The Big Picture: The Devil You Know - Part I

MovieBob

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The Devil You Know - Part I

Think you know all there is to know about Satan?

Watch Video
 

Pigeon_Grenade

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Everything You wanted to Know About Satan- but were afraid to ask, another Very interesting one bob, keep being awesome
 

MovieBob

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Some of the older shapes were far more interesting than the current... though maybe it's because the current got old already...
 

bor3ds0ul

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Is it alright if I ask for links to sites or books with more information about the origin of the Christian devil? It seems like a very interesting topic of study.
 

CrazyGirl17

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Well, color me interested. I guess I'll have t check back in next week to see where we go from here...
 

Desenova

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The thing with Christianity is that to them turning something upside down made it evil, the Wiccan star = Pentagram. But it is always interesting to learn about this stuff and the history of such a prominent figure in human existence.
 

MB202

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I was secretly hoping MovieBob would do an episode like this... Both informative AND fun, but of something that's still relevant to a lot of people. Somehow I get the feeling this will cause some controversy, but on the other hand, what tends to cause controversy on this site usually doesn't line up with this kind of stuff.
 

Falseprophet

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Desenova said:
The thing with Christianity is that to them turning something upside down made it evil, the Wiccan star = Pentagram.
Not really. There's not really any demonic associations with the pentagram before Eliphas Levi devised one in the mid-19th century. This is also around the time Wicca and other New Age belief systems are first formulated. The upside-down thing is mostly a pop-culture fabrication: Catholicism doesn't really have any negative associations with the upside-down crucifix, there's one on the front door to St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, because by Catholic tradition that's how Peter was crucified [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter#Death].

 

Gorrath

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Not a bad synopsis and fun to watch for sure. I would have been a bit harder on Margaret Murray though. To say that there were some holes in her hypothesis is a bit too light of a criticism. I get that your aim here is to talk about popular culture though, not academic criticism of Murray's work. I just think it should be made really clear that a whole lot of unsubstantiated claims were made by Murray, and her work led to a whole lot of biased speculation by others about historical pagan religious practice. Her work continues to influence many people today who read it and do not realize how badly supported many of her claims are.
 

Weresquirrel

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That whole Michelle Remembers thing sounds pretty similar to the plot of The She-Creature. Would it be perhaps presumptuous to think that this Lawrence Pazder fellow maybe saw the film and thought: "You know, I could probably pull a scam like that..."?
 

Casual Shinji

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Let's hope next week's episode sees a mention of both Satan in Bedazzled (the Dudley Moore and Peter Cook version) and The Adventures of Mark Twain. They're the best ones.
 

Gorrath

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Desenova said:
The thing with Christianity is that to them turning something upside down made it evil, the Wiccan star = Pentagram. But it is always interesting to learn about this stuff and the history of such a prominent figure in human existence.
I'm not sure where you got this idea from, but I don't know of any evidence that supports it. Inverted crosses are a part of Catholic cannon because of Peter's crucifixion. Even the inverted pentagram is far more a pop-culture icon that a religious one.

Edit: Credit to Falseprophet for beating me to it.
 

Bbleds

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Yes, it is interesting how the idea how the christian Bible merely mentions a figure and places that have been translated as hell. I think the most interesting pop culture use was Neil Gaiman's Sandman. The "Devil" is actually made of three figures, Lucifer, Beezelebub, and Azael, seemingly drawing from the different figures mentioned in religious writings. And hell wasn't necessarily a place created for punishment, but perhaps a necessary creation by people for people believing they need punishment for their guilt.
 

BrotherRool

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That was a really cool episode, it feels pretty impressive just how much information you compressed down into that time frame. It also felt pretty respectful, to well pretty much everyone
 

themilo504

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Never really understood why the devil is such a pop cultural icon, he?s not a particularly interesting villain and his worship was used as a excuse to burn people alive.
 

teamcharlie

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Huh. Was kinda hoping to hear a little bit about where Zoroastrianism comes into all this stuff, but interesting episode nonetheless. Could have also missed a text dump or two somewhere in there.
 

PunkRex

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I always considered the Devil to be a... scape goat... baby.



You're not gonna talk about Spiderman again are you Bob? There's only so much Marvel madness I can take.
 

Arqus_Zed

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Ah, Paradise Lost, Divina Commedia... Now that brings back memories.

Though I don't really get how Divina Commedia is supposed to have influenced the image of Satan. I mean, yeah, Paradise Lost, it's basically Lucifer's story, but Inferno is more about the nature of Hell than the devil himself - he's barely even in it!
 

maximara

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Casual Shinji said:
Let's hope next week's episode sees a mention of both Satan in Bedazzled (the Dudley Moore and Peter Cook version) and The Adventures of Mark Twain. They're the best ones.
IMHO The Adventures of Mark Twain Devil is far the most frightening version as he basically says he can't do evil because he doesn't know what evil is.