Is Big Love a realistic depiction of polygamy?

[duets]

Jan 26, 2010 0:08:38 GMT -5 JJ77 said:

I imagine that being so close to so much of the real life action would also help to pique your interest duets.

ps- It's Jackie, not Janie ... if you were referring to me? i think? lol

Yes I think it does. It's just all so interesting as a part of American History. OOOPS, sorry Jackie. I was having a Wanda moment here.

[azriverrat]

Heres a couple of links to an interesting site...

www.religioustolerance.org/flds.htm

www.religioustolerance.org/lds_beli.htm

www.religioustolerance.org/lds_poly2.htm

Something I found interesting....

The LDS church holds a huge amount of ancestral records (held in a vault underground south of slc). If you go to this site....

www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/frameset_search.asp

You may find your own ancestors! Also, you can search Brigham Young, Joseph Smith, and many other early Mormon founders and actually SEE all the wives and dates of marriages!

BTW, the main reason the LDS stopped practicing polygamy was because Utah could not join the union until the practice was denounced.

(My g-grandfather was convicted and jailed for practicing polygamy)

[rhinestone_cowgirl]

azrivverat; good link; I just discovered family search the other day. I'm already an ancestry member but got stuck when the British centrally held records began; about 1837. However with family search I have gone back to the 1500s on at least 5 branches of my family, yay! Some of the records when you click on them though; tell you they are from their 'baptisms from the dead' collection so I'm presuming some of my relatives ended up becoming mormon (I'm not) and baptised my ancestors for the dead....which is a tad creepy...

[azriverrat]

Also try here.....

history.utah.gov/research_and_collections/photos/index.html

MANY interesting photos! There are even photos of the Short Creek people!

[JJ77]

I ended up not making it to the library untill today, and forgot my "list" of recommended books LOL BUT , i did get a few I think will be interesting / informative.

"The history of the mormons: in photgraphs and text 1830 to present"
"Mormons in america"
"Mormon America : the power and the promise"
"Church of lies" - flora jessop
"escape" - carolyn jessop

I'll let you know ifthey're worth checking out after I make my way thru them

[duets]

I'll let you know ifthey're worth checking out after I make my way thru them

Sounds like your off to a good start! Please let us know how they were & what you learned.

[JJ77]

here's a link to (imo anyway) a really well done peice that national geographic did this month. (their cover story btw)

The 10 page article touches on everything from the history of LDS and the differences between fundamentalist and the main stream lds church, to how those differences occured. It's also an insightful look at life on the inside of the largest flds compound in the US; housing 6000 members and located in hildale Utah & colorado city Az (aka : "short creek").

The peice was really well written in the fact that it was not just informative but shows both sides of the story; that of those who live the principle/ flds and those who oppose it.

Defnitely worth checking out ... and dont foret to to check out their photo gallery!

"The Polygamists: A sect that split from the Mormons allows multiple wives, expels "lost boys," and heeds a jailed prophet."
By Scott Anderson

ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2010/02/polygamists/anderson-text/1

[JJ77]

I finished reading "mormons in America" by- cluadia lauper bushman & richard lyman bushman
The book is part of a 17 volume series that explores religion in amercian life from 1500- the end of the 20th century.

I think this book was actually a good place to start for someone like myself who knew basically nothing about lds , or flds. It was short (around 120pages) included photos, and though pretty basic really covered a lot of ground.
I wanted to start with something that would give me the basics of the mormon's (both fundamentalist and regular lds) without bias before i jumped into some of the other books i picked up - which were written by former flds members.
This book was basically an acount of the religions history, wich is part of america's history that i wasnt aware of.
It focussed more on lds than fundamentalist mormons, but both were covered to some degree. I was really surprised by many of things I read about mormon women in history.
For example, when the women's suffrage movement began (fighting for equality and the vote) mormon women were the first to get the vote (in utah)... and yet they voted in favor of polygamy. Also of interest- in 1895 Dr. Martha hughes cannon became the 1st woman in the us to be elcted a state senator- having defeated her husband, amougn others & 2 other women were elcted that years to the utah house. Dr. Martha Hughes cannon was a polygamist.

[thetrueprophet]

I do not think it is a very accurate description of Polygamy or Fundamentalism. There is WAY TOO much Drama. For a TV show it is good to have drama, but I have never known of anyone with that much drama. Polygamist cannot be lumped or categorized; they vary as much in lifestyle and beliefs as any monogamist. Now Fundamentalists are a different ballgame. There are MANY "Stereotypes" portrayed in fundamentalists on Big Love. While many of them are common, they too seem overdone and over dramatic. Some stuff is nail on the head though. When I was a kid I was a part of a fundamentalist cult. It was not the FLDS, but very similar. To this day I stand out and am different....somewhere between their world and yours.

[JJ77]

Now Fundamentalists are a different ballgame. There are MANY "Stereotypes" portrayed in fundamentalists on Big Love. While many of them are common, they too seem overdone and over dramatic. Some stuff is nail on the head though. When I was a kid I was a part of a fundamentalist cult. It was not the FLDS, but very similar. To this day I stand out and am different....somewhere between their world and yours.

This post is exacty the reason I love message boards / forums. You get (ideally) insight and opinion from people in all different walks of life, our differences are what make it interesting.

I just posted on the subject of FLDS on the "compound lounge" board , and I would be very interested to hear your take on what I wrote there.

[livininSandy]

As one who lives in Sandy, Utah and could not tell you where to find a polygamist home perhaps I'm not qualified to say. I will say the following:

1) A police officer in nearby Murray was discovered to be a polygamist about a decade ago. The result was that he lost his job, since he was clearly breaking the law.

2) The biggest fear of those who practice polygamy (outside of compounds) is being found out that they are polygamists. This has been clear in the series throughout; however, this year there is so much incomprehensible stuff occurring that I'm loosing interest in the program. Why Bill thinks that after election he can "come out of the closet" is beyond my comprehension. Utah citizens would never support such a person in the legislature.

3) Polygamists outside compounds try to stay below the radar, yes they run businesses and the family generally all helps out, but otherwise they prefer to stay out of the light.

4) In the first episode the view of "Bill's church" was such a joke!! There is no way a real church meeting would be anything like that depicted. Further a group as small as Bill's would simply meet at home, and not have their own building. The depiction of this was so wrong in so many ways.

5) Yes I suspect that life in a non-compound polygamist family is complex. Perhaps some young men do fall in love with their other mom. But most issues probably revolve around being sure to stay under the radar.

6) A gay guy as leader of a polygamist compound? WOW that guy is truly in the WRONG PLACE. Incomprehensible that such a thing could ever happen. Crazier than a polygamist running for office expecting that after election he can come out of the closet so to speak.

There are so many other problems going on that are far fetched that I believe Big Love will end the season as a Big Dud! Far too many balls to keep in the air, they must be headed to a crash and burn. Enjoy th last episodes, this show is done.

[ragnarockette]

Obviously its dramatized, but I've seen urban polygamists on Oprah and 60 Minutes and they seem very much like the Hendricksons. The men did not appear on TV, lest they lose business, and it seemed that the family worked hard to stay under the radar. Their kids were often made fun of at school, so its obvious that people in the immediate vicinity are obviously going to know.

None of the urban polygamists mentioned having any ties to th FLDS church or any compound groups.

[JJ77]

livininSandy -

Maybe the fact that this show hits so close to home for you (location wise) is the reason you have issue with the show's reality factor? Personally I think the show uses it's various (granted sometimes over the top) story lines to show very real emotional stories. It's a "Drama series" so expecting it to not up the ante on the drama level is not realistic IMO.

I didnt even know Sandy Utah really existed though - so thanks for the geography lesson. lol