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Prophecy on Stage 213
mediation of the camera plays an important role in the way in which
Raelians “see” their prophet. As Meyer (2003b) discusses in her analysis
of video films in Ghana, the camera, which from a positivist perspective
would represent the “mechanical eyes of reason,” operates as an “exten-
sion of the human eye, showing occult forces in action,” mediating forms
of the truth-knowledge relation that transcends the boundaries between
the visible and the invisible, the physical and the spiritual, and allows
people to share this perspective (220). This “occult” dimension and its
relation with the camera in Ghana is quite different from the Raelian
religious setting, but the question of the audiovisual mediation of the
“sacred,” highlighted by Meyer, echoes an important analytic theme in
the Raelian ethos.
Seeing Raël through the camera, mediated by a telejournalistic audiovi-
sual language that shows, or gives visibility to, his “fame” and recognition
in the public sphere is a way of looking that attributes value to this person
who declares himself a prophet, and feeds the aura of sacredness surround-
13
ing him. In the current context of the Raelian Movement, seeing clips of
Raël before seeing him personally functions, therefore, as a form of prepar-
ing the gaze for his sacred dimension. Recognizing him—through medi-
atic means—should precede meeting him personally. This recognition,
mediated by the mass media, operates via the logic of celebrity with a two-
way effect: publicizing Raël outside the movement and intensifying his
image and its value within the group led by himself.
The Celebrity Team and
the Formation of a Team of
“Celebrities”: Raelian Honorary Guides
The Raelian Movement’s relation with the “world of celebrities” forms a
chapter of the movement’s history by itself. Just as its prophet is internally
legitimized through his constructed condition of “celebrity,” in the public
sphere the movement continually strives for legitimacy and recognition by
approaching “real” famous people. The desire to capture the famous is an
explicit objective of the group’s leaders who devote one of the teams of the
Movement’s Structure to celebrities: The Celebrity Team that is exclusively
responsible for spreading the Raelian message among celebrities from the
mass media. The most prominent symbol of the relationship between
celebrities and new religious movements is without doubt Tom Cruise.
Representing Scientology wherever he goes, Cruise personifies the idea of