Page - 34 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 01/01

34 | Marie-Therese Mäder www.jrfm.eu 2015, 1/1, 31–35 The aesthetic strategy is similar in every episode, which provides a recognition factor. The actors are socially diverse, but all are photogenic, pleasant, efficient, and successful in their occupations. and they are integrated into a “common” everyday life. They are shown with their families and at work. in both areas we see enthusias- tic people performing designated roles, and, remarkably, no information is provided about their religious affiliation. Only at the end of the two to four minutes of every commercial we do hear and see the protagonists provide a kind of self-definition into the camera, as in the example of Mehrsa Bybee from 2011: “i’m an immigrant, i’m a not so tough law professor, i’m a mother, i’m someone who needs at least six hours of sleep – and i am not getting it. i am a psychiatrist to three of the cutest girls in the world. My name is Mehrsa and i’m a Mormon.” The spaces of communication for the current example can be further modified in the light of the agents involved. The space of production induces an advertising mode that is operated by the lDs for the I’m a Mormon campaign. in this sense, it is also an identity-building mode for the church, which is represented by specific members. In the space of media communication, both members and non-members are addressed. For the first group the commercials work as self-affirmation; for the latter they form and transmit an image of open-minded, smart, successful, progressive and likeable Mormon members who function as role models for their community. Their mode in the production space is performative, as they are performing their role as lDs mem- bers in front of a camera for an audience. And finally, a documentary mode comes into play, which influences the space of production and media communication. It is crucial that the protagonists are credible and authentic for then the viewers will believe their statements and trust the attitudes and values that they represent. The documentary mode touches all four spaces at the same time and therefore deserves some further consideration. The documentary mode provides information about the world in the form of an argument that the audience believes. And at the same time, as there is no objective information, the documentary mode is accompanied by a moral mode that creates values, which are often less obviously detectable. Questions beginning with “how” will often illuminate the displayed values, whereas typical “w”- questions, which be- gin with “what, who, when or where”, the facts of the documentary mode. The concept of “documentary media” draws from the semio-pragmatic model of communication spaces previously discussed. rather than adopt the binary catego- ries “fiction” and “non-fiction”, we are encouraged through semio-pragmatics to construct the variety of situations in which communication takes place. One of these situations allows for a “documentary” (reading) mode. in the I’m a Mormon commer- cials, the impression is given that those who are portrayed – members of the Mormon church – are expressing their own opinions, imparting their own experiences, and providing their own insights about their attitudes toward life. The actors can even be