Polygamy is not for Islamists only. There is someone who is practising it today in the West, and particularly at the heart of the very West Islamists dislike most: the United States of America. The US TV channel HBO, known for successful sitcoms and shows, has even been airing a television drama about it. The show is called Big Love and according to its producers, Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, their aim was to honestly describe polygamy in America. They spent more than two years studying about it and when the first season of the show came out last spring it was a success. Obviously, there were also some critical voices.
Big Love portrays a fictional fundamentalist Mormon group called the United Effort of Brotherhood. Many find it is very similar to the existing Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And it might actually not be a coincidence that this Church has a financial and legal wing called the United Effort Plan. The outcry, however, came from another church: the original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members are popularly known as Mormons. They complained that the show might lead to misunderstandings about their church which had rejected polygamy in 1890 but was often confused with fundamentalist Mormons who, illegally, keep pursuing plural marriage.
But let’s get back to Big Love. The main characters are Bill Henrickson and his three wives: the first, legal wife, Barb and the other two, Nicki and Margene, who call themselves wives-sisters. They have an extended family of seven children and live in a suburb of Salt Lake City (Utah) where they have to keep their family arrangements secret from their Mormon/LDS neighbours. Polygamy is portrayed through its pains and troubles. How can Bill manage to sustain his three wives and seven children? What are the difficulties in living in estrangement from society at large? What does plural marriage mean in terms of sexual relationships? What is the burden that the children carry because of their membership to a plural family? Where do the relationships man-woman and woman-woman lie? TV specialists saw the show as a way of reflecting on the meaning of family life.
However one should never forget that it is fiction, and that reality may present different and more troublesome nuances. About two months after the airing of Big Love’s first season a Nevada high-way patrol stopped a vehicle for ordinary traffic control. Inside the car were three people, Warren Jeffs, his brother, and one of his wives. Warren Jeffs is the leader of the already mentioned Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints and the officers must have been quite surprised at their luck. Since May 2006, Jeff had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for sexual assault on minors. Moreover he was sought in Utah as co-conspirator to rape. Charges of this kind are not infrequent for the members of his group. Cases of child abuse, child marriage, incest, expulsion of young boys from the community are numerous. Another troublesome, real nuance is the charge of racism against them. In Jeffs’ view, clearly and simply, blacks were brought to the world by the devil. In an internet forum about Big Love, one finds the following question: “Why aren’t there any Hispanics or Blacks on this show?” To which the reply was: “The seasonings and flavors are just right. No pepper needed.”
Once again something fictional has brought people to reflect. Even though Big Love might make things appear a little nicer than they actually are in real life, one must recognize that it has perfect timing and it makes us think about us, our own imperfections, our own dark sides. Polygamy is not for Islamists only.