Twisted Yoga (2026, Apple TV+)

From the Archives: Ep. 7 Brandy Hellville and the Cult of Fast Fashion (9/2/2024)

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. ----- 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. 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. In our discussion of the talk about how desire is produced and how the real cult is capitalism. Links: Insider piece from 2021: ⁠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] Textile waste statistics: ⁠https://theroundup.org/textile-waste-statistics/⁠ [https://theroundup.org/textile-waste-statistics/] ⁠https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/⁠ [https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/] April 2024 Vogue piece by Alyssa Hardy (interviewed in doc) on meaning/evolution/consequences of fast fashion: ⁠https://www.vogue.com/article/what-is-fast-fashion⁠ [https://www.vogue.com/article/what-is-fast-fashion] The Or Foundation: ⁠https://theor.org/⁠ [https://theor.org/] Remake Advocacy Group’s “5-Minute Actions”: ⁠https://remake.world/take-action/⁠ [https://remake.world/take-action/] Merinda's Cult Favorite: D’Trespa Consignment & Vintage Boutique: ⁠https://www.dtrespa.com/⁠ [https://www.dtrespa.com/] 16th Cross Pearson: ⁠https://www.16thcrosspearson.com⁠ [https://www.16thcrosspearson.com] Mike's Cult Favorite: @cyberexboyfriend on TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@cyberexboyfriend⁠ [https://www.tiktok.com/@cyberexboyfriend] 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. 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.

What does the word "cult" do?

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. 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. Theme music produced with Udio.

The Cult Documentary Era

This week we are taking a break from all of those cult documentaries you can’t stop binge watching to have a conversation about our journey so far and where we are going. We have a lot of new listeners so we want to revisit why we started this podcast almost two years ago, what we have covered across our 50 episodes, and where we are headed with this project. We have a lot of great stuff in store for you our listeners. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. 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. Theme music produced with Udio.

Twisted Yoga (2026, Apple TV+)

Put your brain in Warrior 2 and join us for a conversation about the new documentary series Twisted Yoga on Apple TV+ (in which Gregorian Bivolaru assaults women in the name of divine transmogrification at yoga retreats). We talk about classification and the power of language—acquiring it, adapting it, and applying it. Our pronunciation skills could use some work, and Merinda mentions Unsolved Mysteries when she means America’s Most Wanted, but we stand by the larger points in full-on Mountain Pose. Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. 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. Theme music produced with Udio.

Fake Famous (2021, HBOMax)

Follow us on the socials at @cultfavoritepod. 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. Theme music produced with Udio.