Members of the Mormon community shared their thoughts on the new historical drama American Primeval.
Centered around the Utah War of 1857, the hit new Netflix mini-series transports viewers back in time to an oft-forgotten moment in American History when the Mormon church feuded with not only local indigenous groups by the U.S. government itself.
The series boasts an A-list cast including Friday Night Lights actor Taylor Kitsch and GLOW's Betty Gilpin, all (for the most part) portraying real people from that time.
What Do Mormons Think of American Primeval?
Mormons worldwide have been sharing their thoughts on Netflix's new American Primeval series, many of which are not good.
Members of the Mormon community have taken umbrage with the historical drama for its portrayal of the Mormon Church/Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints, more specifically, its leader, Brigham Young.
Young served as the second president of the church from 1847 up until the time he died in 1877 and is seen as one of the primary antagonists of American Primeval (read more about Brigham Young).
The series' version of the real-life religious leader is portrayed as largely evil, helping perpetrate the devastating Mountain Meadows Massacre. This massacre saw members of the Mormon Church murder 120 emigrants traveling a South Utah wagon trail.
Members of the Mormon community called Young's portrayal inauthentic to the man and bristled with the show potentially painting Mormons as intrinsically violent thanks to Young's teachings.
Popular Mormon content creator ScripturePlus shared her thoughts on the Netflix drama, calling it "historically inaccurate" and citing one of the series' historical consultants as calling it "definitely not an accurate history of anything:"
"Yes, this show is in sane because it is so historically inaccurate. and if you do not believe me even one of the show's historical consultants admitted that the show is 'definitely not an accurate history of anything.' No the Mormons were not systemically serial [killers]. They never [killed] that wagon train, the U.S. army or the Shoshone village like the show depicts."
"The caricature they paint of Brigham Young is totally unsupported," the YouTuber claimed, saying that the way American Primeval portrayed "one of the darkest days in [Mormon] history" is "just not it:"
"And the caricature they paint of Brigham Young is totally unsupported by the documents we have from his life. This show seems to make an homage to events like the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which is arguably one of the darkest days in our history where Latter-day Saints were the aggressors. But this tragic event was not a top-down order from Brigham Young, Latter-day Saints are not systemically violent, and the way the show portrayed all of this is just not it."
Mormon filmmakers Barrett and Jessica Burgin echoed these sentiments with ScripturePlus, saying the series perpetuates a dangerous stereotype that "Mormons are violent:"
"Latter-day Saints have been involved in violence at some points, but the old idea, 'Mormons are violent,' is a stereotype that has been perpetuated in the past. It is problematic, as it would be for any other group of people."
However, they maintained that sentiment is "no more true than saying all Muslims are terrorists," drawing a connection to the New York City terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001:
"Saying Mormons are violent because of what happened, because of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, is no more true than saying all Muslims are terrorists, which would be a terrible thing to suggest."
Mormon Native American creator Zander Sturgill shared his thoughts on the series as well, citing a letter from Brigham Young that proves his innocence.
He claimed the series likely avoided details like that as it "does not make a good story," and it is easier to "make Brigham Young the evil villain:"
"They unfairly blamed the massacre on Native Americans for many years. But so many movie that portray the Mountain Meadows Massacre do not like to cover that part of the history. it is probably because they think it does not make a good story. So, it is easy for them to make Brigham Young the evil villain."
He then called the series "outlandish" and "overly-exaggerated" portrayal of Latter-day Saints members:
"The thing that disappoints me about 'American Primeval is it takes this important event and tells it in the most outlandish way, even if it is fiction. The series devolves into Latter-day Saints not just murdering a pioneer caravan, but then the murder an entire large U.S. army troop, and an entire Shoshone tribe, and it makes Latter-day Saints look like this overly-exaggerated version of a bloodthirsty people when that really was not how it was."
Facebook user Bekah Ann picked out a couple of their own inaccuracies from the show, saying in a post online that the events of American Primeval do not even happen in the right place.
"In this mini-series, they have the Mountain Meadow Massacre taking place near Wyoming, which is in northern Utah," while it technically happened in the southern part of the state:
"In this miniseries, they have the mountain Meadow massacre taking place near Wyoming, which is in northern Utah. They also have some latter-day Pioneers as part of the mountain meadow settlers that were attacked. That never happened. The miniseries is trying to claim that the LDS Church at that time that was run by Brigham Young, who was the governor of Utah territory, would kill their own and they didn’t care. They even have the LDS church going after the one surviving pioneer woman in order to kill her to leave no witnesses. That never happened. That wouldn’t have happened."
It is not just members of the Latter-day Saints community that have taken issue with the series either. Some viewers have also written online about the way it depicts the Paiutes (Indigenous groups from Utah's Great Basin region), calling it overly violent and, at times, savage (via Reddit).
The Paites play a major part in the series, taking Saura Lightfoot-Leon's character Abish Pratt prisoner early in the show's run. One of the members of the tribes depicted on-screen is Shawnee Pourier as Two Moons, who has become somewhat of a breakout star from the show.
American Primeval is streaming on Netflix.
