All About Mormons
Encyclopedia
"All About Mormons", also known as "All About the Mormons?", is the twelfth episode of the seventh season
of the American animated television series South Park
, and the 108th overall episode of the series. It was originally broadcast on Comedy Central
in the United States on November 19, 2003. The episode revolves around the religion and culture of Mormon
s, as a Mormon family moves to the town of South Park, and influences the beliefs of the family of character Stan Marsh
. The story of Joseph Smith's founding of Mormonism
and the writing of the Book of Mormon
is told through a number of comedic 19th century flashbacks
, with a musical narration.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
, and was rated TV-MA in the United States. The episode evolved from personal experiences of creators Parker and Matt Stone
, who grew up in Colorado
. After learning details of Mormonism during the production of their 1997 film Orgazmo
, Parker found the religion ridiculous, but hard to parody Mormons comedically due to their good-natured attitudes. The scene in which Stan is invited to dinner by the Mormon family was inspired by Parker's first girlfriend in high school, who was Mormon and invited him over for Family Home Evening
. The new Mormon student Gary is voiced by South Park writer Kyle McCulloch
, who grew up Mormon.
The episode received positive reviews from television critics, and has been placed on "best-of" South Park lists. Parker found that younger audiences found the episode unfunny, but many of his Mormon friends found it hilarious. "All About Mormons" was released on DVD
along with the rest of the seventh season on March 21, 2006. Parker and Stone later carried over many themes from the episode for their musical
The Book of Mormon, which opened on Broadway
in 2011.
is drafted into the job of beating him up by the other children, but Gary's sheer politeness leads Stan to discover himself walking away with an invitation to dinner that night. After dinner, the five-child, two-parent family has "Family Home Evening
" where they play games, do performance art and read from the Book of Mormon
. Stan is intrigued and confused by all this, and asks his parents about the Mormon
family's beliefs. His father concludes that they must be religious fanatics attempting to brainwash Stan, and heads over to confront them and beat them up (but only upon determining that Mr. Harrison is white). Instead, he too finds himself quelled by the family's perfection and politeness, and in the end, actually decides to convert to Mormonism
himself. The next day, Kenny
, Cartman
and Kyle
cruelly mock Stan for hanging around with Gary and his family, accusing Stan of going on a date with Gary. When the Harrisons and Gary show up, the three children walk off lying about going to "put in some volunteer work at the homeless shelter".
Throughout the episode, characters ask questions about Mormonism, and the story then breaks off to a sub-story about Joseph Smith, Jr. and the founding of the religion. For satirical purposes, the show deviates from the original accounts of Mormonism's founding by adding extra to stories originally left vague (e.g. the precise location where Martin Harris lost the transcript of the Book of Lehi given to him by Joseph Smith); furthermore, during the narration, an upbeat tune plays in the background, with a choral "Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum" following the lyrical lines of the song. When skeptic Lucy Harris
appears in the sub-story, the chorus changes to "Smart, smart, smart, smart, smart," and it becomes clear that the voices are actually singing "Dumb, dumb, dumb" after the specifics of Smith's story. The show asserts flaws in the religion's founding, which especially concern Stan (for example, that Joseph Smith offered no proof to the general public of finding the Golden plates
, and that he claimed to have translated from a slightly different plate after the first translation was lost while in the possession of Martin Harris). Stan ends up shouting at the Mormons that they're ridiculous for believing in it without proof; they smile patiently and explain that it's a matter of faith, while Stan argues that it should be a matter of empirical evidence. He further lashes out at them for acting unusually nice all the time, claiming it blindsides stupid people like his father into believing in Mormonism (to which Randy Marsh responds with a determined "Yeah!").
Stan's anger doesn't much upset anyone in the Mormon family other than Gary, who confronts Stan and the other boys the next day, pointing out that he believes his religion does not need to be factually true, because it still supports good family values and helping the poor. Gary condemns their bigotry and ignorance, stating:
co-creator Trey Parker
. The character of the new Mormon student Gary is voiced by South Park writer Kyle McCulloch
, who himself is a Mormon. An earlier version of the episode had not only the Marshes take up Mormonism as their new religion, but had "the rest of the town become Mormons."
Growing up in Colorado
, Parker and Stone knew a lot of Mormon people, and Parker's high school ex-girlfriend was a Mormon, whose family he has visited while they held Family Home Evening
. Through these experiences, Parker learned a number of things about the religion, and did more research for his film Orgazmo
, in which he played the Mormon main character.
, a tabloid Australian newspaper, highlighted the episode among "Top Choice" picks in television. Chris Quinn of the San Antonio Express-News
placed the episode at number 7 on his list of "Top 10 Most Offensive South Park Episodes and Therefore, Maybe The Best, List". The episode was used as an exhibit in discussing Mormonism in popular culture by Utah Valley State College
religious studies professor Dennis Potter in a presentation titled "The Americanization of Mormonism Reflected in Pop Culture". KUER's Radio West host Doug Fabrizio
used the episode as a case study in a discussion about "Mormonism and Popular Culture".
South Park (season 7)
Season seven of South Park, an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on March 19, 2003. The seventh season concluded after 15 episodes on December 17, 2003.- Episodes :-External links:...
of the American animated television series South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
, and the 108th overall episode of the series. It was originally broadcast on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
in the United States on November 19, 2003. The episode revolves around the religion and culture of Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
s, as a Mormon family moves to the town of South Park, and influences the beliefs of the family of character Stan Marsh
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
. The story of Joseph Smith's founding of Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
and the writing of the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
is told through a number of comedic 19th century flashbacks
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
, with a musical narration.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
, and was rated TV-MA in the United States. The episode evolved from personal experiences of creators Parker and Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....
, who grew up in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
. After learning details of Mormonism during the production of their 1997 film Orgazmo
Orgazmo
Orgazmo is a 1997 comedy film written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated series South Park, and directed by Parker.-Plot:...
, Parker found the religion ridiculous, but hard to parody Mormons comedically due to their good-natured attitudes. The scene in which Stan is invited to dinner by the Mormon family was inspired by Parker's first girlfriend in high school, who was Mormon and invited him over for Family Home Evening
Family Home Evening
Family Home Evening or Family Night, in the context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, refers to one evening per week, usually Monday, that families are encouraged to spend together in study, prayer and other wholesome activities...
. The new Mormon student Gary is voiced by South Park writer Kyle McCulloch
Kyle McCulloch
Kyle McCulloch is a writer for the TV cartoon South Park, and is largely responsible for the show's Canadian culture themes. He was also a writer on SpongeBob SquarePants on the episode Skill Crane...
, who grew up Mormon.
The episode received positive reviews from television critics, and has been placed on "best-of" South Park lists. Parker found that younger audiences found the episode unfunny, but many of his Mormon friends found it hilarious. "All About Mormons" was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
along with the rest of the seventh season on March 21, 2006. Parker and Stone later carried over many themes from the episode for their musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
The Book of Mormon, which opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 2011.
Plot
A new family, the Harrisons, move into South Park, and their son Gary, stereotypically depicted as unusually perfect (achieving high grades, being state champion in sports, being perfectly polite, etc.), invokes the wrath of the other boys. StanStan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
is drafted into the job of beating him up by the other children, but Gary's sheer politeness leads Stan to discover himself walking away with an invitation to dinner that night. After dinner, the five-child, two-parent family has "Family Home Evening
Family Home Evening
Family Home Evening or Family Night, in the context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, refers to one evening per week, usually Monday, that families are encouraged to spend together in study, prayer and other wholesome activities...
" where they play games, do performance art and read from the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
. Stan is intrigued and confused by all this, and asks his parents about the Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...
family's beliefs. His father concludes that they must be religious fanatics attempting to brainwash Stan, and heads over to confront them and beat them up (but only upon determining that Mr. Harrison is white). Instead, he too finds himself quelled by the family's perfection and politeness, and in the end, actually decides to convert to Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
himself. The next day, Kenny
Kenny McCormick
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is one of the four central characters along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his...
, Cartman
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
and Kyle
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
cruelly mock Stan for hanging around with Gary and his family, accusing Stan of going on a date with Gary. When the Harrisons and Gary show up, the three children walk off lying about going to "put in some volunteer work at the homeless shelter".
Throughout the episode, characters ask questions about Mormonism, and the story then breaks off to a sub-story about Joseph Smith, Jr. and the founding of the religion. For satirical purposes, the show deviates from the original accounts of Mormonism's founding by adding extra to stories originally left vague (e.g. the precise location where Martin Harris lost the transcript of the Book of Lehi given to him by Joseph Smith); furthermore, during the narration, an upbeat tune plays in the background, with a choral "Dum, dum, dum, dum, dum" following the lyrical lines of the song. When skeptic Lucy Harris
Lucy Harris
Lucy Harris was the wife of Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates.-Life:Lucy and Martin were first cousins...
appears in the sub-story, the chorus changes to "Smart, smart, smart, smart, smart," and it becomes clear that the voices are actually singing "Dumb, dumb, dumb" after the specifics of Smith's story. The show asserts flaws in the religion's founding, which especially concern Stan (for example, that Joseph Smith offered no proof to the general public of finding the Golden plates
Golden Plates
According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates are the source from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith...
, and that he claimed to have translated from a slightly different plate after the first translation was lost while in the possession of Martin Harris). Stan ends up shouting at the Mormons that they're ridiculous for believing in it without proof; they smile patiently and explain that it's a matter of faith, while Stan argues that it should be a matter of empirical evidence. He further lashes out at them for acting unusually nice all the time, claiming it blindsides stupid people like his father into believing in Mormonism (to which Randy Marsh responds with a determined "Yeah!").
Stan's anger doesn't much upset anyone in the Mormon family other than Gary, who confronts Stan and the other boys the next day, pointing out that he believes his religion does not need to be factually true, because it still supports good family values and helping the poor. Gary condemns their bigotry and ignorance, stating:
"Maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up. But I have a great life and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that. The truth is, I don't care if Joseph Smith made it all up, because what the Church teaches now is loving your family, being nice and helping people. And even though people in this town might think that's stupid, I still choose to believe in it. All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls."He walks away, leaving the boys in utter shock. The episode ends as Cartman, with a new-found respect for Gary, says "Damn, that kid is cool, huh?".
Production
The episode was written and directed by South ParkSouth Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
co-creator Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
. The character of the new Mormon student Gary is voiced by South Park writer Kyle McCulloch
Kyle McCulloch
Kyle McCulloch is a writer for the TV cartoon South Park, and is largely responsible for the show's Canadian culture themes. He was also a writer on SpongeBob SquarePants on the episode Skill Crane...
, who himself is a Mormon. An earlier version of the episode had not only the Marshes take up Mormonism as their new religion, but had "the rest of the town become Mormons."
Growing up in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, Parker and Stone knew a lot of Mormon people, and Parker's high school ex-girlfriend was a Mormon, whose family he has visited while they held Family Home Evening
Family Home Evening
Family Home Evening or Family Night, in the context of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, refers to one evening per week, usually Monday, that families are encouraged to spend together in study, prayer and other wholesome activities...
. Through these experiences, Parker learned a number of things about the religion, and did more research for his film Orgazmo
Orgazmo
Orgazmo is a 1997 comedy film written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated series South Park, and directed by Parker.-Plot:...
, in which he played the Mormon main character.
Reception
Cameron Adams of the Herald SunHerald Sun
The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...
, a tabloid Australian newspaper, highlighted the episode among "Top Choice" picks in television. Chris Quinn of the San Antonio Express-News
San Antonio Express-News
The San Antonio Express-News is the daily newspaper of San Antonio, Texas. It is ranked as the third-largest daily newspaper in the state of Texas in terms of circulation, and is one of the leading news sources of South Texas, with offices in Austin, Brownsville, Laredo, and Mexico City...
placed the episode at number 7 on his list of "Top 10 Most Offensive South Park Episodes and Therefore, Maybe The Best, List". The episode was used as an exhibit in discussing Mormonism in popular culture by Utah Valley State College
Utah Valley State College
Utah Valley University or UVU, is a publicly funded university in located in Orem, Utah. With a current enrollment of 32,670 students as of 2011, Utah Valley University is now the largest public university in the State of Utah. UVU is a teaching institution which provides opportunity, promotes...
religious studies professor Dennis Potter in a presentation titled "The Americanization of Mormonism Reflected in Pop Culture". KUER's Radio West host Doug Fabrizio
Doug Fabrizio
Doug Fabrizio is an American radio host and commentator. He is host of RadioWest, a popular talk show heard on KUER and XM satellite radio; RadioWest is syndicated by PRI with a focus on the western United States and especially Utah....
used the episode as a case study in a discussion about "Mormonism and Popular Culture".
See also
- Criticism of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsCriticism of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been the subject of criticism since it was founded by American religious leader Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830. Historically, no issue brought greater criticism on the church than that of its practice of plural marriage, which it officially abandoned...
- First VisionFirst VisionThe First Vision refers to a vision that Joseph Smith, Jr. said he received as a youth in a wooded area in Manchester, New York, which his followers call the Sacred Grove. Smith described it as a personal theophany in which he received a forgiveness of sins...
External links
- All About The Mormons? Full episode at South Park Studios
- All About The Mormons? Episode guide at South Park Studios