Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
TeaShe is the women of Momtok, a bright-haired group of twenty influencers who make up the cast. Hulu‘S The Secret Life of Mormon WivesHave built an empire. The group – all current or former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – has secured book deals, brand sponsorships and. spots on dancing with the starsActually, it’s no surprise secret Life Hulu’s most-watched unscripted premiere of 2024 just as dirty real housewives Installment, with an additional order of controversial theology. Think catfights, icy brunches and plastic surgery recovery scenes interspersed with aerial shots of temples and churches.
Reality TV fans love it — but for some Latter-day Saints (their favorite term compared to Mormons), the series doesn’t sit well. “This isn’t the first time that the film and TV industry has misrepresented us, or sensationalized things in some way,” says Dallin Shumway, a 27-year-old social worker in Texas. He can see why the show has been successful: the title alludes to an assumed secrecy associated with religion. “The angle always seems to be… these are crazy Americans who live out West. It’s not really a clear representation of Latter-day Saint life at all – at least if we’re talking about self-identified, practicing members of the faith.”
Ken Brooks, a 43-year-old Latter-day Saint who lives in Utah and works in software, jokingly tells me he would love to name the show: “The Open Lives of People Who Left the Church.” He says the Hulu title promotes the stereotype that Latter-day Saints are “these healthy people, but secretly we’re oppressed and dying to be free, and we’re living this double life.” He says that the reality is completely different. “It’s right there.” secret Life Makes me uncomfortable, because there will be a certain percentage of people who will form their opinion about people like me based on the people who were in that show and the work they did.
secret Life returned for a third season on Thursday, which followed the cast as they grappled with an affair that caused shockwaves momtok and life partner group dadtokMomtok — created in 2022 by artists Taylor Frankie Paul, Whitney Levitt, Macy Neely, and Mikayla Matthews — started as a space for dance videos and related parenting content, The series was born into itself In the wake of a “soft swinging” scandal Paul revealed in a TikTok livestream that he and his husband were divorcing after intimate encounters with other couples in Salt Lake City almost led to the group breaking up. The fallout from the controversy nearly broke Momtok as the other members found themselves caught in the escalating allegations. Still, they have more issues to reconcile in the latest 10 episodes.
Throughout the series, the cast engages in an ongoing discussion about the social conservatism of their faith – where premarital sex and homosexuality are prohibited – and whether they can change it. In the first episode of the series, Paul admits that his mother and the church forced her to marry her first husband because they were sexually active. Other stars have discussed a desire to “break the stigma” and modernize the faith. A handful of them drink alcohol; Some people practice abstinence in line with Church doctrine, but interpretations of its teachings are weak when it comes to ketamine therapy.
Last year, the church issued a statement saying that recent media portrayals sometimes “rely on sensationalism and inaccuracies that do not fairly and fully reflect the lives of our church members or their beloved sacred beliefs.” Although it did not mention Hulu or secret wivesThe memo said some recent presentations “resort to stereotypes or gross misrepresentations that are in poor taste and have real-life consequences for people of faith.”
When it comes to the portrayal of women in the series, Dr. Jennifer Finlayson-FyfeA Chicago-based sex therapist and marriage counselor who works with religious people says the show promotes the narrative that women in the church are “unlucky” and want to be apart of it. “It’s sexist and immature,” she says. “It makes women look like repressed idiots, and then [the women in the series] Getting busted, but in this extremely stupid way. They’re breaking boundaries, but they’re doing it in a very indulgent, carefree way.
Much of Dr. Finlayson-Fyfe’s work focuses on helping people establish their identity in a religious culture she calls “high demand.” She says there is “some truth” to how people feel restrained by these demands. “What’s true about the Latter-day Saints experience is that to be considered a good Mormon you must live a narrow way, and women have a special version of that—you have to be a virgin at the time of marriage, have children, to support your husband.” Women of Momtok are reacting to this in many ways. “It seems like they’re freeing themselves, right? And I would just argue that they’re not free at all.”
Women in the Latter-day Saint community have talked about the series since its release. Sarah Jane Weaver, Editor Deseret News In Salt Lake City, calling the show’s cast ,outsiders, to the church who are ,making a profit, by flaunting their bad behavior, he said the show ,misrepresents what it means to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints., ,The Secret Life of Mormon Wives This is not a representation of me or my friends or my daughters or their friends or the women I have met around the world,” she wrote Article Published last year.
Watch Apple TV+ for free for 7 days
New customers only. £9.99/month. After the free trial. Plan to automatically renew until canceled.
Advertisement. If you sign up for this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism at The Independent.
Watch Apple TV+ for free for 7 days
New customers only. £9.99/month. After the free trial. Plan to automatically renew until canceled.
Advertisement. If you sign up for this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism at The Independent.
Finlayson-Fyfe says that people who are not familiar with the faith may be surprised that “Mormons are just like them.” “These are normal people trying to have happy marriages and families, trying to live lives that have meaning.”
When it comes to other criticisms of the series, some Latter-day Saints have taken issue with the show’s lack of dialogue about faith, even though it relies heavily on religious imagery – from sweeping temple shots to church spiers on the Utah skyline. David Snell, host main principle The podcast says the show uses their religion as “clickbait”. “It felt forced to me,” he says. “They put ‘Mormon’ in the title and including Latter-day Saint buildings felt like a desperate attempt to tie the church into the series.”
Snell says it is “sad” that his faith “has become somewhat of a spectacle for people… It makes you feel like a zoo animal sometimes.”
For his podcast, Snell watched all 10 episodes of the show’s latest series and recorded his live reaction. He found that the show had deliberate ambiguity about which members of Momtok and Dadtok were still active in the religion. “I wish they were more transparent about where they really are with their faith, because then I think that would set appropriate expectations for the audience who may be less familiar with what a true conservative Latter-day Saint actually looks like,” he tells me.
All the interviewees I talk to acknowledge that there is a certain silliness to reality TV and that it shouldn’t be taken too seriously. All this might not be a bad push to believe. Snell can see how the show could actually help destroy long-held stereotypes about the church, and even point out how nuanced the culture is. He says, “Some people have seen members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints looking like they’re dressed like pioneers, and they’re milking cows all the time.” “There’s some value in portraying Latter-day Saints as people who come in all shapes and sizes, and they’re not just a monolith. Because on an individual level, you’ll find people all along that spectrum. But generally, ‘conservative’ is somewhere in the middle.”
Shumway explains that life within the church exists on a spectrum. She has friends who have left the church and others who live very conservative lives. “For those who have gone on, I believe their experience is valid, you know? I hope we can all do a better job of looking at each other and trying to work it out.” he points to secret Life Exposes criticisms of the Church, which he does not deny. He says, “It would be a big mistake if I tried to paint this picture where, in the context of all the criticism the church receives, it’s all invalid and it’s always misunderstood, because that’s just not the case.” “You can’t have an institution as large as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without some criticism that’s really necessary.”
“We’re real people and we have our own stories,” Snell says. “And I think secret Life It’s the extreme end of that spectrum, but I see the value in the show as something that can help people move away from traditional stereotypes,” he pauses. “But, you know, I’m the one looking for the silver lining.”
All three seasons of ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ are now available on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK.