Family synonym: CULT and COMMUNE
Definition of CULT:
A religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious, also: its body of adherents
-The voodoo cult
-A satanic cult
A great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (such as a film or book), especially: such a devotion regarded as literary or intellectual fad, the object of such devotion, a usually smaller group of people characterized by such devotion
-A singer’s cult of fans
-The film has a cult following
A system of religious beliefs and ritual
-The cult of Apollo
Definition of COMMUNE:
A group of people living together and sharing possessions and responsibilities
-“She went to California and joined a commune”
The DIFFERENCE between CULT and COMMUNE:
“What is the difference between a group of people that live and work together to achieve a certain standard of physical, mental and spiritual well-being, and a full fledged cult? [...] The MORAL component to these groups is significant - it goes beyond telling people how to eat or dress, but imposes a code of ethics on a group of willing participants, in many cases, without ties to a specific religion”.
“Throughout history and across the world, pockets of people have organized because their desires were not accessible through dominant cultural, economic and social models. I think communes will continue for this reason” (Adam Szetela, assistant professor at Berklee College of Music).
Many communes have the ability to slowly become more of a cult-- depending on the leader. Cults (for the most part) are run by a charismatic and deceptive leader.
Examples:
Branch Davidians and the Children of God: both had roots in Christianity and devolved into cults due to their leaders-- used sex and ‘marriage’ as a way to control the members, and believed that sex with children is a divine right.
Manson Family and People’s Temple (known most for the Jonestown massacre of 1978): attracted members based on social and cultural beliefs. Manson: inciting a race war, People’s Temple: ‘progressive’ organization advocating for civil rights.
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/cult-or-commune-how-utopian-communities-turn-dangerous-106818/
A MODERN INTERPRETATION OF ‘CULTS’: TIK TOK
One thing that sparked this study was a tik tok I saw on my FYP (for you page) the other day. I saw 2 in a row; in the videos a man and a woman were taking selfie videos on a low quality cell phone about their commune where everyone shares responsibilities and spends time together, activities including painting, singing, and gardening. Upon first view, I actually didn’t see much wrong with the video, but as I took a look at the comments it presented a much different reality to how Gen Z views communal living, with comments such as “I’ve seen midsommar… no thanks” and “This doesn’t seem safe yall, don’t go”.
In my opinion, one of the greatest things about tik tok are not the actual videos, but the comments. They’re kind of like one big inside joke, with trends and slang being spread around faster than one would expect. One of the new ‘slang’ words that has gained popularity is ‘bussin’ (basically meaning “it’s really good” in terms of food). In a very modern interpretation of what ‘cult’ can mean, I believe that maybe this qualifies: a unity of a generation in the way that we think and speak. Yes, individuality is still very important, but for the most part, if one has tik tok, it is slightly inevitable that they will be able to avoid catching on.
In another aspect, here is a link to an article about a different type of ‘tik tok cults’: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/style/step-chickens-tiktok-cult-wars.html. It is obvious it is written by someone who doesn’t entirely understand the ‘joke’ of it all (most definitely a generational dispute) but it still brings up an interesting point.
My family: JUNIPERS
For years now I have illustrated a type of character called a Juniper. Make no mistake though, it is more of a species than one particular ‘person’. Junipers are cranky, hungry, love drugs and sex, and don’t identify with one particular gender. They depend on each other to make life easier, but also hate each other at the same time, as they are very independent. Watch them grow.
