I just finished watching the first season of the HBO series titled "Big Love."
http://www.tv.com/big-love/show/25834/summary.html?full_summary=1&tag=showspace_links;full_summaryHaving grown up in Utah, and having given some thought to the idea of plural marriage, I have found the series fascinating.
The background premise is that Bill Henrickson (Bill Paxton) was raised in a fundmentalist splinter group of the Mormon church and when his first wife got cancer (and a hysterectomy) decided to "live the principle" and take a second wife. Later he takes on a third... They have to hide their situation because it is after all illegal, but also because if he were found out, the publicity would almost certainly be ruinous to his business (a growing chain of hardware stores). They live in three adjacent houses with a shared backyard and they dine together and freely move from house to house. Bill takes turns sharing the bedroom with each wife in rotations (the wives occasionally trade nights, and so forth).
Once you accept the premise, what really makes the show interesting is the situations. It boggles the mind -- imagine having not one, but three sets of in-laws! And some of them (being polygamist) featuring multiple mothers-in-law! Imagine the problems of the second and third wife... they have to pretend to be unmarried, single mothers that are just neighbors. What happens when a well-meaning neighbor tries to set the youngest wife up with a blind date? Daddy can't really show up at school events for the children of these secondary families... The relationship of the wives is something like that of sisters, and in a way much closer, but obviously fundamentally different...
Also, in a backdrop of a religious Mormon community, the teenage son is struggling to retain his virtue -- though he is being hounded by his girlfriend to "take the next step" and feeling tremendous guilt when he actually does so....
They could have written this as a comedy... but it is a serious drama, with just the occasional comedic twists. The show makes you think.
Even if you have not seen "Big Love," I'd like to hear your thoughts on polygamy:
* It certainly existed -- quite matter-of-factly -- in the Bible... comments?
* Was the circa 1890 U.S. law against it aimed directly at one single religious sect?
* Is it any more or any less "reprehensible" than gay marriage?
* What about the "group marriage" experiments of the communes in the 60's?
* If it were completely legal and without social stigma, would you consider taking
a second wife (joining an existing marriage as a second wife)?
