Going Clear: Analytical Essay

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with all "suppressive persons”, the audience will question the member’s action if had they not entered the church. The filmmakers’ expected respond from the audience is shocked, in disbelieve and upset for those who had to “disconnect” with those who are dear to them. The filmmakers did a great job convening those emotions from the interviewees from the viewers and subsequently making the viewers feel the same.

The film definitely appeal to the viewer’s reason and emotions. If the viewer were not a Scientologist, one would definitely be in disbelief of how one would go to such extent for the church, from funding, to harassing others and to forcing their beliefs onto others. When it is revealed that members of the Church’s inner cadre, the Sea Org, were asked to sign "billion-year" contracts while being paid less that ideal wages, the viewer would be in shocked of how little they were paid and how they sign the contract regardless. Also, when the "creation myth" involving galactic overlords, disembodied immortal spirits and hydrogen bomb explosions was told to the audience, it is expected that one would doubt not only the sanity Hubbard but the church member who blindly believe in what he says.

In short, the media has strong influences on the thoughts, action and perspectives of its audience .Whatever we know about our society, or indeed about the world in which we live, we know through the mass media (Luhmann, 2000). Thus, the media has strong influences on the study and practice of persuasion (Borchers, 2012). Whether it be back in the days or in modern time and society, one cannot deny the influence of media on what we think and do. The documentary definitely opened the audiences’ eyes to the materialistic truth and the nonsense behind Scientology as well as influence the audiences’ thoughts on the religion and its members.

Reference list

1. Borchers, T. (2012). Persuasion in the media age. Waveland Press.

2. Laughey, D. (2007). Key themes in media theory. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

3. Lewis, J. R. (2009). Scientology. Oxford University Press.

4. Luhmann, N. (2000). The reality of the mass media (p. 107). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

5. Shaw, E. F. (1979). Agenda-setting and mass communication theory. Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands), 25(2), 96-105.

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Michelle Chang

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