" All About the Mormons? " is episode 12 of season seven in the Comedy Central series South Park . It was originally broadcast on November 19, 2003.
Plot
In this episode, a new family -- the Harrisons -- moves into South Park, and their son Gary, stereotypically depicted as unusually perfect (achieving high grades, being state champion in sports, being perfectly polite, etc.), invokes the wrath of the other boys. Stan is drafted into the job of beating him up by the other children, but Gary's sheer politeness leads Stan to discover himself walking away with an invitation to dinner that night. After dinner, the five-child, two-parent family has "Family Home Evening" where they play games, do performance art and read from the Book of Mormon . Stan is intrigued and confused by all this, and asks his parents about the Mormon family's beliefs. His father concludes that they must be religious fanatics attempting to brainwash Stan, and heads over to confront them and beat them up (but only upon determining that Mr. Harrison is white). Instead, he too finds himself quelled by the family's perfection and politeness, and in the end, actually decides to convert to Mormonism himself. The next day, Kenny, Cartman and Kyle cruelly mock Stan for hanging around with Gary and his family, accusing Stan of going on a date with Gary. When the Harrisons and Gary show up, the three children walk off lying about going to "put in some volunteer work at the homeless shelter".
Throughout the episode, characters ask questions about Mormonism, and the story then breaks off to a sub-story about Joseph Smith, Jr. and the founding of the religion. For satirical purposes, the show deviates from the original accounts of Mormonism's founding by adding extra to stories originally left vague (e.g. the precise location where Martin Harris lost the transcript of the Book of Lehi given to him by Joseph Smith); furthermore, during the narration, an upbeat tune plays in the background, with a choral "Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum" following the lyrical lines of the song. At one point, the chorus changes to "Smart, smart, smart, smart, smart", and it becomes clear that the voices are singing "Dumb, dumb, dumb" after the specifics of Smith's story. The show asserts flaws in the religion's founding, which especially concern Stan (for example, that Joseph Smith offered no proof to the general public of finding the Golden plates, and that he claimed to have translated from a slightly different plate after the first translation was lost while in the possession of Martin Harris). Stan ends up shouting at the Mormons that they're ridiculous for believing in it without proof; they smile patiently and explain that it's a matter of faith, while Stan argues that it should be a matter of empirical evidence. He further lashes out at them for acting unusually nice all the time, claiming it blindsides stupid people like his father into believing in Mormonism (to which Randy Marsh unwittingly responds "Yeah!").
Stan's anger doesn't much upset anyone in the Mormon family other than Gary, who confronts Stan and the other boys the next day, pointing out that he believes his religion does not need to be factually true, because it still supports good family values and helping the poor. Gary condemns their bigotry and ignorance, stating:
"All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls."
He walks away, and the episode ends as Cartman, with a new-found respect for Gary, says "Damn, that kid is cool, huh?".
Reception
Cameron Adams of the Herald Sun highlighted the episode among "Top Choice" picks in television. Chris Quinn of the San Antonio Express-News placed the episode at number 7 on his list of: "Top 10 Most Offensive South Park Episodes and Therefore, Maybe The Best, List". The episode was used as an exhibit in discussing Mormonism in popular culture, by Utah Valley State College religious studies professor Dennis Potter, in a presentation titled: "The Americanization of Mormonism Reflected in Pop Culture". The LDS Church called the episode a "gross portrayal of Church history".
See also
- Criticism of the Latter Day Saint movement
- First Vision
References
- ^ Adams, Cameron (December 29, 2003). "Television". Herald Sun : p. 87.
- ^ Quinn, Chris (September 5, 2007). "Not Necessarily A Critic: South Park re-elected by a landslide for four more years". San Antonio Express-News : p. 6T.
- ^ Stack, Peggy Fletcher (August 10, 2006). "Once-radical Mormons move to mainstream". The Salt Lake Tribune .
- ^ Official Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (March 9, 2009). "The Publicity Dilemma". Newsroom (Intellectual Reserve, Inc.) . http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/the-publicity-dilemma . Retrieved 2009-03-12 .
External links
- "All About the Mormons?". South Park Studios . http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/712 .
- "All About the Mormons?". X Episodes (Formerly South Park Zone) . http://www.xepisodes.com/episodes/712/All-about-the-Mormons?.htmlvid=712 .
- "All About the Mormons?". South Park Stuff . http://www.southparkstuff.com/season_7/episode_712/ .
- All About Mormons at the Internet Movie Database
- "All About the Mormons?". TV.com . CNET Networks, Inc . http://www.tv.com/south-park/all-about-the-mormons/episode/286385/summary.html .
- "All About Mormons". South Park Archives . Wikia . http://southpark.wikia.com/wiki/All_About_Mormons .
All About Mormons - Episode Guide - South Park Studios
A Mormon kid moves to South Park and Stan has to kick his ass. But when Stan and his dad meet their new Mormon neighbors, they become fascinated with how genuinely nice they are.
All About the Mormons? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"All About the Mormons?" is episode 12 of season seven in the Comedy Central series South Park. It was originally broadcast on November 19, 2003.
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