Hell on Earth

I personally think that the approach that Sean Meredith uses in his creation of Hell is very interesting.  While the movie is obviously political satire, I believe that he makes his point in an interesting manner.  I think that the way Meredith sets Hell in a modern city and the punishments very literal to their sins leaves the impression that Earth is a living Hell.  Sean Meredith’s Hell is an urban setting, which doesn’t seem too bad, but certain subtleties such as the hazy air from pollution, dimly lit streets filled with garbage, and run-down buildings make it more like Hell.  Even with those details, some might think that this isn’t that bad, but Meredith uses Virgil to make the point that the people are here for “eternity”.  Eternity is what makes the damnation here much more intense.  While most of us have all been in a dirty city at some point, to be stuck there for eternity would truly be Hell.  To never have a breath of fresh air or never be somewhere clean supplements the message that Hell is for the filth of the Earth and that because of their sins they are trapped in this urban Hell.  Not only does Meredith send a message through the setting that he uses, but he also uses the punishments.  While the book’s punishments are incredibly painful and unimaginable terrifying, the punishments that Meredith uses are more relatable which allows the audience to not lose sight of the sin that is being punished and also think about how some activities of Earth could potentially be Hellish.  For example, in the poem, the lustful are punished by being blown around through the air by a powerful wind for eternity.  While this is obviously a harsh punishment, some might fail to make the connection that the wind represents their sin of being swayed to commit lustful actions that should not have occurred.  In the film, the lustful are punished by having to perform lustful activities for eternity.  This is much easier to understand as a punishment because they committed this sin which to them was enjoyable, but now that they are damned to do it eternally, which in turn is a terrible punishment that they have to pay.  In the film Dante fails to understand why having sex is a punishment, but Virgil makes clear that they have to do this for eternity which allows the audience to fully understand how miserable that punishment would be.  The point that Meredith is trying make by this punishment is that while we think certain sins like lust on Earth are fun, it can really be a punishment.  Both these points that Meredith make show that he believes that Hell and Earth have similarities, and that the only thing that keeps us from realizing that is we don’t spend eternity in certain unpleasant places or performing “fun” actions.