I knew going into this season of The Sopranos on HBO that I was going to like that show. I have been on board for five seasons running now. Then I saw the previews for this new show about polygamy, called Big Love. Last night I watched the second show of the season of Big Love and I still don't have a verdict as to whether or not I think this show will last.
The show has some good actors in the cast. Bill Paxton plays Bill Henrickson. (by the way, Bill Paxton should not be confused with Bill Pullman who played the President of the US in the Will Smith vehicle Independence Day.) Paxton plays a busy husband with balls enough to have three wives. He and his large family live in Utah in three separate houses that are connected in the back yard. It is the perfect metaphor for polygamists in Utah. The fronts of the houses really make it look like there are three completely separate domains. Only the view from the back yard — behind closed doors — can tell the real story.
Behind those closed doors, there are three wives. Barb, Nicki, and Margene are played by Jeane Tripplehorne, Chloe Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin, respectively. This is also the order that they came into the "family" and also acts as the pecking order amongst the women. There are squabbles, but overall, everyone seems on-board with the lifestyle and believes in the ways of many women to one man.
This also represents the most difficult task that I think the show will have: how is it that you convince the audience on TV that these women not only believe in polygamy, but make the audience care about the characters enough that they can accept the multiple wives as something more than just an abstract portrait that they are observing? In order for the show to be a success, they will have to accomplish this task, and I don't know how well they will be able to convince the mainstream audience in this country to accept this female to male ratio.
Article comments
1 - David Vincent
If you really "want to find out about polygamy as it relates to mainstream Mormons," I can tell you how: it doesn't.
Every once in a while (at least in recent years), a polygamist group will bomb a Mormon building, or one of their continual death threats against Mormon leaders will be publicized. Other than these "interactions," there is little to no connection between Mormons and polygamist groups. It is little wonder that Mormons do not wish to be associated with these polygamist groups.
And, indeed, neither Mormons (nor the vast majority of polygamist groups themselves) regard polygamist groups as "Mormon". The Associated Press style guidelines, various dictionaries, and predominant colloquial usage indicate that "Mormon" is to be used only in connection with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Polygamist groups are by definition not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (anyone practicing polygamy is excommunicated) and are thus not "Mormon".
So, for instance, polygamist groups are not an "ultra-pious sect of the Mormon religion." Rather, their connection to the Mormon Church is that they are descendants of people who split away from the Mormon Church over 100 years ago. They are marginalized groups that live on the fringes of society -- as I suspect they would were they to be located in Texas or New Hampshire rather than in Utah, or if they were to have originally split away from Baptist or Presbyterian churches instead of from the Mormon Church. The average Mormon has probably never had any meaningful interaction with a member of a polygamist group.
I hope this helps provide a more complete picture of "polygamy as it relates to mainstream Mormons" (although I have to apologize if it wasn't very entertaining -- I'm no HBO writer).