An Ex Scientologist Discusses The Master

hey everyone this video has been a long time coming I'd originally planned on doing just a straight movie review of the master written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson but I think this format will be far more effective for what I wanted to always say about it first let me tell you that I'm not just a movie lover but I was raised in Scientology and advanced to its highest levels as a si organization member during the 27 years I was involved the Sea Org represents the core essence of Scientology a group of about 5000 of the most dedicated even fanatical members of the Church of Scientology these are the people who sign a billion-year contract of commitment and dedicate their entire lives to the cause I was part of this group for 17 years before I finally burned out and left in 2012 shortly after that I discovered all of the truths about Scientology and l ron Hubbard which had been carefully hidden for me while I was a member that's how destructive cults work they control the flow of information to their members and keep them from seeing anything critical of their cult from all that time and all the study I did of the topic both in and out of the cult I have a pretty good understanding of what Scientology is all about and how its members think and act when I first saw the master and again in doing this review I have to admit that it was somewhat disturbing because of how much it reminded me of the more serious and destructed parts of the cults nature Anderson claimed that while making the movie and after it came out that it was not a treatise on Scientology and that while he had researched it as part of his writing process the movie itself was not supposed to be a documentary or study of Scientology I beg to differ and I think you'll see as we go through it why I would say that we'll watch parts of the move and I'm gonna comment on them from my knowledge of Dianetics and Scientology and how Anderson incorporated so much of it into the story even in places most people wouldn't see or notice it I noticed so let's go through and I'll point them out the movie is far too long to get into every single my new detail but I think will cover most of the broad strokes and important points so let's get started [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you gotta shave one testicle the music the use of a fisheye lens and Freddie quails very odd behavior set him up as being in a very bad place it appears he spends time in a military mental home after the war and has substance abuse and addiction issues he tries to hold down a series of jobs all of which involve him making and drinking a kind of moonshine between bouts of bipolar episodes know what that means No you've wanted from the proper path haven't you these problems you have I don't have any problems I don't know what I told you but you have work for me to do I can do it you two seemed so familiar to me yeah what do you do I do many many things I am a writer a doctor a nuclear physicist a theoretical philosopher but above all I am a man hopelessly inquisitive man just like you well I'm sorry if if I get out of hand last night it's cold those don't apologize you're a scoundrel and as a scientist in a connoisseur I have no idea the contents of this remarkable potion what's in it secrets can you make more well now like that are you making something different better make something special for you how do you like to feel I will give you a full reprieve from your naughtiness as a story if you make us some more I must admit I sampled it and ended up drinking your moment would you scrub yourself and make yourself clean my daughters getting married come and join us leave your worries for a while I'll still be there when you get back and your memories aren't invited so this is the first meeting of Lancaster Dodd and Freddie quell Dodd is the quote-unquote commander of the ship which has a passing resemblance to the Athena one of the main ships of the Sea Org flotilla hubbard didn't have any of this put together until 1967 whereas in the movie here he's sailing a ship from San Francisco to New York via the Panama Canal in 1950 interestingly he does not own this yacht it belongs to one of his followers Dodd calls Freddy aberrated which technically means to go astray or diverge from a path but has a particular use in Scientology to mean a departure from rationality or being deranged Dodd identifies as a writer doctor nuclear physicist theoretical philosopher but above all he says I'm a man a hopelessly inquisitive man just like you this is the way Hubbard would ingratiate himself to others a subtle form of compliment wherein you tell someone who is clearly not what you are describing them as that they're a certain way it establishes a kind of mutual illusion of the person being better than they really are which they are happy to ascribe to and even start believing themselves even though it never would have occurred to them to think of themselves that way like Freddie being told he was inquisitive they bond over Freddie's moonshine notice the play of light on Dodd his face getting darker as he invites Freddie to stay and to leave his worries and memories behind for a period of time the movement Dodd leaves is appropriately called the cause this is not a random name in Scientology being cause is very important in fact one of its highest levels promises that one will achieve a state of cause over life which is pretty wide open to interpretation but most of us Scientologists believed it meant a state of godlike power and ability to not just influence but control the events of your life and the lives of others of course the wedding ceremony is conducted by Dodd just like Hubbard used to do and using a similar theology to Scientology referencing holding these bodies in this life Dodd's family is exactly why cupboards red-haired a young wife who couldn't have fathered the man sitting next to her and also the baby in her lap Dodds hair and moustache a salty mix of dart and dark and light giving him an advanced but middle aged look there is no question this character is modeled on l ron Hubbard to the core previous to the cause was awful [Laughter] there's a cycle like life birth excitement growth decay yes now now how about this here it comes a large dragon my teeth blood dripping red eyes what do I got a lasso well I whip it up I wrap it around its neck and I wrestle wrestle wrestle them to the ground I snap up I say six dragon dragons sits I say stay dragon stays now it's got a leash on that's what we're we're at with it now it stays on command next we're gonna teach it to roll over and play dead so here we see them incorporating the cycle of action in Scientology birth growth decay a death it's a key teaching dodd is talking using the exact same pauses and intonation zazz hubbard does and something only a Scientologist would notice is that the wedding crowd laughing in response to his jokes doesn't just sound a little like the audience's in Hubbard's taped lectures they sound exactly like the audience in Hubbard's lectures including laughing and clapping at something he says which is supposed to sound clever and profound but actually is just a bad joke it's obvious here that Dodd likes to be the life of the party and commands the attention of the room when he's present that's how Hubbard was according to every person I ever spoke with who knew him and I talked to a lot of those people over the years you seem to inspire something in him when we are at home on land there's too much pulling him in each direction every time he sits to write a new attack is launched against him and he spends too much time defending himself people who are scared people who are greedy ex-wives that's what's so nice about being he gets his studies done advances the learning he writes book to so here is Amy Adams first real scene playing dodds wife Peggy Anderson is an insightful man I don't know how many of Hubbard's lectures he listened to or how many books about Amir EDD but it clearly was a lot you see in almost all of the literature and media about Scientology Hubbard's third and final wife Mary Sue Hubbard is only mentioned when it comes to talking about operation snow white and the fact that she went to jail as the patsy for Hubbard who was too much of a coward to take responsibility for his own orders and their consequences so his wife went to jail for him and Hubbard remained an unindicted co-conspirator but that was all in the late 1970's and early 80's well after the heyday of Dianetics and Scientology in the 50s and 60s that was the period where Mary Sue really shined and Anderson somehow saw that and incorporated that into his script it takes a good long thorough research trail to dig into what Mary Sue was like what her role was in the bigger picture and then to get it right notice here how she talks about how they are attacked and how she's critical of Dodd saying he spends too much time defending himself like Mary Sue Peggy is deeply involved in the running of the organization they have founded she has her own strong opinions about what should and shouldn't be done where Hubbard was a wastrel who could never save any of the money he earned and was always struggling to keep things afloat Mary Sue was a kind of buoy it was only after she came into his life that some semblance of real and lasting organization started appearing in the organizations of Scientology her reference to book two puts this at the fairly early stage of the development and here is where Andersen widely diverges from the real chronology of Dianetics and Scientology since Hubbard didn't go back to sea to develop the really advanced Scientology materials until 1967 so I guess you could say Anderson did some machine of real events even if the overall structure is still pretty similar to what really happened [Music] continue please and tell me what you hear it's my mother call what she says we'll call the sound it's her voice she's saying we shouldn't be doing this well she's inside me what she says well I'm pregnant do you understand what we everything this is practically an exact demonstration of a Dianetics auditing session as it would have looked and sounded back in 1950 the woman on the reclining chair would be called a pre-clear in Scientology and she is repeating back beyond because those are significant words to the traumatic episode she's recalling that's called repeater technique in early Dianetics the blackboard has keywords that Hubbard used from that time period including colitis instead of sex or the sexual act and the sequence from birth through cellular life and conception back to earlier times that one would go down in recalling traumatic episodes the fact there is an audience there indicates that this would be a demonstration auditing session which the audience members would be watching for educational purposes Hubbard did a lot of these over the years but others did too they just weren't ever recorded from what the young woman is saying they are running an incident of a father wanting to have sex with his pregnant wife or girlfriend and the mother is resisting the woman here is the unborn fetus who can perceive all of this from within the womb and now is recounting it of course there is zero evidence that anyone can recall this level of detail from their time in utero but that wouldn't stop anyone from making it up if they wanted Hubbard actually wrote out examples just like this in the book Dianetics to demonstrate how the technique would go and he liked to use incidents exactly like this as well as attempted abortions which he said were very common throughout American society would you care for some informal processing sure questions we talk okay how are you feeling Freddie good rested yes excited yeah have you made some friends everyone was very nice good how are you feeling yeah I can gather myself you'll be my guinea pig and protege or more process are you ready yes say your name Freddie quell say it again Freddie quell say it again Freddie quell it again Freddie quell might as well say it one more time just to make sure you know who you are Freddie quell are you thoughtless in your remarks I usually put some father do you linger a bus stations for pleasure no do you get muscle spasms for no reason no do your past failures bother you now do your past failures bother you no do your past failures bother you no do your past failures in life bother you know your life is struggle now do you like to be told what to do no is your behavior erratic No do you find interest in other people not really do you find it easy to be fair yes I often consume my Envy you know about what are you often consumed by envy you mean like jealousy like jealousy oh well yeah I don't like someone else's hands on my pearls I want to think about it makes me sick are you scientific in your thought yes are you concerned with the impression you make oh yes well most people are asses if that's what you mean are you usually truthful to others sometimes unpredictable it's good to laughter processing sometimes we forget all right here's another take on an auditing session this time with Dodd himself doing it and recording it at the same time there's some chitter chatter at the beginning and then they get into it the bit of repeating his name over and over was exactly the kind of thing Hubbard would do to establish control and to quote get the person there unquote right then it gets interesting though because the questions Dodd is asking Freddy are lifted almost word for word from Scientology's personality test the questions weren't actually made up by Hubbard and normally these aren't used in an actual auditing session but you know what they might as well be because you can see they are odd yet probing questions which can bring out all sorts of interesting details about almost anyone's life attitudes and feelings the personality test is a written exam it's not given orally like this but Scientology auditing looks exactly like what they're doing here of course Andersen is also doing an interesting take on Freddy who is in this movie as the epitome of the classic follower while dodd himself is the epitomized leader at this point in the movie we know Freddy well enough to know he's pretty unhinged is almost obsessive-compulsive when it comes to sex is physically not well and has a host of other life and personal problems yet he freely answers no to almost every question he should be saying yes to a fairly classic demonstration of the denial that most people live in when it comes to themselves while he overestimates his abilities in areas where he is incompetent I don't know if Joaquin Phoenix did any kind of research on what Scientology auditing looks or sounds like but between his acting and Anderson's direction his speech and mannerisms and the way he thinks about some answers and glibly glides over others make him look almost like every pre-clear I ever audited there's also an interesting bit in here and this again would be something only a Scientologist with notice there was a point where Freddy says he doesn't understand and Dodds reply is yes you do technically that would be a violation of the code of conduct the Scientology auditor is supposed to follow since one of the points of that code is to not tell a pre-clear what they should think yet in many of Hubbard's auditing demonstrations he said exactly what Dodd said here and he often broke his own rules in his own demonstrations finally you can see by the end of the session that Dodds face is significantly more red than it was at the beginning he's completely drunk and this is reflective of how Hubbard did some of his research especially in the early days with certain drugs and alcohol could you enter the next series of questions about blinking your eyes it was out fear and hesitation answers quickly starting now in the matter blink if you blink we go back to the start infringement we blinked you're starting now we're not to blink if you blink we go back to the start do you often think about how inconsequential you are no do you believe that God will save you from your own ridiculousness no I've ever had intercourse with someone inside your family yes have you ever had intercourse with someone inside your family yes ooh auntie have you killed anyone no maybe not me have you killed anyone no how many times you have intercourse with your aunt three times where's your at now oh no would you like to have and of course oh there we go do you regret this you know where's your mother infringement back to the start okay do you often think about how inconsequential you are yes do you believe that God will save you no have you read it sex with a member of your family yes are you lying No who ain't you Bertha where's your not now I don't know maybe home are you lying no you're lying yes have you killed anyone yes who Jobson war do you regret this no what are you running from then we heard a man I think he maybe he's dead I don't know where and Salinas East old bachelor booze new drank it is this bougie make poison not if you drink it smart are you trying to poison her no where's your father dad how did he die drunk where's your mother yes yes yes now this scene is interesting and powerful it's a sort of medley of old-style Dianetics along with more invasive questioning that is akin to what we call security checking in Scientology the procedure dot is doing here is not something you'd find in Scientology now but you'll find bits and pieces of this throughout its procedures Dodd says infringement when he corrects Freddie for blinking while in Scientology they use the word flunk this business of having Freddie not blink and Dodd staring deeply into his eyes is him looking for pupil dilation in a couple lectures Hubbard talked about how before Scientology had an e' meter he would do processing on people watching their eyes and with a finger on their wrist to measure their pulse the e meter is an electric device used in Scientology which measures skin resistance to an electric current and which Hubbard claimed gave the auditor an insight into subconscious thoughts it doesn't but where people don't know much about human biology and science it's very easy to give them faulty explanations that sound good but don't really make any sense auditing and Scientology is usually a much slower affair than this but what Anderson does here is encapsulate the pressures of an auditing session into a four minute film sequence and the emotional curve that Freddie experiences from boredom to elation to grief to regret and everything else is very much what an auditing session can feel like when the questioning leads to a person better facing their fears or admitting the things they would not normally want to admit to it can be quite cathartic there are a lot of reasons for this none of which have to do with a spiritual existence or a reactive mind but we won't get into all the psychology and neurology of what processing does here I'll just say that the reasons that Hubbard gives for why this kind of questioning can be rehabilitative or helpful are not the real reasons and by the way this scene is a masterclass in acting by both Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman they were both nominated for Academy Awards for this film and they certainly deserve them the fact that Phoenix was able to perform this scene in character and not blink for so long is beyond impressive its superhuman if you don't know what I mean try rewatching the scene and don't blink the entire time it's playing now imagine acting at the level Phoenix is for that entire time pretty cool are you here with me in 1950 yes and recession how do you feel I feel good enough Satya body feel okay yes yes headaches a little oh you remember they didn't roll this is any communist organization no any invader force of this planet to anywhere else no sir you mother bravest boy [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] here we are a bit later in the auditing scene where Dodd has Freddy recall an emotionally charged incident from his past and when he brings him out he uses Scientology questioning to bring Freddy's attention back to the present and lets him know it's over by saying end of session he also makes references to other Hubbard isms such as his obsession with communists and intergalactic invader forces but it's Dodds validation of Freddy as the bravest boy he's ever met that is such an important line here you notice how Freddy immediately smiles the upbeat piano music plays and how even their positions have changed at the table whereas before they were sitting opposite each other now Dodd and Freddy are closer together their guards are down and Dodd shares another drink with Freddy they even both light up unfiltered cools the exact brand Hubbard smoked this is the conversion moment right here this is where Freddy becomes a true believer in the cause how by Dodd having him recall an emotionally traumatic memory and walk through it and then validate him for doing so without any judgment or condescension that is how simple a conversion of this magnitude can be now Freddy will do anything for Dodd as we'll see in later scenes Freddy is not actually any substantially different from his experience in this session and he still acts awkward unhinged and even criminal he's the same person as he's always been except now he's fanatically devoted to another man what was you darling yes that was your spirit my spirits live on in the whole of time exist in many vessels through time this is the vessel your existing in now in 1950 excuse me as you all may recall during the trauma that you went through while we were in process yes it was of the utmost importance that you experienced every detail every specific detail through all of your senses of their memory and that we go over it again and over it again and over it again until it loses its power this is very he's mean this is very important why it is important excuse me is if you bring someone out of a traumatic event back to the present time no matter how carefully you do that excuse me if you have not gone over the memory excuse me some of this sounds quite like hypnosis is it done this is a process of dehumanization if you will man is asleep this process wakes him from his slumber still find it difficult to see the proof with regards to past lives that your movement claims would you care to submit yourself to processing look through the telescope does my friends in perhaps another time you've also said that these methods cause methods can cure leukemia according to your book and some forms of leukemia in being able to access past lives we are able to treat illnesses that may have started back thousands even trillions of years trillions with eighty sir the earth is not understood to be more than a few billion years old well even the smartest of our current scientists can be fooled yes you can understand skipper says yes yes yes for without it we'd be positives no negatives there for zero charge we must have it good science by definition allows for more than one opinion which is why our gathering of day so far eat otherwise you merely have the will of one man which is the basis of cult is it not tis is and thankfully we are all of us working at breakneck speeds and in unison towards capturing the minds fatal flaws and correcting it back to its inherent state of perfect whilst writing civilization and eliminating war and poverty and therefore the atomic threat well I find it quite difficult to comprehend or more to the point believe that you believe sir that time travel hypnosis therapy can bring world peace and cure cancer I have never been to the pyramids of you know and yet we know that they are there because learnin men have told us so I mean I ask what is your name John Moore this d'amour if I may is there something frightening to you about the causes travels into the past frightening yes know what's what scares you so much about traveling into the past sir I'm not are you afraid that we might discover that our past has been reshaping perverted and perhaps what we think we know of this world is false information time travel does not frighten me sir because it's not possible what does frighten me is the possibility of some poor soul out of time as we understand it but it's not unlike traveling down a river you see you travel down the river round the bend look back and you cannot see around the bend canyon but that does not mean it is not there does it but certain clubs would like us to think that a truth I say truth uncovered should stay hidden I belong to no club and if you're unwilling to allow any discussion no this isn't a discussion it's a grilling there's nothing I can do for you if your mind has been made up you seem to know the answers to your questions why do you ask I'm sorry you're unwilling to defend your beliefs than any kind of rationale oh if you if you already know the answers to your questions then why ask big [ __ ] we are not helpless and we are on a journey that risks the dark if you don't mind a good night to you ready stop this is not the time stop now this was a longer clip but there is a lot being demonstrated here the scene begins with another person dodd has processed and DA discussing how we are spirits occupying bodies from one life to another to another which of course is exactly what Scientologists believe but when someone questions his claims you see him lose patience and say the exact words Hubbard himself used used to rationalize the fact that his techniques are just like hypnotism and his claims are exaggerated beyond belief curing leukemia the universe being trillions of years old bringing about a crimeless and affluent utopia and a host of other claims fill Scientology's literature and if you question them too closely or persistently Scientologists will treat you exactly the way Dodd does when he explodes on the man publicly questioning him and what is Freddy do of course he's incapable of contributing anything constructive so he does the only thing he knows how to do and throws a piece of food at the critic if that is not the perfect representation of the childish antics that cult members get up to and defending their beliefs I don't know what is at the lowest level to have to explain ourselves for what for what we do we have to grow the only way to defend ourselves to attack if we don't do that we will lose every battle the we're engaged in we will never dominate our environment the way we should unless we attack in the city I know this secret filthy lies and secrets they invited us here and welcomed us only to throw us down and kick us out it was telling to me that Anderson chose to have Dodds wife do this monologue lamenting that they have all the answers and yet have to grovel and were kicked out of the home they were guests in because of Dodds behavior you'll notice that in her righteous anger she never once thinks to question her husband's callous behavior or rude language what she lays down here is the exact thinking of cult members and specifically Scientologists when she says that you must always attack this is actually the written policy of the Church of Scientology in regards to any criticism and they follow it to the letter you got the names and information to keep this party right you will batter them all right get up and come with me hey I need some help you wanna put on a good show let's go come on yes who is it this is Morris's Freddie quell from the cause I'd like to have a word mr. quill it's 3 o'clock in the morning yes sir we have a gift we like to present to you now here is something no one talks about what I think should be said about how cult members respond to credits we all know about fair gaming from Scientology but the blame is mainly laid at the feet of the cult founder or leader such as Hubbard's policies to ruin them utterly and blame should be laid there but what about the people who are doing it in general cult members can't deal with the kind of cognitive dissonance created by critics questions and complaints their solution to this mental disturbance is not to deal rationally with the issues being raised but instead to somehow anyhow get rid of the critic himself to their way of thinking that solves the problem and their cognitive dissonance goes away what a lot of people don't look at with a kind of stalking and harassment that cult members engage in toward critics is that it's as much for the cult members peace of mind that he retaliate against the critic as it seems to help the cult itself sure there may be policies and directives from a cult like Scientology that say to ruin those critics utterly but at this point those are just words on a piece of paper they could be ignored they could be cut out and cancelled entirely but the cult members who carry out fair gaming as it's called in Scientology need that kind of thing to keep themselves believing for them it's a kind of catharsis to hurt critics the more harm they can bring to their perceived enemies the better they feel the sad even pathetic thing about this is that not once does the cult member ever stop and wonder at what they're doing they are fully invested in their belief system so anything they do to defend it or keep the faith is justifiable anything this is the scene that reportedly pissed off Tom Cruise when Paul Thomas Anderson screened this film just for him and of course Dodds son here is expressing exactly what l ron hubbard jr. said when he denounced his father as a fraud and said scientology is a power and money and intelligence gathering game your fear of capture and imprisonment is an implant from millions of years ago this battle has been with you from before you know this is not new it's not you you're asleep your spirit was free moving from body to the next body free free moment then it was captured by an invader force bent on turning you to the darkest way you've been implanted with a push-pull mechanism that keeps you fearful of Authority and destructive we are in the middle of a battle that's a trillion years in the making and it's bigger than the both of you I don't know what I'm talking about no I give you facts [Applause] there's a lot to be said about this scene and about the nature and behavior of leaders and followers the primary theme of the master there is Dodd calm and almost relaxed nacelle not handcuffed and considering his circumstances while Freddy in the next cell over is chained tearing the place up and acting like a wild animal in pain and misery Dodd offers Freddy an explanation for why he feels the way he does an explanation which under other circumstances Freddy would accept and perhaps even think is a profound statement but when Freddy rejects the teaching Dodd just keeps on pushing it in his face that business about invader forces was mentioned in an earlier scene - and is a key component of the Scientology mythology that might as well have been Hubbard talking there but Freddy in his stressed out state isn't buying it especially since Dodds son planted that major seed of doubt just before this when Freddy calls Dodd out Dodds temper gets the best of him and out comes his animalistic side shouting right back at Freddy they're dropping truth bombs on each other but Dodd has the upper hand because he's right the only person in the whole world who seems to have any liking for Freddy at all his dot and he uses that truth to cudgel Freddy into silence and then reject him [Laughter] [Music] and of course Freddie comes back and all is forgiven because he remains a loyal and true follower there was mention in some articles that talked about this scene about the homoerotic nature of their relationship here expressed in the hugging and rolling around on the lawn while sexuality and its expression is a big part of some cultic groups it's not so much in Scientology but it does bear mentioning that any cultic relationship between the leader and his or her followers has an aspect of if not a sexual connection than a familial one this scene could just as easily have been a father welcoming his recalcitrant son back into the family after being estranged for a period he even gives him a little spanking at the end the same people who were bad-mouthing Freddie to Dodd in the scene just before this now applauded his return because the master does pick a spot over there touch it and describe it to me just one wall fine fine walk to this window over here touch a spot on the window and describe it to me this feels like glass well that's because it is glass describe it describe it the best you can Oh smooth right warm warmer than the work the sun's coming through very good very good now walk to that wall again touch the spot close your eyes go guys this exercise will help you with your concentration what color are my eyes turn them blue beautiful turn them black what color are my eyes very good what we will do now will urge you torrent existence within a group Society of family this is called application 45 version one no matter what is said between the subjects we do not react okay no matter what is it you must look at the subject you must look at the subject all right one minute Dorris [ __ ] oh nothing nothing that's what I feel nothing all right lunch on the veranda today good I'll move this up for you Freddie back again please everyone beautiful day luckily I don't care Doris Doris Doris Doris Doris Doris Doris Doris Doris Doris II you miss her huh do you miss Doris is your [ __ ] name again I swear to God Doris Doris Doris all right these various exercises and processes being done on Freddy are not anything I recognize as straight Scientology but are extremely similar to what Scientology processes look and sound like that business of walking back and forth touching and describing things is one form of what Hubbard called objective processing meaning that it has to do with physical objects in the real world versus subjective processing which happens in your head like the recalling of traumatic events that we saw earlier objective processing was developed in the mid-1950s and is used extensively today in all Scientology organizations around the world Scientologists spend literally hundreds of hours doing these things there's a part later on where they show Freddy doing this by himself with no one else there and that wouldn't be how it's done in Scientology you would always have an auditor there the exercise where Remy Malick keeps repeating Doris at Freddy is a different kind of training exercise in Scientology called tr0 bull bait it's not done exactly the way they show here because Freddy isn't sitting back and relaxing but is all tensed up and they usually don't have a third person sitting there with a stopwatch but the idea is the same she saw you for what you are selfish and alone she's going to the hospital with your mother cuz that's where you belong cuz you're sick and you're tired and you need to be alone away from people all right now we see Freddie after he's been doing these exercises for hours and days and he can sit and stare at someone else with no reaction whatsoever to things being said to him which previously made him violently angry most people would say this is probably a good skill to acquire but in someone in a circumstance like this is this truly a therapeutic exercise or just a successful way of repressing your feelings what we see in scenes coming right after this is Freddie truly is more functional less awkward and antisocial and capable of paying attention for longer than a few seconds at a time he becomes of some material help to the cause and his interactions with others are friendly even if not totally genuine so yes I'd say there is some positive gain here and I think Anderson was trying to show that too we have to remember that people who get involved in cultic belief systems get into it and stay in it because it did something positive for them otherwise they wouldn't stick around for any length of time when we read the litany of abuses that Scientology and groups like it inflict on their followers it's easy to forget that often there are little nuggets or kernels of genuine help available in these groups even if that help is as simple as a social circle that doesn't judge you for your weaknesses but emphasizes your strengths or gives you a method of staying calm more and more level-headed where before you would have been angry or or whatever these things are not all just the stick there is some honey too what do you think laughs I think it stinks talk to me I'd shot this thing down to a three-page pamphlet and it to people before they got on the subway I headed most of his earlier works even sigh let me say this man has a great a missed true rich I'm gonna stick up the highest order [Music] but as we see here whatever nirvana Freddie attained is not a permanent state here's another member of the cause bad-mouthing Dodds latest work and Freddie's response is immediate and violent and is carried out for the exact same reasons as before he is faced with his own internal conflict and knows that something is rotten but he's not willing to admit that and so it comes out as rage against someone else saying the same things he's feeling but now we see unlike before that this is not something he's prideful of but it makes him miserable I did notice on page 13 there's a change change the processing platform question now it says can you imagine yes yes if our previous method was to induce memory by asking can you recalled isn't it and change everything now he's taking you and you're invoking a new wider range to account for the new data can you imagine allows for more creative pathway to the mind more open now this is an interesting scene because it's actually based on a real change that l ron Hubbard made in the second book of Dianetics published in 1951 in called science of survival which could be described exactly as Laura Dern's character does in this scene and Hubbard reacted exactly like this when people questioned him especially a few years later when he created Scientology and made the whole thing into a religion not everyone agreed with Hubbard's so-called phaeton theory and they didn't appreciate the fundamental shift of a self claimed science into what Hubbard called an applied religious philosophy the reaction of his most loyal followers to his anger was predictably poor and Hubbard lost flowers because of this I'm doing and I think it'll do some good we have a new school ready I have a matter of such urgency a matter that only you can help me with that may in fact kill the insane once and for all I care so now Freddie has escaped the master and his cult and in an earlier scene finally got some closure on the situation with his old flame Doris who has since married and had kids he's alone asleep in a movie theater when he gets this phone call from Dodd asking him to come back but she'll notice there's a lot more going on than just two estranged men talking here Dodd announces his presence by telling Freddie he misses him he's not raging or angry at Freddie's betrayal but claims they are tied together as though their cosmic connection will always bring them back together that in fact is very much a scientology view of relationships there are more than a few guys who have picked up women in Scientology by inferring they knew each other in a past life and it's a kind of karmic destiny that they would find each other again Hubbard also flat out told his original C or crew that they had come together again in this time in place after being apart from millions of years but having fought and bled and died together in the distant past and a similar cause in fact the motto of the C organization is we come back this attitude is not a small point of minutiae in Scientology but isn't understood and accepted truth among many of its members here Dodd uses that same line to entice Freddie to come back to him he also pretty plainly tells Freddie that he's insane when Dodd says he has has come up with a new way to cure insanity thus he can cure Freddie this is cult recruitment and recovery 101 you have a problem and we have the solution be part of us come back to us give us everything you are and we'll make you happier than you have ever been this always reminds me of that scene near the end of the movie labyrinth when David Bowie is the Goblin King is trying to convince Sarah to submit to him through his generosity and servitude to her desires but the whole thing is just one big lie an effort by him to enslave her forever the Goblin King is just another version of a destructive cult leader give me the child Sarah beware I have been generous up until now I can be cruel generous what have you done that's generous everything everything that you wanted I have done you asked that child be taken them I took him you coward before me I was frightened I have reordered time I have turned the world upside down and I have done it all for you I'm exhausted from living up to your expectations isn't that generous through dangers untold and hardships and number have fought now I here to the castle beyond the Goblin City my will is as strong as yours wait looks and my kingdom is great I ask for so little just let me move and you can have everything let me rule you and you can have everything you want if there's a better line in cinema history that describes everything we've been talking about here I've never heard it are you look sick Greta you don't look healthy you can't take this life straight can you what do you want I dream where is it Elizabeth DCF what is that what did you expect would happen coming here pictures can you we don't need pictures Freddie this is something you do for a billion years or not at all this isn't fashion this is pointless he isn't interested in getting better at Dodds requests Freddie is traveled to England and his reception is anything but warm and friendly this kind of bait and switch is very common in cults and was used routinely by me and others in Scientology when we would get people recovered or back into the fold Peggy tells him he looks tired and sick when you might notice that she's the one who appears Haggard and unhealthy she is intolerant of his presence even though it was her husband and master who requested Freddie come back and she tells him in no uncertain terms what he Freddy thinks and feels a standard mode of control and destructive cults like Scientology cult members really believe they have special insights and understandings of why people think and act the way they do and they usually aren't shy about pushing their ideas off on non-members exactly as Peggy does here especially when their ideas are all about how horrible and awful those non-members are this is what they really do think about other people they consider them lesser beings not just unenlightened or ignorant but actually a kind of lower order of life form this is us versus them thinking dialed up to 11 a imagine the arrogance behind that kind of thinking while at the same time these people are living in the delusion that they are the ones who have all the answers they are the ones who can lead the whole world to salvation unfortunately this permeates religious faiths of every brand these are the kinds of people who begin Jihad's and enslave people never doubting for a moment their righteousness these are perhaps the most evil human beings who have ever or will ever exist their expressed empathy is a facade their sympathy a pretense beneath all of it is a conceit an egotist that is almost unimaginable to a non cult member and you'll notice that it's Peggy who is doing all this while the master just sits and watches it play out free wins no tyranny for you Freddie you pay no rent and go go to that landless latitude and good luck for if you figure a way to live without serving a master any master let the rest of us know you may be the first person in the history of the world vivid I went back and I found it I recalled you and I working together in Paris we were members of the pigeon post during a four and a half month siege of the city by Prussian forces we worked and rigged balloons the delivered mail and secret messages across the communications blockade set up by the Prussians we said sixty-five unguarded male balloons and only two went missing in the worst winter on record to if you leave here I don't ever want to see you again or you can stay maybe in the next life if we meet again in the next life you will be my sworn enemy and I will show you no mercy and here is the heart of the cultic master/slave relationship in plain words you either stay and do everything I tell you or you are my sworn enemy forever it's perhaps the most black-and-white description you'll find anywhere and the most accurate the master tries to hold sway over his followers with myths and stories and mysteries all designed to capture and hold their attention to keep them enthralled when the illusion fades in reality creeps in the master reaffirms his sacred knowledge and tells his followers that only by obeying him can they attain what they most desire the followers who buy into it continue to give everything while receiving almost nothing in return but as Dodd says here if you can find anywhere in the world any way to be free of a master of any kind can please let him know he himself is not free he's a slave to his cause a performer who must keep performing in order to pay his rent and keep himself and his family clothes and fat and alive it's a circular codependent relationship and one that Dodd and every other cult leader is a slave to this is why when a follower sees through the facade and can perceive the real dynamics of the relationship the master has no choice but to shun that follower they can't have them hanging about they can't just be friends they can't just live and let live that would never work if the cult leader is going to continue to be a cult leader in his world it's all or nothing there cannot be any other way to it [Music] [Music] can you then keep you in my all your lovers far away way out on the briny with the moon wanna get you on a slow boat to China all to myself low and here is the disconnection I think Freddie sees that and I think he knows the master sees it too they both know that Freddie has broken free of Dodds spell and there is no putting that milk back in the bottle and he mourns the loss because that relationship for a time was everything he had everything he knew and everything he ever wanted Dodd is mourning in his own way as you see in his singing where it begins softly and tenderly but it ends in anger and resentment as Dodd cuts ties with Freddie forever this is perhaps the most powerful scene in this movie and the one that most accurately shows what I think is the theme of the movie that no one is ever truly free but the boundaries we set in the limits we're willing to go ultimately are our own choices no matter whether we are a slave or a master thanks for watching I really enjoyed doing this and I hope you enjoyed what I had to say about this film if you're looking for more content on this topic subscribe to my channel and check out the wealth of content about Scientology critical thinking and a host of other topics I'll see you next time bye now

Channel: Chris Shelton

Views: 27,236

Rating: 4.9046426 out of 5

Keywords: The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson, Scientology, Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, Dianetics, Sea Organization, Joaquin Phoenix, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Cruise, Labyrinth, David Bowie, movie criticism, destructive cults, religion

Id: C1rQGVEKOFI

Length: 81min 19sec (4879 seconds)

Published: Wed May 22 2019