Why the authors victimized LDS women missionaries – Deseret News

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There will be many different opinions about “Heretic,” the horror film hitting theaters this week about a man who sets a trap for two sister missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

One topic that is already being discussed is the use of women as victims in this and other horror films.

“Heretic” is, of course, full of tropes that come with the horror genre, including the evil man terrorizing women and the last girl trope, in which a girl or woman is the last person standing at the end after defeating the villain defeated.

The writers and directors of “Heretic,” Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, long ago chose female missionaries as the protagonists of the genre. After the film's world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, they said they wrote the film's first scenes with the missionaries ten years ago because the writers thought they were such a good hook. Then they put the project aside to work on other parts of it.

The final girl motif is much discussed in film circles.

Here's what an essayist wrote about the final girl character, essentially predicting the end of “Heretic”:

“But what exactly makes a Final Girl? She is virtuous. She abstains from alcohol, drugs and premarital sex,” wrote Grace Pulliam. “Final Girl is humble. She's pretty, but she doesn't realize it. Reserved. She plays fair. A good girl. That's why she lives while her more promiscuous counterparts die. Final Girl is the gold standard, the role model for the impressive female audience member.”

Pulliam found the image misogynistic because filmmakers in the 1960s and 1970s used it to punish women who did not conform to societal norms. The idealized final girl survives because she behaves the way the filmmakers demand, or they kill her.

The Last Girl motif shares similarities with the long-standing cinematic trope of the naive or naturally sane Latter-day Saints.

“Missionaries are truly compelling characters, well-dressed young women who we assume to be innocent, kind and godly. Of course they are the ideal victims in a story like this,” said Christine Blythe, co-host of the podcast “Angels and Seerstones: A Latter-day Saint Folklore Podcast.”

Blythe hasn't seen the film yet, but she read the script and was disappointed.

“We take these young, vulnerable 19- and 20-year-olds who are just incredible – sacrificing a year and a half of their lives to do something really healthy and good – but instead of focusing on that, (the filmmakers) look at their immaturity and their naivety, which is certainly due to the fact that they are young, and want to bring this to the center of the discussion, a kind of humiliation point for the entire faith.”

Such misrepresentations of faith and believers are one reason so many Christians, from evangelicals to Catholics to Latter-day Saints, react so strongly to “The Chosen.” In that they feel represented, a sentiment expressed by so many Latter-day Saint students at BYU when they gave Dallas Jenkins, creator of “The Chosen,” a standing ovation last week.

My latest stories

The Problem with 'Heretic,' Hugh Grant's New Horror Film About Latter-day Saint Missionaries (Oct. 31)

About the church

How the Church ensures the safety of missionaries.

Single men over 40 can now serve full-time missions. And women over 40 have expanded mission opportunities.

Church leaders laid the foundation stone of the Tarawa Kiribati Temple and provided the church with 53 temples under construction.

Elder David A. Bednar spoke about artificial intelligence and moral agency at a global young adult devotional.

The First Presidency announced the locations for the Colorado Springs Colorado Temple and the Missoula Montana Temple.

The Orchestra at Temple Square celebrated its 25th anniversary.

What I read

In response to another religious film currently in theaters, “Conclave,” our Kelsey Dallas addresses the question, “How should Hollywood handle religion?”

I have previously recommended a great book by Garrett M. Graff, The Only Plane in the Sky, an oral history of the terrorist attacks on America on September 11, 2001. I am now reading his new book, When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day,” and it’s a great look into the minds of the planners, the soldiers and the civilians. I've read a lot about World War II, but there was one detail I didn't know: U.S. automakers built three million cars in 1941. After Pearl Harbor, they built only 139 more aircraft, tanks, and other war supplies until the end of the war, when they switched to the United States.