Artificial worlds as a cult in real life

In the modern world, fantasy has a truly immense character. A person who is not devoid of imagination and even with the most primitive possibilities for its expression is able to create dozens of universes, hundreds of stories, countless characters.

Such people are not uncommon, they put on the fruits of their imagination in a real form from the very origin of civilization, giving the rest the opportunity to touch these fruits, survive a whole kaleidoscope of emotions, take out food for thought, or just spend time with interest.

Actual

Constantly developing and improving, spreading around the world in proportion to the dynamics of the growth of the planet’s population, the desire of a person to “tell something” grew with him, throughout this time. At the same time, the number of people who wanted this “something” would have increased to listen.

About a hundred years ago, this could hardly be possible, but we live in an amazing time when the worlds invented by someone can find a very real embodiment in our own. I mean not the eminent science fiction writers of the twentieth century, whose vision of the future may well unfold right behind your window. I’m talking about those unique cases when the author’s idea captures other people so much that they really begin to believe in it and are ready to make certain efforts to transfer this idea, or some part of it to real life.

Such “transfers” can wear a variety of forms: from harmless cosplay, up to a real mania, which, like a virus, can instantly infect the minds of hundreds of people, modifier and even perverting the original idea.

This kind of deviations in human perception received the term “consumer cults”, which, in turn, are a branch of the “cult of the idea” that is clearly familiar to everyone from the history of the “cult of the idea”. The only difference is that consumer cults are often more local, less durable and relatively safe.

Object, subject and on the dud game ..

Now, during the real peak of the development of the entertainment industry, there is no shortage of interesting projects, whether it be games, films, books, comics, etc., and each vivid idea has a solid chance of the emergence of their own cult, albeit over time.

In 2005, despite the release https://royal-fortune.uk/ of the fourth book from the main cycle, the phrase “Game of Thrones” was not capable of causing the tenth share of the excitement that the “song of ice and flame” now produces now. The series of 2011 gave a strong impulse and the result was a new cult: even small children know that Lannisters always pay their debts, t-shirts with princes Ala “Oberin Martell-My Champion” swing from electronic shelves of online stores, and posters “Freedom to Tirion” are hung even in Russian cities.

This, of course, is the most fresh and relevant example, I would even call it ideal, because it has a clear stepped character, due to the fact that it developed gradually: from the weakly expressed interest of a narrow circle of readers to dynamic jumps in wide masses with each new season of the series. Books on the shelves do not have time to appear, on the readings of George Martin they can trample, and shops easily equalize the bearded programmer and schoolgirl, selling clothes and attributes with the emblem of the main houses. Everything is moderately harmless until the next spoiler does not pop up somewhere.

True, this case is not entirely suitable for our topic today, so we will get off the time a little back to another series of books that also received a film adaptation: Harry Potter. The success of the success of a young wizard does not have many analogues, because even before the first film released on the screens, millions of people around the world, literally read out the holes of the new adventure of the boy in round glasses. Although it was precisely after the appearance of the “philosophical stone” in the box office that the most interesting.

The newspapers of those years have been full of a variety of headlines about mass insanity: not one or two deaths of poisoning of novice wizards with “working potions”, vain attempts to find a school of sorcery and witchcraft with final jumps for the train, a rampant fashion for a round -rifle frame.

Someone can say: “Well, in most cases, these were children! The fragile mind is much easier to undermine!” – and will undoubtedly be right, but let’s rewind the time a little time.

1999. Undoubtedly, one of the most striking periods in the history of cinema. This year so many truly strong and unforgettable paintings came out that there would not be enough fingers of both hands to list them. It is not surprising that two of them are suitable for our topic.

The first such film, of course, was the “Matrix” – the epoch -making creation of the Vachovsky brothers, who broke the heads of a huge number of people. A simple idea that our whole world is a fiction, all our knowledge and sensations – a lie, so turned over the worldview of the audience that has gone far beyond the front -line cinema. It is not necessary to talk about some extreme forms, when, for example, a person rushes at people with shouts: “The matrix exists! We must get out!” – let injections and pills deal with such guys, although such cases also took place.

I only say that the very idea that – the creators never denied this – they borrowed, Vachovsky managed to present so brightly and deeply that the mass viewer took it only as an innovation that left few indifferent. Many left the hall with questions in their heads and began in a new way, even with doubt to look at the things surrounding them. Of course, after a while, the obsession disappeared, but you just think about what effect the picture was made. People really lost the line between their own world and what was shown in the film! Crazy effect, which … but did anyone manage to repeat?

Only six months later, the film “Fight Club” was released on the screens and broke the people for the second time. Director David Fincher with love approached the film adaptation of the counter -cultural novel Chuck Palanik, shooting his three times more material than needed. The result is known to everyone: the film, novel, writer, director, actors, dialogs-all-all-all received the status of “cult”.

Although the “fighting club” is not so much an indicative example of another consumer cult, but by its transformation into a destructive cult. The very idea of ​​the club, where a group of men gathers with one single purpose – “accept the battle” – was laid by the paranic not only for the sake of contrasting with established social norms, but also to show how easy a person succumbs to suggestion, how massive a similar phenomenon can be and what consequences this can lead to this. But people, as usual, understood in their own way.

The creation of “fighting clubs” in real life a wave swept around the world. The idea was popularized, its main peak came in the middle of the zero. Surprisingly, our compatriots were imbued with Western trends – a couple of well -aimed requests in the search engine make it clear that this was successfully functioning in many cities.

If desired, this can be explained by the desire of a person, constrained by routine of everyday worries at least somehow get emotional discharge. And the very idea of ​​letting steam, making each other it hurts – well, when a person refused this?
By the way, on the 2013 Comic Con, Palanik announced that he was working on a continuation-Tyler Dodden for Twitter generation? It would be very curious to see.

Both of the above examples, even if they are the most vivid, but they are far from our favorite. Turn over the awareness of the surrounding world? Strongly, but not for long. To arise a whole network of places to beat your own kind? There were many times, throughout human history, only with different specifics. But boast of the creation of a new, officially recognized religious movement is without comment.

Star Wars is one of the greatest, cosmic and epic phenomena of our time, authorship of George Lucas. It was the efforts of the Star Wars fans at the beginning of the zero British Ministry of Justice, according to preliminary results of the census in Britain, Austria and New Zealand, was forced to officially recognize the existence of a new religion – the “Jedi Knight” (“Jedicon”.) – with registration under code 8968.

Built on a sufficiently detailed background of the original source, the basic principles of Jediism, including the concept of “strength” as a description of vital energy, in many respects echo with traditional religious postulates and socio-ethical norms, without directly entering into a direct contradiction.
Of course, there is an alternative approach, although not received an official recognition of the Ministry of Justice;)

If desired, on the network you can find the mention of “Sithism”

Conclusions-shutters

A person is used to certain models of behavior in everyday life. We use such models daily: brush our teeth, drive a car, exchange handshakes. At the same time, of course, we can act and deliberately. To control and think about each of its body movements and every act, but this requires too much mental costs, which we are practically not left by the frantic rhythm of the 21st century. In this vein, behavior models are a good that acts autonomously and leaves time to solve creative problems.

Alas, the complete loss of control leads to the emergence of models of a special kind. Based on vivid, stunning ideas, they mutate, distort and acquire the ability to self-extension and self-development-a real virus, and the media industry is just an ideal habitat for it. It is from here that the virus is easiest to climb to someone in the head.
“Infected” person ceases to adequately evaluate himself and his environment, loses the ability to arbitrarily change behavior and begins to perform algorithms set in the model. In addition, he seeks to inspire this line of behavior to all others, to “infect” them.

Is there a universal protection tool? Of course – the head on the shoulders. After all, consumer cults are not always bad. They make the lives of dozens and hundreds of thousands of people brighter and more diverse. As for painful forms of this kind of hobbies, then today they still have a single character and are more of interest than fears. We are all living people and everyone goes crazy in his own way ^_ ^