A Devil by Any Other Name

Surfing the web, I found this delightful list of the top ten depictions of Satan in movies from the website Listverse.

http://listverse.com/2008/05/16/top-10-depictions-of-satan-in-movies/

Going through the numbers, I can't help but think of how this list is a wonderful summary of the class materials so far. With only one more week to go, I find it fascinating that so much ground has been covered that I can look at a list such as this and point to a particular historical period, document or philosophy that informs a certain depiction.

For example, #9 on the list is straight-up Book of Job Satan, while the #5 entry is the classical big-red and horned devil from Tim Curry. Of course, the South Park devil is mentioned (furthering some of the Romantics' philosophy about humanizing and glorifying Satan's human characteristics), as well as the Robot Devil from Futurama (one of my personal favorites.)

In addition to some of these, I find it interesting that some of these depictions involve women and children. This was a question that I thought of a few times during the class: With women being persecuted with such ferocity during the ages, why isn't it common to see Satan as a woman? Granted, there are a few exceptions (Morgan LeFey, Lilith), but it seems as if they are more in service to the Devil rather than the actual thing. Perhaps as time goes on, depicting Satan as a female will grow in use.

Overall, I found this quick list a wonderful way to begin to wrap up our class going into the final week. Look at the variety! There are far more versions of the Devil than versions of God in the media. After this class, I feel that due to the habit that societies have with scapegoating and eventually challenging authority, these vastly different interpretations of the Devil are natural.

Anyway, the Devil is far more interesting in his depiction in movies. There are like what, TWO different types of Gods possible in comparison? Morgan Freeman and a big white dude with a beard don't really trump the variety of an Al Pacino Devil.

Clubbing Baby Seals and Other Things That Are Typically Frowned Upon...

So, I ran into this little music video while I was surfing on YouTube. I typically watch video game movies or comedy videos on YouTube, so I get recommendations all the time for stuff that I usually just ignore. However, this particular video caught my eye a couple of days ago and, needless to say, I had to click on it:

Stephen Lynch is a singing comedian, and I do remember hearing a few of his songs a couple of years back. This particular song I didn't remember at all, so it was fun both as a fan of comedy and as a semester student of Satan (trademarked phrase of mine, by the way) to see how, in such a short video, what the big images of Satan are in the 2000s.

Remembering our class discussion on the differences between Milton's Satan and Mephistopheles, I thought it was interesting that this video seems to lean much to the latter in its comic portrayal of the Devil. I also find it fascinating that a few of the political values of the republican party have been placed into Satan's mouth by the opposing party (and vice versa), keeping the spirit of demonization alive and well in this modern age. Lynch also describes Satan in a very Bacchus/Pan-like way with "little devil horns and a little goatee... and little cloven hooves that make it kinda hard to ski."

I also wonder if perhaps the beginning of Satan loving to make deals and best people in contests stem from Faust and the clever, trickster nature of the character in that work. Perhaps it was only with joining the charismatic and intelligent Satan in Milton's epic with the comic Mephistopheles in Faust that eventually gives birth to the idea of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and "The Devil and Daniel Webster": A character that is both inhumanly intelligent and evilly tricky.

Anyway, just a quick blog post about a video I saw the other day that YouTube recommended to me. The Devil just seems to be everywhere these days.

A Devilish Game

I’d like to talk about something called “creepypasta.” 

It’s about to get weird. 

About a year ago, I wrote a research paper about the genre of creepypastas, and while I don’t have any factual evidence to back up this claim, I do think that I was one of the first people to academically discuss and explore the nature of this internet phenomenon. In general, a “creepypasta” is a story meant to unnerve the reader. Originally, they were short stories first posted on internet forums like 4chan or Reddit and have since morphed into  full-length or (sometimes) novel-length stories. They are generally horror-themed and written by amateurs, and you would not be far off the mark to consider them current urban legends. 

The conclusion of my research paper (in case you’re interested) was that “folk” literature often highlights a society’s fear of the unknown; I compared American colonizers in the 1500s/1600s and their fear of the forests and native inhabitants of the area as explored through their use of Indian Captivity Narratives to our current society’s fear of the unknown personified by the internet and how that fear is explored by the genre of creepypastas.

Anyway, with that rambling done, I’d like to talk about one creepypasta called, “The Devil Game.” 

A few creepypastas are written as “rituals” and as I was reading the “Kali Tantra,” I was reminded of a few stories I had read in the past. Specifically, this one: 

For those who'd like to read the story, the text is right here: 

http://www.creepypasta.com/the-devil-game/

While a bit long, I do enjoy this set of instructions on how to speak with the Devil, and with the modern day touches the creepypasta has (leaving your cell-phone out, etc.), I couldn't help but think of how the Kali Tantra ritual would address such modern day accessories. 

And this brings up an interesting idea: Are rituals meant to be more for the practitioner than anything/anyone else? Why do rituals have such an importance on separating from the "modern" world? Are rituals such as the Kali Tantra or The Devil Game, in similarity to Jesus's time in the desert, meant to be a time for seclusion and introspection while we are confronted with ourselves? Like Batman in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, must we retreat to our bat cave to "find our strength"? I find it interesting that the Devil in this creepypasta must be seen through a mirror, and you can never take your eyes of it without serious consequences. 

Batman... Because why not?.... From DCcomics.com

The idea of doing a ritual to attain some sort of magical reward is a cool connection to our studies about how the early Christian church tried so hard to squash those types of rituals of the "pagans" both philosophically and practically. However, these ideas still persisted, especially in the use of the Catholic devotions to particular saints. Even in this creepypasta, the idea of performing a set of rituals to communicate with the "other" power in order to "get" something is still alive and well. 

As well as with the meditation on the nature of ritual, I find the image of the Devil in this creepypasta interesting when compared to the roots of the character we find in Zoroastrianism and in the Hebrew Bible. He seems more cool, calm and collected... The image that I have when I think of the Devil in the modern times. And speaking of modernity, without spoiling the story, I do love how this character is placed in the Internet Age. It will be interesting to see how and why these changes occur over the ages. 

It will be awesome to study this story further after this class has ended and the arc of the character of Satan is fully articulated. Perhaps there are more connections that I'm not thinking of or am ignorant of, and it would be cool to see how all of these different tributaries connect to the source river.