how Hannibal Lecter has replaced Satan in popular culture

I'm in media studies so I found this article interesting. Not just Hannibal Lecter, but if you think about it, Satan isn't a popular representation of evil anymore. Hannibal Lecter probably scares more people on average than Satan. The last time we got a good and evil Satan was probably "The Devil's Advocate" & "End of Days" those were campy and overblown. heck even "Dogma" which was probably one of the only Christian mythological films in a long time didn't even have Satan in it. (there was "Fallen", which was a very cool little underrated flick - but that was one of his minions again, I think. Spawn was just lame.) Satan is now ridiculed by South Park & Bezaddled & Little Nicky - making Satan a comedic character. (I haven't seen "The Devil's Backbone" and I have no idea if that has anything to do with the big red dude, but correct me if I'm wrong.) The presentation of the Vampires in "Blade II" may have had religious overtones, but still, we're talkin about Vampires here.

Because of an increasingly secularlized society, the old religious myths just don't cut the mustard anymore so we create new personifications of evil through individuals - Hannibal Lecter, Jack the Ripper, heck, even Osma Bin Laden. While God hasn't reached that point yet (see "Signs") it might eventually. (in fact, I'd love to see a flick something along the lines of "Bezaddled" with God as a comedic character) Just the whole thing if you look at it is an interesting little offshoot of the death of religion in modern society.

things that make you go "Hmmmmmm..."

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/liv...02/12evil.html

1. Well naturally. Stalin and Hitler don't scare anyone because they are dead. We ain't had a good enemy that we could demonize since they kicked the bucket. Of course media would replace it. What are little kids more scared of than monsters they saw in movies?
2. I haven't seen any of the Hannibal Lecter movies, but as far as I'm concerned Colonel Kurtz, Tom Ripley, and Kyzer Soze are way scarier than he is.
2. I think the most interesting thing about "Bedazzled" is not that Satan is lampooned (I think she's fairly evil), but rather portrayed as a sex object. And effectively, too.

Originally posted by Mr. Rhinoceros
1. Well naturally. Stalin and Hitler don't scare anyone because they are dead.

I honest to god mistook "Satan" in the topic line for "Stalin". Not that big of a mistake, I don't think.

Originally posted by Mr. Rhinoceros

2. I haven't seen any of the Hannibal Lecter movies, but as far as I'm concerned Colonel Kurtz, Tom Ripley, and Kyzer Soze are way scarier than he is.

Yeah, you named some kickass villans there. (Kyzer Soze & John Doe are my favorite "evil" characters from the 90s and I think both are Kevin Spacey's best roles). But the Lecter flicks aren't half bad either. I know, I know, big pop culture icon so it won't measure up to expectations. But if you just take it on the surface impression and put aside all the hype and bullshit, Anthony Hopkins does some really nice scenery chewing. I'm a fan of overacting evil with a capital E (probably from watching "Wrath of Khan" so much) so its effective in that way.

haven't seen "Talented Mr. Ripley" since it came out, I should rent that again cuz I'm actually a bigger fan of Damon and Law now. . .

Now that I think about it, they made Kyzer Soze seem like Satan in Usual Suspects so, heck, THAT is probably the most effective protrayal of the devil in recent memory. damn, I really should buy that double disc DVD . . .