Hierarchy and Responsibility in Media: Cults, Culpability, and Culture

<p>This is a descriptive research project that investigates how popular entertainment media portrays cults. My intention is to see how the selected films and television shows portray issues of hierarchy and culpability within the cult and to explore how the genre and theme of the content was utilized in order to evoke certain reactions and sentiments in the audience. The selected films were The Sacrament, Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Midsommar. The selected television shows were Waco and American Horror Story: Cult. Each film and series is given its own analysis. Findings indicate that a common theme of the rigid hierarchy common in media portrayals of cults, with groups consisting of one cult leader on the top with everyone else below, is a distinct concentration of culpability in leaders, not followers. Unlike leaders, members’ culpability is often shown to be significantly more complicated, as members are often portrayed primarily as victims. The project also raises critical questions about the fine lines dividing cult and culture, dark tourism and the role of spectatorship, and tensions between socially sanctioned religion and cults.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Justice Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

Eastern Kentucky University

Year

2022

Author dc:creator

• Hargett, Max

• Criminology
• culpability
• Cults
• Media
• American Popular Culture
• Film and Media Studies
• Other Religion

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2022 Max Hargett

Repository record dc:identifier

https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/725

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:encompass.eku.edu:etd-1723