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Lord of the Universe

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Lord of the Universe
Video box cover
Directed byTop Value Television
Produced byDavid Loxton,
Top Value Television
Edited byJohn. J. Godfrey
Wendy Appel[1]
Distributed bySubtle Communications
Release dates
1974
VHS edition 1991
Running time
58:27 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUSD$30,000[2]

Lord of the Universe is a 1974 satirical documentary film about Guru Maharaj ji, now known as Prem Rawat, at an event in November 1973 at the Houston Astrodome called "Millennium '73".

Millennium '73

The documentary chronicles Prem Rawat, his followers and anti-Vietnam War activist Rennie Davis, at an event in November 1973 at the Houston Astrodome, "Millennium '73"[4], which was billed as the: "most significant event in the history of humanity."[5] According to Thomson Gale, the rapidly developing movement ran into trouble, beginning with its inability to fill the Houston Astrodome in a highly publicized event."[6] Rennie Davis, a follower of Guru Maharaj Ji, was one of the spokespersons and speakers at the Millennium '73 event. His speech is featured in the documentary. [7]He said about Guru Maharaj Ji "When I went to see Guru Maharaj Ji, it was not to embrace God, but to see what he could show me. And all I can do now is be honest about what happened. Guru Maharaj Ji showed me God." [8]

According to a review in Electronic Arts Intermix[5], and as displayed on the front-cover of the 1991 edition, a cynical Abbie Hoffman commented: "If this guy is God, this is the God the United States of America deserves." At the time of the Astrodome event Hoffman was in hiding after breaking his bail conditions whilst awaiting trial for the alleged attempted sale of cocaine worth an estimated $500,000 on August 29, 1973, .[9] Hoffman was co-founder of the Youth International Party, and author of Steal This Book. The back cover of the 1991 VHS release, features an undated statement in the The Los Angeles Times that says: "Those premies who came in private cars can leave now" says a loudspeaker voice. "Those who came in rented buses can stay and meditate until further notice."[10]

Rolling Stone Magazine subsequently wrote an article in 1974 utilizing the term "Lord of the Universe"[11]. A compilation of articles of Rolling Stone Magazine, describes a press conference with Maharaj ji on the second day of the "Millennium" event. A reporter asked Maharaj ji about the extraordinary claims made by his followers, to which he responds: "Respect me as a humble servant of God trying to establish peace in the world." The reporter then asks why there is such a contradiction between what he says about himself and what his followers say about him, to which Maharaj Ji responded: "Well... why don't you do me a favor ... Why don't you go to the devotees and ask their explanation about it? [12] A later article in 1975 in TIME Magazine reported on the use of the term "Lord of the Universe", by devotees of Guru Maharaj Ji's Divine Light Mission[13]. Events depicted in the film were further described in Kahn's Rolling Stone: The Seventies[14]. Author Bob Larson also attended the event, and described it in Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality[15].

Production

The documentary was produced by Top Value Television (TVTV) and shown on PBS Television to a national audience in the United States on February 2, 1974[16][17], and re-released to VHS on November 1, 1991, by Subtle Communications[18]. The trailer was originally broadcast on WNET Channel Thirteen television[4]. TVTV's team utilized graphics, live music, and wide angle lens shots. [19] The production was the first Portapak video documentary made for national television[20], and it was also the "first program originally made on 1/2-inch video tape to be broadcast nationally"[21].

In 1991 a VHS video edition was released. On the packaging it is claimed that Guru Maharaj Ji "promised to levitate the Astrodome". The only reference to this in the video is by a believer who states "I would like to bet anyone who wishes to make some 'green energy' that by November 15, the Houston Astrodome will physically separate from the planet which we call Earth and will fly.".[22] Reviewers of the documentary including: TVRO[23], the University of California, Santa Cruz[24] and Art Journal[17] repeat this claim in varying forms.

Credits

Source [5]

Production Wendy Appel, Skip Blumberg, Bill Bradbury, John Brumage, Steve Christiansen, Paul Goldsmith, Stanton Kaye, John Keeler, Anda Korsts, Harry Mathias, Doug Michels, Tom Morey, Rita Ogden, Tom Richmond, Van Schley, Jodi Sibert, Elon Soltes, Akio Yamaguchi
Editors Wendy Appel, Hudson Marquez, Rita Ogden, Allen Rucker, Michael Shamberg, Elon Soltes
Producer David Loxton. A TVTV production in association with the TV Lab at WNET/Thirteen. also: (Hudson Marquez, Allen Rucker, Michael Shamberg, Tom Weinberg, and Megan Williams)
Supervising Engineer/Videotape Editor John J. Godfrey

Reception

File:Lord of the Universe vhs back.jpg
Back cover of 1991 release VHS, with quotes from 1974 reviews

Awards

The documentary received the 1974 Alfred I. du Pont/Columbia University Award in Broadcast Journalism (DuPont Award).[19][5][16] The jurors from the 1974 DuPont-Columbia awards stated that the documentary was: "hectic, hilarious and not a little disquieting. With a heavier and less sure hand, the subject would have been squashed beneath the reporters’ irony or contempt. As it was, cult religion was handed to us, live and quivering, to make of it what we would."[16] The group’s work impressed WNET president John Jay Iselin , and he raised additional funds which helped TVTV to produce five more programs, including Gerald Ford’s America.[2]

Reviews

The documentary received mostly positive reviews, but did receive some criticism in the New York Post, where Bob Williams called it a "deplorable film" and "flat, pointless, television". He wrote: "The hour-long program was remiss in not providing some small examination of the available box-office take of the goofy kid guru, much less telling prospective contributors how it got involved in spending how much of its foundation grants and viewer subscription money in such a questionable venture without more inquisitive journalistic endeavor, or ignoring gurus." [25] Katy Butler writing in the San Francisco Bay Guardian stated that the TVTV style had improved since their previous work, noting: "This show has fewer interjections from TVTV personnel, fewer moments that drag, more technological razzle-dazzle (color footage, slow motion, stop motion, tight and rapid cutting)." However, she also described Guru Maharaji and his entourage as "an easy target," and wrote that "anybody can look like a fool when a smartass wide angle lens distorts their face, and teenage ex-dopers who think a fat boy is God don't stand a chance." Butler wished that TVTV would move on to more challenging subjects for their future work.[26]

John J. O'Connor, of The New York Times described TVTV's work as "a terrific documentary," and complimented the team on the visual results of the piece, noting: "After TVTV superbly dissected the guru, his 'holy family' and his followers, more objective viewers might have chosen to laugh, cry, or throw up."[27] Ron Powers of the Chicago Sun Times called the documentary "highly recommended viewing," and described it as: "..both as an example of skeptical, unimpressed (but never vicious) journalism, and as a peek into the future of television...a clever, ironic and eventually devastating documentary."[28] Electronic Arts Intermix described Lord of the Universe as "a forceful expose on the sixteen-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji and the national gathering of his followers at the Houston Astrodome."[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Wendy Appel, USC School of Cinematic Arts, 2007, The University of Southern California
    Wendy Apple
    As a producer/director for television, her credits include HARD RAIN which starred Bob Dylan, APPEARING NITELY (HBO) starring Lily Tomlin, AMERICAN FAMILIES, FROM THE HEART, TRIAL WATCH, and LILY FOR PRESIDENT. She was a partner in the early guerilla television company, TVTV and received the Alfred Dupont Columbia Journalism Award for their production of LORD OF THE UNIVERSE. She is producing ACE's official documentary on 100 years of editing's contributions to cinema. B.S. from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
  2. ^ a b c Set in Motion: The New York State Council on the Arts Celebrates 30 Years of Independents: On Television, Video History Project, Leanne Mella, 1994
    It was to the Lab’s director, the late David Loxton, that Michael Shamberg of Top Value Television (TVTV) brought his proposal for The Lord of the Universe, an hour-long documentary on the activities of the Guru Maharaj Ji. At a time when television news organizations had yet to make the leap from 16mm film, TVTV linked the styles and techniques of the New Journalism then in vogue to emerging video technologies, thus pioneering a new means of imagemaking for television...Like other TVTV projects, The Lord of the Universe was produced for about $30,000. WNET’s President, John Jay Iselin, was so impressed with the group’s work, that he raised additional private funds to allow the Lab to commission five more TVTV programs, among them the series Gerald Ford’s America.
  3. ^ "All Movie Guide profile".
  4. ^ a b Full video preview, 1974, presented by WNET
  5. ^ a b c d e Electronic Arts Intermix, "The Lord of the Universe", 1974, TVTV, retrieved 1/18/06.
    Awarded the Alfred I. du Pont/Columbia University Award in Broadcast Journalism, The Lord of the Universe is a forceful expose on the sixteen-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji and the national gathering of his followers at the Houston Astrodome -- Millennium 73, billed as the "most significant event in the history of humanity. [...] In the last word on the events, a cynical Abbie Hoffman comments, "If this guy is God, this is the God the United States of America deserves."
  6. ^ "Guru Maharaj Ji", Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan., Thomson Gale. 2007.
    Through the mid-1970s the rapidly developing movement ran into trouble, beginning with its inability to fill the Houston Astrodome in a highly publicized event, Millennium 73.
  7. ^ Kent, Stephen A. Dr. From slogans to mantras: social protest and religious conversion in the late Vietnam war era Syracuse University press ISBN 0-8156-2923-0 (2001)page 52
  8. ^ Davis, Rennie in the introdution of the book Who Is Guru Maharaj Ji? Edited by Charles Cameron November 1973 published by Bantam Books, Inc. ASIN B000AQEE24
  9. ^ "Hoffman Held in Narcotics Case". The Washington Post. August 29, 1973.
  10. ^ Back cover, VHS release of 1991.
  11. ^ "When The Lord of All The Universe Played Houston", Rolling Stone Magazine, March 14, 1974, Pp. 36-50.
  12. ^ Levi, Richard M,. Who is your guru in The Seventies: A Tumultuous Decade Reconsidered, pp. 104 Rolling Stone magazine. Little, Brown and Company (2000). ISBN 0-316-81547-0)
  13. ^ "One Lord too Many", Time Magazine, April 28, 1975.
    Guru Maharaj Ji is worshiped as the "Lord of the Universe" by devotees of the Divine Light Mission in many countries round the world.
  14. ^ Kahn, Ashley (1998). Rolling Stone: The Seventies. Little, Brown and Company. pp. Section: 1973: "Who's your guru" by Richard Michael Levine. ISBN 0316815470. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Larson, Bob (2004). Larson's Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. pp. 149–153. ISBN 084236417X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  16. ^ a b c DuPont-Columbia Award, Columbia University, The Journalism School, The Lord of the Universe
    The Lord of the Universe, Subject: RELIGION, News Organization: TVTV, Awarded: 1974, Summary, Silver baton. 16-year-old Guru Maharaj Ji and his American following at a three day spiritual festival. Producer: David Loxton., Jurors' Comments, TVTV and WNET/13’s "The Lord of the Universe," a 60-minute report on Guru Maharaj Ji, was, according to the jurors, hectic, hilarious and not a little disquieting. With a heavier and less sure hand, the subject would have been squashed beneath the reporters’ irony or contempt. As it was, cult religion was handed to us, live and quivering, to make of it what we would., Original Air Date: 2/24/1974 Total Running Time: 01:00:00, Archive Number: 1973/74.9.TV
  17. ^ a b "Subject to Change", Deirdre Boyle, Art Journal, Vol. 45, No. 3, Video: The Reflexive Medium (Autumn, 1985), pp. 228-232.
  18. ^ Distributed by Subtle Communications, 1208 W. Webster, Chicago, Il 60614, November 1, 1991, Copyright 1991.
  19. ^ a b Lord of the Universe Video Data Bank, retrieved 1/18/07.
  20. ^ Top Value Television, biography, 2007, Electronic Arts Intermix.
    TVTV's innovative verite journalism included an award-winning expose on the Guru Maharaj Ji and his followers, The Lord of the Universe (1974), which was the first Portapak video documentary produced for national television.
  21. ^ ReelNewYork, Channel Thirteen, Kathy High, retrieved 1/18/07.
    "THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE, for example, a documentation of Guru Maharaj Ji's Millennium '73 revival meeting at the Houston Astrodome by Michael Shamberg's TVTV [Top Value Television] group, was edited at the TV Lab. This was the first program originally made on 1/2-inch video tape to be broadcast nationally."
  22. ^ http://www.mediaburn.org/Video-Preview.128.0.html?uid=4247,
  23. ^ "TVRO: Lord of the Universe", Plot Description, The New York Times, [1], retrieved 1/18/07.
  24. ^ Cruzcat Catalog, University of California, Santa Cruz, The Lord of the Universe [videorecording], retrieved 1/18/07.
  25. ^ Williams. Bob, "On the Air," New York Post, February 25, 1974.
  26. ^ Kay Butler, Dissecting the Guru on the Tube, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, February 28, 1974.
  27. ^ O'Connor, John J. TV: Meditating on Young Guru and His Followers The New York Times, February 25, 1974.
  28. ^ Powers, Ron, Participatory TV Goes to Guru Gala, Chicago Sun Times, March 16, 1974.
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