So, the new temple movie came out this week (just as our Exponent II Summer 2013 temple-themed issue is coming out in a couple weeks; order yours today here!).
What are your thoughts?
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Many of us will probably see the new temple video in the upcoming months. If you do, we’d love for you to write up your experience (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and send it in by September 15th for our Winter 2013 issue. Email us at https://exponentii.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/IMG_5173-scaled-1.jpgATexponentiiDOTorg.
9 Responses
I’m not that comfortable with the new film. I felt like the film, in using more advanced graphic effects and film techniques/quality, put more emphasis on the visual aspect of the temple presentation and, consequently, on the “narrative” presented. Personally, I don’t think that focusing on that narrative is the most valuable part of the ritual—in part because it can be interpreted in ways that could be upsetting, and in part because I really prefer to hope that there is something *more* to the temple experience than what’s presented on that surface level. Maybe I won’t have quite the same experience once I’ve seen the new film several more times and can start to block it out/feel beyond it again.
There are actually three new films, which should all be available churchwide by January, and they’re piloting in various temples now (according to a guy who worked on them who’s in my sister’s ward). So it will be important to distinguish which one we’re voting on. I’ve heard some people thought the new devil was so dramatic, but in the one I saw (Draper Temple on August 1) he was sort of a weasel-y Hobbit/Martin Freeman looking character. There needs to be a way to distinguish the three and identify them…
FWIW, I really liked the brunette Eve in the new movie I saw, and how the choice was emotional for her and not the old robot move. Plus she’s got some new outfits and a great basket making business :-) However, 12 minutes longer for the same script was frustrating (apparently for ease of translation), and there are some things you could do visually without changing the script (show a creation council with women including Eve) that I still wish for.
Thanks for the info on the different versions…
Yes! Thanks for the clarification!
I got into an argument recently when I expressed a hope that at least one of the videos would depict people who might be hispanic or some ethnicity other than lily white Utahn. Any hope that the actors will be plausibly from the fertile crescent or some place other than northern Europe?
Thanks for doing this, Emily. I really look forward to reading people’s thoughts!
Let’s face it, Eve needs to be re-vamped. I love the Mormon teaching that Eve deliberately instigated the Plan. In my mind the story plays out with her as a decision- maker. However, in the temple movies ( I haven’t seen the new one yet) she seems vacant, duped, and clueless. She’s need a few more lines, and to be directly spoken to, to redeem her role. More assertive acting would help too.
Totally agreed, Danielle.
Sorry to be a goof, but the idea of “revamping” Eve made me think of her for a moment as a vamp-ire. Perhaps she ate the fruit and then bit Adam, turning him into a vampire too, and making it unnecessary for him to even eat the fruit himself. Then they were booted from the garden because God had a “No Vampire Trespassing” sign there. :)
I loved LOVED the first new video. Just saw the second new video today and I wanted to bolt from the room. It felt like a sensual soap opera. Adam and Eve contorted their faces and voices and tried to force feeling. Shallow. What a step backwards. I had a terrible, angry feeling throughout the video. Ugh. I’m afraid to go to the temple again. And just when I thought it was improving. I would rather see the old videos than this second new one. It was offensive.