LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥 Since it first premiered in 1926, F.W. Murnau鈥檚 鈥淔aust鈥 has been lauded as one of the greatest silent films ever made. And in the century that鈥檚 followed, striking a deal with the devil has been one of cinema鈥檚 most enduring tropes.
鈥淗im,鈥 the horror film reaching theaters Friday, is the latest testament to the fact that, in Hollywood at least, the devil鈥檚 offer never goes out of style. It tells the story of an aspiring professional football player, Cameron Cade (Tyriq Withers), who gets invited to train at a secluded compound under famed quarterback Isaiah White But Cade eventually realizes what is meant by the question he keeps getting asked: 鈥淲hat are you willing to sacrifice?鈥
鈥淧eople are so fixated with the whole selling your soul to the devil and they really think that it鈥檚 a man in a suit who’s like, 鈥楽ign the dotted line,鈥欌 said who plays White鈥檚 wife. 鈥淚 think that selling your soul to the devil is a metaphor for selling out and doing things that you don鈥檛 want to do, compromising your morals and values for a paycheck.鈥
Like 鈥淗im,鈥 Faustian stories in cinema are often billed as horror. Much like the literary and artistic retellings of the German fable, from Marlowe and Goethe to 鈥淭he Devil Went Down to Georgia,鈥 film adaptations span place, decade and genre 鈥 from the cult DC Comics adaptation, 鈥淐onstantine,鈥 to 2000 rom-com 鈥淏edazzled,鈥 a remake of the 1967 film of the same name that starred The devil can promise money 鈥 as in 鈥淭he Devil and Daniel Webster,鈥 the 1941 post-Great Depression takedown of greed 鈥 or fame, a la 2006 musical comedy, 鈥淭enacious D in The Pick of Destiny.鈥
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty much everywhere once you start looking,鈥 said Kirsten Thompson, a professor of film studies at Seattle University. 鈥淲e all want to have eternal life or youth or power or status. And the various iterations of the myth sometimes emphasize different things.鈥
鈥淗im鈥 isn鈥檛 even the first Faustian film set against the backdrop of sports. 鈥淒amn Yankees,鈥 the 1958 adaptation of the Bob Fosse-choreographed Broadway show, tells the story of a diehard baseball fan who makes a devilish pact to help his team.
Murnau鈥檚 鈥楩aust鈥 legacy
Although the 1926 鈥淔aust鈥 isn鈥檛 the oldest cinematic retelling of the legend 鈥 French filmmaker Georges M茅li猫s made a handful of adaptations beginning in the 1890s 鈥 Murnau鈥檚 movie has the greatest legacy.
鈥淭he film has these very striking set pieces that are, visually, enormously iconographic and influential on subsequent silent cinema, including American cinema,鈥 Thompson said.
Speaking with The Associated Press last year to promote his (the original vampire tale was also made by Murnau, in 1922), testified to the ways in which 鈥淔aust鈥 has influenced him as a director. 鈥淔ilmmaking 鈥 it didn鈥檛 really get better than that,鈥 he said.
Murnau’s 鈥淔aust鈥 follows its titular protagonist, a faithful alchemist who despairs over a deadly, seemingly unstoppable plague. He eventually meets the demon Mephisto 鈥 legend often refers to him as Mephistopheles 鈥 who convinces Faust to do a trial-run pact to renounce God in exchange for the power to help the infirm village.
But Faust鈥檚 demonic deal is found out when a crowd realizes he cannot look upon a cross. Despondent, Faust plans to kill himself, but is stopped by Mephisto, who comes back with another offer: The demon will give the elderly alchemist back his youth.
The quest for eternal youth was an important theme for 鈥淗im鈥 director Justin Tipping, who believes it is particularly apropos for a story about sports. 鈥淓ssentially, what鈥檚 behind all these athletes鈥 actions is they鈥檙e trying to stop time,鈥 he said.
The devil you know
Between the bargain for youth, blood rituals and a contract to sign, the Faustian and demonic allusions in 鈥淗im鈥 aren鈥檛 exactly subtle, something Tipping saw as a storytelling tool.
鈥淭here are a lot of references. Maybe too 鈥斺 he stopped himself, laughing. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot. But they all served, I think, the emotional arc for our characters and the themes that I was going after.鈥
Tipping isn鈥檛 alone in forgoing subtlety in Faustian stories, which often opt for almost humorous literary callbacks.
In the 1997 horror drama, 鈥淭he Devil鈥檚 Advocate,鈥 Al Pacino plays John Milton 鈥 a lawyer, not the author of 鈥淧aradise Lost.鈥 And in 鈥淎ngel Heart,鈥 the 1987 neo-noir thriller starring Robert De Niro and Mickey Rourke, De Niro鈥檚 Satan goes by 鈥淟ouis Cyphre.鈥
鈥淓ven your name is a dime-store joke,鈥 Rourke鈥檚 character scoffs when he realizes it鈥檚 a play on 鈥淟ucifer.鈥 鈥溾楳ephistopheles鈥 is such a mouthful in Manhattan,鈥 Cyphre retorts tauntingly.
Origins of the devil鈥檚 offer
It鈥檚 unclear when exactly the idea that humans could strike a deal with the demonic materialized, according to Joseph Laycock, a professor of religion who studies Satanism and demonic belief at Texas State University.
The idea that a powerful supernatural being could grant wishes or help humans exists in pre-Islamic Arabic traditions, but most Western depictions of this kind of myth borrow from Christian theology.
鈥淗umans and demons each have something the other wants. We want this power. We want control over the natural world. The demons have it and we don鈥檛. But the demons want our souls,鈥 Laycock said. 鈥淭he Faust legend is kind of ready to be told as soon as this Christian demonology emerges.鈥
One clue into the origins of a Satanic bargain lies within the 鈥淢alleus Maleficarum,鈥 often translated as the 鈥淗ammer of Witches,鈥 a 15th century German Catholic theological text on demonology.
In it, God has limited Satan’s power, Laycock explained. But, 鈥渢here鈥檚 this loophole. And the loophole is, if a demon makes a pact with a human, the demon gets to do all the stuff it couldn鈥檛 normally do.鈥
This period around the Reformation was a 鈥済olden age鈥 for possession, exorcism and witch-hunting in Europe, Laycock said, which sets the stage for the Faust legend to materialize. In the 1800s, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe adapted the Faust story into a two-part tragic play, converting the German legend into a literary giant that would have tremendous influence on the Western world, Thompson argues.
She compares Goethe鈥檚 cinematic influence to works from Shakespeare and stories like 鈥淪herlock Holmes,鈥 which have also been repeatedly retold. 鈥淐anonical works of literature in different languages are adapted over and over again,鈥 she said.
What鈥檚 in a name?
The title of Tipping鈥檚 film is an obvious ode to modern sports slang.
Used by professional athletes including and Joe Burrow, the phrase 鈥淚鈥檓 Him鈥 is meant to connote a level of greatness. The G.O.A.T. 鈥 or 鈥済reatest of all time鈥 鈥 is another phrase exploited in 鈥淗im,鈥 a fitting allusion given a goat’s sometimes demonic associations.
But Tipping won鈥檛 say if the film鈥檚 title is also pulling double duty for another acronym periodically used in pop culture as a euphemism for Satan 鈥 鈥淗is Infernal Majesty.鈥
鈥淚鈥檒l plead the Fifth,鈥 he laughed.
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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP鈥檚 with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
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