Blog Post 2: Partisanship in the Poem and Film
Drew Hussung

The epic poem Inferno was tremendously biased in its depictions of Dante's own party, the White Guelphs and those of his rival party, the Black Guelphs.  The Black Guelphs supported Pope Boniface and the church while the Whites, including Dante, hated this Pope and their rivals.  This sense of resentment and disgust with the powers in charge in Florence pervades nearly every Canto in the poem and is shown by the gruesome punishments that Dante's rivals undergo in hell.

Dante's Inferno (2007) is every bit as partisan as its inspiration.  There are many instances where the director's political stances become very clear.  One of these instances that sticks out most clearly is the depiction of Geryon, who served as the embodiment of fraud and deception in the poem.  In the film, director Sean Meredith chooses to update Geryon to modernity by depicting this beast as the Fox News helicopter.  Perhaps the most telling instance of partisanship is the scene in which former Vice President under George W. Bush, Dick Cheney is mentioned.  In Canto 33, Dante states that two people's sins were so great on earth that they had been condemned to enter hell while still living.  Dante goes on to state that these two people were Fra Alberigo and Branca d’Oria, two of his own greatest political rivals.  Sure enough, in the film Meredith states that leading Conservative Cheney has earned this distinction.

It is very clear that both the film and the poem display heavy biases in their depictions of hell, but what is perhaps the more striking similarity is where these biases come from.  Dante's resentment stems of course from his party's defeat and subsequent exiling from Florence.  Meredith adapted his film from a 2004 book written by Sandow Birk and Marcus Sanders under the same title.  2004, of course, was the year that George Bush and Dick Cheney defeated John Kerry and John Edwards in a remarkably close election.  There were many theories that these election results were flawed and inaccurate.  Due to this timeline, Meredith may have been experiencing some of the same emotions after the Republican Presidential victory as Dante was after his own party's defeat.  This could lead to the similarities in political biases that are seen in the film and poem.

There is a significant distinction between Dante's partisanship and that of Meredith.  While Dante almost takes joy in the gruesome punishments that he bestows upon his political rivals, Meredith takes a more humorous approach.  I believe this more relaxed attitude suggests that Meredith recognizes the fact that his rivals have just as much right to their opinions and stances as those he shares his views with.  Meredith understands that when it comes to politics and even morality, there is no real, concrete "right" or "wrong", everyone has their own definitions of just what that means.

Partisanship can be a tool used for humor or damning judgments, depending upon the wielder of that tool.