televised portrayals
Hutterites Cultivate Business Relationships Based on Friendship
National Public Radio broadcast a feature last week about the cooperation between a Hutterite colony in Montana and a dude ranch/resort complex located five hours away. The complex, called The Resort at Paws Up, has a long tradition of friendly cooperation with the Cool Spring Hutterite Colony that predates some of its present employees. The […]
Semai Foods Help Keep the Peace
The fact that the Semai cherish the foods they prepare from the forest was the topic of a Malaysian TV program and, last week, a brief newspaper article. According to the newspaper report in The Star, chef and TV host Nurilkarim Razha, in his documentary series “The Local Kitchen,” showed viewers an obscure forest fruit […]
The Nubian Singer
An Egyptian television series called “The Singer” recently angered the Nubian community by seriously misrepresenting the history of their removal from Old Nubia in the 1960s. A news report in Al Monitor last week explained the reactions and controversy surrounding episode 5 of the series. The series includes the popular Egyptian singer, actor, and musician […]
Amish Reality Versus TV Shows
Amish “reality” shows often create unreal, inaccurate impressions of the well-known peaceful society, according to prominent scholar David Weaver-Zercher. The professor at Messiah College in south central Pennsylvania gave a public lecture on Tuesday evening, March 26, entitled “Amish Behaving Badly? Amish Realities and Amish Reality Shows.” According to a news report about his lecture, […]
Final Chapter in the Hutterite TV Series
The televised portrayal of a Hutterite colony in Montana by the National Geographic Channel, which the Hutterites claim was deceptive, ended after 10 weekly episodes. The controversy has yet to die down. The King Colony, the subject of the series “American Colony: Meet the Hutterites,” is demanding an apology, and Alan Mairson, a prominent independent […]
A Sad Day for National Geographic
Leading Hutterites last week expressed many objections about the current TV series on their society, despite all the self-congratulatory noise two weeks ago from the producer, the National Geographic Channel. The series, “American Colony: Meet the Hutterites,” which portrays life at the King colony in Montana, debuted on May 29th and is running for ten […]
Hutterites on the National Geographic Channel
A news story last October revealed that a Dariusleut Hutterite colony near Lewistown, Montana, had agreed to be filmed by the National Geographic Channel. The resulting weekly television series “American Colony: Meet the Hutterites” just had its debut on Tuesday evening, May 29th. The location of the filming, not revealed when plans were being made, […]
Traditions and Changes
The Semai, like many peaceful societies, are trying to preserve the best of their traditional culture while they seek various approaches to modernizing their lives. A crew from the China Central Television (CCTV), the national TV station of the People’s Republic of China, visited Ulu Geroh in Malaysia last week to prepare a story on […]
National Geographic Project at a Hutterite Colony
The Great Falls Tribune reported last Thursday that the National Geographic Channel has started preparing a documentary film about a central Montana Hutterite colony, a project that may have been inspired by a Montana artist nearly four years ago. In January 2008, artist Cheryl Bannes, from Lewistown, Montana, hatched the idea of distributing 50 disposable […]
Televised Movie About Nickel Mines Distorts Amish Values
On Sunday night, the Lifetime Movie Channel broadcast the film “Amish Grace,” and, to judge by news stories and blog comments by those who were able to see it, it was controversial. When publicity about the movie surfaced weeks ago, the LMC defended its decision to produce a fictionalized account of the 2006 tragedy—a deranged […]
