posted                  

quote:

---

The Book of Mormon does refer to Christ visiting and preaching to the Nephites soon after the Resurrection.

---

Dobie, I don't get it. Why is that funny?

Posts: 1112 | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged | 

posted                  

quote:

---

BTW, as someone mentioned South Park, they did an episode on LDS that was, predictably for South Park, incredibly offensive and pretty doggone funny if you could keep from being angry about it (which seems to be the key to finding South Park funny).

---

Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003  |  IP: Logged | 

posted                  

Before you read the long article on South Park, I would like to also say that I've only met two Mormons before in my life, and they are both fantstic people. (Dennis and Kelly, you rock!).

My friend Dennis went to Ireland for his mission. Wow. A Mormon getting between Catholics and Protestants. That took guts.

But now Dennis has become a lawyer, so all bets are off.

BYU News Net :

quote:

---

....

While neither Stone nor Parker are Latter-day Saints, they both have had many Mormon influences in their lives.

"We both grew up in Colorado around Mormon people," Stone said. "My best friend was Mormon and Trey used to date a Mormon girl in high school."

Stone said the LDS people they grew up around left a lasting impression on them.

Stone did not grow up in a religious family and said some of his first religious experiences were with his good friend's family.

"They would pray together as a family," Stone said. "I found it weird but fascinating."

Parker and Stone do not actively practice any one religion but are not opponents of religious activity.

"We are admirers of religion," Stone said.

Stone said both he and Parker find the Mormon religion interesting and sometimes funny. Parker finds it especially intriguing and has even met with LDS missionaries.

Even though they make fun of and parody Mormons in their cartoon and films, Stone insists it is not because they dislike Latter-day Saints, but because it is easy.

According to Stone, Christianity in general "has been hacked to death by comics for years," and people are tired of it.

The entertainment industry is always looking for new material, and Stone said Mormons have not been around long enough for people to get used to their beliefs and tire of material involving them.

"Mormons have a lot of very goofy beliefs," Stone said. "It is a new body that comics can pick over."

Parker and Stone have been regular participants in the Sundance Film Festival, and Stone said they would always try to skip a half days worth of activities at the festival and go down to Temple Square to take a tour.

"We thought it was a trip," Stone said.

He said Temple Square is a perfect example of how if someone is not Mormon, he or she can find things humorous that Mormons memorialize.

"There is a monument to seagulls in Temple Square," Stone said. "If you aren't Mormon you think, 'what the [heck] is that'?"

In most of their work involving Mormons, Stone said even though much of the content can be viewed as offensive to Latter-day Saints, they try to send the message that Mormons in general are great people who deserve respect.

"At the end of that South Park episode, the point was that even though Mormons have some strange beliefs, it is a system of rules and values that work," Stone said. "In general, Mormons are stereotyped as good people who are nice law-abiding citizens. There are worse stereotypes."

Stone said Parker feels the same way and has said he has never met a Mormon he did not like, and this is one of the reasons they use Mormons as characters in a lot of their work.

"If we want to portray a really good, wholesome person, we make him a Mormon," Stone said.

Their interest in using LDS people in their work extends past cartoons and movies. Stone mentioned he and Parker have been talking for years about bringing the story of Joseph Smith to life in a Broadway musical.

"There are no definite plans right now, but it is something we would both like to do," Stone said.

---

Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002  |  IP: Logged | 

posted                   

quote:

---

According to Stone, Christianity in general "has been hacked to death by comics for years," and people are tired of it.

The entertainment industry is always looking for new material, and Stone said Mormons have not been around long enough for people to get used to their beliefs and tire of material involving them.

---

Posts: 2207 | Registered: Oct 2003  |  IP: Logged |