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Devil in the arts and popular culture

The Devil, (Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles) appears frequently as a character in literature and various other media, beginning in the 6th century when the Council of Constantinople officially recognized Satan as part of their belief system.[1] In Abrahamic religions, the figure of the Devil, Satan personifies evil.[2] In music, the Devil is referenced across both classical and popular music. Connecting the devil to certain music can be used to associate the music with immorality, either by critics or by the musicians themselves. In television and film, the Devil has a long history of being used and often appears as an extremely powerful, purely evil, antagonist. He also may appear working behind the scenes, in disguise, or in secrecy to influence a story in the forefront. In narrative works, the Devil is often associated with concepts such as the Antichrist, Hell and the afterlife, and the apocalypse. Especially in media from the early 1900s, creators might have been compelled to portray the Devil with another name or in a non-classical fashion to skirt censorship laws that discouraged showing the Devil as a character. Occasionally the Devil appears not as an entity but rather is used as a name for something that is very sinister or malevolent in a narrative such that the characters feel it is the Devil.

A devil (lower case) is an "evil spirit, demon, fiend" (OED).

Entertainment

Music

A man dressed as the Devil at New York City's West Indian Day Parade.

Classical music

The Devil is featured as a character in many musical representations from the Middle Ages to modern times. Hildegard of Bingen's 11th-century Ordo Virtutum features him, as do several baroque oratorios by composers such as Carissimi and Alessandro Scarlatti. During the 19th century, Gounod's Faust, in which the Devil goes by the name Mephistopheles, was a staple of opera houses around the world.

Highly virtuosic violin music was sometimes associated with the Devil. Tartini's Devil's Trill sonata and Paganini's Devil's Laughter caprice are examples. The theme is taken up by Stravinsky in the "Devil's Dance" from The Soldier's Tale.

Other pieces that refer to the Devil are Franz Liszt's "Mephisto Walzer" and Joseph Hellmsberger II's "Teufelstanz", as well as Haydn's lost opera "Der krumme Teufel".

"Archangel of Light" (another name for Lucifer) is a title song of the classical music band with the same name, by the composer Carlos David López Grether

Film and television

When Satan is depicted in movies and television, he is often associated with various symbols, whether as a motif or in his physical design or costume. These include horns, tails, and wings, which are often seen on the body of Satan in film and television. Satan is also associated with or may take the form of snakes, dragons, goats, or dogs. The color red is another common symbol, and may be incorporated by showing Satan with red skin, hair, or clothing.[8] Other signifiers include hooves, bird legs, and pitchforks. [citation needed] When trying to blend in or deceive somebody, he is often represented as an ordinary human being, and sometimes only his voice is heard. Although in medieval art Satan appears in forms of various genders, stations, or ages, in cinema of the United States of America he is most often male.[1]

Film

Satan as a personification of evil provides many narrative opportunities. Struggles with Satan have been used to symbolize human weaknesses and temptations, as in the films Bedazzled (1967, remade 2000) and Oh, God! You Devil (1984). In horror and suspense films, Satan provides for a virtually all-powerful foe.

Television

Animation

The Devil has been a popular recurring character in many animated films, either theatrical shorts, animated TV series and/or in anime. When a character has to take a moral choice a tiny-sized angel and devil often appear on both sides of his shoulders, representing the two possible choices he can take: the "good" path or the "bad" one. Demon-like characters have been featured as an occasional character in several animated series, either under the name Satan or as the Devil. When the Hays Code censorship was still in effect between the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s the Devil sometimes went nameless or received a different name referring to diabolical characters from other mythologies to avoid offending religious viewers. Examples of this practice are for instance Chernobog in Fantasia or the description of Hell as Hades in the Looney Tunes short Satan's Waitin' (1954). Even though these demons and their environment were not specifically identified as Satan and Hell, viewers still would make the connection based on the visual representation. Another way to avoid connotations with Satan was to make the demonic character an anthropomorphic cartoon animal.

Anime and manga

Advertising

Radio

The BBC Radio 4 comedy show Old Harry's Game features Andy Hamilton in the leading role as Satan; in the first episode of Series Six, Satan states that he has gone by many names over the centuries including Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Old Nick, Old Harry and Simon Cowell (one of his Satanic guises).

David Suchet played Satan in a radio adaptation of the play The Devil's Passion by Justin Butcher, broadcast on 3 December 2017.[51]

Trevor Spencer voices Lucifer in the BBV Productions series Hellscape (created as well by Trevor Spencer) which is part of the extended Faction Paradox & Doctor Who universe.

Literature

Many writers have incorporated the character of Satan into their works. Among them are, in chronological order:

Comics

In DC and Vertigo comics, the Devil is represented by Lucifer "Samael" Morningstar, the Fallen Angel, former ruler of Hell, and leader of the Unholy Trinity - although other figures, such as Neron and the First of the Fallen, sometimes portray the devil. It is the same Lucifer Morningstar from the Netflix series Lucifer. In Underworld Unleashed, Neron gives enhanced powers to numerous supervillains. Darkseid is also associated with the Devil in the forms of Lucifer, Hades, the Greek God of the underworld, and the Hindu goddess Kali.

In some Marvel Comics publications, a "Lucifer" has been mentioned as being a Hell-lord with the same "fallen from Heaven" backstory. In the Ghost Rider series, Johnny Blaze faces a demon who claims to be Lucifer. In other Marvel plotlines, several high-level demons, such as Mephisto, Azazel, Marduk Kurios, and Satannish, have claimed to be the biblical Satan. In Marvel Comics, the Norse trickster-god Loki is shown as the main adversary of his adopted brother Thor and a common enemy of both Earth and Asgard. Although Loki has conjured up somewhat demonic magic, he is not a demon, but a misshapen frost giant. Among the characters related to Norse mythology, the fire giant Surtur is more reminiscent of a demon. The Egyptian demon-god Seth and the Japanese demon-god Amatsu-Mikaboshi have Satan-like roles in Marvel Comics.

Satan is a main character in the manga Devilman by Go Nagai.

Jio Freed, the main character from the manga, O-Parts Hunter, contains Satan,[58] the most powerful demon in the series.

In the manga series Bastard‼: Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy by Kazushi Hagiwara, Satan appears as a large monster that has destroyed the Milky Way Galaxy by flying across it. Satan also helps Dark Schneider by telling him that he is a major part of the end times[clarification needed] prophecy, who will lead demons and mankind to war against God and his army.

In the Image Comics comic book series Spawn, Satan is depicted as the twin brother of God. Both God and Satan are depicted as having squandered their powers as creator gods in endless fighting and were punished for it by the Mother of Creation. In the resurrection one shot and the later issues, God was now more benevolent and less hostile while Satan was still the Supreme ruler of Hell and the third primary antagonist of the series the first being Malebolgia and the second being Mammon.

The title character of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac is sent to Hell and has an extensive conversation with Señor Diablo (Spanish for Mr. Devil). In the spinoff series Squee!, the Devil is married to a Christian woman and has a son, Pepito the Antichrist, who befriends the unwilling Squee. Squee is invited to Satan's house for dinner, where Satan and Pepito both try to get Squee to join them, but he refuses and leaves after finishing dinner.

Satan is the main character in Normal Bob Smith's satirical Satan's Salvation.

In the manga series Blue Exorcist by Kazue Kato, the main character, Rin Okumura, is Satan's son and emits blue flames, a sign of Satan. His twin, Yukio, is also a son of Satan, but does not bear the flames.

Lucifer appears in the Saint Seiya anime and manga series.

Video games

Role-playing games

The Devil's Dictionary

Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary gives a satirical view of Satan as "one of the Creator's lamentable mistakes". When expelled from Heaven, he asks that mankind be allowed to make its own laws, and the request is granted.

Legal matters

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. In its written opinion, the Court did not deny Satan's existence, but asserted that it was unlikely that Satan was ever present in the Western District of Pennsylvania, stating, "We question whether plaintiff may obtain personal jurisdiction over the defendant in this judicial district."

In 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 U.S. concerning Satan, thus the present U.S. official position seems to be that Satan may exist and, if so, might be found in New Hampshire.[60]

In Sweden, at least four people have had their application to use the name Lucifer rejected, either to change their legal name or to name their child, because the Swedish Tax Agency considered the name to be "strongly associated with the Devil or Satan and therefore capable of causing offence".[61] Names that, among other things, can cause offence, cannot be chosen according to naming law in Sweden.

See also

References

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  2. ^ Kurtz, Lester R., 2007, Gods in the Global Village: The World's Religions in Sociological Perspective, Pine Forge Press, ISBN 1-4129-2715-3, p. 153.
  3. ^ María Agui Carter; Calvin A. Lindsay, Jr. "Culture Shock: The TV Series & Beyond—The Devil's Music: 1920s Jazz". PBS. WGBH. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
  4. ^ "Lucifer Discography". Discogs.
  5. ^ "Lewis "Cypher" Discography". Discogs.
  6. ^ "Symphony For The Devil Amazon". Amazon UK.
  7. ^ Adams, William Lee (25 November 2020). "Cyprus: Elena Tsagrinou will sing 'El Diablo' at Eurovision 2021". Wiwibloggs. Archived from the original on 2020-11-25. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  8. ^ Wyman, Kelly J. (October 2004). "The Devil We Already Know: Medieval Representations of a Powerless Satan in Modern American CinemaPowerless Satan in Modern American Cinema". Journal of Religion & Film. 8 (3). Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  9. ^ "Faust". IMDb.
  10. ^ "The Man Who Cheated Life". IMDb.
  11. ^ Dieterle, William (Director) (1941). The Devil and Daniel Webster (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  12. ^ "The Devil with Hitler". IMDb.
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  14. ^ Mayo, Archie (Director) (1946). Angel on My Shoulder (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  15. ^ "Alias Nick Beal". IMDb.
  16. ^ Allen, Irwin (Director) (1957). The Story of Mankind (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  17. ^ "Up in Smoke". IMDb.
  18. ^ Abbott, George and Stanley Donen (Directors) (1958). Damn Yankees (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
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  20. ^ "The Greatest Story Ever Told". IMDb.
  21. ^ Polanski, Roman (Director) (1968). Rosemary's Baby (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  22. ^ "Satan's Triangle". IMDb.
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  24. ^ Steven Hilliard Stern (Director) (1981). The Devil and Max Devlin (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  25. ^ Hill, Walter (Director) (1986). Crossroads (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  26. ^ Parker, Alan (Director) (1987). Angel Heart (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  27. ^ Carpenter, John (Director) (1987). Prince of Darkness (Motion picture).
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  32. ^ Hyams, Peter (Director) (1999). End of Days (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  33. ^ Brill, Steven (Director) (2000). Little Nicky (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  34. ^ "Bedazzled". IMDb.
  35. ^ Mungia, Lance (Director) (2001). The Crow: Wicked Prayer (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
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  37. ^ Lawrence, Francis (Director) (2005). Constantine (Motion picture). Retrieved 26 February 2014.
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  39. ^ Grater, Tom (19 June 2020). "Trump Satire 'Bad President' Featuring Stormy Daniels Heads To Cannes On VMI Slate". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  40. ^ Gonzalez, Umberto (29 September 2020). "'Bad President' Movie Trailer Features the Devil Coaching Donald Trump – and Stormy Daniels as Herself (Video)". TheWrap. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  41. ^ Scheck, Frank (November 29, 2023). "'The Shift' Review: Faith-Based Thriller Proves Hard to Believe In". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 27, 2024. Neal McDonough plays the Devil, here known as "The Benefactor," in this religious-themed sci-fi thriller from Angel Studios.
  42. ^ Grobar, Matt (August 24, 2023). "Jamie Foxx To Play God Opposite Mickey Rourke's Devil In 'Not Another Church Movie'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
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  44. ^ "IMDb". IMDb.
  45. ^ "소울카르텔". comic.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved 2021-09-15.
  46. ^ Válková, Hana (2014-05-21). "U hokeje už nebude reklama na přípravek na podporu erekce". iDNES.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  47. ^ Kopecký, Josef (2016-03-23). "Mužem hned, ale až po 22. hodině. Poslanci vykázali "nechutnou" reklamu". iDNES.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  48. ^ "‚Mužem hned' poslanci posouvají. Reklama na viagru poběží po 22. hodině". Lidovky.cz (in Czech). 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  49. ^ Lundstrom, Kathryn (2020-12-03). "How Satan Fell for 2020, the Year From Hell". Adweek. Archived from the original on 2021-01-04. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  50. ^ Mastrangelo, Dominick (2020-12-03). "Match.com dating ad pairing Satan with 2020 goes viral". The Hill. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
  51. ^ "BBC Radio 3 - Drama on 3, the Devil's Passion".
  52. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Brian Stableford, The A to Z of Fantasy Literature, Scarecrow Press,Plymouth. 2005. ISBN 0-8108-6829-6 (109-110)
  53. ^ Les Daniels (1975). Living in Fear: A History of Horror in the Mass Media. Da Capo Press, (P. 17). ISBN 0306801930 .
  54. ^ The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition. Andrea Dezsö, illustrator. Princeton University Press. 2014 [1812]. p. 248. ISBN 978-0691160597. Retrieved February 2, 2016.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  55. ^ a b c d e f g h Darrell Schweitzer, "The Devil" in S. T. Joshi, ed., Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: an Encyclopedia of our Worst Nightmares (Greenwood, 2007), (p. 161-186) ISBN 0313337810
  56. ^ Eric Leif Davin.Partners in Wonder: Women and the Birth of Science Fiction, 1926-1965. Lexington Books. ISBN 978-0-7391-1267-0. (p. 380)
  57. ^ E. F. Bleiler,The Guide to Supernatural Fiction, Kent State University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-87338-228-9 (p.38).
  58. ^ Kishimoto, Seishi (2001). "Chapter 1". 666 Satan, Volume 1. Square Enix. ISBN 4-7575-0597-3.
  59. ^ MacGregor, India (27 Sep 2020). "How to Unlock The Adamant Rail in Hades". Screen Rant. Retrieved 10 Jul 2021.
  60. ^ http://kevinunderhill.typepad.com/Documents/Mayo_v_Satan.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  61. ^ Amanda Gustafsson; Sophia Vestrin (2020-07-09). "Kevin från Sundsvall nekas namnet Lucifer". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-07-09.

Further reading

External links

Look up Devil in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Devil.