Instead of being the character that we're superficially told to hate but secretly acknowledge as the personification of liberation? The "Satan is actually a good guy/makes sense/is an anti-villain/hero" trope is so cliche and we honestly need more movies where Satan is an absolute villain that we want to delightfully see the death of.
I was wondering the same thing. Maybe when we get a movie like this that ISN'T made by anti-Christian nutjobs trying to push some political agenda. That being said, I never saw the "good" in Satan in this film. He orchestrated the death of an innocent family, broke down a young girl emotionally until she had no choice but to join him, and then promised her a good life when really she's just living like a savage in the woods until she dies when her soul will burn in Hell. So he didn't do much (or any) good here. Just all the satanists and progressives try to read things into the movie that aren't there, and that's how you end up with the "the witches are the good guys" argument.
shareI'm not religious, but I am also halfway surprised in how people actually interpret this movie as something progressive or feminist. If people want to ignore the orchestrated death of a whole family so that one girl can allegedly feel free, that’s fine with me and especially with Satan.
shareThomasin (a.k.a. the girl who makes the deal with Satan at the end) was depicted as the pure and rational one throughout the entire movie whilst her other family members were depicted as unreasonable, blind to their judgements and not at all fun. Sigh.
shareI know, I never got the "positive" message in this movie. So apparently in feminists' eyes, it's a GOOD thing if a demonic force sends psychotic, infanticidal old ladies to terrorize and murder your family, and then said demonic force compels you to become a psychotic infanticidal woman to terrorize and murder other families until you're either hunted down and killed by witch hunters or die naturally only for your soul to suffer eternal torment. Because "empowerment." I'll never understand the people who saw this as anything other than a horror movie, with the witches and Satan as the EVIL villains.
shareThere’s no such thing as satanists
Even LaVeyan Satanists only symbolically use the name. They are secular edge lords
Only Christians are paranoid and stupid enough to think that anyone really worships the devil
Satan is a deity in Christian mythology. Nobody except for Christians even believes in him, much less worships him
...think he was not real. The people who run Hollywood don't believe in the Devil, sin or any other type of evil except all things conservative. Sad.
shareAll those who believe that morality is relative all seem to ironically agree that disagreement to their relativist worldview is morally objectionable.
The people in Hollywood do worship the devil though, kinda.
shareConstantine (2005)?
shareThat all depends on what you consider to be "hateable". There are plenty of movies that show him as doing (or planning to do) some really terrible things. The Devil's Advocate, Angel Heart, and End Of Days all come to mind. Sure, in TDA, he comes across as a rather cool dude, but raping Maryanne and driving her to suicide is pretty despicable. And one interpretation of The Witch is that he's actually after Thomasin's soul, and will torment her family just to get it.
Another example of this is Judge Holden (possibly another incarnation of Satan) from the novel, Blood Meridian. Sure, he's articulate, highly intelligent and well-spoken, but being behind most of the already evil gang's corruption and talking about how children should be thrown into the wild and forced to survive on their own, as well as possibly being a child molester, he's revolting.
And just because he doesn't have an actual presence in a movie — be it physical or spiritual — doesn't mean he can't still be detestable if his worshipers are anything to go by. Spellbinder has a murderous coven of witches who have destructive powers that he gave to them. The Witch, arguably, is also an example of this. I mean, look at the title character! She butchered a child for flying ointment. If that's not evil, I don't know what is.
So, again, it all depends on your definition of "hateable". Personally, I like seeing Satan portrayed in a sympathetic light (no pun intended).
Also, Robert Eggers has said that no interpretation of the movie is wrong, be it a feminist one, or otherwise.
In Angel Heart, what is it that satan does that is a terrible thing? Wasn't the whole Harry Angel\Johnny Favorite character just an evil athiest murderer? He didn't ask God to forgive him, so the devil steps in and takes him to his tormented afterlife.
shareThe liberation came at a huge cost, though, and I find that to be one of the lessons. Satan is believed to be a master of deception, sure you might feel liberated but you're alone, and you're damned. Some find freedom in that, but it is fool's gold.
WEREWOLF
I don't know you had him last -Tom Servo
Satan's road is the easy one. So pretty good depictions so far, wouldn't you think?
shareWhat liberation are you talking about? He was the personification of temptation and trickery, which is exactly how he was supposed to be portrayed. When he tempted Thomasin to become a witch, he wasn't "liberating her", he was tempting her and ultimately tricking her to become his slave. I don't understand how people keep on watching this movie and assuming that she was liberated and free in the end. She has to live the rest of her life as a subservient slave to him by killing children and living in the woods. In what world is that freedom?
shareI think that this is the fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity or religion in general. Religion is seen as repressive and murderous. And yes it can be. But often the worst case scenarios are pointed to as typical religious experiences. I'm a Cathoic and I find my faith as liberating. The idea isn't to be repressed. The Idea is to be free of lust, greed, pride etc etc. And No it won't be easy, in fact it's very hard. This is why religious people tend to fail largely and people look at it and say "see, religion doesn't work".
Religion today is on the decline, and while people celebrate that, I do think we lose touch with basic principles of morality. Not in the sense of do it cause God said so, moreso that in an age where post modernism is on the rise, we see the new, different ideas being expressed as liberating. Salon.com last year was doing a profile of pedophilia and it was one of the most disturbing things I have ever read.
If morality is relative, then groups like NAMBLA are justified. Showing a baby be grinded up is seen as a pro choice message. A girl joining a coven is seen as liberation. The death of her family and murder of her two small siblings is liberating.
I don’t know that people see religion as repressive and murderous, I think most people see it as a way to have and abuse power over others and give worshippers a sense of importance and superiority over the rest of humanity. Morality comes from society, not a specific god. We shouldn’t be moral out of fear of punishment, that’s not true morality. We know what hurts people and our society, if you abuse that then you should be expelled and banned from benefiting from society.
shareI just saw this movie as an annual Halloween flick. I'd say that the Devil was pretty hateable in this movie and that the ending was pretty dark and not a happy one. If people got an "empowered" message from it, then that's pretty nuts as the girl is pretty much enslaved at the end, imo.
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