The Power of Choice
in Dante’s Inferno
During class today we discussed that
the filmmakers of Dante’s Inferno emphasized
that the decision of who goes to hell and who doesn't is a human choice. This strongly opposes the ideas that Dante
himself supported in his writing of
Inferno. In the original text, the
creation of the divisions of hell and the choosing of the inhabitants who live
there is left to God. God’s choices are considered to be perfect, and by the
end of Inferno Dante’s doubts in God
have largely disappeared. In the post
movie discussion we brought up these points, but we weren't able to discuss the
significance of the filmmaker’s choice to change this part of the story. What point were the filmmakers trying to
make, or what message were they trying to send?
Since Dante’s Inferno is a satire my first instinct is to believe that most
of the stylistic changes applied to the original story are for the purpose of
stimulating cultural change. This would
fit in with many of the other changes used in the film such as the urban
setting and the contemporary characters.
Dante-poet made the decision for God to be perfect and all-powerful for
the same reason the filmmakers of Dante’s
Inferno chose to have God play a lesser role in the story, and that is to
fit the cultural moment in which each piece was created. Dante needed an omnipotent, cruel God to make
all the decisions in order to send the message he intended to share with
readers, while the filmmakers appealed to our modern culture’s growing independence
from God by placing the big decisions in human hands. By doing this the filmmakers are issuing a
call to action for the viewers of the film by offering more control over their lives
then Dante ever allowed in the original story.
The filmmakers are asking the viewer to take matters of right and wrong
into their own hands, instead of relying on a divine power for justice. It seems as if the filmmakers believe that
the sins portrayed in the film are too out of hand to be dealt with through the
threat of eternal damnation. By giving the viewer more
responsibility the filmmakers are attempting to provide a basis on which
society can begin improvement through self-examination.
I was also very interested in this contrast between the film and the poem as well. The appearance of actual people or just their hands has several implications. While nearly all implications from the poem or the film are purely speculative, the decision to include the human body in some form or another causes the viewer to consider questions the creators of the film are trying to get at. For one, this could be in reference to the declining amount of Americans who consider themselves “religious,” therefore indicating the idea that humans are perceiving themselves as the most intelligent creatures in existence. I find this interesting especially considering the filmmakers decided to eliminate a large majority of the religious content that is prevalent in the poem. Another aspect, which we discussed briefly in class, was the idea that this is possibly in reference to a man-made hell on Earth. Humans have the power to make the world a version of Hell through overindulgence, lies, violence, etc. According to the film, the U.S. is well on its way of doing so. In part, I think this can be a somewhat dangerous ideology when one considers it seriously. If we begin to take matters of right and wrong into our own hands and create our own sense of justice, how can there ever be actual justice? Any individual will want someone who has done them personal harm, regardless of how they treated others, to be “damned” while at the same time wanting someone who has served them well but other poorly to be “saved.” The superiority of humankind is an equally terrifying, yet much more real conflict in today’s world than in that of the fourteenth-century Dante.
ReplyDeleteI also found this idea of human power and human choice intriguing. As Zach mentioned, the presence of religion is much different in the poem than in the film. Dante was strongly rooted in his Christian faith and based his poem on what he believed was Godly. This is largely absent in the film – really the only reference of a higher power at all is when Beatrice’s photo appears on a shining cloud. This is significant because Beatrice is still a human, granted a dead human, but a human nevertheless. The filmmakers did not point back to any higher power by referencing Mary, the mother of Christ, or even God himself. I agree that the filmmakers felt that the threat of eternal damnation was not significant for their American audience. However, I feel that that is more of a commentary on America’s decreasing foundation in faith than the severity of the sins necessitating human punishment.
ReplyDeleteThis film is congruent with many other American cultural ideals of dystopia. Take the Hunger Games for example. This story is one in which humans take control of others and use fear and punishment of fight-to-the-death “games” as a way to control the citizenry. Humans are making these decisions, not any divine power. Though this trilogy was published in 2008 after the release of this movie, the cultural idea of “human divinity” was pervasive and is still present in American society today.