Dante Today
Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary and Popular Culture
Performing Arts Archive
« Page 4 of 5 »
Fritz Lang, "Metropolis" (1927)
http://www.howwastheshow.com/index.cfm/action/reviews.view/reviewKey/315
"At about 80-90 minutes into the film, the Seven Deadly Sins with Death are presented as statues in a church. Death is playing a bone as if it were a flute, and the statues of the Seven Deadly Sins come to life." (Ian Eternick)
Contributed by Ian Eternick (Luther College, '11)
Roberto Benigni's "Tutto Dante"
Contributed by Dorothea Herreiner
John Curran, "The Painted Veil" (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0446755/
The 2006 movie, The Painted Veil, based on a novel by Somerset Maugham ultimately derives from the author's fascination with Pia, a character in Dante's Purgatorio. This discussion of the movie quotes from Maugham's preface to the novel:
"The idea for the novel began when Maugham was studying Italian under the tuition of the daughter of his landlady in Tuscany before World War I (he had by then decided to abandon a career in medicine for the life of a writer). While working through Dante's Purgatorio, he came upon this line, spoken by the adulterous wife Pia: Siena mi fe'; disfecemi Maremma. (Siena made me, Maremma unmade me.) Ersilia (for so the tutor was named) explained that Pia was a noblewoman of Siena whose husband, suspecting her of adultery and afraid on account of her family to put her death, took her down to his castle in the Maremma valley, the noxious vapors of which he was confident would kill her off. But she took so long to die that he grew impatient and had her tossed out a window. As Maugham explains in his preface to the novel: "I do not know where Ersilia learnt all this. The note in my own Dante was less circumstantial, but the story for some reason caught my imagination. I turned it over in my mind and for many years from time to time would brood over it for two or three days. I used to repeat to myself the line: Siena mi fe'; disfecemi Maremma. But it was one among many subjects that occupied my fancy and for long periods, I forgot it. Of course I saw it as a modern story, but I could not think of a setting in the world of today in which such events might plausibly happen. It was not till I made a long journey in China that I found this." (Edward T. Oakes, http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=586)
Contributed by Patrick Molloy
Tom Shadyac, "Liar Liar" (1997)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119528/
"The lawyer, played by Jim Carrey is having a terrible day and when he meets the witness he will be questioning in court later that afternoon, the guy asks, 'how ya doin?' and Fletcher Reed (played by Carrey) responds, 'I've slipped into the 7th circle of hell how does it look like im doing!!!'"
Contributed by Yoni Shemesh (Bowdoin, '09)
"Dante's Inferno" (Sean Meredith, Paul Zaloom, Sandow Birk, 2007)
"DANTE'S INFERNO has been kicking around the cultural playground for over 700 years. But it has never before been interpreted with exquisitely hand-drawn paper puppets, brought to life using purely hand-made special effects. Until now. Rediscover this literary classic, retold in a kind of apocalyptic graphic novel meets Victoria-era toy theater. Dante's Hell is brought to lurid 3-dimensional, high-definition life in a darkly comedic travelogue of the underworld--set against an all-too-familiar urban backdrop of used car lots, gated communities, strip malls, and the U.S. Capitol, and populated with a contemporary cast of reprobates, including famous (and infamous) politicians, presidents, popes, pimps, and the Prince of Darkness himself."
http://www.dantefilm.com/index.html
trailer: http://www.dantefilm.com/trailer.html
Contributed by Zac Milner (Bowdoin, '07)
McFarlane, McElroy, Dippe', "Spawn" (1997)
http://www.geocities.com/axel2sa/images2/Spawn_Dark_Ages_04.jpg
"The movie adaptation of Todd McFarlane's mega-cult comic! Al Simmons is a hitman who works for the government. One day, someone sets him up and he gets killed. Of course, he goes to Hell, where Malebolgia - the Devil himself - offers him a deal. Al will come back to life with a certain amount of "energy", but when it runs out, he will return to Hell as a Hellspawn, and help in the war against Heaven. Al accepts the offer, because of the love for his wife Wanda, but when he arrives to Earth he sees that the Devil has cheated him... His face is horribly distorted, his body covered with a living suit, and the worst of all; he finds Wanda married with his best friend. Shattered, the Spawn starts wandering in New York's alleys..." (Chris Makrozahopoulos)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120177/plotsummary
ABC Series "Lost"
In the most recent episode (aired March 14) one particular bit of dialogue rang particularly true to me of Dante's ideas of Purgatory and Paradise:
Kate: Why would you want to come back?
Mikhail: You would not understand.
Kate: Try me.
Mikhail: I misspoke, what I meant to say is you are not capable of understanding.
Kate: And why am I not capable?
Mikhail: Because you are not on the list.
Kate: What list?
Mikhail: The man who brought me here, who brought all of my people here, he is a magnificent man.
Mikhail: I will try to make this as simple as I can. You are not on the list because you are flawed, because you are angry and weak and frightened.
Much like the virtuous pagans who died before Christ and those whose souls have not been purified by the purgation process cannot comprehend Paradise, it seems as if, at least in the minds of "the Others" those who are not on the list, which seems to be comprised of only those who they deem good, cannot comprehend the goodness of the island. Of course, this would make the island some odd hybrid of Purgatory (since the inhabitants do seem to relive their past mistakes and, in some way, atone for them) and Paradise, since the others view the island as their paradise. Of course the others are no angels (wow that was a bad joke)--they seem to be willing to go as far as murder to protect their paradise. Perhaps this bit of dialogue is evidence that the writers were inspired by aspects of the Divine Comedy. (Charlie Russell-Schlesinger)
Contributed by Charlie Russell-Schlesinger (Bowdoin, '08)
Troy Duffy, "The Boondock Saints" (1999)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0144117/
"About one hour into the movie they go to a strip club to kill Ron Jeremy's character. The door leading into the dancer's room reads 'Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.' " (Charlie Russell-Schlesinger)
Contributed by Charlie Russell-Schlesinger (Bowdoin, '08)
"Monk" Season 1 (2002)
http://www.amazon.com/Monk-Season-One-Adam-Arkin/dp/fun-facts/B0001KL5IU
Adrian Monk says of speed dating: "that's like Dante's Seventh Circle of Hell."
Contributed by Lisa Peterson (Bowdoin, '07)
Star Trek's first pilot episode, "The Cage" (1966)
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Original-Episode-Pilot/dp/fun-facts/6300213056
Captain Pike says he feels like he is in Dante's Inferno.
Contributed by Lisa Peterson (Bowdoin, '07)
Background Image: Domenico di Michelino, Dante and His Comedy, 1465
