K. Shimabukuro
Revising Milton book proposal chapter synopsis
Introduction: Revising Milton
Blake’s famous quote about people knowing their Milton
better than their Bible is overused and overquoted in many ways. Despite this
fact, few scholarly works look at WHY this is the case. What is it about
Milton’s story that makes it the one people choose to revise and reimagine? Why
has Milton’s narrative replaced and supplanted traditional religious narratives?
Does Milton’s narrative constitute secular religious mythology? If so, what is
the significance of this? What is it about Milton’s characterization of Satan
that has made it the characterization of the popular imagination? Why has
popular culture embraced the concept of a war in heaven? What do the revisions
and re imaginings of Milton’s mythology tell us about the historical and
cultural moments of these popular culture productions? I argue that part of the
reason that Milton’s work has become the basis for these works is because of
Milton’s use of folkloric elements and tropes in his narrative. Further,
Milton’s work itself can be seen as new folklore. Many folklorists, including
Jack Zipes argue that if something is popular it cannot be folklore. However, I
argue against this as many popular culture items have become folklore
themselves. I argue that the intertextuality of today’s popular culture
creates folklore out of popular culture. Further examining Zipes’ definition
that the purpose of these tales was for “people to express the manner in which
they perceived and perceive nature and their social order and their wish to
satisfy their needs and wants” we can specifically look at aspects of popular
culture where a groups needs, wants, and fears are addressed.
The modern day horror film as a reflection of American
cultures’ fears and cultural wants has been a focus of recent scholarship, most
notably in Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture, Horror Film
and Psychoanalysis, and Men, Women and Chainsaws. Scholars have also
focused on the reimaginings, or revisions of fairy tales and folklore in
popular culture. However, there has not been an examination of the legacy of
Milton’s work on popular culture, and the work that the forwarding of Milton’s
ideas and characters is accomplishing. This work will examine how Milton’s
folklore has been revised and reimagined, what these revisions and reimaginings
reveal about the historical and cultural moment they were produced in, and what
fears, wants, and needs are expressed in these productions.
Chapter 1: Milton’s Satan as Horror Movie Icon
If you were to
ask a group of people what their vision of Satan was, they would probably
describe one of the following figures: a cartoonish, red skinned horned devil
with a forked tail or a well dressed, charming man whose manner and appearance
is deceiving. The first portrayal can be traced to the folkloric image of the
devil and demons while the second’s predecessor is Milton’s characterization in
Paradise Lost. According to Dutheil and Stirling in their introduction
to After Satan: Essays in Honour of Neil Forsyth “the post-Paradise
Lost Devil in literature” seems to disappear, or “slink into the
background, or be relegated to the margins” (4). I would argue that while
this may be true of literature, it is patently untrue in film. In “Popularizing
Pandemonium: Milton and the Horror Film,” Brown quotes James B. Twitchell’s
statement that “modern monsters have Milton’s Satan as their great progenitor”
(85) but this ignores the presence of Satan himself in film. Satan, his
underlings, proxies, and son, in the form of the Anti-Christ, are alive and
well and seen throughout modern film, especially the last forty years. Rosemary's
Baby (1968), The Exorcist and its sequels (1973, 1977, 1990, 2004,
2005), The Omen (1976, 2006) Prince of Darkness (1987), Spawn
(1997), The Devil’s Advocate (1997),
End of Days (1999) and Devil (2010) are only the most
prominent films to feature Satan in one form or another. There’s a
longer list if you include films that either feature lesser devils or have a
humorous bent such as Bedazzled (both the 1967 and 2000 versions), Damn
Yankees (1958), South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999),
Little Nicky (2000) and Heaven Can Wait (1943, based on the play Birthday
by Leslie Bush-Fekete and not to be confused with the 1978 version with Warren
Beatty which is actually a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan, based on a
play titled Heaven Can Wait). Each of these films keeps the character
and idea of Satan alive and in the popular mind. More importantly, they
continue to forward Milton’s folkloric characterization of Satan. This chapter
will examine what the use of this characterization reveals about cultural
fears, needs, and wants as well as how these characterizations are reflections
of specific historical and cultural moments.
Chapter 2: War in Heaven
Movie such as Prophecy,
Legion and Constantine as well television shows such as Supernatural,
and the soon to be released Dominion and Constantine, have at
their heart the concept that there was a war in heaven, that continues to this
day. In the Prophecy movies, Milton’s conception of the hierarchy of
heaven and hell, as well as the war in heaven over man’s role is the center of
the plot. In Supernatural seasons four through nine have a war in heaven
and the rebellion of angels against God and man as the center of their
storyline. The soon to be released Dominion on the SYFY network also
focuses on a war in heaven. This war is a complete fiction of Milton as is much
of the lore of angels and the hierarchies of heaven and hell. What is it about
the idea of a war in heaven, of angels that despise mankind, and the absence of
God as intervener that appeals to the popular imagination? Why has Milton’s
description and hierarchy been adopted as lore or mythology? This chapter
examines the issues of power and hierarchy that Milton explored in Paradise
Lost and then examines the historical and cultural context of each of these
movies and television shows through this lens.
Chapter 3: Lucifer and Death
Milton’s
characterization of Satan became the modern ideal- he was a fallen angel, a
tempter, a seducer, who reigned over a parliament in hell. When Milton wrote Paradise Lost, Satan was an abject
lesson in the dangers of tyranny and an allegory for Charles I and the Interregnum in England. While Milton’s Satan
is often (mis)read as a hero, it is the work he is doing in Paradise Lost that is of interest to me.
As Milton’s mythology is forwarded through popular culture, it is important to
look at the work these revisions and reimaginigs are doing.
1984
saw President Ronald Reagan seeking a second term as U.S president, the
discovery of the AIDS virus, an extreme famine in Ethopia, and crack cocaine
making its first appearance. So perhaps it is not surprising that in July of
1984 Alan Moore in Swamp Thing Vol. 2 #27
would envision hell. While Moore’s view was more Dante than Milton, it was
not long before Milton’s narrative was inserted into other comics. Swamp Thing #37-50 (June 1985-July 1986)
saw the introduction of John Constantine, and whose battle against the First of
the Fallen (a Lucifer character who first appears in Hellblazer #42 1991) would come to be central to that title’s plot,
and the appearance of Lucifer in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman #4 (April 1989)
who went on to have his own series in 1999. Over these fifteen plus years these
characterizations are interlaced as there were numerous crossovers between
titles, specifically Hellblazer and Sandman. So what are we to make of these
Miltonic characterizations of Lucifer? What is the significance of the
hierarchy of hell having prominence? What is it about this time period that
would lead to such a focus on hell, and Lucifer? This chapter will focus on the
revision of Milton’s mythology in the Hellblazer
and Sandman comics, specifically
the characters of First of the Fallen and Lucifer, as well as the political
allegories for the actions of these characters.
Conclusion:
The impact of
Milton’s Paradise Lost has often been viewed through a literary lens.
While his impact on popular culture has been received some notice, his use of
folkloric figures, and his creation of new mythology has been largely
neglected. An interdisciplinary approach to his work, combining folklore,
literary studies, and popular culture not only allows us to place his work in
context, but also opens up these fields, and other works in a new way.
Examining the ways in which Milton’s mythology, his folklore has been revised
and reimagined allows us not only to take a fresh look at Paradise Lost
but also provides a new approach to popular culture studies.
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