Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture
Image on wall is a painting entitled “Dante and Virgil” (1850) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau. It appears to be the falsifiers of Inf. 30, Capocchio and Gianni Schicchi, in combat.
Contributed by Kristina Olson
The original painting, currently held in the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France, below.
“Fans of American Horror Story have theorized for years that each of the seasons corresponds to one of the circles of hell from Inferno, the first section of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem The Divine Comedy. But Season 8 has viewers reworking that idea to make it a bit more specific. This AHS: Apocalypse theory has fans brushing up on their Dante to see if it actually fits this season better than it does the show as a whole.
“In Inferno, Dante is guided through the nine circles of hell by the poet Virgil. Each circle is devoted to a specific sin: the first is Limbo, followed by lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. Since those are common themes throughout AHS, viewers began to suspect that each season was inspired by one circle. It became so popular that creator Ryan Murphy commented on it, telling TV Guide in 2017, ‘With AHS, I do like the Dante’s Inferno theory. I’ve read a lot about it. I know what the fans think. I have a theory about the show that I’ve never told anybody and probably won’t until it’s over, but that theory is a good one.’
“The theory has evolved in the wake of Season 8’s premiere. Now some viewers have started to wonder if every episode of Apocalypse represents one of the nine circles instead.” […] –Megan Walsh, Romper, September 26, 2018
“HBO’s series Westworld draws inspiration from any number of different sources. Just this season (season 2), Episode 3 entitled ‘Virtù e Fortuna’ drew from the famous early Italian political theorist, Machiavelli, while the following Episode 4 entitled ‘Riddle of the Sphinx’ was heavy with references to the ancient Greek myth of Oedipus, the most recent episode that aired last this past Sunday, ‘Les Écorchés’ seems to be drawing from the famous 14th-century Italian poem by Dante Alighieri, the Inferno.” […] –Matthew Gabriele, Forbes, June 4, 2018
“Turns out Emiko isn’t just working for the Ninth Circle — she’s running it.
“After revealing last week that Emiko has been working with new big bad Dante, Laurel wasted no time bringing that factoid to Oliver’s attention. Then, by the second act or so, Oliver had confirmed it was true. This is one of those plot points they’ve been known to drag out in the past, so nice to see them just get to the meat of that reveal in “Inheritance” and start dealing with the fallout. Oliver is keen to give Emiko the benefit of the doubt, something she uses to her advantage to manipulate him for a while to get the drop on Team Arrow.” […] –Trent Moore, SyFyWire, March 25, 2019
The Simpsons’ “Treehouse of Horror IV” (S05E05): after losing his soul to the devil in a bargain over a donut, Homer is subjected to punishments in Hell’s “Ironic Punishments Division,” where the demon in charge of force-feeding him donuts is astonished at his capacity.
See a clip from the episode on YouTube.
See also the action figure released by MacFarlane Toys (pictured below).
“There’s been a string of killings, from a drowning, to strangulation, to a hit and run. There seems to be no connection – except all the victims are fathers with sons the same age, and the killings are following the sins laid out in Dante’s Circle of Hell. Apparently, the UnSub has some serious daddy issues.” — CBS
During the episode, the killer hallucinates a voice repeatedly crying to him, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
In Season 1, Episode 14 of Magnificent Century, Concierge Ibrahim is seen to be reading the Divine Comedy in his office.
Contributed by David Francis
In the first episode of the third season of the TV series Hannibal (2015), “Dr. Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) recites a sonnet by Dante Alighieri, the first poem of Vita Nova, a collection of compositions published in 1295.
“A ciascun’alma presa e gentil core is the description of a dream Dante had after meeting his beloved Beatrice for the second time. In the dream, the poet sees Amore (personification of love) holding Beatrice, asleep and wrapped in a cloth, in his arms. Amore holds the poet’s heart in one hand; after waking the woman up, he feeds her with the heart, which she doubtfully eats. After this, joy turns into pain and the poet sees Amore crying, disappearing in the sky with Beatrice in his arms.
“The poet Guido Cavalcanti interpreted Dante’s dream by writing the sonnet Vedeste, al mio parere, onne valore.
“The reference to the symbolical act of cannibalism in the poem sounds ironic in Hannibal’s mouth.” — Cinematic Literature on tumblr, August 31, 2015
See also the animated GIFs posted by fringeofmadness on tumblr.
Among scheming serial killer Paul Spector’s books in his clandestine
hotel room is THE INFERNO. His 16-year-old minion, Katie Benedetto,
reads out the first few verses in a beautiful Italian. Paul then
attacks Katie, and in the following episode, she breaks into his hotel
room and leaves a not-so-nice message in lipstick on the bathroom
mirror. –Adam Glynn (Bowdoin College ’17)
