Consider the following. E.T. is a Christ figure. He is a botanist, a “shepherd of plants” so to speak. His mission is peaceful—he has come to save some of the earth’s endangered organisms. He arrives out of the heavens, heals the sick (the dying plant, Elliot’s finger), and performs miracles (elevating the bicycles and other …
Tag: movies
What Latter-day Saints Can Learn from Tár
When I saw the list of the Academy Awards’ Best Picture nominees, I thought, “Which of these movies would be most useful to Mormons?” And the answer I came up with was Tár. Which seemed strange. After all, we have Avatar: The Way of Water, a movie about a family—and Mormons love families! We also …
Poly-wood! Mormon Polygamy in the Movies
By Randy Astle Randy Astle is a writer and filmmaker in New York City. He has written numerous articles, and is nearly finished with a book on Mormon film. A TRIP TO SALT LAKE CITY Released during the Smoot Senate hearing, A Trip to Salt Lake City (1905) was both the first Mormon fiction …
Movie Reviews: The Cokeville Miracle and Freetown
Reviewed by Stephen Carter The Cokeville Miracle and Freetown are fascinating glimpses into how Mormons approach faith-promoting stories, and how those stories interact with the core message of the gospel. The Cokeville Miracle If you haven’t heard about the Cokeville miracle: in 1986, David and Doris Young (played by Nathan Stevens and Kym Mellen, repectively) …