Scientology in Paul Thomas Anderson's the Master

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chapter 14 Scientology in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master (2012)

Johanna J.M. Petsche

Introduction

This chapter will examine major links between aspects of the plot and characters of Paul Thomas Anderson’s film The Master (2012) and details of the life and career of L. Ron Hubbard (1911–1986), founder of Dianetics and Scientology. The critically acclaimed The Master tells the story of a troubled World War ii naval veteran Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), who in 1950 stumbles onto the cattle trawler The Aletheia, owned by the flamboyant Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Dodd is the leader of a spiritual movement known as ‘The Cause’, and attempts to rehabilitate the alcoholic, sex-obsessed Quell. The two form a compelling, symbiotic relationship that is ultimately doomed. It is demonstrated in this chapter that many details and incidents in the film mirror what was happening in the life of Hubbard, par- ticularly when he was developing his Dianetics movement in the early 1950s. Although director Anderson admits to having delved into a range of materi- als on Scientology for the film, including Hubbard’s Dianetics (1950), which he found interesting and even useful at a personal level, he largely downplays the influence of Scientology on the film, as do the lead actors. This chapter aims to reveal a much stronger connection than Anderson would be willing to admit. To begin, a plot synopsis of The Master will be given, followed by a brief introduction to the film and its cast. There will then be an analysis of the numerous correlations between the film and Scientology, with special focus on the setting of the film, the principles and techniques of The Cause, and the characters of Helen Sullivan (Laura Dern) and Lancaster Dodd.

Synopsis of The Master

The Master unfolds on the eve of V-J Day in 1945, with the opening scenes in- troducing Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a us Navy man from Lynn, Massa- chusetts, who struggles with alcoholism and an obsession with sex. During his military service he is shown waking up hung-over on the mast of a ship, mak- ing moonshine concocted from missile fuel and paint thinner, and simulating

Scientology in the master 361 sex acts with a sand sculpture of a naked woman made by sailors on a Pacific island beach. After his dismissal from the Navy, Quell undertakes a series of short-lived jobs, including a brief stint as a portrait photographer at a depart- ment store, from which he was fired for drunkenly attacking a customer. One evening, five years later, the intoxicated Quell staggers through the docks of San Francisco and stows away on a yacht. In the morning he meets the charis- matic Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who heads a spiritual movement known as The Cause. Dodd appears quietly amused by Quell, inviting him to stay on the yacht where he is holding his daughter’s wedding en route from San Francisco to New York. In a following scene, Dodd undertakes Processing (a question-answer tech- nique) on Quell, who he designates his “guinea pig and protégé”. In this con- fronting extended scene, which plays out almost entirely in real time, Dodd asks Quell a flurry of questions that become more and more personal. Before long, Quell reveals that his father died, his mother was institutionalised, that he had sexual relations with his aunt, and had left his young girlfriend Doris when he went to war. Quell is then instructed to recall specific details and im- pressions of his time with Doris, and his recollections play out in a series of short, tender scenes. When the processing session comes to an end, Quell feels calm and restored. Quell travels with Dodd’s family along the East Coast of America where they stay as guests in the homes of benefactresses interested in The Cause. At the house of one hostess, Helen Sullivan (Laura Dern), police come for Dodd with a civil warrant for his arrest for wrongful withdrawal of funds from a Founda- tion, and for operating an unlicensed clinic. Quell starts attacking the police and both Dodd and Quell are arrested and jailed. Quell smashes the toilet in the jail cell while Dodd tries to relax him by explaining that his destructive nature and fear of imprisonment is due to a push-pull mechanism implanted in him millions of years ago. When they are released, members of The Cause have become more suspicious of Quell so Dodd assigns him additional spiritual exercises. For example, he instructs Quell to pick a spot on a wall, touch it, and describe it. Quell is then to walk to the other side of the room and touch and describe the surface of the window. For the rest of the day Quell is to close his eyes, pace back and forth across the room, and give descriptions of these two surfaces. During another of Dodd’s exercises later in the film, Quell is to ride a mo- torcycle at high speed through the desert towards an object in the distance and then return. Instead, however, Quell abandons the group, riding out of the desert and leaving The Cause in his wake. Quell returns to Massachusetts to revive his relationship with Doris but learns that she has married and started a family in Alabama. The deflated Quell retreats to the cinema where he has