Mormon bashing, HSM, and more
Maligning Mormons Regarding Fred Barnes's profile of actor Jon Voight ("Hollywood Witness," September 3), apart from the overwhelming consensus of critics that September Dawn, in which Voight...
...HSM is simply a fun, hopeful (albeit completely unrealistic) movie that fills those who appreciate it (and watch it from start to finish) with happiness...
...How do you get from that to individual rights...
...HSM doesn't try to be anything that it isn't...
...Meaghan Wilson Spring City, Penn...
...With any movie, what more can one really ask for...
...Need we say more...
...The Declaration of Independence presupposes that there is a creator, and that that creator gives man his rights...
...Therein lies the problem, however, with "Cheap Thrills" (September 3), his review of High School Musical and High School Musical 2. Podhoretz says, "It's not enough to explain away my critical reaction to the two HSMs by saying they were not intended for adult viewing...
...Godless Revolutions Regarding Harvey Mansfield'S Atheist Tracts" (August 13), it seems that while the arguments for and against atheism sometimes get bogged down in rhetoric and complex ideas, I think there is one simple concept that puts the difference between the two systems in stark contrast: the French Revolution versus the American Revolution...
...It is not only "the church" that denies Brigham Young's alleged role in ordering and masterminding the massacre...
...Speaking as a professor of Islamic studies and Arabic at Brigham Young University, there is no real resemblance between Mormons, even in the nineteenth century, and adherents of Wahhabi Islam...
...Podhoretz may feel that the music is "wretched" and "feeble," but clearly others disagree: the soundtrack to the original High School Musical has gone quadruple platinum...
...It certainly doesn't try to give an accurate portrayal of high school (to that I can attest...
...September Dawn is a disgrace, a piece of shameless anti-Mormon propaganda...
...David A. Farrell Picayune, Miss...
...In fact, there is considerable reason to reject it...
...The atheist revolutions in France and Russia were both miserable failures, associated with the most horrendous loss of life and suffering in the history of the world...
...At least one of the pivotal and most damning statements put in the mouth of Brigham Young by the scriptwriter of September Dawn appears to have been entirely invented by an anti-Mormon just a few years ago...
...If the Declaration had been written by a bunch of atheists, it might have read: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are derived from primordial slime, and are endowed . . ."—it is your guess what would come next...
...no credible professional historian appears to believe it either—for the clear and sufficient reason that there is no evidence to support the charge...
...Daniel Peterson Provo, Utah Not Everyone's a Critic John Podhoretz is a fine film critic...
...Fortunately, it appears destined to disappear without leaving much of a trace behind...
...You may fax letters: (202) 293-4901 or email editor@weeklystandard.com...
...While correct in saying HSM is for children and young adults (this reader is 15 years old), he fails to register that HSM is also not intended for elite artistic critique...
...Instead, a prudent decision was made to give the musical a modern pop sound...
...Maligning Mormons Regarding Fred Barnes's profile of actor Jon Voight ("Hollywood Witness," September 3), apart from the overwhelming consensus of critics that September Dawn, in which Voight stars, is a pathetic excuse for a movie, there are several other points that should be made about its misrepresentation of history...
...9 9 9 The Weekly Standard welcomes letters to the editor...
...So what is it, exactly...
...The franchise also doesn't make any attempt to pass itself off as a sophisticated movie...
...The film doesn't quite fit the definition of a bona fide comedy...
...The music doesn't have a "Broadway show tunes" feel by any means, but wouldn't that have turned away its main demographic...
...The so-called Mountain Meadows Massacre is in no substantial way parallel to the attacks of 9/11...
Vol. 13 • September 2007 • No. 2
