betraying jonestown
"The only thing our leaders care about is money, money, money. They would kill their own mothers for a dollar. Why should these few people get rich while everyone else is made to suffer? Well, in the Peoples Temple you need not worry. Everyone here is equal under the eyes of god." - Jim Jones
During the early 1970’s, a church group in San Francisco known as the People’s Temple had a reputation for being a compassionate, charitable and a selfless organization. What the public didn’t see was that the leader of the church, Jim Jones, had a Messiah-complex and used tactics of fear, abuse, and sexual manipulation to maintain his power.
The Temple’s history began in conservative 1950’s Indiana where Jim began his noble plight for ending racism and spreading the word of socialism. As time went on and he became a public figure, his delusions of being assassinated by the CIA and having his illegally adopted son taken away from him led to a mass-exodus of all congregants to Jonestown, Guyana. His plan was simple: to set-up a socialist utopia where all people could live in harmony. But Jim slipped into utter madness and on November 18th1978, 918 people died from mass-suicide/murder and Jim’s life mysteriously ended.
At the beginning of the Pilot episode we see Jim and his closest members just before he decides to flee to South America in 1976 to setup his utopia. We go back to 1972 where we see Jim’s close relationship with his family and his addiction to cocaine. Jim learns from Tim Stoen, his scheming bright lawyer, that Tyler Wallace, Jim’s closest security guard, defected from the church. It can’t come at a worse time since Jim is in the process of announcing his candidacy for Housing Commissioner of San Francisco. Tyler hunts down Marshall Kilduff, an up-and-coming reporter, and divulges his story about how he became Jim’s closest security guard and sexual partner that ended in disaster, which ultimately led to his defection. But Jim has eyes and ears all over San Francisco and orders a thug, Frank, to threaten Tyler from exposing more information. Things turn for the worst when Frank accidentally kills Tyler and the show ends with the police wanting an interview with Jim for information on Tyler’s murder.
Jonestown follows a humanized approach to how a handful of the 918 people joined the church and uses flashback techniques with a goal/want for each episode (in the vein of Lost or Orange Is The New Black) to show how they left their everyday lives to follow Jones in his endeavour. Contrary to popular belief, none of the congregants were crazy-cultists, but rather optimists who dreamt of living in a better world. The series also explores the inner workings of a cult and how he persuaded so many people to believe in him.
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琼斯镇
“我们的领导人只在乎钱、钱、钱。为了一美元，他们甚至可以杀了自己的亲妈。为什么只有这一小撮人变得有钱，而其他人被迫受罪呢？在人民圣殿教，你不需要担心这些事情。因为在上帝面前，我们都是平等的。”——吉米 琼斯
二十世纪七十年代早期，位于旧金山的名为“人民圣殿教”的教会组织，因助人为乐、乐善好施而为人称道。但教会领袖吉米 琼斯的救世主情结却不为人知。他通过恐吓、虐待和性操纵来巩固自己的权力。
人民圣殿教的历史要追溯到封闭守旧的五十年代。在印第安纳，吉米 琼斯开始了高尚的“结束种族主义，传播社会主义”的事业。他逐渐成了公众人物，也慢慢开始产生幻觉，怀疑自己会被中情局暗杀，害怕非法领养的儿子将被人带走。这致使吉米 琼斯率领所有教众出走圭亚那的琼斯镇。他的计划很简单：建立一个众人和谐生活的社会主义乌托邦。可是，吉米 琼斯陷入了癫狂的深渊，最终在1978年11月18日酿成918人集体自杀（或被杀）的惨剧。吉米 琼斯本人也神秘死去。
试播集的开篇部分，我们将看到吉米 琼斯在1976年决定逃到南美洲建立乌托邦之前，与最信赖的成员讨论的场面。之后回到1972年，我们会了解到吉米 琼斯与家人的亲密关系，以及他对可卡因极度上瘾。吉米 琼斯的律师蒂姆 斯铎是一个很有手段的人。吉米从他那里得知，自己最贴身的保镖泰勒 华莱士叛变了。吉米 琼斯当时正准备宣布竞选旧金山住房委员会成员，这个消息到来的时机简直不能更糟了。泰勒 华莱士找到了一位厉害的新手记者马绍尔 凯尔达夫，曝光了自己如何成为吉米琼斯最贴身的保镖，以及两人性伙伴的关系如何以灾难收场，最终导致他脱离教会。但是吉米 琼斯的耳目遍布旧金山。他派出了一个街头暴徒弗兰克去威胁泰勒，让他闭嘴。没成想弗兰克失手杀了泰勒。这促使警方约谈吉米 琼斯，以了解泰勒的死因。
《琼斯镇》以人性的角度，选择918名死者中的几位为切入点，讲述他们加入人民圣殿教的故事。每一集会利用闪回的手法，目标或外在欲望的设定，展现人们如何放弃正常生活，转而追寻吉米 琼斯。结构类似美剧《迷失》或《女子监狱》。他们其实并不像大众认为的那样是疯狂的邪教徒，而是一群对更美好的世界怀有憧憬的乐观主义者。《琼斯镇》也将挖掘邪教的内部运作机制，以及吉米 琼斯巧舌如簧的功力。