"According to Their Wills and Pleasures": The Sexual Stereotyping of Mormon Men in American Film and Television Page: 36
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representation of Mormons grapples with a polygamous aspect. This chapter will
examine the way mainstream movies present the Mormon stereotype of the monstrous
polygamist. In these films Mormon sexuality is a monstrous sexuality that fuels a need
for power and oppresses women. Robin Wood's theory of the horror film will explain
many of the reasons for this monstrous stereotype. Wood says that monsters are usually
created through a repressed society's construction of an Other and its disassociation of
repressed elements onto that Other. Furthermore, since the monstrous polygamist is
vilified against monogamous heterosexuality due to its use of women, Adrienne Rich's
theory of "compulsory heterosexuality" will reveal the patriarchal strategies of this
Mormon stereotype. The films that will be analyzed in this chapter come from two
different periods of moviemaking: A Mormon Maid (1917) and September Dawn (2006).
The monstrous polygamist stereotype in these two films will be contrasted with the
depiction of polygamists in the currently running television series Big Love (2006-). The
reworking of the polygamist image in this series in contrast with the other films reveals
the compulsory heterosexuality and the culturally repressed sexuality that motivates the
monstrous polygamist stereotype.
Chapter Four will explore the construction of the homosexual Mormon character
in gay and lesbian cinema. Because of the Church's history of homophobia and political
resistance to the gay and lesbian community, the self-destructive homosexual has become
the stereotype for Mormon characters with same-sex desires. Furthermore, the Mormon
Church is a representation in these films for the oppressive effects of the closet. Eve
Kosofky Sedgwick's theory on these oppressive effects and the performative nature of36
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Sutton, Travis. "According to Their Wills and Pleasures": The Sexual Stereotyping of Mormon Men in American Film and Television, thesis, May 2009; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9825/m1/41/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .