Turn It On

There's a certain wonderment that accompanies live theater. The actors get immediate gratification for all of their hard work, and the audience is actively engaged in what they are seeing. When I saw The Book of Mormon on Broadway, I became all the more aware of this relationship. I have never seen an audience laugh so hard at a joke before, nor have I seen a cast that fed off the audience's reactions as well as this cast did. A satire, The Book of Mormon pokes fun at a lot of stereotypes regarding both religion and societal norms. But while the comedy is meant to invoke laughter from its audience, there is truth in every farce.

One of the themes most applicable to society today is present in the song "Turn It Off." This song, aside from being one of the funniest and most well-written acts in the whole musical, touches on the concept of homosexuality. District leader, Elder McKinley, attempts to describe to Cunningham and Price a common method of suppressing forbidden thoughts. For some, these thoughts may be divorce, domestic abuse, drinking alcohol, or- in McKinley's case- being homosexual. The method is to simply "turn off" what you are thinking and forget that you ever had the idea, essentially suppressing the thought to your subconscious. Though the song is meant to be harmless and fun, it actually brings up a good point about societal norms in our country today.

Relatively recently, a gay bar in Orlando was attacked in a terroristic shooting, killing 49 people and injuring even more. This hate crime targeted members of the LGBT community, heightening many people's reluctance to fully accept who they are and come out with their sexuality. A lot of people today, just like McKinley, try to turn off their feelings because society does not fully accept or acknowledge their differences. Everyone should be able to express who they are and still remain safe. However, fears of discrimination and violence drive people to suppress their sexuality. When we should be encouraging people to "turn it on" and be themselves, society actually pushes people to "turn it off." 

picture courtesy of CJF20

As much as we try to change our norms, society is still wired to frown upon differences. Throughout the whole musical, McKinley never once is open about his "secret." He suppresses his feelings for his whole life, which in turn affects his happiness; the same is true of many homosexuals in real life. Instead of "turning it off" and living unhappily for years, we should encourage "turning it on" and accepting everybody for who they are. Though a comedy, The Book of Mormon highlights many of the serious issues prevalent in today's society.

picture taken from flickr.com