Cult Favorite

It's relaunch week here at Cult Favorite! You might notice some changes and some new things as we roll into the fall. So keep checking in! On this episode we discuss the summer's biggest "cult documentary," Trust Me: The False Prophet from Netflix. This story of an abusive FLDS leader who emerges in the wake of Warren Jeff's incarceration and the woman who gains his trust in order to bring him down raises a lot of important questions. Why is the word "cult" used so little in this documentary compared to others? What does it mean when someone says they are "called" to something? What is the role of trust in this story? Join us as Merinda and Mike try to answer some of those questions and ask a lot more. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio. Special thanks to Julianne Losacco for help with our logo. Our production intern is Sierra Ruden

In our final episode of our summer mini-series, Merinda and Mike discuss how people online are thinking about the "cult documentary" genre. What do the ways people talk about "cult docs" tell us about how the term "cult" functions in our current discourse? Listen in and find out! Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

The summer is almost over but we still have one more episode from the archives for your last days of vacation travel. In this episode from last spring Mike and Merinda talk about the first season of Amazon's Shiny Happy People and why certain kids of Christianity get the "cult" label. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio. ****** Pull up a chair or twenty, and join us for a conversation about Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets (2023). Made famous in the mainstream for their TLC reality show 19 Kids and Counting, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar presented a very specific image of a very large family within the “Quiverfull” movement whose children were reliably obedient and mild-mannered. Behind the literal and figurative scenes, however, the line between authority and abuse was often a blurry one, both for the family and for the Institute in Basic Life Principles, whose teachings were reflected by the Duggars at every turn. Merinda has logistical questions about big families and returns to the mundane workings of power. Mike watches cartoons and muses about strategies within group mobilization. As always, we think together about how/when/why “cult” rhetoric appears, who wields it, and what its effects are. Links: Danielle Lindemann, True Story: What Reality TV Says about Us (2022) ⁠https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374720964/truestory/⁠ Nathan O. Hatch, The Democratization of American Christianity (1991) ⁠https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300050608/the-democratization-of-american-christianity/⁠

We have another episode in our summer series of meta conversations about cults, cult documentaries, and the cult discourse of our current moment. This time we talk about some of the very unhelpful terms that get used to talk about those groups that get labeled as "cults." Mike and Merinda breakdown "belief," "brainwashing," "intent," and "authenticity." Listen today so you can understand what's up with the ways people talk about "cults"! Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

We are diving back into the archives again this summer while Mike goes surfing and Merinda is writing and conferencing. We take you back to the first year of our show in November 2024 and this episode reviewing Netflix's Escaping Twin Flames docuseries. It's a great example of the "cult documentary" tropes we discussed in our last episode. Check it out! Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

We are back with a new episode in our summer series of meta conversations about "cult documentaries." In this episode Mike and Merinda ask: 1. What is the basic formula of a cult documentary and what makes it effective? 2. What makes them easy to make, produce, and consume? 3. What’s the media’s role in perpetuating a certain definition of “cult”? 4. Is there something about this particular media moment that shapes our relationship to “cults”? Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

Merinda and Mike are enjoying summer vacation but we don't want to leave you with nothing for your ears. We have a lot of new listeners so we are dropping this deep cut from the Cult Favorite vault. You might have missed this the first time so don't miss it now! We'll be back soon with new content but for now, have a cold drink, sit back, and enjoy one of our favorite episodes. ----- On one level, the HBO documentary Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion is about the Brandy Melville brand, the messed-up social norms it relies on and perpetuates, and the teenage girls it harms. On another level, though, it’s also about fast fashion as a phenomenon—with Brandy Melville as just one example of a much bigger machine and structural reality. In exploring Brandy Melville, the film examines how fast fashion is built on racist, colonial, and exploitative practices that disproportionately affect women of color around the world. The doc goes back and forth between the teenage girl employees of the company and the abuses they describe and Accra, Ghana, where there’s an unconscionable amount of textile waste. We learn about how it gets there, what the effects are, and what some people are trying to do about it. In our discussion of the talk about how desire is produced and how the real cult is capitalism. Links: Insider piece from 2021: ⁠https://www.businessinsider.com/brandy-melville-teen-fast-fashion-racism-exploitation-hitler-marsan-2021-9⁠ Textile waste statistics: ⁠https://theroundup.org/textile-waste-statistics/⁠ ⁠https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/⁠ April 2024 Vogue piece by Alyssa Hardy (interviewed in doc) on meaning/evolution/consequences of fast fashion: ⁠https://www.vogue.com/article/what-is-fast-fashion⁠ The Or Foundation: ⁠https://theor.org/⁠ Remake Advocacy Group’s “5-Minute Actions”: ⁠https://remake.world/take-action/⁠ Merinda's Cult Favorite: D’Trespa Consignment & Vintage Boutique: ⁠https://www.dtrespa.com/⁠ 16th Cross Pearson: ⁠https://www.16thcrosspearson.com⁠ Mike's Cult Favorite: @cyberexboyfriend on TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@cyberexboyfriend⁠ Please subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube and leave us a rating and a review. You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @cultfavorite. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama.

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

This week we are taking a break from all of those cult documentaries you can’t stop binge watching to have a conversation about our journey so far and where we are going. We have a lot of new listeners so we want to revisit why we started this podcast almost two years ago, what we have covered across our 50 episodes, and where we are headed with this project. We have a lot of great stuff in store for you our listeners. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

Put your brain in Warrior 2 and join us for a conversation about the new documentary series Twisted Yoga on Apple TV+ (in which Gregorian Bivolaru assaults women in the name of divine transmogrification at yoga retreats). We talk about classification and the power of language—acquiring it, adapting it, and applying it. Our pronunciation skills could use some work, and Merinda mentions Unsolved Mysteries when she means America’s Most Wanted, but we stand by the larger points in full-on Mountain Pose. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

http://www.sarahkernochan.com/documentaries/index.html https://www.vice.com/en/article/marjoe-director-sarah-kernochan-talks-about-her-incredible-doc-on-the-evangelical-conman-456/ Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

This week, we dive into Kumaré, in which Vikram Gandhi fashions a social experiment that turns into a journey of self-discovery...or something. Topics include but are not limited to: guru persona as ideological container, autauthenticity rhetoric and performance, what factors make manipulation seem innocuous or exploitative to an audience, yoga + air guitar, and what Mike’s been reading lately. Join us! Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Departmentof Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own asexperts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent theUniversity of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

Buckle in and get ready to hear two of the worst Werner Herzog impressions of all time. Not unlike the famous filmmaker, we just couldn’t seem to help ourselves! In his case, however, the self-indulgence comes tethered to a story nominally about Timothy Treadwell, the so-called Grizzly Man who inspired a 2005 documentary by the same name. What does that 20-year-old cinematic exploration have to do with cults, you ask? Lots! Most of all, we talk about what’s at work when stories (whether told by filmmakers, journalists, or scholars) become projections. “The subject of the dream is the dreamer,” the great Toni Morrison reminds us, so how might we account for distinctions in/of methodology and genre while remaining mindful of their mediators? Digging into that question helps us avoid the perhaps-tempting-but-definitely-inane (or at least none-of-our-business) questions about whether Treadwell had the right or wrong motivations and whether his ex-girlfriend should or shouldn’t listen to an audiotape (Herzog has advice for her). Adjudication and analysis are different, methodologically speaking. What is exceedingly clear in any context, however, is that Mike and Merinda should never attempt voice acting. Links: Anderson Cooper podcast All There Is Cult Favorite Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker episode Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

It is the end of the semester and we here at Cult Favorite are ready for a long winters nap. So, we have a special episode from deep in the Cult Favorite archives that you may not have heard yet. This week we are replaying our episode about Season One of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives from 9/23/2024. And we have a lot more episodes in our back catalog for your long holiday drives and airport layovers. Grab some peppermint cocoa, curl up close to the fire, and give it a listen. This week, Mike convinced Merinda to watch Secret Lives of Mormon Wives! Luckily, docusoaps offer a neato middle ground between documentaries and reality tv. We talk genre, gender, sexuality, power, audiences, tradwives, the capital of “cute,” and Mormon media. Merinda quotes people she admires. She also describes her Very Strong Feelings about the tendency to reduce/oversimplify complex worlds inhabited by women creating media content. Inasmuch as we should #believewomen, we should also pay serious attention to pop culture by and about women, even (especially?) when it cuts against our comfort zones. We should also, it turns out, make sure to label moving boxes with some degree of nuance. Come hang and follow/subscribe wherever you listen to things. Meanwhile, know this: if you invite us to an important life event, we promise to show up for you. We will also totally tell you if we ever see toilet paper stuck to your shoe. #thatswhatfriendsarefor #cultfavorite #studyreligion Links: Sadaf Ahsan’s essay, “Inside the Real Housewives’ Feminism”: https://this.org/2021/11/02/inside-the-real-housewives-feminism/ The LDS Church’s low-key rebuke of the show: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/commentary-when-entertainment-media-distorts-faith You’re Wrong About episode “The Tradwife Rises”: https://podcasts.apple.com/si/podcast/the-tradwife-rises-with-sarah-archer/id1380008439?i=1000657221736 How are these shows produced?: https://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/2021/05/real-housewives-produced-excerpt-from-housewives-brian-moylan/ Real Housewives https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/10/real-housewives-bravo-reckoning Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

What drives someone to risk everything for a calling? In this episode, we dive into The Mission (2023), a gripping documentary that follows the story of John Chau—a young missionary whose journey to reach one of the world’s most isolated communities sparked global debate. We unpack the film’s layered narrative: faith and zeal, cultural boundaries, colonial echoes, and the ethics of evangelism in the 21st century. Was Chau a hero, a cautionary tale, or something in between? Join us for a conversation that’s as thought-provoking as it is challenging. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

This week, we hop into a car Louis Theroux is driving, but we have questions about his vehicular management...or at least about his playlist choices. Luckily, we’ve saved a seat for the insider/outsider problem, and it’s a great navigator! Yep, we’ve cued up My Scientology Movie, a title that at least offers truth in advertising. It is very much Theroux’s movie that follows his curiosity based on his interviews staged with his curation. As such, it puts front and center a refrain here at Cult Favorite: how we talk about something says as much (if not more) about ourselves than about whatever we’re talking about. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.