beastie wrote:Anyone else watch it tonight? I was transfixed by it. I thought she did a very good job capturing some of the complex contradictions and enigmas about the religion that absorbed me as a young adult, and still interests me today. I thought it was quite powerful and moving.
I enjoyed it and thought it very even-handed -- neither side should get upset, in my opinion. Some other rambling thoughts:
1. the BYU ballroom dancers part was very odd;
2. the discussion of the red hew to the desert landscape as a contributing factor to MMM was also odd;
3. Terryl Givens sounded like a woman whenever they didn't show his face;
4. I was surprised at how restrained Will Bagley was (he sure didn't come across as an anti);
5. Glen Leonard came across as mousy, but I admired his admission that BY told Indian leaders to take emigrant cattle (which is exactly what Dimick Huntington's journal entry said concerning the Fancher party); I disagree with Leonard's claim that BY did not "condone" the massacre -- BY's words at the meadows when the Carlton Cairn was destroyed suggest otherwise; and
6. the narrator always referred to modern-day polygamists as "Mormon fundamentalists," despite GBH's adamant statement to the contrary.
Overall, I thought it was a good show, and I'm looking forward to Part 2 tonight.
EDITED TO ADD:
The best irony of the night: did anyone else notice that the final words (in song) in last night's segment were about Heavenly Mother? ;)