Hey exmos, if you have not yet seen the new Tom Hanks and Emma Watson movie "The Circle" you all ought to go see it with at least one other exmo. This is because there is much to discuss and react to relating to Mormonism.

It's about taking transparency to total. To avoid any spoilage of the plot I won't be specific but when you watch it towards the ends, replace Tom Hanks with Tom Monson, et. al.

Anyone who has been following Mormon Leaks should enjoy some brain food and stimulation by seeing "The Circle."
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4287320/?ref_=nv_sr_1

This movie got poor ratings and had a poor showing. I think that's a shame and was purely political. Hanks produced it himself and I think he didn't go with a more popular production company. But the quality of the movie was still really good. We enthusiastically went to this movie and thought it was really good. How can you go wrong with both Tom Hanks and Emma Watson? Pretty much anything with Tom Hanks in it is a winner for us. You scarcely even need to know what the movie is about ahead of time, and you can ignore the critics and other reviews.

When it came to the lack of personal boundries, lack of privacy, and the fact that the company had its own secrets, I thought about the Mormon church. Seeing the group-think during the big company meetings made me think of the church too. The only thing missing from the meetings were personal testimonies.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2017 06:34AM by azsteve.

Spoiler: I had to laugh pretty hard at the end. Hank's evil character and his evil partner were on stage, being unexpectedly and publicly exposed for doing the very things they stood against as the basis for their company. Hanks looks at his partner and in full view of everyone says candidly "I think we're fucked" as the evidence scrolls accross their auditorium big screen and out to audiences world wide.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2017 01:59PM by azsteve.

Hanks spent a stretch in Mormondom. IIRC, his stepmother was Mormon at one point. Perhaps no mere coincidence, according to IMDb.com Hanks also produced Big Love, a show about polygamy.

One of my Hank's favorites is a movie he wrote: Larry Crown, about a middle aged guy who loses his job and goes back to college.

I was in Christian church with Hanks many moons ago. Have recordings of him speaking about his life with Christ, etc.

Most people seem to go through these phases in life. :-) Unremarkable except that he's famous now.

Thanks for the movie recommendation!!

I've wanted to see it, but like others have said, it got poor ratings. Now I'll go see it.

I also loved the movie Larry Crown. I just bought it recently for 70 cents. I need to watch it again.

Yea, I found it in the $5 bin a few years ago. It's a great movie (IMO).

I loved Larry Crown. The Circle, meh. Thought it was a bit Truman-Show-ish, and the ending was terse and ineffective.

I read the book a while back. It creeped me out as I have watched the rise of intrusive corporate life.

I hope the movie does the book justice.

My ex worked for an international corporate behemoth, and the company dictated just about every aspect of our lives. How we dressed, what community we lived in, what friends we had, even the interior decoration of our homes!

My favorite color is blue, and I used to long for a light blue room, or blue carpeting, or even paintings with blue in them. No dice. Everything had to be white-to-cream colored. Anything else was considered eccentric, and that was forbidden.

I have all sorts of blue touches in my home now, and I still don't think my DH understands the joy they give me.

Now that I think about it, the ex's company was as controlling, if not more so, than the Mormon church.

Wow, Catnip, that is creepy. I'm so happy to hear about the blue touches!!! Gotta love that blue. =)

We went to see The Circle tonight, and I found it very scary, and also it felt familiar as we are so exposed in new ways by technology.

My DH/TDM thought it was a good movie, and portrayed well how technology is making us more and more vulnerable to exposure.

He thought that leadership in churches, government, and big business all engage in secrets.

The OP on this was to go see the movie with another exmo. I am nevermo, DH is active TDM. I thought this movie might be a picture of how invasive the church has felt to me---but I guess it's like asking a fish what it's like to be wet to ask an active lifelong Mormon whether this is a picture of Mormonism. To him, even the things that seem bizarre to me are "normal."
sigh.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2017 12:21AM by relievedtolearn.