by Merinda Simmons and Mike Altman
A podcast about all of those cult documentaries you love to binge watch. We are two religious studies professors that are curious about our current cult documentary streaming era. What stories do these shows tell and what do they tell us about ourselves? Hosted by Merinda Simmons and Mike Altman
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
7/22/2024
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July 1, 2026
<p>We are diving back into the archives again this summer while Mike goes surfing and Merinda is writing and conferencing. We take you back to the first year of our show in November 2024 and this episode reviewing Netflix's Escaping Twin Flames docuseries. It's a great example of the "cult documentary" tropes we discussed in our last episode. Check it out!</p><p>Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.</p><p>Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. </p><p>The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama.</p><p>Theme music produced with Udio.</p><p> </p>
June 17, 2026
<p>We are back with a new episode in our summer series of meta conversations about "cult documentaries." In this episode Mike and Merinda ask:</p><p>1. What is the basic formula of a cult documentary and what makes it effective?</p><p>2. What makes them easy to make, produce, and consume? </p><p>3. What’s the media’s role in perpetuating a certain definition of “cult”?</p><p>4. Is there something about this particular media moment that shapes our relationship to “cults”? </p><p><br></p><p>Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod.</p><p>Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. </p><p>The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama.</p><p>Theme music produced with Udio.</p><p><br></p>
June 8, 2026
<p>Merinda and Mike are enjoying summer vacation but we don't want to leave you with nothing for your ears. We have a lot of new listeners so we are dropping this deep cut from the Cult Favorite vault. You might have missed this the first time so don't miss it now! We'll be back soon with new content but for now, have a cold drink, sit back, and enjoy one of our favorite episodes.</p><p>----- </p><p>On one level, the HBO documentary Brandy Hellville & the Cult of Fast Fashion is about the Brandy Melville brand, the messed-up social norms it relies on and perpetuates, and the teenage girls it harms. On another level, though, it’s also about fast fashion as a phenomenon—with Brandy Melville as just one example of a much bigger machine and structural reality. In exploring Brandy Melville, the film examines how fast fashion is built on racist, colonial, and exploitative practices that disproportionately affect women of color around the world.</p><p>The doc goes back and forth between the teenage girl employees of the company and the abuses they describe and Accra, Ghana, where there’s an unconscionable amount of textile waste. We learn about how it gets there, what the effects are, and what some people are trying to do about it. </p><p>In our discussion of the talk about how desire is produced and how the real cult is capitalism.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Links:</strong></p><p>Insider piece from 2021: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/brandy-melville-teen-fast-fashion-racism-exploitation-hitler-marsan-2021-9">https://www.businessinsider.com/brandy-melville-teen-fast-fashion-racism-exploitation-hitler-marsan-2021-9</a></p><p><br></p><p>Textile waste statistics: <a href="https://theroundup.org/textile-waste-statistics/">https://theroundup.org/textile-waste-statistics/</a></p><p><a href="https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/">https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/</a></p><p><br></p><p>April 2024 Vogue piece by Alyssa Hardy (interviewed in doc) on meaning/evolution/consequences of fast fashion: </p><p><a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/what-is-fast-fashion">https://www.vogue.com/article/what-is-fast-fashion</a></p><p><br></p><p>The Or Foundation: <a href="https://theor.org/">https://theor.org/</a></p><p><br></p><p>Remake Advocacy Group’s “5-Minute Actions”: <a href="https://remake.world/take-action/">https://remake.world/take-action/</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Merinda's Cult Favorite:</strong></p><p>D’Trespa Consignment & Vintage Boutique: <a href="https://www.dtrespa.com/">https://www.dtrespa.com/</a></p><p>16th Cross Pearson:</p><p><a href="https://www.16thcrosspearson.com">https://www.16thcrosspearson.com</a></p><p><br></p><p><strong>Mike's Cult Favorite:</strong></p><p>@cyberexboyfriend on TikTok: <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@cyberexboyfriend">https://www.tiktok.com/@cyberexboyfriend</a></p><p><br></p><p>Please subscribe to the podcast on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube and leave us a rating and a review. You can also follow us on Instagram and TikTok at @cultfavorite. </p><p>Special thanks to the REL Digital Lab in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama for production assistance. The views expressed in this episode are our own as experts and researchers in religious studies and do not represent the University of Alabama.</p><p><br></p>
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A podcast about all of those cult documentaries you love to binge watch. We are two religious studies professors that are curious about our current cult documentary streaming era. What stories do these shows tell and what do they tell us about ourselves?
Hosted by Merinda Simmons and Mike Altman
This podcast updates weekly.
This podcast is available on 8 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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