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The Dapper Devil

Leumas

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I recently watched a movie that has the Devil as a protagonist in the plot, which set me thinking.

As depicted in the movie the Devil is a very DAZZLINGLY dressed guy. He is wearing a $1000 suite with $300 sunglasses and $10,000 watch while driving a $100,000 Convertible black shiny car and is self-confident and CHARMING as well as an extremely ALLURING character.

What is funny about this is that in other movies this exact same description usually is the HERO of the movie. This same description is what we all ASPIRE to achieve.

What is even funnier is that I would bet the majority of the viewers of this movie would not find it in any way annoying or insulting that the Devil is depicted in this fashion. I would bet that most people, just like the director of the movie, would not consider this image of the DAPPER CAPITALIST for the Devil at all outrageous or unacceptable or not in accord with their imagination.

So here is the question I want to ask Christians…………

Why do you ASPIRE to be more like the DEVIL than like Jesus?

I think most Christians would be utterly surprised, shocked and INSULTED if the director of a movie were to depict Jesus as the DAPPER CAPITALIST.

YET……most Christians would drive to a church on Sunday mornings looking like the Dapper Capitalist (or at least attempting their best to do so) with their shiny cars and suites and hats and gold chains and watches and pearl necklaces that they would love to SHOW OFF to their neighbors and other church goers.

In the church…. They PRAY for more money, and power, while envying the ones that have more dapper suites or bigger diamond rings.

Outside the church… they ARGUE with people who want to give healthcare to the less fortunate. They would HATE anyone who tells them that “love thy neighbor” are not just empty words to be repeated inside the church while DEMANDING more FENCES and more LAWS to kick out or imprison thy neighbor.


I wonder if they would ever realize that they are ASPIRING to be more like the DEVIL than JESUS… and MOST have succeeded.
 
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from Milton onwards, the figure of the devil in literature has tended towards portrayal as beautiful, angelic even. This is neither a new idea nor a particularly strange one, the devil has to appear tempting.
 
Oooh... one of my favorite subjects actually. I have written extensively about the devil in medieval lore and it's a great subject.

Milton's "Paradise Lost" is a masterpiece of literary fiction and was meant to explain the ways of God to man, according to Milton himself. However, as Milton wrote the magnum opus, we see the character of Satan as what would be best described as a tragic hero. He is seen as intelligent, strong willed and determined. He rebelled against an enemy that cannot, by definition, be defeated. All that he can hope for is defeat against a God that is defined as omnipotent and omniscient. Yet, despite the certainty of defeat and possible destruction, he will not yield or bend, rather he continues to fight and even rallies his troops when all they can see is failure and torment.

There is every indication that Milton didn't mean to write Satan as a hero and instead got carried away with the character. Keep in mind that this was written in ink with a quill, by aides because Milton was blind. There was little possibility that Milton would rewrite it if he thought it was not well written. Towards the middle of the book, the character of Satan undergoes a drastic and downwards revision, more low and cunning than heroic. It's hard to say why this was done... but theories abound.

God on the other hand, is very difficult to write as a heroic figure. Being all powerful makes conflict a tad one sided. The enemy comes up with a brilliant strategy... nope, God wins. The enemy fights harder and is more determined... too bad, God wins. Heck.. he won before the fight started, eons before. Even with Jesus, though the idea of becoming one of us is a step in the right direction as far as drama goes, there is still the sense that it's all planned out and inevitable. There would have had to have been the possibility of failure for Jesus's struggle to have been heroic... and though that might have been the case historically (depending on your point of view as far as that history goes), the Church and various Christian authors have removed that in favor of making Jesus more perfect and Godlike.


No contest... also no real interest from an authors point of view.


Modernly there is still the same interest in the devil. Satan in many ways is still seen as being more one of us than the alternative.

Now.. as far as Christians being wealthy... that also has a long and sordid history.

It could well be argued that Jesus (whichever historical figure he might be) was on the side of the poor and downtrodden. However, that image did not suit the Church in any way, nor did it suit many Christians who were, what a surprise, wealthy. So an alternative image of Christ evolved, one more in keeping with the image that the elite preferred. You could pray for wealth and power, and interestingly, also pay for Heaven.

I wrote a fairly lengthy thesis on the genesis of indulgences et al of that kind. If people want I can go over the history of the Church's drive for wealth and power.

In the middle ages, it was heresy to suggest that the Church should be poor. Many many people died trying to promote the idea.

It never caught on.
 
Lamuella said:
from Milton onwards, the figure of the devil in literature has tended towards portrayal as beautiful, angelic even. This is neither a new idea nor a particularly strange one, the devil has to appear tempting.
Click to expand...

He is an angel, in fact he was the highest ranking one, he got fired from his job but he's still an angel.
 
I've far preferred Milton's satan to his god.

Of course, I'm contrarian and prefer rebels and underdogs to narcissistic control freaks.

Gods and their paradises are soooooooo boring, especially when you consider the types of people who purportedly end up there.
 
Lamuella said:
from Milton onwards, the figure of the devil in literature has tended towards portrayal as beautiful, angelic even. This is neither a new idea nor a particularly strange one, the devil has to appear tempting.
Click to expand...

And from a modern media standpoint it is even more simple, intuitive even.

Let's say you are the devil, you may not have god's powers, but you have a darn sight more than the average person. Do you choose to live in a box, wearing hand me down clothing, and smelling of cheap liquor to try and entice people, or do you poof some nice clothing , car, etc. into existence to strike a better figure?

He is a manipulative gent, with the ability to put off any appearance he wants, it simply makes sense he would put off a successful vibe. Who is going to sell their soul to someone who looks like they have trouble scraping together the cash for a meal at McDonalds.
 
I question the supposition of the OP that "we" aspire to $10,000 watches etc. My $25 (very accurate) Casio and I beg to differ.
 
RobDegraves said:
I wrote a fairly lengthy thesis on the genesis of indulgences et al of that kind. If people want I can go over the history of the Church's drive for wealth and power.

In the middle ages, it was heresy to suggest that the Church should be poor. Many many people died trying to promote the idea.

It never caught on.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested.
 
RobDegraves said:
God on the other hand, is very difficult to write as a heroic figure. Being all powerful makes conflict a tad one sided. The enemy comes up with a brilliant strategy... nope, God wins. The enemy fights harder and is more determined... too bad, God wins. Heck.. he won before the fight started, eons before. Even with Jesus, though the idea of becoming one of us is a step in the right direction as far as drama goes, there is still the sense that it's all planned out and inevitable. There would have had to have been the possibility of failure for Jesus's struggle to have been heroic... and though that might have been the case historically (depending on your point of view as far as that history goes), the Church and various Christian authors have removed that in favor of making Jesus more perfect and Godlike.
Click to expand...

So, essentially, Yaweh is a Mary-Sue.
 
Well, generally the consolidation from polytheism to exclusivist monotheism is very much a story of making one god a Mary Sue or Garry Stu. As long as you can admit that some other guy's imaginary friend can be powerful too, and that yours can have any kind of balanced and interesting interaction with them, and all, you're not really a monotheist.
 
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