Culty cults
A Seraphite Shrine from “The Last of Us, Part 2”
The Last of Us, Part 2 is a brutal, epic video game experience, set in a post-apocalyptic America devastated by a fungal infection that transforms humans into monsters. Death runs rampant throughout the grueling game-play, both as inflicted by and upon many of the characters and in terms of motivating a seemingly endless cycle of vengeance. … Read moreA Seraphite Shrine from “The Last of Us, Part 2”
The Marketplace of Religions (“Franklyn”, 2008)
Masked vigilante/private investigator Jonathan Preest, the last atheist in Meanwhile City, prowls a literal Marketplace of Religions in this scene from the flawed but fascinating 2008 movie Franklyn.
“Work hard; increase production; prevent accidents, and be happy.”
Worker THX-1138 confesses to the prophet OMM in this scene from George Lucas’s 1971 dystopian science fiction movie THX-1138. The Amazen Kiosk, a very widely lampooned 2021 publicity stunt mental health initiative from Amazon.com, Inc.
Cavesword: A Nontheistic Religion of Radical Death Acceptance in Gore Vidal’s “Messiah”
Gore Vidal’s 1954 dystopian satire Messiah is the story of a religious movement that forms around a charismatic undertaker named John Cave. Cave’s central message is, simply and profoundly, that people should not be afraid of death; not because they could look forward to an afterlife of eternal bliss in paradise, but rather because oblivion means an … Read moreCavesword: A Nontheistic Religion of Radical Death Acceptance in Gore Vidal’s “Messiah”
