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Cult Of Personality
Please, gentle Eva,
Will you bless a little child?
For I love you,
Tell Heaven I'm doing my best,
I'm praying for you,
Even though you're already blessed
.
- Santa Evita, from Evita'' by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice

A cult of personality refers to massive adulation of a political or historical figure. The Other Wiki defines it as "when an individual uses mass media, propaganda, or other methods, to create an idealized, heroic, and, at times god-like public image, often through unquestioning flattery and praise." Often the subjects of cults of personality are treated as gods, held responsible for the good things affecting a country. The cult may often claim outlandish accomplishments for the subject in order to bolster their popularity. On the other hand, heroic stories about the subject's life may be endlessly repeated in order to reinforce the cult.

A common feature of dictatorships such as Nazi Germany, North Korea, Peoples Republic of China and Stalinist Russia.


Examples:

Comics

Film
  • The dystopia in Equilibrium centers around the mythical figure of "Father." The movie was heavily influenced by the work of George Orwell.

Literature
  • George Orwell's 1984 created "Big Brother," who was always watching. Citizens were brainwashed to love him as a father figure and devote their lives to his glory.
  • Frank Herbert intended Dune to be a deconstruction of this (and in the process invoking another trope), with Paul Muad'dib becoming trapped by the popular perceptions of him, leading to his Fallen Hero status and his son Leto becoming a literally inhuman tyrant for thousands of years.

Music
  • The band Living Colour has a song called ''Cult Of Personality."

Theatre
  • Evita: The title character (a former First Lady of Argentina, who came from a poor background) becomes the subject of this.
Convicted By Public OpinionFame and Reputation TropesDead Artists Are Better
Confound Them With KindnessTropes Needing ExamplesCut The Fuse

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