Representations of Cults in US Popular Culture

Lauren E. Shoemakers argues that the misrepresentation of cults within the media have skewed both our collective memory of cults and our understandings of them in the United States.

As streaming services and premium cable outlets have created dramatizations documenting US cults –both fictionalized representations of real cults (Jonestown, The Branch Davidians) and fictional works that create their own (The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, American Horror Story: Cult) – audiences are served straightforward narratives favoring individualism and discouraging serious analysis of systemic oppression. Shoemaker contends that as viewers consume more cult content, they follow these narratives to form beliefs about those who fall prey to cults, envisioning them as simply gullible individuals who are easily fooled by charismatic leaders.

By analyzing patterns of representation, Shoemaker demonstrates that in reality, victims of cults are often people belonging to marginalized identity groups, who are made vulnerable on multiple intersectional levels by inequity and systems of power. As representation continues to improve, she posits, recent examples point to socioeconomic systems that leave the disenfranchised in want of the rhetoric and community that cults have to offer. Ultimately, this book argues that cults are able to exploit people precisely because of the human need for community and collectivity due to the hierarchy instilled by capitalist societies.