I don't even think Jeremiah knows what just happen

The Jeremiah series is complied of several short videos about a boy named, Jeremiah Whitney. Jeremiah is a freshman in college and realizes that he holds a more important purpose in life. The filming was constantly changing perspectives that threw me off. I felt that it was distracting to the character development and the whole plot/themes of the show. Even though it was distracting for me I could see how it help rely needed information to the audience through short excerpts. Over all when discussing the characters I thought they could have been developed a lot more to intrigue viewers. There were only a handful of characters that had “umpf” to them that made the show interesting. I think by developing more of the characters this could have been given more credit. I even think the main character could have had more about him. I didn’t even connect with the main character at all, and as a viewer that is a problem. He could have meditated on his actions/experiences more by expressing the whole processes more outwardly.

The whole idea of the show is interesting. A religious boy who is connected to an ancient writing and through experiences finds different connections all while attending school. The idea is cool, but could have been implemented better. It was hard to follow and I am still not even sure why. I mean, all being said and done. I am glad I watched it other than an assignment because it was a kind of media I had never experienced before.

Reflections on Jer3miah

The Jeremiah video series following a young boy named Jeremiah Whitney who is a college freshman.  He learns that he has a supernatural/religious purpose he is supposed to carry out and said purpose often puts he and those around him in danger.

This video series was definitely something.  I have never really watched a video series before so this was a new medium experience for me; each episode was probably no more than ten minutes and I enjoyed the breaks the episodes provided to a two hour total watch time.  Like I said, watching Jer3miah was an interesting experience.

At first, I did not know if I liked that the perspective of the series was through a video camera.  However, it does provide as opportunity to see through the eyes of Jeremiah.  We got to see how he interacts and how he sees the world and people around him.

I did think the mixture of religious and mystical elements provided for an new interesting genre.  However, I thought some of the elements were hard to follow.  The inclusion of mystical, supernatural elements sometimes seemed out of place and I often felt like I had missed important plot events that led to places such as the magical cave place.  I felt like there was more focus on including supernatural elements rather than developing the plot and I wasn't always sure why the mystics were needed.

I also wish there would have been more character development.  I really wanted to care about the characters more than I actually did.  They seemed a little flat.  That being said, perhaps the purpose was not character development but creating a sphere where religion and the supernatural exist together.  Though I desired more from the characters and even more explanation for certain elements and plot elements, this series did peek my interest.  I hadn't noticed such a peek until the two hours ended and I was left wondering: what happens next?  This video series has not been continued and part of me hates that I won't be able to continue watching and see how it ends.

Jer3miah: Lots of Action

The webseries The Book of Jer3miah follows a college Freshman as is so-far very normal life becomes shrouded in mystery and racked with action and suspense. However, the interesting part of adventurous plot is that it's presented in clips of under five minutes. Therefore, the creators of The Book of Jer3miah had the challenge of making each clip entertaining and suspenseful.

Since I viewed several episodes one right after another, I'm not sure I got the full webseries effect. When watching these tiny episodes altogether it almost seems silly when something outrageous happens every 2 and half minutes. A project like this should be enjoyed as it was intended.

That being said, I noticed many areas in which the creators were successful.

The tight plot introduces several characters, but keeps them involved enough that the viewer wouldn't forget them from week to week. In one of the earlier episodes, a girl name Claire introduces herself to Jeremiah, and I love story develops between them even though Jeremiah is often absent, busy speaking with mysterious men and getting beat up every other time he opens a door.

The creators trust the viewers to piece things together. For instance, when Jeremiah's parents die the camera shows smoke while Jeremiah screams there names. The audience figures out for ourselves that they are dead, and that's enough until a conversation reveals further information (that his parents were hit my a semi) in a later episode.

While plot intensifies, the viewers are reminded of the normal everyday occurrences still  happening. Sometimes books and movies (and presumably webseries) seem to imply that the world stops when one of their character is facing challenges, but in Jer3miah, the insertion of Mormon activities such as ward pray and family home evening lessons into the plot grounds this over-the-top story in some reality.

Overall, I seem to be one of the few of my demographic who has not caught on to webseries in general (Lizzie Bennett Diaries, anyone?). I can't seem myself being interested enough in a story to wait a week to catch another 3 minute segment, but if I wait for the whole series then I face the problem that they were not really meant to watched fluidly. So, for me and my friends at the old folks home, webseries in general aren't for us, but all you smart phone users and YouTube enthusiasts out there should probably give this series a try.

perspective: Book of Jer3miah.

In the short series of 3-5 minute episodes of The Book of Jeremiah, I noticed a very strong theme of perspective, especially emphasized in the very first couple of episodes. As Jeremiah navigates his freshman year at college, his life changes dramatically and very suddenly without any warning. He keeps his video camera on him, the last give he received from his parents before their untimely death, and records different parts of his interactions through video recording. This type of filmography is interesting because it allows the viewers to watch the events directly through the eyes of the one holding the camera.

In the first and second episodes, his father is chastising him for having “one of those feelings” that Jeremiah claims is from the Holy Ghost. From Jeremiah’s perspective, these feelings are very real and very consequential.

Revised: Humanizing Tone and Wilderness Experience in the Book of Mormon

As I have spent time reading the BOM as a I would any literary work, I've come to realize that each separate writer in the book has a noticeably distinct voice and style. I've focused my study on a few examples of BOM prophets who's tone and voice are the product of their own specific life experiences and their separate but specific purposes. These distinct voices also bleed into a theme of surviving the difficulties that life presents. 


One young BOM author displays a unique and touching voice as he writes after some influential moments in his life. When his father passes away in the wilderness, Nephi feels the pain that we all have felt upon the loss of a loved one. In what is known as the psalm of Nephi, we see his raw feelings of pain caused by the loss of his father, the reality of his imperfect state as a human being, and joy that comes from the knowledge of a divine purpose to life. Nephi exlaims, "My God hath been my support; he hast led me through mine afflictions in the wilderness." Nephi's purpose is to help his readers be loyal to God so that we too can find strength in difficult times as we pass through our own afflictions in "the wildernesses" of our own lives. Coping with loss is a part of life, and Nephi's voice not only speaks to his distinct style, but provides readers with an example to follow in times of loss. 

Moroni is the last writer in the BOM. His people were slaughtered by his enemies and he is left alone to make the journey to bury the record (that would one day become the BOM) so it could be recovered in the latter days by Joseph Smith. Finding himself in complete solitude and knowing that there would be many different audiences reading his work, he writes that people will one day "mock at these things, because of our weakness in writing." Moroni is aware of his human weaknesses and acknowledges that he is not "mighty in writing." Anyone who writes can relate to this fear, but Moroni pushes through this human feeling of inadequacy to write what he considers to be important for future generations to read. 

These human feelings of inadequacy, pain, and rejoicing are central to the purpose and relatable elements of the BOM that bind each of the writers' entries together. As readers focus on each prophet's distinct tone and style of writing, I think it adds to the authentic human qualities of the book. 

Are records the universal ice-breaker?

A heavy theme running through the Book of Mormon refers back to the medium of the scripture itself: records. From Nephi to Moroni the authors repeatedly remind us of the importance of their record, but they also reveal the importance of records within their own culture in a variety of ways.

 For instance, Kin Benjamin takes a long time telling his sons about the advantages of their records; they preserve the language of the Egyptains, teach them the mysteries of God, give them good examples to learn from, and prevent them from suffering from ignorance (Mosiah 1).

However, the importance of records and taking histories was not only practiced by the the righteous. In the book of Mosiah, a group of corrupt Nephite priests join the Lamanites. Amulon, the leader of the group, gains a teaching position for himself and his companions by finding favor with the king. With their new found power  and the lack of religious tradition on the Lamanites part, Amulon's men has freedom to teach as they want to.

The priests did not teach them the words of Abinadi or the law of Moses. They fail to teach them about God at all. Taking this under consideration, we can fully appreciate the weight of one thing Amulon and the priests do choose to teach: "They taught them that [the Lamanites] should keep record, and that they should write one to another" (Mosiah 24:6).

Fast forwarding to the present, we see the emphasis on sharing our personal records with social media of all kinds. These modern day records come from Latter-day Saints and atheists and everyone in between. They allow all these people—who may not otherwise connect so easily with each other—to interact as they share experiences, daily life, and beliefs. Other forms of record keeping have been significant as well. Think of Anne Frank. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers across America have connected to a young German girl who died almost a century ago because of her compelling diary. The examples of this could go on forever.

Perhaps the authors of the Book of Mormon understood the power of their record keeping and the ability it has to communicate to others on a personal level. Seeing how big a priority records were to this people make the offering of the Book of Mormon that much more compelling.

In Connection with the Past: Humanizing the Book of Mormon

One of the most instinctual characteristics of the human species is our emotional and physical connection with the past. We visit historical places, treasure old family stories, and seem to constantly inform the present with what we understand from the past. The people that wrote experiences in the Book of Mormon not only did it so we could have a record of the past and its lessons, but so they could follow a legacy that others had laid before them. Reading the Book of Mormon with this in mind further reveals the human elements it contains.

Like many of us today, prophets of the BOM would use the past to find strength to complete difficult tasks. When Nephi and his family face the monumental task of retrieving records from Laban, Nephi encourages his brothers by referring to stories from their common past, which happen to also be scripture. He says, "Let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither." He helps his brothers find strength from stories from the past and they gain the confidence to move forward.

Some prophets in the BOM show that they are learning lessons from the past. When Ammon is teaching King Lamoni about the existence of God, he makes a point to talk about their ancestors and the mistakes they fell into. The record states in Alma 18 that Ammon "rehearsed unto them concerning the rebellions of Laman and Lemuel...he expounded unto them all the records and scriptures from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem." I think it's interesting that among the gospel topics of the Creation, the Fall, and the Plan of Redemption, Ammon chose to include elements from his and King's own ancestral past. Their present conditions and traditions were deeply connected with the rebellions of Laman and Lemual, thus Ammon saw a connection that would allow them to learn from those past mistakes and move towards a more righteous and prosperous future.

All throughout the BOM we see references to the past. While these references fulfill a number of purposes, but they collectively represent the human element of being aware of and connected to our past.