Cult Favorite

• Trainwreck: The Cult of American Apparel (Netflix, 2025)

  Just how well do signifiers float, you ask? Well, we’re back with a corporate case study whose labels could serve as lifesavers. Examples include but are not limited to: “charisma” (=yelling + boss energy + money), “revolution” (=paying a fair wage), and, of course, “cult” (=a group of people trying hard for someone who’s a jerk). Pull on a comfy v-neck and go window shopping with us at American Apparel, which recently received Trainwreck treatment from Netflix. CEO Dov Charney first made waves by not subjecting workers to sweatshop conditions (revolutionary!) and then made waves by creating an abusive work environment of his very own (just another day at the office!) and then...went on to launch a new brand and keep making money elsewhere (you saw it coming!).  As “cult” shows up with increasing frequency in public discourse about harm, the element of “religion” becomes more and more nebulous. We talk about this and then some, leaving you with our cult favs in the way of some TV recs for your consideration.  Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama.  Theme music produced with Udio. 

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• Shiny Happy People Season 2 (Amazon Prime, 2025)

  There’s a new season of Shiny Happy People out now, and Cult Favorite is on the case with some unsolicited advice. Do: process dad issues. Don’t: crack eggs over your head for tuition money or others’ sport. Season 2 of the series focuses on Teen Mania, an evangelical youth phenomenon spearheaded for thirty-ish years by Ron Luce (himself stylized by way of motorcycles, loud voices, and evangelizing at drive-thrus). Youth culture has always scared grownups, and the latter have always strategized about how to corral the former. Enter Honor Academy, wherein ambitious teens volunteered via a lifetime commitment to serve on the frontlines in an ostensible battle between good and evil. What they came to realize, however, is that serving God and country also involved unpaid labor, telemarketing, crawling through trenches, and carrying a heavy cross in the middle of nowhere sans food/shelter/map. We talk about the rise and fall of the program, its ideological framework, and its relationship to political power. Remember, everybody: social structures always shape our own senses of self! And eggs are best enjoyed as a protein boost rather than as a humiliation device. Follow us on TikTok and Instagram at @cultfavoritepod.Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio

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• The Vow Season 1 (HBO, 2020)

  Would you like a methodology for optimizing or enhancing human experience and behavior? Would you like a vagueness-translator to make that question make sense? Well, have we got an episode for you! We’re finally talking about The Vow (season 1), a documentary series about NXIVM—a MLM with an acronym as confusing as its mission. We hit the highlights about what the group got up to and why leader Keith Raniere is now serving a 120-year prison sentence. More than that, though, we talk about how/why universalizing rhetoric and individualist ethics can make for such a compelling and explosive combo. We also think through some of the ways the doc’s production lands, and we ask how it might look different if the former and current members of the collective weren’t rich. Come for Catherine Oxenberg’s phone call to a princess, asking her to get the now king of England to put her in direct contact with the Dalai Lama. Stay for the critical thinking! Links:NYT reporter Barry Meier reviews The Vow and Seduced: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/27/arts/television/nxivm-the-vow-seduced-keith-raniere.htmlFollow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

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• Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage (HBO, 2021)

  For the last stop of our summer road trip, we head to Rome, NY, where a retired Air Force base closed out the millennium by playing host to mosh pits, sexual assault, avoidable death, raw sewage, and fire. That’s right, campers, we’re talking about Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage (HBO/Max, 2021). Pack some critical thinking along with your fresh water because questions about how quickly/easily true horrors can become normalized are vital to ask right now. On the main stage, we’re playing a few of the hits: the making and marketing of a collective, the consequences of ignoring systemic issues, the curation of blame, and the strategies of subsequent history-telling. On the second stage, there’ll be appearances including but not limited to: moral panics embedded in generational logic, gender scripts/expectations, machinations of social cohesion, and Merinda’s distaste for nu metal.Links:Gina Arnold, Half a Million Strong: Crowds in Power from Woodstock to Coachella ⁠https://uipress.uiowa.edu/books/half-million-strongDemographics of Jan 6 attackers: https://www.shu.edu/news/a-demographic-and-legal-profile-of-january-6-prosecutions.htmlTexas Death Breathes New Life Into Professional Wrestling by Colette Arrandhttps://vgbees.com/texas-death-breathes-new-life-into-professional-wrestling/?ref=bigeggwrestling.comFollow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

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• Untold: The Fall of Favre (Netflix, 2025)

  This week we’re talking about sports celebrity, open secrets, and what people are willing to ignore in the name of loyal fandom. Join us for some conversational tailgating as we discuss Netflix’s Untold: The Fall of Favre (2025). A small town hero who became a football legend in his own time, Brett Favre is known by most for his time as a superstar quarterback in the NFL. Sports media personality Jenn Sterger alleges, though, that she knew him as a dude who unsolicitedly sexted her. Meanwhile, the state of Mississippi knows him as the sports star who diverted millions of dollars from welfare funds for use in pet projects. Spoiler alert: a story about a charismatic leader is yet again a story about abuses of power. In such a story, which elements get what amount of time/attention and why? What boundaries get drawn around which kinds of behavior? And what’s with the impulse to compare sports and religion? Listen in for thoughts from two of your biggest fans. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.Production assistance from the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama. Theme music produced with Udio.

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