I love being a Mormon. I really do. I'm deeply Mormon.
But sometimes my fellow Latter-day Saints do things that embarrass me and make me think, "If Internet use is supposed to make us Mormons appear normal, these guys missed the memo!"
Maybe you heard about this lady. She is appalled that everyone is gushing over Frozen, that children are memorizing the songs, and that Mormon Alex Boye's Africanized version of "Let It Go" has gone viral. Why is she so appalled? Because, says she, the movie is really just a piece of pro-gay propaganda.
Yes, she is serious.
That idea was so strange to me that I had to read her logic behind her claim. And her reasoning is even crazier than her conclusion.
Basically, Elsa's magical powers are an analogy for being gay and having to hide it, but ultimately letting it go.
Further supporting arguments are that Elsa is a "queen" and that the shopkeeper had a gay lover in the sauna. (Umm...Where did you get that idea?)
No matter where you fall on the spectrum of ideas about homosexuality, it's pretty clear that this woman is a nut!
In fact, when I saw Frozen, I thought about the fact that Disney hasn't ventured into homosexuality, just keeping things safe from the backlash they would inevitably receive. I mean, Anna is in love with men. I appreciated Frozen because it emphasized that love doesn't have to be toward a significant other--unlike most princess movies--but can and should be toward members of your own family.
I think that even if Frozen was made with promoting a gay agenda (and I certainly do not think it was), it was intentionally done so so that it could apply to other people. If their message was about not being ashamed of who you are, then they did it in such a way that it could apply to anyone with struggles, not just gays. And I think that is a positive message.
I think people are too eager to read into things. Last fall, the same thing happened with the movie Free Birds. This movie bombed, probably because the premise is silly (two turkeys travel to the first Thanksgiving to get turkeys off the holiday menu), but it got a lot of negative reaction because it supposedly had an agenda. People were saying it was promoting veganism and PETA. But pizza plays a rather prominent part in the movie--thus veganism is out, and one pizza commercial in the movie even has pepperoni, so vegetarianism is out. It's really no different than the concept of Chik-Fil-A's cows telling people to "Eat Mor Chikin." Others said the movie was an analogy of European imperialism, since the turkeys are dressed like Native Americans and have to escape the Pilgrims. But I don't think that was the point of the movie, either. Probably the most logical criticism of the movie was putting Wampanoag Indians in the clothes of Plains Indians.
While we're on the subject of Mormons and homosexuality, maybe you've heard of D. Michael Quinn. He's a Mormon historian who was excommunicated a while back. He also happens to be gay. He published an article about how Joseph Smith taught and advocated for homosexuality. He took quotes the Prophet made about men lying down (in death) and getting up again (in Resurrection) and painted them as though it was about homosexuality. He even suspected homosexuality because Joseph offered his arm as a pillow for his fellow prisoners in Liberty Jail. He is another example of people twisting things to see what they want to see (or to see what they don't want so they can complain about it, in the case of the "Well-Behaved Mormon Woman").
So at least I can rest comforted that Mormons aren't the only ones who twist things.
And I have to agree with the lady on one thing. I also am surprised Alex Boye's video went viral. But that's because I find him vastly overrated.
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