Cults in the Wild | My friend and I finally watched the “Yellowjackets” series finale. If you have not seen it, skip ahead to The Big Post because there are spoilers. We only got a glimpse of Natalie’s kidnappers, but they appeared to be dressed alike and wearing necklaces that had the symbol from the cabin. The narration in the scene is a voicemail from Suzie (the bank teller) saying she thinks Lottie is following her. We both assumed that Lottie died on the island and we would get the details in season two. Our new theory? Lottie survived, returned home, started a cult, and they murdered Travis.
The Big Post | The eco-disaster to cult pipeline is as unique as the circumstances that create them. As of now, much of the research we have available to us is about apocalyptic cults which anticipate imminent world destruction. In these cases, followers are typically encouraged to constantly prepare for the end of the world or commit suicide in preparation for it. As we have not yet reached the level of environmental doom represented in some fictional worlds we can only imagine how such disasters will impact our faith systems. Fiction is the perfect tool to map out these possibilities because it blends history and socio-political occurrences with imagination.
I went a little viral in BookTok last week after recommending that people read Parable of the Sower and The Handmaid’s Tale as companion pieces. While preparing a reading list of similar content it occurred to me that in both novels, environmental destruction gives rise to cults. In The Handmaid’s Tale male scientists have determined nuclear contamination and water and air pollution as the cause of low birth rates, especially among the wealthy elite. According to Eleanor Rowe,
“This novel allows us to see that it’s not just in a dystopian future that women’s bodies are threatened, brutalized, and made into sacrificial offerings that might be held up in support of something like a 'greater good.”
Similarly, in Parable Earthseed is created to teach adherents how to survive on their crumbling planet and the next one.1 Ling Ma’s Severance also includes a fictional sect rising from the ashes of a crumbling world. While in Severance contagion reshaped the world, not an environmental disaster, the sentiment is the same.
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