My Scientology Movie: a perceptive mix of psychological drama and reality TV
My Scientology Movie: a perceptive mix of psychological drama and reality TV.
The Conversation:
My Scientology Movie: a perceptive mix of psychological drama and reality TV
http://theconversation.com/my-scien...x-of-psychological-drama-and-reality-tv-63921
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Throughout the film, Theroux is unflappable and calm, even as the Scientologists raise the stakes or Rathbun turns on him. At times, he offers erudite commentary about the religion. He is fair too, and while Scientologists will disagree with his representation of them, one senses he never set out to make an anti-Scientology polemic. This is clear from the probing questions he puts to Rathbun.
My Scientology Movie is not a big picture account of the religion. It reveals little about Scientology’s complex and esoteric beliefs, or the lives of its ordinary followers. However, Theroux never treats Scientology as a wacky American curiosity.
Rather, his film, which gives rise to critical questions about the responsibility religious leaders have in the lives of their followers, and the outcomes when that is abused, makes for brave and clever filmmaking.
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Author
Andrew Singleton
Associate Professor of Sociology and Social Research, Deakin University
Disclosure statement
Andrew Singleton receives funding from the Australian Research Council for a project examining young people's attitudes to religious diversity.
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