Something that immediately struck me about Sorry to Bother You was how much WorryFree resembled a cult to me. And yet despite this and the ever increasing backlash against it, ads for it continued to be run on television and billboards stayed up, albeit often with a little touch of graffiti. Not only that but congresspeople are shown celebrating after it is revealed that WorryFree is turning people into horse people. I think the director, Boots Riley, definitely trying to make a point by doing this.
But first I want to start with what about WorryFree seemed like a cult to me. First of all, their message is extremely suspicious. They claim that they will solve all of your problems if you just join them and sign a lifelong contract that prevents you from leaving. And if that doesn't sound like a cult I don't know what does. Second of all, it is undoubtedly exploiting people. This made me think of a flowchart I saw about whether something is a cult. One of the questions leading up to the answer, "definitely a cult!!", was do people get exploited. And if the answer was "yes but no stuff" then it was a cult. And this is what is happening in the case of WorryFree. Everybody who is signing up is being exploited for their labor and receiving almost nothing in return. Another sequence in that flowchart was the question "is it a cult" and one of the answers was "it's a movement". While nobody every calls WorryFree a movement, the creator, Steve Lift, calls it the future which is eerily similar. The final thing is about Steve Lift. He just looked like a cult leader to me. I don't know what it was but while watching the movie, the first time I saw him, the first thought that popped into my head was, "he looks like the leader of a cult".
That brings me to how despite the obvious signs that WorryFree is a cult, the ads continue to be run and people still continue to support it. I think the most revealing scene in that regard is when the congresspeople are shown celebrating with WorryFree when their stocks increase after it comes out they are turning their workers into equisapiens. My best guess is that Boots Riley is trying to criticize how people are willing to do anything for enough money. This also matches pretty well with how Cassius Green is willing to be a power caller despite how horrible it is simply because it pays enough.
Steve Lift does seem like the charismatic cult leader now that I think about it. He has money and connections, which means he can convert people very well, which makes this dystopia of Sorry To Bother You even more terrifying. The only thing scarier than a cult that turns people into horses is a cult that has a voice and can persuade people with little effort.
ReplyDeleteWhile yes, Steve Lift seems to have more than enough charisma to lead a cult, unlike most creepy cult leaders, WorryFree is missing a religious aspect. Cults center around obedience to a head figure who is the voice/manifestation of some otherworldly power, whereas Steve is the manifestation of... money? I don't know just some observations.
DeleteIt definitely felt like a cult to me too, with their weird practices and traditions. However it seemed strange to me how easy it was for Cassius to get out. They never came after him or even tried to talk to him after he tried to expose them to the rest of the world and he was given plenty of space to leave the party on his own which I thought was strange.
ReplyDeleteI guess you could say that any corporation is a cult. There are weird practices to support a few people at the top and give them most of the wealth created from the ones below but they still believe that they are important. In Sorry to Bother You I just think it's much more apparent because what the "cult members" do is much weirder.
ReplyDeleteWorryFree definitely seemed like a cult to me too. One thing you didn't mention is that the workers (the people who signed the lifetime contracts not the telemarketers) presumably spend all their time together and only the leaders get to interact with the outside world. WorryFree also has control over every aspect of their lives, including their bodies. I think both of those things are part of what makes WorryFree a cult rather than just an exploitative employer. Maybe the movie is trying to compare companies to cults, though, to show that in capitalist systems exploitative employers hurt people in all aspects of their lives, not just economically.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a cultish aspect to WorryFree. You have to work your way up by gaining the favor of some mysterious leader, and no one ever seems to leave or complain.They also have a focus on converting people to their cause, even if it is through manipulating them.Its exploitative nature, and its permanence for those who get sucked in (other than cassius) both resemble a cult.
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