Tragedy meets HeartSell

[Hagoth]

Whatever you say about the church, they do put on a kick-ass Christmas concert.

This year we didn't win the ticket lottery but Mrs. Hagoth had a connection to one of the organizers and was able to score us a pair of tickets in the plaza section where the special people sit (GA's families, local politicians, TV celebs) we even got to go through the special red carpet entrance where you don't have to wait in line with the rabble. For a brief moment I got a glimpse of what if feels like to be part of the Mormon elite.

Anyway, each year they present a very emotional Christmas story. You know, like the Candy Bomber or Mr. Dickens meets the ghost of Christmas present. This year they chose, of all things, the Little Matchstick Girl. In a nutshell, it's a very sad story of a little girl trying to sell matchsticks to survive in the cold streets of a heartless city, but the lack of compassion by her fellowman leaves her dead and frozen in the streets while warm, well-fed people pass her on the way to their Christmas banquets. Pretty sad and tragic.

BUT

Somehow, the church managed to turn it into a happy feel-good story. The emphasis was taken off the horrible tragedy of a dead little girl frozen to the sidewalk and refocused on what a wonderful reunion she had with her grandmother on the other side. The dramatic reading, the magnificent music and the dazzling (big money) special effects made you want to jump out of your seat and shout, "Oh boy, she's dead! What a lucky little girl! I'm so happy for her!"

I came away feeling very disturbed by the whole thing. What is the message here? I don't know what was intended but what I got out of it was: don't worry about those shivering people huddled under tarps just a couple of blocks away from the mall-that-protects-the-gates-of-the-temple, you should be happy for them; any day now they will be enjoying a wonderful reunion with loved-ones on the other side. Same for those lucky people in Aleppo. I know that seems harsh, but really, what message were they trying to send? I know there has been some criticism of the church lately about not stepping up with their billion$ to address the growing homeless situation in SLC. Do you think this could be a clueless attempt to respond to that?

BTW, Mrs. Hagoth, who really, really loves these concerts, was at least as disturbed and confused about it as I was.

[trophywife26.2]

Whoa. Very disturbing message.

[moksha]

That happy spin on the Little Match Girl's death might show up in some of our future State of the Union addresses regarding health care and social policy changes.

[Not Buying It]

Well, hell, when you can convince members that 150+ real-life pioneers freezing to death in the Willie and Martin handcart companies is somehow faith promoting, giving people warm fuzzies over a fictional frozen match girl is no sweat.

[No Tof]

Good point Hagoth.
Isn't this the whole point of our church and churches in general? To throw away this life in order to gain the super deluxe lottery winnings in the next life? The little match girl's story could be most of ours as well. We spend our lives trying to sell something to the world who walks past us without notice and we die feeling that our match stick missionary work was all worth it because of all the happy reunions on the other side

I'd rather do the shopping and walking rather then sell the matches any time.

[Batman]

Well, hell, when you can convince members that 150+ real-life pioneers freezing to death in the Willie and Martin handcart companies is somehow faith promoting, giving people warm fuzzies over a fictional frozen match girl is no sweat.

You said it Not Buying It!

Even still, it is disturbing...

[wtfluff]

Tragedy has always been a big part of HeartSell™ as far as I remember.

Literally every one of the seminary videos that I was constantly shown during my formative years has a main character that dies. The one I'll always refer to is Families are Forever, because we used that emotionally manipulative video constantly on my mission to get folks to feel the Spirit™.

Death / tragedy is constantly used to emote the feelings of the Spirit™, and if you feel the Spirit™, you know it's time to give the Corporation of the President™ more money.

[Vlad the Emailer]

Well, hell, when you can convince members that 150+ real-life pioneers freezing to death in the Willie and Martin handcart companies is somehow faith promoting, giving people warm fuzzies over a fictional frozen match girl is no sweat.

Exactly.

If they'll exploit the pain, tragedy, and loss suffered by the victims of their oh so "inspired" predecessors, exploiting a fictional tragedy isn't even a walk on the park.

[fh451]

Interesting points. I remember reading the story of the Little Matchstick Girl when I was a kid and being pretty shocked over the ending (having no idea what was coming). I felt like Ralphie in the Christmas Story discovering his secret Orphan Annie message was just a "crummy commercial." I was like WTF, this is a CHRISTMAS story??? I hadn't yet been introduced to the harsh realities of life and that the point was that we might be the well-fed onlookers doing nothing to relieve suffering.

fh451

[NOMinally Mormon]

The Little Matchstick Girl was written by H.C. Andersen, of "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "Ugly Duckling" fame. I read the story many years ago in Danish, the language it was originally written in. He was a contemporary of Charles Dickens, and both of them wrote about the underclass, demonstrating a heightened social conscience, characteristic of the Victorian age.

[DPRoberts]

I also went to the concert, and also found it an odd take on the story. Like they were taking Mormon beliefs to manufacture a happy ending on a terrible and tragic tale.

I do wonder if Heartsell (how do you do the TM superscript?) is trying to use a psychological manipulation technique I have read of elsewhere. The technique is used to quickly get another person to feel a bond with you by conversationally going through both a very happy and a very sad experience. Clearly the spirit needs help from manipulation tactics

I had a conversation with a choir member (my connection for tickets) who was also quite perplexed at their choice of using this story. The choir member was very familiar with the story and explained several details in the story that made it quite dreadful.

[Silver Girl]

That story traumatized me as a child. My mother had gotten me a huge, thick book of children's stories (it must have had hundreds of stories), and many were dark and scary. That one in particular, though, made me cry every time I read it. There's no way I would include that as part of a family-friendly program (I assume some children were in the audience?). I can't imagine the committee meeting or whatever where a group of people decided, hey, let's do this story and show everyone that death is really a gift! They completely distorted the message of society's blindness to and lack of concern for the poor, and tried to justify it with a, "Let her eat cake in the afterlife" spin on it.

Why am I surprised...we know the church has no real concern for a long list of groups: LGBTs, Women, Minorities, anyone who really cares about being with their family, etc. etc.

[crazyhamster]

Tragedy has always been a big part of HeartSell™ as far as I remember.

Literally every one of the seminary videos that I was constantly shown during my formative years has a main character that dies. The one I'll always refer to is Families are Forever, because we used that emotionally manipulative video constantly on my mission to get folks to feel the Spirit™.

Death / tragedy is constantly used to emote the feelings of the Spirit™, and if you feel the Spirit™, you know it's time to give the Corporation of the President™ more money.

I remember the "Together Forever" video, and how it's portrayed as the experiences of the actual people in the video. When I ultimately realized they were just actors and the events never really happened as portrayed, it felt like a massive cheat. One of the first cracks in the armour, I suppose.