Scientology in popular culture
Musicians and playwrights have made reference to Scientology on some of their work, with some pieces treating the topic in a negative light by their references, and at least one in a positive manner.
Scientology has also been dealt with in fictional television shows, including
Fiction
"Operation Freakout", also known as "Operation PC Freakout", was the name given by the Church of Scientology to a covert plan intended to have the author Paulette Cooper imprisoned or committed to a mental institution.[2][3][4] The plan, undertaken in 1976 following years of Church-initiated lawsuits and covert harassment,[5] was meant to eliminate the perceived threat that Cooper posed to the Church and obtain revenge for her publication in 1971 of a highly critical book, The Scandal of Scientology.[2][3][4] The events of Operation Freakout are featured, in a thinly fictionalized form, in Giuseppe Genna's 2004 novel In the Name of Ishmael.[6] Scientology is referred to as "Science Religion", Cooper is called "Paulette Rowling" and Mary Sue Hubbard is "Johanna Lewis".[6] The book includes an almost word-for-word transcription of the Operation Freakout planning document of April 1, 1976, with the names of the principal figures substituted as described above.[6]
In the science-fiction setting of
Film
In reviews of the 1999 film Bowfinger, some critics compared the fictional organization "MindHead" to the Church of Scientology. In the film, producer Bobby Bowfinger, played by Steve Martin, encounters difficulties involving actor Kit Ramsey, played by Eddie Murphy. Paul Clinton writes in CNN online: "'Bowfinger' could just be viewed as an out-there, over-the-top spoof about Hollywood, films, celebrities and even the Church of Scientology. But Martin has written a sweet story about a group of outsiders with impossible dreams."[8] Andrew O'Hehir writes in Salon that "Too much of 'Bowfinger' involves the filmmakers' generically wacky pursuit of the increasingly paranoid Kit, who flees into the clutches of a pseudo-Scientology outfit called MindHead (their slogan: 'Truth Through Strength')."[9] The Denver Post describes the Kit Ramsey character as "...petulant, paranoid and pampered, like any good star, and also a devotee of a Scientology-like religion."[10] In a review in the San Francisco Chronicle, Wesley Morris describes Ramsey's organization as "a mock-Scientology cult called MindHead - a bit that sprung from Martin's own issues with MENSA."[11] The Albuquerque Journal describes the MindHead organization "a rather thinly veiled but nevertheless amusing blast at Scientology,"[12] and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram characterizes it as an "organization that comes across as a thinly veiled send-up of Scientology."[13]
Some critics perceived the 2000 film Bless the Child to be mocking Scientology because the fictionalized cult "The New Dawn" in the film mimicked Scientology's symbols and rhetoric.[14] The following year in 2001, a film titled The Profit parodied Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard.[15]
Paul Thomas Anderson's 2012 film The Master features a religious organization called "The Cause" that has many similarities to Scientology.[16][17][18] Also, the character of Lancaster Dodd, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman shares a physical resemblance to Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.[19]
Two other films that feature new religious movements similar to Scientology are Schizopolis, and The L.A. Complex.[20]
Music
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Maynard_James_Keenan_Roskilde_2.jpg/130px-Maynard_James_Keenan_Roskilde_2.jpg)
Frank Zappa's 1979 concept album/rock opera Joe's Garage lampoons Scientology in the song "A Token of My Extreme". Zappa uses terminology such as "L. Ron Hoover" and "Appliantology", telling the main character "Joe" that he "must go into the closet" to pursue his latent appliance fetishism.[21][22] Gary Numan had popular songs laced with Scientology references in the 1980s such as "Me! I Disconnect from You", "Praying to the Aliens", and "Only a Downstat", influenced directly by William S. Burroughs' Scientology-based writings.[23][24]
The progressive metal band Tool has voiced criticism of Scientology. After releasing their first full-length album Undertow in 1993, the band began touring to promote their new work. In May 1993, Tool was scheduled to play the Garden Pavilion in Hollywood but learned at the last minute that the Garden Pavilion belonged to the Church of Scientology, which the band felt clashed with "the band's ethics about how a person should not follow a belief system that constricts their development as a human being".[25] The band's vocalist Maynard James Keenan recalled that he "spent most of the show baa-ing like a sheep at the audience".[26] Scott Schalin reported in Bay Area Music: "Between songs, Keenan, staring first at the lush grounds paid for by devoted L. Ron followers and then into the eyes of his own audience, bayed into the mic like a sheep looking for his shepherd's gate. "Baaaaa! Baaaaa!" the singer bleated."[27] The lyrics to the Tool song "Ænema" contain the phrase: "Fuck L. Ron Hubbard, Fuck all his clones."[28]
Television
An organization with similarities to Scientology, called Selfosophy, was a central part of an episode from the
In 2005, Season 9 of
In 2006, season four of Nip/Tuck, the characters Kimber and Matt join the Church, making them the first Scientologist regular characters on a prime-time TV show.[32] In the latter part of the fourth season, Kimber has a hallucination in which Xenu appears to her.[33] Though the Scientology "tech" and details are portrayed in a simplified way, the show is incorporating the Scientology storyline as a serious subplot, rather than a parody or a one-time jab. In the episode Dawn Budge, Matt moves out of the house after his parents pressure him to leave Scientology.[34] Both characters eventually leave Scientology in the fifth season.
In April 2015, following the recent release of Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief , Saturday Night Live aired a music video featuring the "Church of Neurotology", a parody of Scientology's 1990 music video "We Stand Tall".[35]
In Series 5 of Peep Show. Jeremy, (played by Robert Webb), and Super Hans, (played by Matt King), go into "The New Wellness centre" (a thinly disguised parody of Scientology). Their intention is to 'out-freak the freak show', or possibly just get warm. However, within hours they are giving all of their possessions to the church, renaming themselves, and indenturing themselves in perpetuity. Mark, (played by David Mitchell) successfully deprogammes Jeremy and by the next episode Super Hans has also left the church.
In
Theatre
The controversy surrounding the Church of Scientology and the (new) Cult Awareness Network organization was described in the 2002 Stephen Adly Guirgis play, Jesus Hopped the "A" Train.[38] The character Angel tells Mary Jane that individuals who call the Cult Awareness Network looking for help will end up speaking with a Scientologist on the other end of the phone.[38] The play was nominated for a 2003 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award, in the category: "The BBC Award for Best New Play of 2002."[39]
In 2003, the play
Video games
The survival-horror video game series
In
A small cult called the Hubologists appears in both Fallout 2 and the Nuka-World DLC of Fallout 4, offering several therapies involving increasingly larger amounts of radiation, and claims of their leader communing with aliens.
See also
- Cults and new religious movements in literature and popular culture
- List of fictional religions
- Parody religion
- Religious satire
- Scientology beliefs and practices
- Scientology controversy
References
- ^ William S. Burroughs (March 6, 1970). "William S. Burroughs On Scientology". Los Angeles Free Press.
- ^ a b United States of America v. Jane Kember, Morris Budlong, Sentencing Memorandum; pp. 23-25
- ^ TIME. Time Inc. Archived from the originalon November 10, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
- ^ a b Ortega, Tony (December 23, 1999). "Double Crossed". Phoenix New Times. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
- Radar Magazine. Archived from the originalon October 10, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2008.
- ^ ISBN 0-7868-8886-5.
- ISBN 0-441-11773-2.
- Time Warner. pp. Section: Movies. Retrieved December 18, 2007.
- ^ O'Hehir, Andrew (August 12, 1999). "Bowfinger: Martin and Murphy team up for a good-natured sendup of the mindless summer blockbuster -- and just barely avoid making one themselves". Salon. Retrieved December 18, 2007.
- ^ Booth, Michael (July 16, 2007). "Martin skewers Hollywood". The Denver Post. Retrieved December 18, 2007.
- ^ Morris, Wesley (August 13, 1999). ""Bowfinger' has the touchMartin, Murphy make mincemeat out of Hollywood as a down-and-out producer and his "star'". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved December 18, 2007.
- ^ Staff (January 1, 2007). "'Bowfinger' Lacks Chemistry Between Martin, Murphy". Albuquerque Journal.
- ^ Staff (January 21, 2000). "Hollywood looks in the mirror, and laughs". Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
- )
- St. Petersburg Times.
- ^ Brown, Lane (December 3, 2010). "So This New Paul Thomas Anderson Movie Is Definitely About Scientology, Right?". NYMag.com. New York Media Holdings. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Brown, Lane (March 17, 2010). "Universal Passes on Paul Thomas Anderson's Scientology Movie". NYMag.com. New York Media Holdings. Retrieved June 5, 2011.
- ^ Pilkington, Ed (April 26, 2011). "Church of Scientology snaps up Hollywood film studio". Guardian.co.uk. Guardian News and Media Limited. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
- ^ Yamato, Jen (June 10, 2010). "Will Scientologists Declare War on Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master?". Film.com. RealNetworks. Retrieved June 2, 2011.
- ^ Bereska, Tami M. "Hollywood Bites". In Kent, Stephen A.; Raine, Susan (eds.). Scientology in Popular Culture.
- ISSN 1750-3167.
- ^ Prince, Michael J. (Spring 2005). "The Science Fiction Protocols of Frank Zappa". Chapter&Verse. PopMatters Media, Inc. Retrieved November 28, 2007.
- ^ Numan, Gary. "Notes". digest.garynuman.info.
- ^ "Replicas by Tubeway Army".
- ^ Sokal, Roman (May 23, 2001). "Tool - Stepping Out From the Shadows". Exclaim!. Retrieved September 17, 2006.
- ^ Dolan, Jon (August 2006). "33 Things You Should Know About Tool". Blender. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved September 18, 2006.
- ^ Schalin, Scott (November 1993). "Sob Story - Tool Will Give You Something To Cry About". Bay Area Music. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
- ^ Gennaro, Loraine (February–March 1997). "Angry Jung Men!". Livewire Magazine. pp. Volume 7, #3.
- ^ USA Today, Roush R., 20 November 1997
- ^ http://www.ugo.com/, Sullivan, M.P., 22 November 1997
- ^ "Trapped in the Closet". South Park. November 16, 2005.
- ^ Leventry, Ellen (October 4, 2006). "Scientology Gets Nipped and Tucked". Idol Chatter. Belief.net.
- ^ Dow Jones (October 1, 2006). "TELEVISION; 'Nip/Tuck' warms up to Scientology". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Hank Chilton, Ryan Murphy (October 3, 2006). "Dawn Budge". Nip/Tuck (Television). Season 4. Episode 49. FX.
- ^ "Saturday Night Live's genius spoof of Scientology: Lyrics and images « The Underground Bunker". tonyortega.org.
- ^ "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia: "Mac And Dennis Buy A Timeshare"". The A.V. Club. September 26, 2013. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- ^ Nolan, Hamilton. "The Problem(s) With Crossfit". Gawker. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
- ^ ISBN 0-8222-1799-6.
"Scientologists sued the Cult Awareness Network, bankrupted them, and took over the damn Cult Awareness Network! ... Same office! Same phone number! But when you call the [expletive] up, you speaking to one of them! What kinda help you think they gonna give you?" - ^ Staff (February 14, 2003). "Laurence Olivier Award winners - complete list". London Theatre Guide. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved October 28, 2007.
- ^ Hernandez, Ernio (September 15, 2006). "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant Returns to NYC". Playbill. Archived from the original on November 17, 2007. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
- ^ Staff. "OBIES Awards". The Village Voice. pp. "2004 Winners", Special Citations: Kyle Jarrow and Alex Timbers A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant. Archived from the original on December 9, 2007. Retrieved November 1, 2007.
- Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved October 24, 2007.
- ^ "GTA 5: Neues Video zur Epsilon-Sekte parodiert Scientology". PC Games Hardware (in German). April 23, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ "Portal Berita, Download Game dan Beli Voucher Game Terpercaya Di Indonesia". duniagames.co.id. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
External links
Media related to Scientology in popular culture at Wikimedia Commons
- Battlefield Earth at IMDb
- Bowfinger at IMDb
- The Bridge (2006) at IMDb
- Hell Is Other Robots (Futurama) at IMDb
- The Joy of Sect (The Simpsons) at IMDb
- The Master (2012 film) at IMDb
- The Profit at IMDb
- The Return of Chef (South Park) at IMDb
- Schizopolis at IMDb
- Super Best Friends (South Park) at IMDb
- Trapped in the Closet (South Park) at IMDb
- Scientology in Popular Culture from Google Books