Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney might get some help answer "the Mormon question" from an unlikely source this spring: PBS, which will air a four-hour two-part documentary The Mormons by award-winning filmmaker Helen Whitney. The Deseret News reports on the documentary, which will appear on two PBS shows - "American Experience" and "Frontline" nationally on April 30 and May 1.
"I hope that most of the stereotypes - ideally, all of them -will be blown away," Whitney told the Deseret Morning News. "Because so many of them are just based on ignorance. Ignorance about Mormon history, ignorance about Mormon theology. Ignorance."
After spending three years on the project, Whitney is well aware of the stereotypes and ignorance that's out there. "Most of the time when I bring up what I'm doing and I talk about it with people, the first word that comes up is polygamy," she said. Indeed, introducing the documentary to a gathering of television critics from across the country, it took only moments for the subject to be raised.
Whitney has no illusions that "The Mormons" will answer all questions about the LDS Church. "It is not exhaustive. It is not comprehensive. It is thematic," said Whitney, who worked with both LDS and non-LDS consultants. "I have chosen what I felt to be the defining ideas and themes and events in Mormon history that would help outsiders go inside the church."
The first night, on "American Experience," addresses LDS Church history, with themes that include revelation, persecution leading to exodus, polygamy and "the great accommodation" when the church renounced plural marriage. The second night, on "Frontline," deals with the modern church - missionary work, family, temples, dissenters and "the extraordinary transformation from a people who are outsiders and pariahs to the mainstream. It is one of the great, neglected narratives of American religious history," Whitney said.
The Deseret News article notes that, to make the film, Whitney shot most of it outisde of Utah, traveling across the country from New York to California and even sending a film crew to Ghana.
"Mormons are everywhere, and I wanted to make that point," she said. "There are more Mormons outside of America than in this country. And even within America, there are many Mormons outside of Utah. So only a small part of it was shot in Utah."
She spent three years working on the film, interviewing "hundreds and hundreds of people" ranging from LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley to everyday church members to those who are openly antagonistic toward the church. She attended ward meetings and made visits with home teachers; she spoke with people who had been excommunicated.
"The Mormons" will no doubt displease anyone who doesn't want to hear a negative word about the LDS Church. At the same time, it's going to anger those who don't want to hear anything good about it.
It might also frustrate those who hope "the Mormon question" will sink Mitt Romney's campaign.
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