Singing and Dancing to the Book of Mormon by Marc Edward Shaw

Author:Marc Edward Shaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: undefined
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2012-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

The Book of Mormon begins, as we have seen, by trumpeting the power of the Book of Mormon itself—“It has so many awesome parts”[11]—but it ends by celebrating the power of an entirely new scripture, “a sacred text . . . of pioneers and frogs.”[12] The transformation of the actual Book of Mormon into a sort of Gospel of Arnold Cunningham is presented not as a rejection of the original text but as, ironically, an extension and evolution of that text—evidence of the power of believing in it in the first place. As Elder Price is amazed to discover, “a bunch of made-up stuff” can serve a higher purpose just as well as his own supposedly divinely sanctioned tradition can,[13] because in postsecular faith all scriptures are admitted to be at best artificially divine even as they do allow access to “the most profound dreams, promises, and possibilities” of mankind.[14]

Part of what makes The Book of Mormon postsecular in its treatment of scripture, however, is its awareness that popular American culture has created a wide range of more practically “sacred” texts for itself. While particular religious denominations have their traditionally sacred books, America as a consumer society tends to elevate explicitly secular texts into positions that resemble those sanctioned by divine authority. The most obvious example of this phenomenon is Americans’ use of the Constitution, which (for instance) incoming presidents must swear an oath to “preserve, protect, and defend” in the same manner that religious leaders pledge to defend their faith from unbelievers. The Book of Mormon recognizes, however, that everyday Americans awash in pop culture adoration treat all kinds of random stories and characters with near-fanatical devotion.

At first, Elder Cunningham uses the distinction between being a Star Wars or Star Trek fan simply as an icebreaker to get to know his new partner Elder Price better: “I wanna know everything about you,” he gushes, and knowing a man’s science-fiction preferences evidently covers the most important part of “everything.”[15] It later becomes clear, however, that in his role as a parody of the stereotypical American nerd, Cunningham’s geeky interests have real spiritual consequences. Hobbits stand beside Mormon and Moroni as symbols of his conscience in the song “Making Things Up Again,” and Boba Fett and the Ewoks show up as part of the new Gospel of Joseph Smith and the frogs that the Africans eventually adopt. Even Elder Price’s naïve vision of Orlando as the best place to do missionary work suggests an elevation of capitalist fantasy (“Sea World and Disney and / Putt-Putt golfing”) into the most profound of spiritual opportunities.[16]

As with most elements of The Book of Mormon, there are two distinctly different ways to look at these moments in which everyday mass consumerism becomes invested with transcendent meaning. Our first instinct, perhaps urged on by the show’s penchant for encouraging laughter in the most inappropriate places, is to lampoon not only the nerdy interest in popular culture but the attitude that such idol worship shares with religion generally.

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