Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
The party game Cards Against Humanity included a black card in its third expansion pack that reads, “In the seventh circle of Hell, sinners must endure ____________ for all eternity.” The game was first made available in 2011, and the third expansion pack was issued in 2013.
Contributed by Isabelle Gurtler (The Bolles School ’22)
“Additionally, although it is not clear how these techniques actually work, the Judecca is capable of several devastating arcane attacks that warp its opponents to hostile subdimensions (for all intents and purposes analogous to “Hell”) in order to cause damage.
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AGX-14 (AGX-18) Judecca
Learn more about the 1991 video game series Super Robot Wars here.
“Inferno is the third episode in Doom/The Ultimate Doom. All of the levels in this episode are credited to Sandy Petersen, though Tom Hall originally began two of them.
This episode is set in Hell, possibly the inner region of Hell. The episode is apparently named after Inferno, part of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. “Inferno” also means “hell” in several languages. Most of these levels have a main, center room that can be easily identified, usually circular or square in shape.” –“Inferno,” Doom Wiki, August 9, 2019
Learn more about Doom, id Software’s 1993 first-person shooter video game, here.
“A follow-up was heavily teased in the game’s cliffhanger ending, but here’s why Dante’s Inferno 2 never left development hell.
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In 2011 writer Joshua Rubin was linked to pen Dante’s Inferno 2, but since then, very little has been heard about a sequel. Following the very mixed reception to Dead Space 3 in 2013 and the cancellation of their high-profile Star Wars game, Visceral Games was shut down by EA in 2017.
The downfall of the Dead Space franchise – which didn’t hit EA’s unreasonable sales expectations – is likely the true reason Dante’s Inferno 2 didn’t happen. Nearly a decade since the original game was released and the shuttering of Visceral make the odds of a sequel very bleak.” –Padraig Cotter, Screen Rant, January 2, 2020
Learn more about EA’s 2010 video game, Dante’s Inferno, on Dante Today here.
“The Trinity Of Realities is a term to describe the nature of the universe of the Bayonetta series. As its name suggests, the Trinity is composed of 3 realms that house the traits of light, darkness, and chaos respectively. Bayonetta travels through each of these realms numerous times throughout the games.
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Paradiso
The highest layer of the Trinity, Paradiso is home to the Laguna, or angels, and is closest to the human interpretation of heaven.
The Human World
The plane of reality in which humans live, also known as a realm of chaos before Aesir brought order to it with his rule.
Inferno
The realm of darkness ruled over by the demonic Queen Sheba, Inferno is closest to the human interpretation of hell.
Purgatorio
Acting as a parallel reality to the Human World and not necessarily a member of the Trinity. Purgatorio is a realm that is most similar to the human interpretation of purgatory, as the name suggests.” –“Trinity of Realities,” Bayonetta Wiki, December 19, 2019
Learn more about Bayonetta, Platinum Games‘ 2009 hack ‘n’ slash video game, here.
A wide-bottomed coffee mug that will keep your beverage infernally hot.
Check out this mug for sale on Wayfair here.
“Rosh Mahtani, of fashionista-favorite jewelry line Alighieri, has launched her second footwear capsule with Net-a-Porter this week, plus additional shoes exclusively available on her e-commerce site.
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Mahtani’s jewelry line takes its name from iconic 13th-century Florentine poet Dante Alighieri, and all the pieces recall cantos within his famous Divine Comedy. And just as many aspects of the Comedy were allegories for the political upheaval of the time, the same could be said of Mahtani’s pieces and today’s tumult.
Her Net-a-Porter Fragment shoe, with its metal mosaic detailing, was inspired by Dante’s notion of ‘a broken world,’ she said, observing that the idea was certainly ‘very pertinent.’ It was about ‘finding beauty in fragments,’ she added, ‘rebuilding them and maybe creating something even more beautiful than before.'” — Stephanie Hirschmiller, Footwear News, October 23, 2019
Read the Alighieri jewelry line entry on Dante Today here.
“The Monster Hunter: World x Devil May Cry collaboration event has begun! The event will continue until May 10th, and you can obtain Dante α, the Dante costume from the DMC series along with his weapon, Dante’s Devil Sword, based on Alastor and Force Edge.” –Soobin “Pratt” Choi and Ji-Eun “Meii” Paek, Inven Global, April 27, 2018
See the original Devil May Cry entry on Dante Today here.
“You’d think that getting into Hell would be easy. It USED to be – but like airport travel and filing tax returns, everything is more complex these days.
Have no fear! The Hell Passport notebook can make your passage into eternal damnation a piece of Devil’s food cake. It looks and feels just like an actual passport with a place for personal information, a passport photo, and useful travel tips. And if you don’t have any immediate plans to go to Hell, it also functions as a handy and cool little notebook to jot down your most devilish thoughts. (Warning: the pages are not flame retardant, so keep your passport a safe distance from the burning brimstone, okay?)
Ruled pages to keep track of all the goings-on in your circle of Hell.” –The Unemployed Philosophers Guild, Philosophers Guild
During the 2018 holiday season, Kinder Italia ran this advertisement, featuring the Befana dressed as Dante, lamenting the “selva di calze infinita” at the supermarkets. Click the image below to view the full ad, available on YouTube.
Contributed by Ludovica Valentini (Florida State University, MA ’18)
