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Devil in the arts and popular culture

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This page is about the Devil in popular fiction, in general. See Satan in literature for references to the Devil exclusively in literature.

Satan appears frequently as a character in works of literature and popular culture. Sometimes, the reference is oblique, and satanic characters may exhibit attributes of Satan without the connection being made explicit.[citation needed] In Christian tradition the figure of Satan, or the devil, personifies evil. By the mid-twentieth century Satan had become just a metaphor to most people in Western cultures. However Satan still had a role in culture as a representation of evil. Popular interest in Satan increased towards the end of the twentieth century, with films like The Omen and The Exorcist drawing large audiences. Today Satan remains an common figure in popular culture.[1]

Devil's Dictionary definition

Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary gives a satirical definition of Satan:

SATAN, n. One of the Creator's lamentable mistakes, repented in sackcloth and ashes. Being instated as an archangel, Satan made himself multifariously objectionable and was finally expelled from Heaven. Halfway in his descent he paused, bent his head in thought a moment and at last went back. "There is one favor that I should like to ask," said he.
"Name it."
"Man, I understand, is about to be created. He will need laws."
"What, wretch! You, his appointed adversary, charged from the dawn of eternity with hatred of his soul — you ask for the right to make his laws?"
"Pardon; what I have to ask is that he be permitted to make them himself."
It was so ordered.

Satan in entertainment media

In the film Legend, the devil is characterized in the Lord of Darkness.

Generally when Satan is depicted in movies and television, he is represented as a red-skinned man with horns on his head, hoofs, tail, and pitchfork, while often he is represented as a plain human being, and, in rare instances, only his voice is heard. Popular portrayals of Satan include Warner Bros. cartoons (such as Satan's Waitin' (1954)), William Friedkin's The Exorcist (1973), Richard Donner's The Omen (1976), Ridley Scott's Legend (1985), End of Days (1999), Oh, God! You Devil (1984), and Comedy Central's South Park. Al Pacino starred as Satan taking the form of a lawyer in the movie Devil's Advocate, and in Constantine, the Devil is portrayed by Peter Stormare as a barefoot human wearing a white suit and leaving greasy black footprints wherever he goes. In BBC Radio 4's comedy Old Harry's Game Satan is played by Andy Hamilton. In Little Nicky (2000), Satan is a familial position that is passed from father to son, with Rodney Dangerfield portraying the elder Satan and Harvey Keitel the reigning Satan.

In Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby, the main character (played by Mia Farrow) becomes pregnant by Satan and has his child. In The Ninth Gate, the main character (played by Johnny Depp) is involved in finding a missing book with details for summoning Satan.

In Charmed, The Source of All Evil is an elected (or descended) king of all the demons, comparable to the devil, which he is referred to as once in season one. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the First Evil an entity composed of all evil in the world -older than time, but the true "devil" of the Buffyverse was a rather ordinary horned demon who plays tennis called Izzerial, who appeared in Angel as a member of the nefarious Circle of the Black Thorn commanded by the malevolent, unseen, and also devil-like Senior Partners.

In Marvel Comics, several high-level demons, such as Mephisto, Azazel, Marduk Kurios, and Satanish, control different aspects of Hell and claim to be the Biblical Satan. Some have theorized that these demons constitute a "composite Satan", while others believe they simply utilize the name of an even more powerful demon to sow fear among their enemies. And in Vertigo comics, the figure of the devil is portrayed by Lucifer Morningstar, the fallen angel and former ruler of hell.

Including Satan as a personification of evil holds many narrative opportunities. South Park, for example, makes a political point by portraying Satan in an abusive sexual relationship with (the apparently more evil) Saddam Hussein; indeed, while Satan is sometimes portrayed as evil, he is just as often a sympathetic character whom God once referred to as "a whiny little bitch." A similar portrayal of Satan is made in the webcomic Sinfest. Others have portrayed a human character's struggles with Satan to mark human foibles and failings in the attempt to live a good life — for example, Bedazzled (1967, remade 2000) and Oh, God! You Devil (1984). And in the horror/suspense genre, including Satan provides for a gripping, nearly all-powerful foe, as seen in The Omen trilogy.

Another interesting use of Satan in recent horror fiction and film is the evangelical aim of William Peter Blatty in his book and the subsequent film, The Exorcist. He has explained that his goal was to portray the ultimate evil as a way of reminding the world of the need to believe in the ultimate good, God.

The 1987 Alan Parker film Angel Heart features a character played by Robert De Niro named Louis Cyphre who enlists the help of the central character Harry Angel played by Mickey Rourke to track down the missing crooner Johnny Favourite. The story features black magic and satanism extensively, and the twist at the end is that Johnny Favourite had previously sold his soul to the Devil, but had managed to evade honouring his side of the arrangement by taking on another mans body and mind. That man was in fact Harry Angel and the mysterious Louis Cyphre was in fact Satan intent on completing the deal that Johhny Favourite had managed to avoid for so long. In a clever play on words Louis Cyphre sounds very similar to Lucifer which gives viewers a hint of what is to follow.

The science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 offers an interesting perspective (not only for this case, but many gods of various religions). The alien character Sokar, a Goa'uld, takes the persona of Satan, and become one of the most powerful of his species, possessing a great army with which he wanted to take control over all other System Lords and subsequently the galaxy itself. He even created his own Hell on Ne'tu (alike Apokolips, another fiction hell analogy), the satellite of his homeworld Delmak, where he sends his enemies for torture and punishment.

Him, a character on the animated series, The Powerpuff Girls, is a cheerfully evil, red-skinned, cross-dressing demon.

In Tenacious D's 2006 film, The Pick of Destiny, Satan is played by Dave Grohl and is depicted as a red, horned creature who loves heavy metal music and is extremely good at playing the drums.

Early proposals of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier had the Enterprise crew encountering Satan. This was later changed so that the being shown in the film was a very powerful alien.

In the video game franchise Shin Megami Tensei, Satan is depicted as a 'shinrei' or servant of God, YHWH. He takes the form of a human who fits the typical image of a metal rock star, while as a demon he appears like a skull faced dragon with insect parts. Meanwhile, Lucifer, Beelzebub, and other names attributed to Satan are very different entities.

In the 2006 Doctor Who two part episode, The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit, Satan is referred to as "the Beast" and is trapped inside a pit within a planet orbiting a black hole. In the Torchwood season one finale, End of Days, the "son of the great Beast" is featured, the demon Abaddon.

In the TV show Pokemon when the PokéRap is sung in English, the lyrics “gotta catch ’em all” are alleged to say “I love Satan” or “oh Satan” when played backwards. This has left some Christians and Christian organizations believing that Pokémon subliminally encourages Satanism. However, this is obviously not true, because when the lyrics are played backwards, only gibberish can be heard.

The adult animated comedy show Aaagh! It's the Mr. Hell Show is hosted by Mr Hell who bears a striking resemblance to Satan himself.

The devil in music

The musical interval of an Augmented 4th is sometimes known as "The Devil In Music", a name given to it circa. 1400, given its unusual sound. Composers were encouraged to stay away from the interval, and whilst it is sometimes found in non-religious music of the time, it was never used in religious music until the existing system of keys came into use.

Charley Daniels tells the story of the Devil getting beat in a fiddle playing contest in The Devil Went Down To Georgia (1979).

Several musicians, including Robert Johnson (musician) and Tommy Johnson, have legends claiming they received their musical ability from a deal with the Devil. The story of a Blues musician meeting the Devil at a Crossroads (culture) is a common theme in American musical lore, appearing for example in the movie Crossroads (1986 film).

Satan has also featured in modern popular music. Many rock stars, such as the Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden and AC/DC. Many of Osbourne's albums (both solo and with his former group, Black Sabbath), for example, have criticized devil worship, although some Christian groups have interpreted it as glorification. The Rolling Stones recorded a song called "Sympathy for the Devil," which was later covered by Guns N' Roses for the movie Interview with the Vampire which was based on a novel by Anne Rice. American group the Pixies sang "If man is 5 and the devil is 6 then God is 7!". On the 2004 Insane Clown Posse concept album about Hell, The Wraith: Hell's Pit, Satan is referred to as "The Witch". In Randy Newman's own 1993 musical and subsequent 1995 studio album version of Faust, he plays Satan. Some listeners have claimed to find Satanic messages concealed in other popular music by playing records backwards. The best example of this backmasking is Led Zepplin's "Stairway to Heaven" in which lyrics are rumored to be satanic, even though Led Zepplin has denied the allegations.

Satan and Hell are common themes in Heavy Metal Music. This is notoriously common in Black Metal where most lyrical themes are about Satan, Hell, and anti-christianity which has meant black metal remains a somewhat underground genre (as well as its general abrasive sound).

Singing Comedian Stephen Lynch does a song entitled "Beelz" on his album The Craig Machine. In the song Stephen, portraying the Devil, starts with a low raspy voice that is usually associated with the Devil and then jumps into cheerful falsetto.

In Tenacious D's "Beelzeboss (The Final Showdown)", from the album/movie The Pick of Destiny the duo literally confront the Devil in a "rock-off challenge".

In the song "Hellfire (rain on you)", One of the musical segments from the TV show Sifl and Olly, the show's titular protagonists travel to hell to "hear a good rock band" and wind up in an improptu rock-off contest with the Devil; who questionable wins. One of the creators of the show, Liam Lynch, would later go on to create The Pick of Destiny which would have a similar confrontation between Tenacious D and the Devil.

Country singer/guitarist Buck Owens has a song called "Satan's Got To Get Along Without Me", which is on the movie The Devil's Rejects.

The devil in film and television

Many films and television programs have portrayed the Devil in one form or another. Among these are:

Satan under U.S. law

In 1971, Gerald Mayo brought a civil rights action in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against Satan and his servants who allegedly placed deliberate obstacles in Mayo's path and caused Mayo's downfall. In this U.S. court's written opinion, the court did not deny the existence of Satan; rather, the court asserted that it was unlikely that Satan was ever present in the geographic area included in the Western District of Pennsylvania, stating, "We question whether plaintiff may obtain personal jurisdiction over the defendant in this judicial district." In what was clearly a jocular reference to The Devil and Daniel Webster, the court implied that Satan might live in New Hampshire, stating, "While the official reports disclose no case where this defendant has appeared as defendant there is an unofficial account of a trial in New Hampshire where this defendant filed an action of mortgage foreclosure as plaintiff." This appears to be the only published legal case in the United States regarding the existence of Satan and, at present, the United States' official position would seem to be that Satan may exist and, if so, Satan might be found in New Hampshire.

Other "images" of Satan

Middle-Eastern fundamentalist critics of United States, especially critics and politicians from Iran, sometimes refer to the US as "The Great Satan." Likewise the State of Israel is sometimes referred to as the "Little Satan."

See also

References

  1. ^ Kurtz, Lester R., 2007, Gods in the Global Village: The World's Religions in Sociological Perspective, Pine Forge Press, ISBN 1-412-92715-3, p. 153.
  • The Comics Go to Hell: A Visual History of the Devil in Comics (by Fredrik Stromberg, 360 pages, Fantagraphics Books, 2005, ISBN 1560976160)
  • The Satanic Screen: An Illustrated Guide to the Devil in Cinema (by Nikolas Schreck, 256 pages, Creation Books, 2001, ISBN 1840680431)
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