Second, if they wanted to show the utmost reverence and respect, they could have just shown Barb walking into or out of the temple. There is no need to show anything else. To do so is disrespectful and irreverent in and of itself.
Which brings me to another point. It supposedly has been more than a few years since Barb has gone to Church. As any member knows, you have to have your recommend renewed every two years. How was she allowed in the temple in the first place? Even if she met with her bishop and stake president to get her recommend renewed, do you think they would have given it to her? I guess the ex-communicated consultant forgot about that part.
So when I saw this email today, I got a little mad. I was no longer going to contribute to a show that I shouldn't have been watching in the first place. Before I had even clicked off the email I was on the phone with Time Warner Cable. When the customer service representative asked me if I was canceling because of a certain show (Which I thought was a weird question- had they been getting a lot of these calls? Let's hope!), I said, "As a matter of fact yes. I am boycotting Big Love". I also sent an email to HBO to let them know I had canceled my service.
Does HBO care that I canceled service? Probably not. They will still air the episode. The network will still make ridiculous amounts of money. But I will no longer contribute.
7 comments:
You know, I was curious about the show so I decided to tune in a few weeks ago. Nothing awful happened in that particular episode, but the WHOLE time I was watching, something was nagging in my stomach. I felt guilty. I felt like I should turn it off. I felt WRONG. The worst part is that I didn't listen. I kept watching, mainly to see what the problem was (which is not a good reason to keep doing anything!). I never watched it again because of that feeling. I'm so glad you expressed your feelings and did something about it. Go you for canceling HBO and telling them why!
Way to go, Aidan. I'm so glad you called and cancelled and told them why. I have been hearing about this and seen a lot of people who are also boycotting...and it makes me really mad as well. We don't have HBO, but I am sure I would have cancelled also. Way to go for standing up for what you believe.
I still can't believe Tom Hanks is one of the front runners behind this show. It really makes me sad. I don't think that the producers of this show know any LDS people because if they did, they wouldn't portray something that is so sacred and special to millions of members.
I think it's easier for people to come up with fictionalized accounts when they don't have to face a living, breathing person.
I will say though that the amount of emails going out to boycott this whole ordeal has also added fuel to the fire and caused people who wouldn't tune in to the show or who knew nothing about the endowment ceremony to either watch the episode mentioned to see what the scandal is or to look online and find info out for themselves which is hard because there are websites which go into detail {word for word} what happens in the ceremony.
People who don't have background info might read into this and come up with their own conclusions without knowing the facts first.
So while I appreciate that many people are upset, I really wish the mass emails wouldn't have started because it's now peaked the interest of the news media and has even made it on to the front page of yahoo's homepage- with links as I said before to the endowment ceremony.
The church has even come out and said that they have not sanctioned any boycott's and would not make any statements regarding the show's material saying instead that by coming out with an official stance would draw unnecessary attention to the problem.
I agree with that and also applaud people like you who take action to show that this won't be taken but also to try to ignore the nay sayers. We were warned that this would happen in the last days, and what matters now is that we have the truth and will be judged {as they will be} by our actions.
In a few weeks everyone will have forgotten this whole mess and hopefully the show won't be around for much longer.
I totally agree that the emails only add fuel to the fire, which is why I only fowarded it to my family. I also felt that if what takes place in the temple is so sacred that we are not supposed to talk about it, have to have a recommend to get in, etc., that I was not going to watch or support something that talked about it. That would be just as bad. Wouldn't we be held accountable for that just the same as if we had done it ourselves?
I support your non-contributing protest. I have never seen Big Love but had become increasingly intrigued as many people had started watching it saying it was pretty good. But now I think I'll just not contribute to their success.
Hey that guy commented on my blog too, and I followed your comment on his blog here. I just wanted to tell you way to go on cancelling your HBO and valiantly standing for what you believe in. I also appreciated the way that you handled his comment. I like that you appreciated his opinion, but defended yours!
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