Where Do They Get These Ideas? Changing Ideas of Cults in the Mirror of Popular Culture

Abstract

Scholars of new religious movements (NRMs) have spent considerable energy studying the role of news media in constructing public narratives about religious innovation. This article proposes that similar attention be paid to popular culture. It is argued that fictional media has a unique ability to shape public discourse about NRMs precisely because it is free to present any narrative its authors desire. Furthermore, a diachronic study of television and films over the last half-century reveals an ongoing public conversation about NRMs.