We watched Johnny Lingo in class yesterday. If you haven't heard of Johnny Lingo, it is a thirty minute film which has attained cult status among Mormons. Produced by Brigham Young University in 1969, most young people in the Latter Day Saints view this video at some time in their adolescence. Set in Polynesia in the early 1900's, this is a tale of marriage custom. But on a deeper level, it is a story of how kindness and love can transform another. Johnny Lingo is the richest and most eligible bachelor on the island. According to tradition, men barter for brides by offering cows in return for a maiden's hand. An average woman can be had for a cow or two. The exceptional bride goes for four or five. It's an exciting ritual when bargaining time comes. The village gathers to watch the prospective groom and the father-in-law-to-be haggle over the price the way a customer and car salesman might do in our culture. The population is abuzz when Johnny returns from trading with the intention of purchasing his wife. There is incredulity as the rumor spreads that the girl in question is Mahana, the homeliest girl on the island. Gossip has it that Johnny will buy her because he, the sharpest trader, can obtain Mahana for next to nothing. Imagine the disbelief when Johnny offers the unheard of price of eight cows for a young lady no one wants! Some think her father would pay to get the daughter he is ashamed of off his hands! As the shock wears off, Mr. Harris, the American trader, surmises that Johnny did it to say he set a record. But when the couple comes home from their honeymoon, everyone is stunned to find Mahana has blossomed into the most beautiful girl anyone has ever seen. Mr. Harris asks Johnny about the transformation. He is told that Mahana's father treated her like she was worthless and ugly and she WAS what he told her she was. But when Johnny publicly did something no man in the history of the island did to obtain her and treated her as his most precious asset, Mahana turned into the stunning woman she always had the capability of becoming.
My sophomores wrote four short essays about the film. One question: "Describe the marriage you think Johnny and Mahana had." The answers detailed a strong, close to perfect union. The explanations centered on his treatment of her and her reciprocal love. In a society of feminism, not one girl questioned the practice of a man buying a woman to be his spouse. In our culture, it would be considered repressive and ignorant. The girls loved it, if only because the result was so positive and it fit into a centuries old tradition. And they might not admit it but I believe that girls want to be treated as Johnny treated Mahana. The boys...well, boys aren't much into love, marriage, and bliss at sixteen.
I don't agree with Mormon theology and interpretation of scripture. However, they have it right when it comes to the emphasis on self-worth and its effect on marriage. They also do a much better job than society as a whole in producing marriages, at least in divorce statistics, that are stable. In Johnny Lingo, God is never mentioned but Biblical foundations for the home are taught. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:25 that husbands are to "love their wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her." Isn't that what Johnny did? He paid a fortune for Mahana and look at her response. I am no marriage expert but isn't that what any wife wants, to be loved and treated with courtesy and respect? Johnny Lingo was not just the shrewdest trader on the island- he was the smartest man on the island. He knew if you wanted an eight cow wife, you treat her like an eight cow woman.
PS- Since I wrote this devotional thirteen years ago, more of my female students take issue with the practice described in the film which is based on a short story which was written by a woman. Still, they universally believe Johnny loved Mahana unconditionally and their marriage was strong. If you would like to watch the 24 minute film, here it is!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfahoLfrddU
Applicable quote of the day:
"A young lady had only one complaint about her good husband. 'My husband always praises me to other people. Often, I hear from friends the wonderful things he has said about me. But I miss something because he never gets around to saying these things to me, to my face.' "
James Keller
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
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