Cult Favorite

• Waco: American Apocalypse (Netflix, 2023)

  This week, we’re staying in the 90s and are still talking about abuses of power that turned into tv spectacle. Performances of masculinity continue to abound, but gone are WWE’s costumes and Springer’s staged fights. The skirmishes in this case appear within federal agencies and their approaches to an insulated religious group. Join us as we discuss Waco: American Apocalypse (2023), which details the 51-day standoff between the Branch Davidians and the US government. Negotiators, snipers, the ATF, the FBI, armored tanks, desperate parents, a frenzied media, and Timothy McVeigh all make appearances in a story that sees conflicting visions/versions of American identity cancel each other out and go up in literal flames. On much lighter notes, we catch a glimpse into Mike’s childhood dinner rituals, and Merinda opines about tough-guy energy. #cultfavorite #waco #studyreligionLinks:Bio of abstract expressionist painter Cy Twombly, Chalk: The Art and Erasure of Cy Twombly,by Joshua Rivkinhttps://citylights.com/art/chalk-art-erasure-of-cy-twombly-2/“For the Plot” new single from As December Falls: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF-IqeMj9sEJohn Stewart used John Cena’s heel turn this past weekend to explain our current geopolitical climate: 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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• Mr. McMahon (Netflix, 2024)

  This week is a treat for Mike, a feat for Merinda. We’re extending our stay in the ‘90s, taking a day trip to the entertainment world o’ wrestling. But, not unlike enlightenment, entertainment can cozy up to exploitation pretty quickly. This is what happens in Netflix’s Mr. McMahon, which tells the story of a lonely billionaire’s quest to gain approval from his father by building the WWE empire. We talk scripts and performances, heroes and villains, masculinity and national identity. Instead of trying to distinguish between illusion and what’s reality or figure out who the real Vince McMahon is, we think about how artifice and authenticity—like babyfaces and heels—rely on one another to be what they are. Kayfabe, babe: it makes up and means every word. Fun facts abound, like: Mike thinks there’s a wrestling match for everyone. And Merinda’s prior knowledge about wrestling is entirely to do with movies that are not about wrestling. Grab a costume, and join us in the ring!Links:Colette Arrand: https://colettearrand.gay/Bigg Egg wrestling newsletter: https://www.bigeggwrestling.com/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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• Jerry Springer: Fights, Camera, Action (Netflix, 2025)

  Once upon a time, a young reporter named Jerry Springer made his way to Chicago with the dream of launching a talk show that allowed regular people to tell their stories. On his journey, he met a tabloid-trained producer, who turned the hopeful tv host into the Ratings King and staged increasingly dramatic antics at court through a daytime talk show that was called brilliant by some and an abomination by others. These included a fist-fight involving a klansman and a man who married his horse, but then one day, there was a murder. Some decades later, two intrepid scholars would go on a quest to learn more about this fraught empire after they found an archive entitled Fights, Camera, Action! on Netflix. They were armed only with questions like: When do people get annoyed when something is “fake,” and when are they happy to suspend disbelief? Whose stories get told and how? Where do exploitation and responsibility start and stop? And just what *was* the show Merinda’s middle school class visited?? What will become of our adventurers? Tune in and find out.Links:https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/arts/television/jerry-springer-netflix-documentary-5-takeaways.html“Good Sex as Food for the Revolution” by Dr. Candice Nicole Hargons via Emily Nagoski’s Substackhttps://substack.com/inbox/post/155927881“Tennessean by Birth” poem by Nikki Giovannihttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhPUvucdGvkRoss Benes’s book 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times (out April 2025)https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700638574/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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• Orgasm Inc.: The Story of OneTaste (Netflix, 2022)

  Delving into the term “cult” means looking at unlikely case studies. This week we talk about Netflix documentary OneTaste: Orgasm, Inc. —the story of boss babe Nicole Daedone, who made big business out of personal pleasure. Hers is a love story between capitalism and heteropatriarchy, with supporting roles from yoga, meditation, sexual awakening, exploitative profiteering, and coercion. Questions abound, including but not limited to: What happens to a cultural narrative when it’s rendered “religious”? When do scholars get interviewed, and when do they not? What kinds of conditions would foreclose a company like OneTaste from succeeding in the first place? When is exploitation a story people pay attention to, and when is it just a regular day at the office? Come for the answers, stay for the conversational bookends. Merinda gives a reading! Mike learns what mycology is! And remember, kids, context always shapes the stuff we call special.Links:2009 NY Times article on Daedone and OneTaste:https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/fashion/15commune.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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• Breath of Fire (Max, 2024)

  Mike and Merinda are back in 2025 to discuss one of the most popular cult documentaries of 2024. Breath of Fire, streaming on Max, tells the story of Kundalini yoga, Yogi Bhajan and Guru Jagat. It's a story of an American counter-cultural movement that turned into a conspiritualist wellness business. Along the way we discuss toner scams, millennial audiences, and Robin Hood. It's good to be back! Follow us on 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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