Church of Happyology: Difference between revisions

Due to said watchdogs, lampooning the religion directly (or even uttering their name and a word against them) appears to be some form of illegal. Therefore, fiction has the '''Church of Happyology''' — a thinly-veiled reference to said religion.

 

 

{{examples}}

* [[Ultimate Marvel]] has the Church of Shi'Ar Enlightenment, a Happyologist-like religion with many rich and famous members. They assist the [[Ultimate X-Men]]. Turns out they, and their offshoot sect the Hellfire Club, actually believe that Jean Grey is the [[The Chosen One|reincarnation of their alien Phoenix God]]. Gee, what are the odds?

* The Path of Prosperity from ''[[Witchblade (Comic Book)|Witchblade]]'' bears some suspicious resemblances to happyology.

* The ''[[Superman]]'' [[Elseworld]]s story ''Last Family of Krypton'' features a ''positive'' portrayal of a Church of Happyology; Raology, founded by Kal-El's mother Lara. The positivity of the portrayal is helped by the fact that kryptonians have been worshipping Rao for thousands of years, so it isn't a newly-designed-by-one-man phenomenon like most other churches of happyology, but rather an immigrant bringing their old religion to their new home and then going for converts.

* The Triune Understanding cult in [[Kurt Busiek]]'s run on ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]]'' was clearly supposed to represent this.

* The 2006 volume of ''[[Mystery In Space]]'' had the "Eternal Light Corporation," a profit-driven religion. As the Weird notes after throwing off their brainwashing, "any religion that insists you sign a non-disclosure agreement should be considered suspect".

* The French comic ''Sky Doll'' has one of these.

 

== Film ==

* ''Dioretix: The Science of Matter over Mind'' from ''[[Repo Man]]''.

* ''[[Rock Slyde]]'' has the Church of Bartology. Its leader, Bart, has taken over or infiltrated many businesses and office buildings, brainwashing his followers with mind controlling cookies and fast food. His cult involves a lot of pyramid-themed imagery, fitness programs, and pilfering your bank account. Doesn't recruit people off the streets because the Average Joe can't afford his "religion".

 

== Literature ==

* "Diarrhetics," in a Damon Knight short story.

* In [[Greg Bear]]'s ''Heads'', one of the titular [[Human Popsicle|frozen]] [[Brain In a Jar|heads]] is that of {{spoiler|none other than K. D. Thierry,}} the founder of a creepy [[Space Opera]] religion called Logology. At the end of the novel, the protagonist {{spoiler|ends up being infused with the frozen final thoughts of the heads, Thierry's being an acute knowledge of the hoax he created and abject terror in the face of the hell he believes awaits him.}}

* The [[Philip K. Dick]] short story "The Turning Wheel" included a religion whose messiah was known as The Bard Elron Hu. [[Stealth Pun|At no point is he ever referred to as Elron Hu, Bard]]. This is a particularly early reference, as it was originally published just a few years after ''Dianetics''.

* In ''[[Snow Crash]]'', business magnate L. Bob Rife has founded a church of this kind to literally take over the world.

* CESSNAB, the Church of Eternal Satisfaction and Snack And Bowl, from Libba Bray's [[Going Bovine]]

* Clive Cussler's ''Plague Ship'' has ''Responsivists'', the big bad organization of the novel. While they don't worship any aliens, they go to great lengths to preserve their public image, react violently to members leaving their movement and have a lot of Hollywood celebrity endorsement.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In ''[[Peep Show]]'', Jeremy and Super Hans briefly join a cult at the end of series 5. The mythology revolves around "negative orgones" that cause human unhappiness. The cult takes personality tests and [[Take That|forbids thinking]].

** Frequently makes reference to the "Church of Practicology," which was supposedly created by [[Stan Lee]]. Or, as its members believe, an "[[Mobile Suit Human|alien king living inside Stan Lee]]".

** One obscure reference (for those that have pursued the History of Happyology) is when Jenna, talking about school reunions, says "I would have gone to my school reunion, but the [http://www.clambake.org/archive/books/tsos/sos-07.html boat I was educated on] sank".

'''Leslie:''' Well they figure if people criticize them it will sound like they're attacking something very reasonable.

'''Ben:''' That's weirdly brilliant. }}

 

== Music ==

* [[Emilie Autumn]] and her Bloody Crumpets have Contessaology [[Flash Back Back Back|ology...ology...ology]]. It's devoted to praying for [[Ethical Slut|Veronica's remaining virtue]]. And [[I'm a Humanitarian|cannibalism]]. That too.

 

 

== Radio ==

* In the ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' [[Mockumentary]] ''In Search Of Mornington Crescent'', Barry Cryer suggests that Mornington Crescent is connected to a cult based around cooking and cleaning. [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Domestic [Happy]ology]], founded by L. Ron Hubbard's mother to get him to help around the house.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* [[Wizards of the Coast]] decided to cut out the middle man and make (a sect of) the Church of Happyology an evil conspiracy in [[D20 Modern]] led by a psychic alien.

* Inverted in the [[Shadowrun]] game's Universal Brotherhood, a cultish movement that did ''not'' warn its members against evil alien entities that could manipulate or possess them, because {{spoiler|that's [[Bee People|precisely who was running the cult]].}}

 

== Video Games ==

* Prismatologist Hugh Bliss from the episodic adventure game ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police|Sam and Max]]: Season 1'' peddles a book called '[[Just for Pun|Emetics]]', pictured above. Then it turns out {{spoiler|Bliss is actually a sentient bacteria colony that feeds on endorphins, and is plotting to turn everyone on Earth into blissed-out drones so he'll have an unlimited food supply.}} Therefore, {{spoiler|in order to "save" the world, Max has to personally ''punch everyone in the face''.}}

* In ''Sam And Max Hit The Road'', Lee-Harvey, the aide of a country-western singer, reads a book called ''Dialenics'', by Elrod Hubbel, which he says is changing his life. Since he's in the entertainment industry, it makes sense.

** According to the developers, Unitology is not explicitly based on Happyology, but rather religious cults in general.

* ''[[Ultima VII]]'': Oooooh boy, where to start here. Practically every singleof the Fellowship mirrors Happyology in some form or other. Batlin is a spitting image of L. Ron. The Fellowship have practices similar to Fair Game and Disconnection. Hell, The Avatar is given a bloody Personality Test early on, which is obviously rigged against him. See where this is going? As if [[Electronic Arts]] wasn't painted evil enough by The Fellowship.

* Some of Brandon Roberts's ranting on PLR in ''[[Grand Theft Auto IV|GTA IV]]'' was a parody of Tom Cruise's incoherent interviews. He tosses in a subtle San Andreas [[Continuity Nod]], despite the fact that Rockstar says there isn't a continuity between the two; he never mentions the Epsilon Group by name, but he tosses out a "Kifflom."

* Seeing as how it's a [[Follow the Leader|shameless ripoff]] of ''GTA'' (and proud of it), ''[[Saints Row]] 2'' features an even more blatant parody of Happyology: the Church of Philosotology, run by an "R. Lon Hibbard," whose beliefs are almost carbon copies of various Happyology tenets. They also run the Forgive and Forget stations, which let you lose any unwanted heat from police or gangs, for a price (in true Happyology tradition).

* The particularly crass MMORPG ''[[Forum Warz]]'' gives us a two-for-one deal with the Church of [[Dragonball Z|Saiyantology]] - and that's just the sixth or seventh of all the bizarre subcultures they've declared [[Acceptable Targets]].

* The Order from ''[[Deus Ex: Invisible War|Deus Ex Invisible War]]''.

** Retrospectively not that out of place in the world of Earthbound.

* One of the monuments spouting INKT propaganda in ''[[De Blob]]'' is the Church of Inktology.

* In the third [[Destroy All Humans!]] game, the Lunarian cult parodies this, run by S. Scott Calvin.

* As part of the 80s satire of the Syndicate in [[Red Alert 3 Paradox]], the Church is implied to be a part of the Syndicate's hierarchy, and it's navy is manned by members of Sea Org.

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Insecticomics]]'', A priest of Unicron starts his own religious show, "The Hour Of Devour," which presents worshipping the Chaos Bringer as this. Fallen finds out, and is pissed because he [[Even Evil Has Standards|actually has some respect for his job as Unicron's herald, and sees the priest's show as a mockery of service to the forces of chaos.]] Eventually, he mellows out and lets the priest go on as he pleases.

* In ''[[Penny and Aggie]]'', the crazed [[Cloudcuckoolander]] Xena is a devotee of this religion. Although the comic avoids mentioning the church by name, she's been known to slam the field of psychology (including parroting [[Tom Cruise]]'s denial of chemical imbalances), make reference to engrams and souls imprisoned in volcanoes, and note that her name is similar to that of a certain galactic dictator central to the religion's foundational myth. She's even been known to moan "Mr. Hubbard" in her sleep.

 

== Web Original ==

* In ''[[Kate Modern]]'', Gavin even refers to the Hymn of Oner Steve as "L. Ron" at one point.

* ''[[Hackles]]'' had the [http://hackles.org/cgi-bin/archives.pl?request=325 Squidentologists].

* Although the [http://www.chainsawbuffet.com/categories/roboreaganology/ Church of the Immortal Robot Reagan] is more or less an outright parody of the aforementioned sect, its creators claim that it's just a "more honest" version, since it's a cult that's really a moneymaking scam that ''openly admits'' it's a moneymaking scam.

* The somewhat infamous [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/scientolulz ScientLOLojyuuichi], a Happyology-themed version of a very popular [[Animutation]] called ''Hyakugojyuuichi''.

* Smosh has "Religiotology"

* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmJ8tvdEqPo&list=PLBB81D75D9D6AD206&index=12&feature=plpp_video a side short] of the Parle Productions series [http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBB81D75D9D6AD206&feature=plcp The Marauders], James Potter convinces Peter Pettigrew that there is a "Church of Potter," then renamed to "Pottertology".

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Religion Tropes]]

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]