Modern culture seems fascinated with Mormonism. Reality TV shows, Broadway plays, true crime series, and pop music feature a relentless stream of performances by and depictions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its many varieties. Indeed, the Mormon tradition often serves as a prism through which people can investigate central tensions found throughout society, whether concerning belief, politics, gender, race, or sexuality. And while modern expressions seem particularly suited for the 21st century, this cultural fascination, with its concomitant lessons, dates all the way back to Joseph Smith and Mormonism’s founding. This panel investigates how Mormonism has intersected with the media in a variety of formats throughout time, among different genres, and across the global stage.
This paper examines how Mormonism was constructed as a religious and social threat in the mid-nineteenth-century Swedish press. From the moment Mormonism entered public awareness, newspapers played a central role in shaping its image, portraying the movement as fanatical, immoral, and politically subversive. Such representations were closely tied to broader concerns about dissent and social stability within a confessional Lutheran state that still legally restricted alternative modes of religious practice. Drawing on national and provincial newspapers, complemented by ecclesiastical and civil records relating to prosecutions of missionaries and converts, the study traces how narratives of danger and disorder circulated between media, church, and state. By situating anti‑Mormon discourse within debates about religious freedom and modernization, the paper shows how Mormonism became a touchstone in negotiating the boundaries of toleration in nineteenth‑century Sweden, thereby contributing to the growing field of Global Mormon Studies.
Dry Bar Comedy has establish itself as a significant player in the stand-up comedy industry. Since its launch a decade ago, the company has clearly signaled its intention to reshape the comedic market, profession and art form around specific norms of propriety and audience participation. As such, it specifically seeks to expand the circuit of family-friendly clean comedy. Although Dry Bar Comedy does not explicitly promote a religious framework, it is strongly associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I argue that its mission closely aligns with that of its parent company, Angel Studios, which aims to provide stories that “amplify light”.
This paper considers both the successes and stakes of Dry Bar Comedy in the comedy industry, examining the growing popularity of clean and faith-based comedy in the US alongside the evolving relationship between humor, religion and the LDS Church in contemporary entertainment.
This paper takes as its primary subject the archetype of Mormon motherhood, Taylor Frankie Paul, whose public and private persona as a Mormon wife serves as the primary text from which to explore the archetype of the single mother, the co-parent, and the divorcée through the lens of Mormonism and Mormon history. Particularly salient for this paper will be the ways that the priesthood functions and has functioned for unmarried or divorced mothers, as well as what structures exist and have existed to support these women. Equally important to this study of the frameworks in which mothers like Paul operate are the ways that Mormon mothers experience and have experienced the messiness of this role. Is and has there been space for mess for Mormon mothers? What does being a “good mother” mean in a world where mess is a given?