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"Jag tror att de tog LSD": En kvalitativ innehållsanalys om representationen av Heaven’s Gate i HBO’s dokumentärserie Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults
2024 (Swedish)Independent thesis Advanced level (professional degree), 10 credits / 15 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
”I Think They Took Acid” : A Qualitative Content Analysis of the Representation of Heaven’s Gate in HBO’s Documentary Series Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults (English)
Abstract [en]

The representation of new religious movements in documentaries and mainstream media affects our understanding of and attitude toward new religious movements. Scholars argue that media shapes our knowledge of new religious movements and that we most often trust this information as truthful. This study aims to investigate and analyze the representation of Heaven’s Gate in HBO’s documentary series Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults and whether this representation can be useful in a classroom context. The data was retrieved by closely watching the four episodes of the documentary series while taking notes and rewatching the documentary series until relevant information and quotes were retrieved. The research method employed was a movie analysis, more specifically a qualitative content analysis. The theoretical framework used is drawn from Joseph Laycock and his three identified narratives in which media tend to portray new religious movements: medicalization, deviance amplification, and convergence. The results reveal that the documentary series uses these narrative features in various ways, but it also challenges and contrasts them. Furthermore, the conclusion of the representation is complex and nuanced. The documentary series presents a respectful, informative, and somewhat equitable representation, but also reinforces stereotypical and negative societal discourses. Additionally, this study suggests further study in the field of documentaries and new religious movements to explore the representation of other new religious movements. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2024. , p. 44
Keywords [en]
Heaven’s Gate, New Religious Movements, NRM, Cult, Representation, Documentary Series, Religious Studies
Keywords [sv]
Heaven’s Gate, Nya religiösa rörelser, NRR, Sekt, Representation, Dokumentärserie, Religionsvetenskap
National Category
Religious Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-65221OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-65221DiVA, id: diva2:1875075
Subject / course
HLK, Religious Studies
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2024-06-20 Created: 2024-06-20 Last updated: 2025-10-13Bibliographically approved

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Religious Studies

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CiteExportLink to record
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Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
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  • Other locale
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Output format
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