The Will Smith led ‘After Earth’ labeled Scientology propaganda and getting killed by critics

Will Smith has built a resume on Summer blockbusters, but 2013 will not be part of that legacy. After Earth is being panned by critics and the Internet is exploding with comparisons to Scientology.

UPDATE: Here is an article which includes the response from the Church of Scientology – read it here

Columbia Pictures

“Did Gary Whitta write After Earth as Scientology propaganda? is the headline on one forum as Blogger Matt Patches writes:

“In the end, it doesn’t really matter — but it’s hard to dismiss Smith’s ties to L Ron Hubbard’s sci-fi-inspired belief system when its ideas are all over his new film, After Earth.”

Will Smith’s funding of a school with Scientology principles was been noted throughout (read more here) and the film is being crushed by critics.

“Once upon a time, Hollywood parents gave their children sports cars as gifts. These days, apparently nothing less than a big-screen vanity project will do for Junior.” — Manhola Dargis, New York Times

“The level to which ‘After Earth’ is a catastrophe is amazing, but what’s even more impressive is the lengths everyone must have had to gone to for such an epic level of failure.” — Laremy Legel, Film.com

“Yes, it’s that bad.” — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Back to the Scientology angle with Patches’ article:

This struck me as Scientology 101. Cypher spends most of the movie guiding his son through the dangerous environments of evolved Earth, coaching him to drop his emotions and believe in his self. Fear is imaginary, a construct of the mind that can be abolished if you believe in your own abilities. To me, After Earth is all about cleansing the body’s “thetan,” or soul. If Kitai can leave behind the physical dangers of the world and invest in self-determinism, he’ll be triumphant. He’ll be a hero because he’s entitled to be one.

Scientology is all about personal survival — the “first dynamic”— and that’s the key to Katai’s mission. Washing away the past, any bad decision he’s made, in order to come out on top. It’s the way his father has lived and it’s basically gone unpunished, even when he has massive mistakes on his record to show for it. Unlike many Hollywood science fiction movie’s, After Earth has an emphasis on self that I don’t believe is coincidence.

Read more: Is Will Smith’s New “After Earth” Movie Scientology Propaganda?