Blog Post 2

After watching Dante's Inferno, I found myself wondering why Sean Meredith chose to present the story as a satirical journey rather than sticking with the more horrifying version of Dante's epic. One of the most obvious reasons that justifies Meredith's choice to use satire is the ability it provides to mock political enemies and popular culture. Throughout the film, Meredith pokes fun at many conservative political figures such as Dick Cheney, Ronald Reagan, and Karl Rove. The film also presents many institutions of popular culture in a comical light. Prostitution, capital hill, fox news, and policemen are just some of the aspects of modern society that are present during Dante’s journey through hell. Meredith still mimics Dante’s style by placing his enemies in hell, but he ridicules them in a much more obvious manner. Another reason that I think Meredith chose to do a satire is because of popularity. Although Inferno is one of the most well known stories in the literary world, there is not a popular film adaptation of the novel. I think that Meredith wanted to present a version of Dante’s epic that would be more appealing to modern audiences. Using satire is a very easy way to add modern elements to the story. By including modern elements that people recognize instead of political and religious figures in Inferno, Meredith’s adaptation is easier to understand and interpret.

One of the aspects of the film that I found to be most interesting is the general atmosphere of hell. While it is true Dante sees many individuals suffering during his journey, the general feel that I got from watching the film is that hell is not very terrible. Since the film is a satire, it obviously would not make sense to depict hell in a completely dreadful manner. Even though Meredith failed to depict hell in the same manner as Dante, the amount of creativity displayed by the twists he puts on various punishments is admirable. I think that Meredith could’ve stuck to a satirical version and still presented hell in a more terrifying light if he had simply made the characters appear less happy. During the scene where Dante sees souls being punished for lust, they appear to be enjoying hell rather than suffering. The same is somewhat true for numerous other punishments throughout the journey, like capital hill. The idea that the punishments are eternal is not conveyed very well to the audience and thus the film does not present the frightening image of hell that many people have.