Scientology in Popular Culture

Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy

Stephen A. Kent, Susan Raine, Stephen A. Kent, Susan Raine

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781440832499
• eBook ISBN: 9798216142621
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Psychology of Religion

This multidisciplinary study of Scientology examines the organization and the controversies around it through the lens of popular culture, referencing movies, television, print, and the Internet—an unusual perspective that will engage a wide range of readers and researchers. For more than 60 years, Scientology has claimed alternative religious status with a significant number of followers, despite its portrayals in popular culture domains as being bizarre. What are the reasons for the vital connections between Scientology and popular culture that help to maintain or challenge it as an influential belief system? This book is the first academic treatment of Scientology that examines the movement in a popular-culture context from the perspective of several Western countries. It documents how the attention paid to Scientology by high-profile celebrities and its mention in movies, television, and print as well as on the Internet results in millions of people being aware of the organization—to the religious organization's benefit and detriment. The book leads with a background on Scientology and a discussion of science fiction concepts, pulps, and movies. The next section examines Scientology's ongoing relationship with the Hollywood elite, including the group's use of celebrities in its drug rehabilitation program, and explores movies and television shows that contain Scientology themes or comedic references. Readers will learn about how the Internet and the mainstream media of the United States as well as of Australia, Germany, and the UK have regarded Scientology. The final section investigates the music and art of Scientology.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Colonizing Terra Incognita: L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, and the Quest for Empire
• 2. Typewriter in the Sky: L. Ron Hubbard’s Fiction and the Birth of the Thetan
• 3. Earth as Battlefield and Mission: Knowledge, Technology, and Power in L. R. Hubbard’s Late Novels
• 4. Scientology’s Recruitment Policies Targeting Celebrities
• 5. Celebrities Keeping Scientology Working
• 6. Scientology’s Celebrity Apostates
• 7. Hollywood Bites
• 8. Must-See Television: Interviews with Scientologists
• 9. Presentations of Scientology in Prominent North American News Series
• 10. Scientology’s Relationship with the Internet: The Struggles of Contemporary Perception Management
• 11. Remember the Whole Track? The Hidden Persuaders in Scientology Art
• 12. L. Ron Hubbard’s Foray into the World of Music
• About the Editors and Contributors
• Index