So Here We Are Again I Made a Vow
Without a doubt, at that place's something fascinating about cults. That's, of grade, the draw of series like LuLaRich and The Vow. While the cult-centric docs and podcasts we're covering in this list are varied, they all aim to unravel that magnetism cults are known for — that thing that draws victims into these groups and glues viewers similar us to our screens (or headphones).
Editor's Notation: Although the content of these podcasts and documentaries is only referenced and not discussed at length, some readers may nevertheless find the cloth triggering or upsetting.
"The Vow" (2020) | HBO
Chances are you've heard nigh NXIVM, the cocky-proclaimed multi-level marketing company — but you probably know it equally a dangerous, Albany-based sexual practice cult, not as a self-help and professional development group. But earlier the horror stories of abuse emerged, NXIVM billed itself as a means of helping members discover community and getting their lives back on rail through its "Executive Success Programs". All of this was outlined in The Vow, HBO'south nine-office docuseries.
Toward the cease of 2020, NXIVM's leader, Keith Raniere, was sentenced to 120 years in prison when he was found guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering. Other high-ranking members of the cult, including former Smallville actor Allison Mack, were also convicted of corruption-related crimes. While The Vow certainly had a moment a few years ago — it was released ahead of Raniere'due south conviction — it's still worth the watch. Knowing what nosotros know now, it's difficult to imagine why the women who were abused by NXIVM and its leader would join up in the offset place (or not spot the cherry flags); The Vow helps to unravel some of that cult mentality.
For eventual cult leaders, at that place'south nothing quite similar preying on a person'due south guilt or perceived cocky-worth — a worth that's often shaped by the toxicity, pressures and limitations of gild at big. In HBO's The Manner Down, you lot'll learn how Gwen Shamblin combined diet civilisation with religious and moral scrupulosity to create the incredibly harmful Remnant Fellowship Church. Put plainly, the Remnant is a religious weight-loss cult, 1 that encourages its members to practice disordered eating with the mantra 'pray yourself sparse'.
For Shamblin, being thin makes y'all closer to God of godliness; the Remnant, which is based in a pocket-size boondocks in the Southward, seduced folks of all ages and genders into joining. Soon plenty, the congregation swelled in size — not unlike the height of Shamblin's hair, which seems to get more clownish as the interview footage progresses. Since the Remnant Fellowship is notwithstanding operating, The Manner Down makes for a particularly chilling (and infuriating) watch.
"LuLaRich" (2021) | Amazon Prime
If you're looking for some other very contemporary cult doc, it's worth delving into Amazon's four-part serial LuLaRich, which traces the bizarre story of LuLaRoe. If yous're familiar with the name LuLaRoe, you might recognize the business organisation' signature leggings — patterned with a diverseness of randomly selected images and bright colors.
The owners of the company, married couple DeAnne Brady and Mark Stidham, grew LuLaRoe from a small enterprise with a few sales reps — mostly stay-at-domicile moms who wanted to earn some actress coin or pursue work that fit with their schedules — into an outright clothing empire. Looking at information technology now, it's articulate that the sellers were pulled into a pyramid scheme. A scheme that had a start-upwards fee of roughly $5000, no less. (Of class, DeAnne and Mark however refuse to call it a pyramid scheme.)
As the company grew and the wear gained a rabid following, there was more supply than need; sellers who were in on the game early on did meet a pretty penny in some cases, only others lost their savings, homes and more. The quality of clothing also suffered, buckling under the pressure to (needlessly) keep a massive amount of sellers stocked.
And so, what was so seductive about LuLaRoe? The leggings were given to sellers at random, creating a Beanie Baby-like frenzy; sellers would unbox their shipments on Facebook Alive, essentially auctioning them to the highest (or quickest) bidder. The merely thing more than unbelievable than the wild rise of LuLaRoe might merely be that folks really believed the leggings were cute. Melody into LuLaRich to see just how controlling and foreign the $2.3 billion-scheme became.
"Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult" (2020) | Starz
Even after nine hours of The Vow, you lot might exist left wanting more than most the NXIVM scandal. Later all, The Vow isn't perfect: There's certainly some bias — the series' managing director, Mark Vicente, clearly didn't want to paint himself in an irredeemable light, even though he was a pretty high-ranking NXIVM member — and some of the darkest truths about the sex activity-trafficking cult's hole-and-corner guild aren't delved into in earnest. That'due south why the much more digestible 4-part docuseries Seduced makes such a solid follow-up.
Seduced traces the story of Bharat Oxenberg, daughter of Dynasty actress Catherine Oxenberg and one of the cult'southward most high-profile members. Like the folks spotlighted in The Vow, India was roped into a chief-slave secret sorority that driveling and branded its members. But, dissimilar the folks in HBO'south serial, India stayed in the cult until the bitter end — and she has an interest in examining non only her condition as a survivor, but her culpability likewise, despite the indoctrination. Other former cult members share their experiences likewise and, different The Vow, Seduced is punctuated past interviews with cult experts, therapists and deprogrammers, all of whom help to paint a fuller, more honest moving picture of NXIVM's abusive underground sorority and the ways in which Keith Raniere's insidious, misogynistic doctrine shaped all facets of the alleged self-assist arrangement.
"The Gateway: Teal Swan" (2018) | Podcast
In 2018, Gizmodo launched a podcast called The Gateway, which delves into still-agile cult leader Teal Swan. For those who haven't heard of Swan, she'due south an internet guru of sorts; her highly popular YouTube page is littered with alleged self-help videos, targeting folks who are living with depression and suicidal ideation. In the serial, the podcast's host hopes to explore whether Swan is "a cult leader or the target of a witch hunt." Compelling, right?
Sure, Swan has a "retreat middle" (non unlike a commune) in Costa Rica, merely the scariest part might be her virtual presence. Beyond YouTube, Facebook and Instagram she has hundreds of thousands of fans who are taken with her dangerous messages almost mental wellness. Besides the fact that Swan's declared cult is withal drawing in new followers to this day, it's also one of the start high-profile cults to harness the ability of social media and virtual followings. And that'due south horrifying, to say the least, specially since Swan has been accused of promoting death past suicide.
"The Source Family unit" (2012) | Amazon Prime Video
Premiering at South by Southwest, The Source Family recounts the story of Father Yod; his experimental, cult-staffed psychedelic rock band Ya Ho Wha xiii; and his titular cult. Founded in the '70s amid the counterculture motion, the Source Family is peradventure one of the strangest cults on our list. It all started when Jim Baker, owner of a health food restaurant on Los Angeles' Sunset Strip, founded a spiritual commune in the Hollywood Hills.
His influences? The teachings of Yogi Bhajan and the astrological historic period of Aquarius — insert that popular 5th Dimension vocal here. The cult eventually grew to nearly 150 members, all of whom were supported by Baker'due south restaurant. Although the grouping kept their doctrines a cloak-and-dagger, they famously followed an organic vegetarian diet and believed their communal abode to be a sort of utopian platonic. Cobbled together from photos, diary entries, cassette tapes and moving-picture show recordings from former member Isis Aquarian's personal collection, The Source Family is a thorough look into this bizarre cult.
"I Got the Hell Out" (2017) | Podcast
The Pittsburgh-based pod I Got the Hell Out (IGTHO) is hosted by Laura and Debby — no concluding names. And for proficient reason. After all, the podcast centers on Debby'southward x years living as a fellow member of an "Onetime Attestation, polygamous, doomsday cult." Although she removed herself from the cult around 17 years ago, it'due south conspicuously still got her rattled, hence the anonymity.
From gas masks to beast sacrifice, this podcast has it all, but what makes it stand out from the plethora of heavy, investigative podcasts on our list is that Debby provides a more than intimate look into the solar day-to-day happenings of the cult. Writing for the Pittsburgh Metropolis Newspaper, Alex Gordon perhaps said information technology best, noting, "It may sound heavy topic-wise, but IGTHO works so well because it's like eavesdropping on a couple friends getting tipsy while they tell fascinating stories."
"Transmissions From Jonestown" (2016) | Podcast
If yous've ever heard the phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid," then you know something virtually the tragedy of the Jonestown Massacre. Led by Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, which was based in Republic of guyana, Jonestown, is perhaps most well-known for its end. Dubbed a "revolutionary suicide" by Jones, he created a cyanide-and-valium-laced potable — fabricated less bitter past Season Aid — and encouraged his followers to potable information technology. At the time, the mass expiry by suicide at Jonestown left a staggering 909 followers dead in 1978, making it the largest loss of American civilian life.
It's the huge loss of life — the fact that and then many people drank the poison — that makes this cult and then deeply agonizing. And that'south what Shannon Howard delves into in Transmissions From Jonestown, for which the host and creator digitizes tapes recovered by the U.S. armed services from Guyana. "To simply compartmentalize Peoples Temple as a brainwashed cult is a logical impossibility in lite of what is captured on these recordings," Howard wrote. "Though that might brand understanding why and then many people may have chosen to dice more complicated, it conspicuously expresses something far more important. These were people but like y'all or me, and their lives mattered."
"Wild Wild Country" (2018) | Netflix
A few years ago, Wild Wild Country made a splash at the Sundance Film Festival, which secured its release on Netflix — and even more popularity. The six-office documentary series tells the story of the controversial guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, or Osho; his assistant Ma Anand Sheela; and the community of followers they established in Wasco County, Oregon.
Known as Rajneeshpuram, the Oregon-based community stemmed from a movement in Bharat; in the belatedly '60s, Osho would fill up entire stadiums and speak on capitalism and spirituality. Somewhen, the grouping moved to the U.s.a., setting up a commune on 80,000 acres. Although it sounds beneficial enough, the customs is perhaps best known for its 1984 bioterror attacks and the 1985 Rajneeshee bump-off plot — then, yes, things exercise get wild, wild.
"The Lost Women of NXIVM" (2019) | Hulu
Still haven't heard plenty about NXIVM? The Lost Women of NXIVM documentary came out earlier The Vow or Seduced and rode the wave of publicity that surrounded Keith Raniere and Allison Mack'due south arrests. Instead of focusing all of its attention on the "self-aid" organization and its tenants, Lost Women delves into a then-active investigation that aims to notice out what happened to four disappeared (or potentially murdered) women who had connections to the group and Raniere.
In the two-part special, former NXIVM member Kristin Keeffe tells her story: a 24-year human relationship with Raniere and his twisted web of abuse and command. "I left my business firm with nix but my pocketbook. And I took a taxi to the police station," Keeffe recalls in the documentary. "And while I was at the law station, the NXIVM attorneys found out and the NXIVM attorneys called at that place, and said, 'We know she's there.' And I said, 'That'due south information technology. I tin can never go back.'"
"Heaven'south Gate" (2018) | Podcast
Based in San Diego, Heaven's Gate was a UFO-obsessed religious cult founded in the mid-'70s by ex-minister Marshall Applewhite and his educatee Bonnie Nettles. An avid reader of sci-fi, Applewhite combined his interest in fiction with a foray into Biblical prophecy, all of which led to a doctrine that mashed up the Book of Revelations and UFOs. (Of course, there'due south a lot more to it than that, but you'll have to listen for all the intricacies.)
If you lot've previously heard of Heaven'southward Gate, it'southward likely due to the cult's mass death past suicide, which occurred in a ritualistic manner in 1997. Co-ordinate to the grouping's website and videotaped "farewell" messages, the human action was committed considering the members were "shedding their earthly bodies in order to encounter a UFO they believed was trailing the Hale-Bopp comet — a UFO that would ship them to the kingdom of sky" (via NPR). The Heaven's Gate podcast gathers insight from former cult members, and, of course, breaks downward what led to this tragic moment.
"Children of God" (1994) | Netflix
The 1994 documentary Children of God might be a scrap older than some of the others on our list, but that doesn't mean it isn't fascinating — and truly horrifying. For those who don't know, the Children of God, or "The Family," is a religious cult that was founded in Huntington Beach, California, in the tardily '60s.
Its founder, David Berg, considered himself a prophetic leader, and, initially, the cult spread messages about salvation, apocalypticism and "revolution and happiness." The communal cult also taught its members to distrust the outside world, or "The System," and started engaging in "Flirty Fishing," a highly controversial kind of evangelism that uses sexual activity to show God'south love. Additionally, some of the children who were raised in the cult include Rose McGowan and brothers River Phoenix and Joaquin Phoenix, making this older doc experience ever-relevant.
"IndoctriNation" (2018) | Podcast
Looking for something a piddling more than clinical and slightly less heavy? The IndoctriNation podcast might be for yous. Hosted past therapist Rachel Bernstein, the weekly podcast delves into "cults, manipulators and protecting yourself from systems of control." And permit's simply say it's a little more than thorough than My Favorite Murder's comical refrain of "You're in a cult — call your dad."
Bernstein has worked with victims of cults for nearly three decades and believes that, given the right environment, any ane of us tin fall prey to cult leaders, abusers and manipulators. "I wanted to start a bear witness that gives survivors a chance to tell their stories and for experts to teach united states of america what they know," Bernstein states on her website. "My goal for IndoctriNation is to empower our listeners to protect themselves and those they dearest from predators, toxic personalities and subversive organizations."
Source: https://www.ask.com/culture/cult-documentaries-podcasts-after-vow?utm_content=params%3Ao%3D740004%26ad%3DdirN%26qo%3DserpIndex
0 Response to "So Here We Are Again I Made a Vow"
إرسال تعليق