I don't often watch movies within the cinema, let alone horror movies. But a couple of weeks ago I saw “Heretic“, which fascinated me for private and skilled reasons.
I watched loads of Hugh Grant romantic comedies within the late Nineties and early 2000s. Today it’s me a scholar of gender and culture and religion, including Mormonism. And in “Heretic,” two Latter-day Saint missionaries knock on a door only to search out it opened by a personality named Mr. Reed, played by Grant himself.
As I sat within the theater, my mind wandered to the time recently once I watched the complete reality show.The Secret Lives of Mormon Women.”
Although the series differs significantly from the film, each often deal with the lives of ladies who belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often called the Mormon Church. Less horror and more hot mess, the TV show sets up a conflict between a gaggle of mother friends who violate lots of their church's rules.
Nevertheless, each character sets reflect one another long-held tropes about women in art: depicted as virgins, moms or sinners in need of salvation. When characters have a spiritual background, their misdeeds are sometimes portrayed as rebellions against the constraints of their faith – evident in a Secret Lives of Mormon Wives episode titled “The Book of Sinners and Saints.”
In the filmReligion is commonly a path that audiences must grapple with Ideas about gender and social change. This is much more true if the faith is taken into account conservative or liable to stereotyping, each of which apply to Latter-day Saints. Female characters' dilemmas are sometimes portrayed consequently of their faith—but their characterization may say more concerning the remainder of America than the church itself.
“Secrets” and stereotypes
“The Secret Lives of Mormon Women,” that was renewed for a second season on Hulu in October 2024 is a reality show a few group of friends in Salt Lake City, where the Church of Latter-day Saints is headquartered.
Although many Americans know little concerning the church, Strong stereotypes persist: these members are healthyfor instance, and accept a family structure with a father who takes care of him and a superbly coiffed mother who stays at home. The show goals to point out how diverse the “secret lives” of Latter-day Saints may be, at the same time as certain characters within the show reflect stereotypes concerning the Church's expectations of ladies.
The Church teaches that members should avoid extramarital sex, Alcohol and caffeine. Nevertheless, many actors proceed to check all these boundaries or break them completely. Before the show began, for instance, the celebs gained a fan base on TikTok via the hashtag #MomTok – which then experienced a boom a “soft swinging” scandal Involvement of their social environment. During filming, one among the ladies is pregnant and never married to the daddy of her child.
These conflicts appear to pique the fascination of viewers, despite the indisputable fact that few people in a spiritual tradition follow its teachings perfectly. Questions about church regulations and Violation of the foundations occur time and again the subreddits dedicated to the show.
Maybe viewers act like women only have feelings in Utah special patriarchal pressure when it comes to money and appearance – including cosmetic surgery. they could conveniently forgotten that two of the most important Christian denominations within the United States, the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, also ban women from holding leadership positions.
At one point early within the series, Whitney tries to determine whether to simply accept a sex toy company's offer to advertise their products and whether it aligns along with her values. She and the opposite women all grudgingly admit that they earn greater than their husbands, especially through such brand-name deals.
These tensions are hardly limited to spiritual communities. Many people outside of conservative beliefs struggle with the concept of a girl being the first breadwinner of her family. Studies suggest this stands out as the case a better likelihood of divorce when wives earn greater than husbands, and that ladies who earn greater than their male partners are more prone to fake orgasms.
Perfect victims
In its own way, “Heretic” can be about power and control in addition to the oppression of ladies with or without religion. But while faith itself isn’t discussed here in “Secret Lives.” it’s the main target.
The film opens with two young women wearing the modest clothing of Latter-day Saint missionaries – a rite of passage for a lot of young people within the Church – and with name tags on their coats. They rode their bikes to see Mr. Reed, a person who expressed an interest of their faith. He invites her into his perfectly decorated house and says that his wife shall be joining them, although the one clue to her are mugs marked “Husband” and “Husband.”
Mr. Reed is enthusiastic about religion, but to not the extent the missionaries had hoped. He begins to lecture her concerning the supposedly false guarantees of faith and urges her to present up the concept her church has a monopoly on the reality. In particular, he insists that the Latter-day Saint tradition is bad for girls and persists in that tradition former practice of polygamy – while he himself begins to terrorize the young women, who realize that they have to discover a method to escape.
In my opinion, their plight is tied to broader ideas about gender—particularly discomfort with U.S. culture's move away from patriarchal gender roles.
Christine Blythea folklorist and the managing director The Mormon Historical Association argues that sister missionaries were the “ideal victims” for a horror film: characters that the audience associates with innocence and who’re worthy of being protected by men.
But once they leave the security of their homes, they’re persecuted moderately than protected. It is just a while after they enter Reed's house that Elder Kennedy, a person from their church, goes in search of them. Reed's seek for the “one true religion” and his efforts to get the women to desert their very own religion boil right down to his need for pure control over women – which is expressed not only in his violence, but in addition in its manner and the way in which he moves the figures of the 2 missionaries through a dollhouse-sized version of his house.
Audiences might even see the missionaries as scapegoats, as if such dangers only arise when women serve their church—moderately than considering that misogyny is a danger that ladies face no matter their religious affiliation.
Both “Heretic” and “Secret Lives” reflect ideas about Latter-day Saints for a U.S. audience. The audience, in turn, uses it to explore fears concerning the position of ladies in society. While each could also be entertaining in their very own ways, the challenge is to take into consideration why they resonate – and apply those thoughts to our own communities.
image credit : theconversation.com