If you look at the history of cults, especially the ones that began to flourish in America in the 1970s, when they’d absorbed a lot of the New Age mystical we’re-all-Jesus let-your-primal-feelings-out messianic psychedelic trappings of the ’60s, you’ll see that almost every cult has two things in common. They’re led by snake-oil gurus who end up sucking the wealth out of their followers. And more often than not, the leaders, who set themselves up as deities (deity being a level above rock star), use the followers for sexual favors.
So part of what’s disturbing about “The Leader,” a drama about the infamous Heaven’s Gate cult, is that Marshall Applewhite, the elfin demagogue who ruled the cult for 25 years, ultimately leading 38 of his followers in a suicide pact on March 22 and 23, 1997 (the largest mass suicide ever committed on American soil — though Jonestown, with 900 dead, is still the global champion), did not pursue either of those goals. For a long time, the cult barely had enough cash to get by, and even when the money did start coming in from Applewhite’s acolytes, it wasn’t exorbitant; it just funded their food and housing.
As far as sex goes, Applewhite, born in Texas in 1931, was a gay man who was terrified of his sexuality. He’d lost a teaching job in 1970 after having a relationship with a male student, and though he occasionally gave into temptation, he mostly tried to tamp his desires down into a place where they didn’t exist. And that’s what he asked of his followers. The members of the Heaven’s Gate cult were required to be celibate, and one of the goals of the cult was to eliminate gender. They all wore their hair in this odd asexual pageboy cut, which made them look like nerd aliens. That seemed appropriate, since UFO theology was a big part of their dream. There’s a video of the Heaven’s Gate followers shortly before their suicide (it’s recreated in “The Leader”), where they’re sitting in their dark smock outfits, beaming like schoolchildren who think this is the happiest moment of their lives, and it’s one of the creepiest things you ever saw.
