Post #2--Poem vs. Film

The film Dante’s Inferno by Sean Meredith is more than just a 21^st century retelling of Inferno. While the film does reinterpret the Inferno with more modern sinners, locations, and punishments while sticking to Dante’s basic structure of hell, the film looks at sin and hell from a very different perspective. The first major difference is the reaction of sinners when they are entering hell. In the poem, sinners are screaming and crying as they enter hell and are condemned by Midas. In the film, the only sinners that are screaming are the ones that are unable to enter hell. Damned souls in the film actually desire to enter hell. Additionally, during their sentencing, sinners did not seem very concerned that they had committed sin—some even seemed unaware that they had committed a sin (like the man who had downloaded some Metallica.) Obviously, illegally downloading something is stealing, and stealing is illegal, immoral, and sinful. However, billions of people do it every day and few consider it to actually be extraordinarily sinful—it just seems normal. This brings up the next point—sin in the film is different than sin in the poem. Sin in the poem is described in a very clear-cut manner; things are either sinful or they are not sinful—there is no grey area when it comes to sin. Every sinner also receives a horrifying punishment (except maybe the sinners in circle 2 because of the sympathy that exists for lovers.) People who sin and do not repent will always receive heavy justice according to the book. In the film, sin is portrayed in a much more interpretive light, as evidenced by what specific sins are described and the punishments that some of the sinners receive. For example, circle 3 contains the gluttons. In the poem, the gluttons are punished by being covered in garbage. In the film, gluttons are surrounded by garbage, but they are also forced to eat for all eternity. For people whose sin was eating too much, being forced to eat doesn’t seem like a harsh punishment. One reason this punishment could be different is that in the 21^st century, most people do not see gluttony as a sin. Since it’s in more a grey area in terms of if it is an actual sin or not, the punishment has been reduced. The same concept applies for homosexuality, which is placed in the third ring of the seventh circle. While homosexuality is considered by some people to still be a sin, many people also believe that it is not sinful behavior. Since it is not unanimously defined, the punishment is not severe—eternal dancing rather than being set on fire. The film looks at sin the same way people look at it in the 21^st century—things are not quite as clear as they were 700 years ago. Opinions differ much more about what sin is. The context of sin throughout time is important to the interpretation of both works.