Bishops of US-Canadian Anabaptist communities blast TV series as ‘distorted,’ ‘contrived’
Posted Jun 14, 2012 03:56:03 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – A TV documentary series about an Anabaptist community in Montana offers a “distorted” and contrived image, bishops representing the Hutterite faith in the U.S. and Canada said Thursday.
John Stahl, Peter Entz and John Waldner, bishops for the three sects encompassing the roughly 50,000 Hutterites and 500 colonies in North America, said in a joint statement they are “deeply disappointed” in National Geographic Channel’s “American Colony: Meet the Hutterites.”
The 10-part series that began airing last month promised a rare inside look at Hutterite colony life, focusing on the King Ranch Colony.
“What was promised by the producers to be a ‘factual documentary’ is, in fact, a distorted and exploitative version of Hutterite life,” the bishops said, one that paints all Hutterites in a “negative and inaccurate way.”
The bishops accused producers of contriving scenes and dialogue in a “make believe” portrayal of “how we live and the spiritual beliefs we cherish.”
The channel and the production company were reviewing the bishops’ joint statement Thursday and did not have an immediate comment.
“American Colony” producer Jeff Collins said previously that the series would avoid such reality TV ploys as “feeding” lines to people to heighten the drama. He described the production as an ongoing “negotiation,” with colony members querying the crew on how and what they were taping.
“American Colony” depicts members of the 59-member King Ranch commune, located more than 100 miles from Billings, Mont., as drinking alcoholic beverages and cursing. Some parents are shown questioning their faith’s tenets, while a restless teenager flouts rules on dress and dating.
Hutterites are “a culture that 75 per cent of Americans never have heard about. That should have been interesting enough,” said Mary-Ann Kirkby, a member of the faith who lives in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and wrote the 2010 memoir, “I Am Hutterite.”
“To then make them act completely out of character for your own ends shows a great lack of judgment and decency,” said Kirkby, who said she’s had detailed discussions with the bishops about the show and their concerns.
King Ranch is among about 50 colonies in Montana averaging roughly 100 people each, according to a 2010 state report. Hutterites also live in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Washington and Oregon.
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Lynn Elber is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. She can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org.
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