Music Man Analysis

As we watched a few scenes from the classic film "The Music Man," we discussed how the protagonists' methods of monetary gain can relate to the culture we live in today.  To summarize the scene we watched, Harold Hill (the film's protagonist) gets the adult residents of the city in an uproar, convincing them that the children in their city are rebellious and sinful.  Hill first comes off as compassionate for the future of the residents, but his motive is different in that he is doing this for profit.  In today's corporate world, thousands of business men and entrepreneurs are using various methods, such as compassion and empathy, for profit.  While watching and analyzing this scene, I could not help but draw some sort of comparison toward religion, especially the religion known as Scientology.  Scientology was founded by the late science-fiction author L. Ron Hubbard, who created this religion (or cult, as critics state it as such), soon gaining a strong following.  Followers of this religion believed that Hubbard was able to help them gain access to their past lives, recognizing the mistakes they've made to help them with their future successes.  Members were expected to pay fines, making the church very lucrative.  L. Ron even said himself  "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion." As you can see, Hill and Hubbard  are very much alike; they were both rallying groups of people, using the power of persuasion and convincing them that they need guidance, but for their own purposes...money, money, money! The way I see it, the only difference between these two gentlemen is that one is a fictional character, while the other isn't.