Mormons, Films, Scriptures

Keywords

mormons, fils, scriptures, LDS Church, Mormon Studies

Abstract

I asserted without argument a few years ago at the annual meeting of the Association of Mormon Scholars in the Humanities that the Mormon film movement of 2000–2005 witnessed the production of only one truly Mormon film, namely, Napoleon Dynamite (2004).1 The claim for which I did provide an argument was that the bulk of the movement launched by Richard Dutcher’s God’s Army (2000) and brought to its culmination with Dutcher’s (thankfully-later-re-titled) God’s Army 2 (2005) was principally a study in the possibility of introducing into Mormonism, for ostensibly pastoral reasons but with theologically fraught consequences, an arguably non-Mormon sense of religious transcendence. What I did not note then, but would like to reflect on now, is the curious role scripture played—and did not play—in this short-lived movement.2

Original Publication Citation

“Mormons, Films, Scriptures.” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 45.3 (Fall 2012): 171–79.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

2012

Permanent URL

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/6093

Publisher

ProQuest

Language

English

College

Religious Education

Department

Ancient Scripture

University Standing at Time of Publication

Assistant Professor

Link to Full Text

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