Page - 148 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 05/02

Mormon “cross-over” because it combines an LDS cast, crew, and family-friend- liness with an “indie” feel.28 The aforementioned fusion of styles played a pivotal role in Napoleon Dy- namite’s financial success in expanding its audience beyond that of the more explicitly Mormon films that came out around the same time.29 However, as Nicolaas Mink notes, this expansion of the film’s audience created a degree of double signification that caused the film to resonate differently outside Idaho and the Mormon Belt than it did within.30 Napoleon’s singular vocabulary, for example, includes his overuse of words like “gosh”, “dang”, “flip”, and “freak- ing”. His speech serves as one of the distinctive elements of the film by setting the protagonist apart from characters of more typical Hollywood productions. Far from representing a mere character quirk, Napoleon’s obvious substitution of vulgar terms with ridiculous expletives also codes him as a practicing Mor- mon. The titular character performs his religion through more than just speech; at one point he wears a Ricks College (now BYU Idaho) shirt. One of the most interesting indicators of Napoleon’s religion centers on an old farmer who ap- pears only two times in the film. During this man’s first appearance, Hess shows him approach a cow with a shotgun. He then cuts to a school bus that Napo- leon boards. At this moment a gunshot fires, and several children scream. In the post-credits section, this same man officiates at the marriage of Kip and his sweetheart, LaFawnduh. To the uninitiated viewer, the farmer’s role at the wed- ding seems like a hilarious gag, and perhaps a commentary on small-town Amer- ica. Mormon viewers, however, immediately recognize that the shotgun-toting farmer is also Kip’s bishop.31 I am ultimately less interested in proving Napoleon’s Mormonism than I am in discussing how his faith colors his relationship with Pedro. Mink categorizes Napoleon Dynamite as a school film and coming-of-age movie, but he notes that the aforementioned characters “fail to fit into the typical generic teenage categories constructed by scholars in cinema studies”.32 Numerous critics have observed that one of the aspects that separates Napoleon Dynamite from other school films is the fact that the film’s protagonists – particularly Napo- leon – deviate from conventional articulations of gender.33 I wish to add to the conversation by pointing out that both Napoleon and Pedro play important allegorical roles within a racialized cosmology where white Mormon Gentiles 28 Samuelson 2007, 226. 29 Two particularly noteworthy films that came out in the years prior to the release of Napoleon Dynamite are The Singles Ward (Kurt Hale, US 2002) and The R. M. (Kurt Hale, US 2003). 30 Mink 2008, 164. 31 Mink 2008, 166. 32 Mink 2008, 157–158. 33 Russo 2006, 7–11; Buchbinder 2008, 237; Quail 2011, 466–467. 148 | David S. Dalton www.jrfm.eu 2019, 5/2, 141–165