Netflix’s latest docuseries How to Become a Cult Leader explores the lives of notorious cult leaders. Using archived footage, interviews of cult members, and animation that is seamlessly woven via narration by Peter Dinklage, the docuseries provides a summary of the self-proclaimed godmen who promised a higher understanding of life and in some cases, death.
It’s surreal how people become members of such cults and follow their leaders in a manner that can easily be addressed as hypnotic. But the show proves how anyone with conviction can become a cult leader by following a set of steps. There is no involvement of the supernatural nor are there any devices or pills. It’s all in the mind. While the basic motive for every cult leader is control, in this article, we will address the intentions of 6 cult leaders and how they achieved what can only be called a feat.
How to Become a Cult Leader: The Cult Leaders and Their Motives
Episode 1: Charles Manson and the Mason family
Charlie Manson almost established a religion of his, making himself appear as a messiah for the few followers he had earned using his knowledge, talent and charisma. Failing to be a music star, he decided to get revenge by speaking of an upcoming race war and tried to ignite the “revolution” by killing 7 people, one of them the Hollywood actress Sharon Tate. This was in August 1969.
He and his groupies were ultimately caught and arrested. Whether he had the murders in mind when he decided to form a cult, we do not know. But it is possible that his disturbed childhood planted the seed of revenge against the world. And his realisation that he was able to manipulate people acted like water and sunlight that helped the seed turn into a plant. Rage is in fact what drove him to commit the murders accompanied by his female followers who he had managed to turn into lethal weapons.
Episode 2: Reverend Jim Jones and Jonestown
Reverend Jim Jones used his communal vision and gathered a crowd of 20,000 “devotees”. Initially a preacher, he went on to become a godman who even had contacts in the government. This made him very powerful. Here too the motive was control and to make sure that no one could come in his way, he built himself a whole town named Jonestown in Guyana. His followers would have to renounce their relationships before going to Jonestown and they did.
Unfortunately, Jonestown was nothing more than a plantation run by Jim. His followers had to work, eat and sleep based on his orders. A plan to get the people out of the place resulted in the death of Congressman Leo Ryan who was shot down by Jim’s guards. Ultimately, Jim and 900 of his followers in Jonestown were found dead as a result of what’s believed to be a mass murder with Jim resorting to suicide. The word “reverend” itself proves that Jones intended people to follow him. And since he couldn’t have that, he didn’t want to have it any other way.
Episode 3: Jaime Gomez and Buddhafield
Pornstar turned cult leader Jaime Gomez promised enlightenment to his followers. He used the logic that if they could be naked (both literally and figuratively) to their master (Jaime), they could be naked in front of God. And since that is what everyone wants, they did it for Jaime too. It resulted in Jaime being subjected to all forms of service that he made the most of.
Thankfully, an email about his lies and his nature (the sexual predator that he was) to his followers at his recluse custom-built mansion led to his downfall. For Jaime, it was all about self-pleasure and nothing else. Enlightenment was nowhere to be found. Perhaps, his followers could never be farther away from it as long as they were with him.
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Episode 4: Marshall Applewhite and Aliens
The most bizarre cult leader in my humble opinion is Marshall Applewhite who, along with his assistant Bonnie Nettles, managed to make their followers believe that the world will soon come to an end and they were supposed to leave the planet before that. And that they weren’t humans but belonged to some other world and joining them in their journey would mean eternal life.
They even go to the extent of producing books, writing press releases and sending videos of their final thoughts to media houses. The cult saw its end in death after voluntarily killing themselves using high-power sedatives in March 1997. 39 bodies were found. Why Marshall Applewhite did it, we do not know. It was probably due to some “higher calling”, wouldn’t you say?
Episode 5: Shoko Asahara and Aum Shinrikyo
Shoko Asahara’s loss in an election that he intended to use to spread his message of purifying the world, made him pull off what would go on to become of one the darkest days in the history of Japan. He turned a metaphorical war against evil into a real war against those who didn’t accept them.
His rage of not being accepted only fuelled his sense of abandonment that he carried in him since he was a child, who was abandoned by his parents, took the shape of a nerve gas attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995. More than 3000 people suffered from it and 14 died. Rumours eventually led to Shoko Asahara being arrested and executed along with 12 of his followers.
Episode 6: Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the Unification Church
The only man among the 6 cult leaders mentioned in the docuseries who managed to maintain his cult even after his death is Sun Myung Moon of South Korea. By combining the Bible with his own text named The Divine Principle, he used his PR skills to turn his cult into an empire that still grows.
He is one of the few cult leaders who managed to reach the US Capitol and receive royal attire and the “The King of Peace” title. This validation by the Congress followed by a succession plan enabled his family to run the cult and followers continue to join, even today. He didn’t have any wicked intentions other than perhaps to have a cult of his own. Maybe this is why he managed to pull it off successfully.
How to Become a Cult Leader is streaming on Netflix.
Have you seen the docuseries? Let us know your thoughts on it in the comments below.
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