We are writing this letter in regards to the recently printed article in 'The Bubble' titled 'South Park Pokes Fun at LDS.' Please feel free to edit this letter, but remember that South Park is not an edited show. I apologize up front with the language and bluntness used in this letter. I must state though that it is all directly from this show that 'pokes fun' at the Mormon religion. These are not all my words.
I am a little bit appalled at how naive the writer of this article appeared to be. Might I ask up front if he even watched the episode in which he based this article off of? At the bottom of this letter I have included the script to this episode. Maybe if you read it and actually pay attention to it, then you will realize that this is not 'poking fun' or however you want to describe the episode. South Park does not focus on 'green Jell-O jokes' and simple levity of non-doctrinal topics. The creators are very knowledgeable about the church and its beginnings, and are presenting it in a way to make it look stupid. It is comical to them to see a group of people follow a book that was given to a boy who saw God at the age of 14. They may feel that Mormons are genuinely nice, but their message is to show how stupid we are to follow such beliefs and proposed discrepancies.
Isn't it ironic that this article appears under the title of the section, 'The Bubble?' This is proof of how sheltered some people can be. Let's begin our discussion. To start with, the language it uses is very derogatory.
The light that this article was written in made it sound as if this episode was gaining attention to the Mormon perspective in a positive manner. Let me give an example from this episode on how 'positive' their outlook on Mormonism is. Throughout the episode, Gary's (the Mormon boy's) family sings a song about the formation of the church, with Joseph Smith and all. In between many parts of the song are little choruses that may sound like beats going 'dum dum dum' and so on. Here is part of the script with this example.
Singers: Joseph Smith was called a prophet
Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb
He started the Mormon religion
Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb
Yes, this could be simple rhythmical chants used to fill in space and mean absolutely nothing. Then why when they talk about Lucy Harris does the chorus suddenly change, as shown below?
Singers: Lucy Harris smart smart smart
Smart smart smart smart smart
Lucy Harris smart smart smart
Martin Harris dumb dumb dumb
Maybe I am being the naive one here and am just failing to see the good in this show. I just feel that your article is very misleading in this show. The movie 'Orgazmo' that was mentioned for having a prominent Mormon character is a porn. It is about a missionary that for some reason has to pay for a temple marriage and reverts to making pornographic films to pay for it (of course we don't pay for temple marriages, but that's a 'funny', or 'poking fun' part of the movie (did I mention it was a porn?). There is no repentance process involved. It is rated NC-17, and I don't feel that it will spark investigators interest. If they are watching the film, they are watching it for the pornography. Also in the 'South Park Movie' there are many indecent scenes dealing with homosexuality between Satan and Saddam Hussein. Maybe we do find that funny, but when Saddam starts showing parts of his body? Or the fact that the f-word is spoken nearly every minute of the film? I am not the only person who feels this way, and I am sure that you will receive many calls on this article. Please ponder about these topics more fully before you print them for the rest of these sheltered souls to read.
Devin Athey
Casper, Wyo.
Kevin Sowards
Hamilton, Ohio
Editors note: The authors included parts of the script from 'South Park,' but it contained words we cannot publish on our Web site.