{"id":8211,"date":"2017-10-25T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-10-25T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=8211"},"modified":"2018-06-28T13:33:47","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T17:33:47","slug":"i-love-lucifer-the-evolution-of-satan-in-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/i-love-lucifer-the-evolution-of-satan-in-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"I Love Lucifer: The Evolution of Satan in Cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Devil has been a prominent part of film since its inception, but the depiction of Lucifer has changed with the times to reflect humanity\u2019s vices. Let\u2019s look at how Lucifer has transitioned from the big-horned behemoth into the shifting shape of a man he is today. (In the interest of time and space, we\u2019re sticking to literal personifications of the Devil.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of the earliest cinematic interpretations of the Devil was in the 1922 Swedish film Haxan<\/i><\/span><\/a>, a look at the sinful lives of witches and devil worshippers. Described as a trickster, seducer and more in Haxan<\/i>, the Devil in silent features manifests the way many who read the Bible would imagine him: cloven hooves, horned and terrifying, yet able to enthrall wayward woman. Haxan\u2019s<\/i> intention was to \u201ceducate\u201d audiences on the horrors of witchcraft and living an unclean life while simultaneously delighting them with forbidden and frightening thrills.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The majority of Lucifer appearances are derivations on Goethe\u2019s Faust<\/i> narrative, and the 1926 German adaptation of Faust<\/i><\/span><\/a> sets up the premise for a future generation of Devil-centric narratives. The Devil of Faust<\/i> is frightening in a manner similar to Haxan<\/i>, but where Haxan\u2019s<\/i> Devil is a jack-of-all-trades with little personality, the Devil of Faust<\/i> is calculating. He tricks the young man into selling his soul without specifications on what that means. Where Haxan<\/i> is about the temptations and weaknesses of humanity, Faust<\/i> shows our ability to jump on material possessions without looking at the long-term ramifications. However, this is often hard to convey with nothing but intertitles to be read on-screen, hence the reliance on terrifying imagery to illustrate the frightening nature of the Devil himself. Though WWI had ended nearly a decade before the release of Faust<\/i>, it was the first attempt to connect the Devil as instigator of war and vice.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Beezlebub took the 1930s off before coming back with a vengeance in the \u201840s with four features. It\u2019s unsurprising that Hollywood took hold of the Devil during this time, as the U.S., already mired in the aftermath of the Great Depression, would find itself drawn into WWII and the Devil made a convenient scapegoat as the sole villain behind all of life\u2019s evils. Released the same year as The Grapes of Wrath<\/i>, the Capra-esque The Devil and Daniel Webster<\/i> (1941) presents our first look at a Lucifer who is sprightly, tricky, and, dare we say, charming? Walter Huston\u2019s enigmatic Mr. Scratch presents the typical Faustian bargain to a struggling New Hampshire man named Jabez Stone (James Craig), with the stakes being Stone\u2019s soul. The distinction lies in the fact that Stone isn\u2019t the protagonist \u2014 Congressman Daniel Webster (Edward Arnold) is.<\/span><\/p>\n

The morally upright politician is Mr. Scratch\u2019s ultimate get, and in a move reminiscent of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington<\/i> (1939), it is up to Webster \u2014 and by proxy the U.S. government \u2014 to help the common man, in this case Stone. Stone\u2019s desire for material possessions and a quick fix for his poverty flies in the face of the Works Progress Administration that popped up after the Depression. For Stone, it is only through relying on things like the WPA \u2014 not as a quick fix, but a means of putting in hard work \u2014 that he\u2019ll succeed. Mr. Scratch isn\u2019t violent like the Devil in Haxan<\/i>, but practical and rational. The final showdown for Stone\u2019s soul involves Mr. Scratch and Webster putting the common man on trial with a jury of the most evil men who, for some reason, think Webster makes a convincing argument for the good of humanity. As the \u201840s went on, the Devil continued to be presented as a rational man who followed the rules and laws of man. He could bend the rules so far, but remained bound to them. <\/span><\/p>\n

A man of law fighting against the Devil would pop up later in the decade with Alias Nick Beal<\/i> (1949) and 1946\u2019s Angel on My Shoulder<\/i>. Even in a frothy romantic drama like 1943\u2019s Heaven Can Wait<\/i>, Laird Cregar\u2019s Devil is a honey-voiced teddy bear who only wants the worst of the worst, and that\u2019s not protagonist Henry Van Cleve (Don Ameche). When Van Cleve demands a place in Hell for his deeds, it is the Devil who declares Van Cleve isn\u2019t that bad, reuniting the man with his wife. In each case, the Devil remains a man with ethics that, while presented as bad, aren\u2019t malicious. Each iteration of the character presents threatening situations and circumstances, but the Devils aren\u2019t threatening themselves \u2014 gone are the cloven hooves and horns in favor of sharp suits. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Devil remained a pragmatic figure in the \u201850s. In The Story of Mankind<\/i> (1957), Vincent Price \u2014 also playing a character named Mr. Scratch \u2014 literally charts the course of human history in order to determine whether humanity is on the road to destruction or not. Where The Devil and Daniel Webster\u2019s<\/i> trial for mankind presented a verdict that hadn\u2019t been determined yet \u2014 in 1941 there was no indication how long the war would last or its impact \u2014 The Story of Mankind<\/i> posits man\u2019s role in the creation of nuclear power. Coming just 12 years after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japan, and coming alongside the growing Cold War and space race, The Story of Mankind<\/i> uses the Devil as nothing more than a figurehead. Gone is the literal manifestation of our own evil in favor of influence. Price\u2019s Scratch is indifferent to humanity, but happy for mass destruction. The Devil didn\u2019t make us do it, but he was giving us a friendly nudge. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Story of Mankind <\/i>is also the film to posit a Devil figure free of any religious denomination. Though the previous films all avoid the word God and the Devil \u2014 the use of trials in Daniel Webster<\/i> and The Story of Mankind<\/i> negate religion in favor of law \u2014 The Story of Mankind<\/i> takes the Devil\u2019s dominion away from him. He has no real power, nor place in the world. He\u2019s a man without a country. <\/span><\/p>\n

Removing the Devil from a hellish plane is continued in 1958\u2019s Damn Yankees<\/i>, where a middle-aged baseball fan makes a Faustian bargain with Ray Walston\u2019s Mr. Applegate. Unlike the previous takes on Faust, materialism isn\u2019t the goal, but youth and the ability to rectify past mistakes. Mr. Applegate isn\u2019t a rational man of law and order but a gambler. And unlike previous films where a trial of impartial observers saves mankind, it is the man who sold his soul in the first place, protagonist Joe Boyd, who saves himself with an \u201cescape clause.\u201d In a decade fraught with consumerism, man finally becomes an active participant in the fight against the Devil.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the zeitgeist changed in the \u201860s and \u201870s, the deeds of man were perceived as more frightening than anything the Devil could cook up, leading to a lack of devilish films. Rosemary\u2019s Baby<\/i> and The Omen<\/i> (1976) both focus on the Devil fathering an anti-Christ, a hybrid of human and Devil. The Devil doesn\u2019t appear in these films directly, but acts as an absentee father impregnating women and leaving them with the fallout. The American family itself was perceived as under attack. With the generation gap leaving Baby Boomer parents to question their children\u2019s tastes, it was easy to believe that their children were spawned, or at least corrupted, by the Devil himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The outlier is 1967\u2019s Bedazzled<\/i>, a British comedy where the Devil (Peter Cook) gives a shy man (Dudley Moore) seven wishes, only to put a wrench in each wish due to semantics. Unlike the \u201860s take on the Devil in the U.S., where he\u2019s unseen but witnessed in future generations through childbirth, Cook\u2019s Lucifer, named George, hearkens back to the tricky Devils like Huston and Walston. The soul of Dudley Moore\u2019s Stanley Moon is little more than a number in a bet with God to procure 100 billion souls. Lucifer toys with Moon, to frustrate him and simply because he can. And, as in Damn Yankees<\/i>, Moon\u2019s soul is spared by a technicality \u2014 in this case, George has made his quota and decides to spare Moon \u2026 again, because he can. God and the Devil are both presented as apathetic tyrants who equally abuse mankind for their own selfish whims. Bedazzled\u2019s<\/i> 2000 remake gives audiences a female devil, played by Elizabeth Hurley in all manner of fetishistic clothing. By this time, the Devil is bored by humans, picking a victim via computer program. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Devil took new forms in the excessive \u201880s, where violence and sexuality worked in tandem to show the true horrors of the Devil\u2019s work. Angel Heart<\/i> (1987) sees the Devil take the form of Louis Cyphre (Robert De Niro), who\u2019s desperate to lay claim to a lone soul, that of crooner Johnny Favorite. Set in 1955, the film\u2019s gumshoe protagonist (Mickey Rourke) is drawn into a web of rape, incest, and murder with the Devil not doing much short of coming to collect. In this case, the Devil is little more than a negotiator who gets a contract signed and waits to collect payment. It is Favorite himself who commits all the film\u2019s horrific crimes and being left to deal with the guilt on his conscience and an eternity in Hell. <\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, 1987\u2019s The Witches of Eastwick<\/i> puts women at the center of an encounter with the Devil, here played by Jack Nicholson. Nicholson\u2019s Daryl van Horne personifies the \u201880s male: smarminess, misogyny, and dominance. He lives to excess and is hard to separate from Nicholson\u2019s offscreen persona at the time. Unlike Angel Heart,<\/i> though, the film\u2019s trio of women end up besting the Devil at his own game, dominating him and putting him in his place, a slap in the face to the backlash against \u201870s feminism. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The \u201890s Satan further revels in violence, taking a backseat to let man usher in his own destruction. In 1992\u2019s adaptation of Stephen King\u2019s Needful Things<\/i>, Max von Sydow\u2019s Leland Gaunt acts as an instigator, a Twilight Zone<\/i>-esque villain who watches over a small town as it destroys itself through his needling. His entire purpose is to illustrate what the greed of the \u201880s can do to small-town America if it allows itself to be consumed by \u201cthings,\u201d either of nostalgic value or monetary. This is a concept mimicked in 1997\u2019s The Devil\u2019s Advocate<\/i>, where Al Pacino\u2019s John Milton \u2014 a meta reference to Milton\u2019s Paradise Lost<\/i> \u2014 is the ultimate capitalist. The Devil has taken over New York via corporate interests, hoping that his son (Keanu Reeves) will inherit his empire. Outside of being one of the few self-aware personifications of Satan, where he directly comments on his own historical significance and perceived bad reputation, The Devil\u2019s Advocate<\/i> pokes at the long line of generational \u201cdevils\u201d who have created a wage gap dividing and destroying humanity with money. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Prophecy<\/i> (1995) is one of the few \u201890s outliers that retains Satan\u2019s need for dominance of humanity in a literal war between angels and devils. Here played by Viggo Mortensen, the Devil remains an opportunist, but money and other earthly things don\u2019t factor into his worldview. He\u2019s profiting from a disagreement among the angels in Heaven, and humanity is little more than a nuisance to him. In fact, the film\u2019s climax puts the deus ex machina in his hands, forcing him to \u201csave\u201d the Earth to prevent humanity from stealing his thunder as the creators of ultimate suffering. This is a move similar to Lucifer in 1999\u2019s South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut<\/i>, Tom Waits in The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus <\/i>(2009), and Peter Stormare\u2019s Satan in the 2004 film Constantine.<\/i> These Satans are isolated, only drawn into the features because of man\u2019s weakness. Later on they become little more than plot devices, keeping humanity protected to keep their own existence (and the narrative) going.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Passion of the Christ <\/i>(2004) <\/i>is one of the rare films to show the Biblical incarnation of the Devil, here played by Rosalinda Celentano. The androgynous personification of Satan tempts Jesus (Jim Caviezel) and witnesses his crucifixion. Passion of the Christ<\/i> doesn\u2019t aim for metaphor but a literal translation of the Devil in Christianity. Where the Devil isolates himself in film, The Passion of the Christ <\/i>plays towards Christians specifically. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nowadays the Devil is a background character, dispensing minions to do his bidding as he waits behind the scenes. Films like Drive Angry <\/i>(2011), This is the End <\/i>(2013), and The Witch <\/i>(2016) <\/i>present the Devil as an unseen central figure, returning him to the \u201860s where he was content to play with mortals without engaging directly. Maybe this is because religion is in flux or because the evil that men do has, once again, become more horrific than anything the devil could conjure up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Kristen Lopez<\/a> lives in Sacramento, just down the road from Hell.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Devil has been a prominent part of film since its inception, but the depiction of Lucifer has changed with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":467,"featured_media":8212,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[337,1399,1381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-looking-back","category-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}