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Disaster in Los Angeles and, Again, “American Primeval”

Disaster in Los Angeles and, Again, “American Primeval”

Last updated on: January 11, 2025 at 1:07 pm by Dan Peterson

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Disaster in Los Angeles and, Again, “American Primeval” 2025-01-11T13:07:51-07:00 Dan Peterson

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The Los Angeles California Temple a few days ago. I hope it’s safe. And I think that it probably will be, because between it and the flames are, among many other things, the campus of UCLA and the economic power of Wilshire Boulevard. I can’t imagine, if there’s any way to stop the fire at all, that authorities will permit the destruction of the Wilshire District and the University. Perhaps, though, it can’t be stopped.
(Provenance of the photo unknown)

I’d be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.

California dreamin’
On such a winter’s day

Even at this distance, it’s excruciating to see what’s happening to Los Angeles. The sheer human suffering is awful. Several have died thus far, and thousands are homeless. A woman whom we’ve known since she was a little girl playing on the floor during sacrament meetings at her parents’ home in Cairo escaped with her family and the clothes on their backs; their large new house, their neighborhood, and their children’s school are completely gone. The unique and beautiful Getty Villa, one of our favorite destinations in the Los Angeles area, has thus far been saved along with its ten-billion-dollar collection of art, but only because of its having taken special preventive measures of its own in advance — measures that seem to contrast starkly with what is being reported about government inaction in the area surrounding it. This from CNN:

As flames encroached upon the villa’s landscaping, the museum’s fire prevention systems sprang into action, saving the Los Angeles cultural oasis and its priceless artifacts.

Years of prioritizing fire mitigation efforts, clearing nearby brush as well as installing an on-site water tank, proved crucial in keeping the $10 billion collection safe from harm.

“While trees and vegetation on the property have burned, Getty structures have been unaffected, and thankfully, both staff and the collections are safe,” president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust Katherine E. Fleming said in a statement Wednesday.

The Los Angeles California Temple — my temple growing up, where I first performed baptisms for the dead, where I sometimes volunteered in the baptistry while in graduate school, where a friend recently served as president, where my parents were sealed, where my brother and I were sealed to them, and where my brother and his wife were sealed — now stands against a background of flame. The magnificent Getty Center, even larger than the Getty Villa, is endangered. My alma mater, UCLA, is poised for evacuation and is currently holding only virtual classes. The Huntington Library, to which I took many a field trip while in elementary school and on whose grounds I proposed to my wife, has sustained only relatively minor damage (thus far) to its botanical gardens.

It’s heartbreaking to watch. In fact, I’ve tended to avoid the news lately, as, thus far, very little of it has been good.

Among the audience at the premiere of “Six Days in August” were President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife, Kristen.

By the way, it appears that Six Days in August will be available through Samuel Goldwyn Films on Friday, 31 January. Of course, Six Days in August is already available in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack at Deseret Book (in store and online).

If you liked Six Days in August, we’re hoping that a few (or more!) of you will be willing to go on the DB website and write a review about the movie. Just click on this link. Then scroll down to where it says “Customer Reviews.” And thanks for being fans of Six Days in August.

However, if you didn’t like Six Days in August, there’s nothing for you to see here. This is not the link you’re looking for. Move along.

The tradition is well over a hundred years old — the British classic “Trapped by the Mormons” was made in 1922, but it was hardly the first. In fact, it goes back to the very origins of moviemaking. But it continues vibrant and healthy still today! (Wikimedia Commons public domain photograph)

And, while we’re on the topic of films involving Brigham Young: Here are some additional materials — supplementing those that I recommended here on Thursday — that will help to provide background information for the current Netflix miniseries American Primeval, which you may already have enjoyed and recommended both to any who are meeting with the missionaries and to your neighbors:

“Peace and Violence among 19th-Century Latter-day Saints.” This is one of the official Gospel Topics essays issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was, of course, written long before the premiere of American Primeval.

The Wrap: “‘American Primeval’ Cast and Character Guide: Who’s Who in Netflix’s Western Miniseries? You’ll recognize quite a few faces”

“Brigham is the leader of the Mormon Church and his Mormon army, the Nauvoo Legion. He’s played by Kim Coates, best known for starring in “Bad Blood” and “Son of Anarchy.” . . . Abish is a Mormon, and Jacob’s wife, but she definitely isn’t into the idea of being seen as the property of her husband. . . . James is a Mormon who “leads a militia of men who don’t possess the moral code they claim they do.” . . .” [I love that but.]

Tudum by Netflix: “Who Survives the Brutal Frontier? The American Primeval Ending Explained”

“Brigham Young’s (Kim Coates) Mormons are seeking to make a safe haven in Utah, even if bloodshed is required to create their utopia. . . .

“So, for a quick refresher, Young’s Nauvoo Legion of Mormon militia are on the hunt all season to find Abish (Saura Lightfoot-Leon), a fellow Mormon who witnessed their mass murder of settlers in the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Her husband, Jacob Pratt (Dane DeHaan), who she recently married after his original betrothed, her sister(!), died, is also looking for her. But he descends into madness after he’s nearly scalped in the massacre.

“Meanwhile, Shoshone warrior Red Feather (Derek Hinkey) and other members of the Tribe have been holding Abish captive. “We wanted to explore the idea of this young Mormon woman who’s pushed into a life and marriage that she did not ask for, and, through fate, ends up in a much different world and never fully assimilates,” says Berg.

“Lightfoot-Leon immediately connected to Abish’s “fiery dissatisfaction and unapologetic search for freedom,” which helps forge a mutual respect with her captors. “She always felt to me like a woman who belongs in a more forward-thinking century,” said Lightfoot-Leon. “She’s one of the few women we follow who’s making choices based on her gut rather than her brain. She fights for what she believes in.”

“And that includes fighting on the side of the Shoshone Tribe, when Young permits his Nauvoo Legion to strike them out in their pursuit of Abish. Both Abish and Red Feather die in the arms of people who love them: Red Feather in his son’s embrace, and Abish in Jacob’s. Yes, you read that right. Jacob marches with the Nauvoo Legion and unknowingly shoots his bride, a realization that prompts him to then shoot himself.”

Deseret News: “New Netflix series debuts Thursday about Brigham Young, Mountain Meadows. Is it accurate? The highly fictionalized six-part series ‘American Primeval’ drops Thursday. It centers around 1857 events in the Utah War as the federal government attempted to wrest control of the Utah Territory from the Latter-day Saints”

“Director Peter Berg said he wanted to tell a story about how difficult life was in the American West in the middle of the 19th century. “America was born through war and blood and death,” he told the Times. “And that’s just reality. That’s just the way it seems to go with humans.”” [Just a bit of an oversimplification, perhaps? In the Latter-day Saint settlements, at least, I seem to recall a whole lot of peaceful farmers, coopers, midwives, carpenters, choir directors, and the like. Very few of them seem to have been warriors or serial killers.]

“One TV writer has said the series will depict President Young as “a man who will do whatever it takes to secure the survival of his persecuted followers — including using his Mormon army, the Nauvoo Legion.””

Public Square Magazine: “Netflix’s American Primeval: The Prejudiced Fiction of Brigham Young: Can Netflix’s ‘American Primeval’ justify its fictional Brigham Young? No, it fosters cultural bias under artistic license.”

“The persecution that Brigham Young dealt with in his time has hardly gone away. Since 2020, Latter-day Saint chapels have been attacked 47 times. And the last time the FBI reported on the matter, hate crimes against Latter-day Saints were on the rise. [As if to underline that point, here’s a piece from CTV News (Calgary) that appeared two days ago: “Fire at LDS church in S.W. Calgary set intentionally: police.” And here’s one from Missouri, last October: “Man Guilty of Setting Fire to Latter-day Saint Chapel Faces Up to 20 Years in Prison”]

“So far as I know, Latter-day Saints are the only religion in the United States today that deals with stadiums of tens of thousands of people chanting to “F***” them. It happened again just a few days ago.

“When McKay Coppins, a journalist for the Atlantic, spoke to BYU’s Quarterback Jake Retzlaff, a Jewish man, Retzlaff said he faces way more anti-Mormonism than anti-Semitism. Coppins observed that Retzlaff is “less scandalized by the heckling than the lack of outrage it seems to engender. Retzlaff said, “The blatant disrespect for their faith—it’s something to think about. What if there was a Jewish university that had a Jewish football team, and they were saying that in the stands? . . . Like, imagine if that hit the papers. That would be a big deal.””

But I’m delighted to report that yet another LDS-themed production is looming on the horizon that will, I’m confident, repair any damage to the public image and reputation of Latter-day Saints that American Primeval might do. Right? It will portray the recent cases of the Washington County, Utah, “mommy bloggers” Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrandt. Their story was also depicted in the October 2024 Lifetime movie Mormon Mom Gone Wrong: The Ruby Franke Story, with Heather Locklear as Jodi Hildebrandt

Know what, though? The image of Latter-day Saints in many quarters, especially (I gather) in elite opinion, is that we’re earnest but naïve, more than a bit goofy but harmless, well-intentioned and nice albeit bland and boring. Maybe being thought dangerous theocratic zealots might be a step forward? It’s perhaps better than being dismissed as simply uninteresting.

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