The Devil in Mel Gibson's "The Passion"

The Passion (pictures and information) ^ | 7/17/2003 | Pyro7480

[Pyro7480]

I know that there have been several threads already discussing Mel Gibson's upcoming film "The Passion," and the "controversy" surrounding it. I was wondering if anyone else has noticed something I have. The trailer has three key women in it. One is Mary, the Mother of Jesus, played by actress Maia Morgenstern. This is how she is portrayed in the film:

The second is Mary Magdalen, played by Italian actress Monica Bellucci, who was recently in The Matrix Reloaded. Here is a picture of her:

The third women is seen lurking in the crowd and during the night. It isn't immediately clear who she is.

When I saw the cast listing of the Passion, I saw that Satan was one of characters, played by Rosalinda Celentano. That's who I'm guessing third woman is supposed to be. This is an interesting portrayal of the "Prince of Darkness" (actually, it is traditional Christian teaching that angels, both heavenly and fallen, have no sex/gender).

[Pyro7480]

What are your thoughts on how the Devil is portayed in "The Passion"

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[Bikers4Bush]

Very accurate, and safe to assume she's the orignal founder of NOW.

[TomServo]

The 3rd one is Satan according to the cast credits

[Fred Mertz]

I always figured that The Prince of Darkness was a Princess.

[Bogey78O]

Ahhhh...it's the devil in the details.

[egarvue]

Unique, like everything else about this film. I'm sure the NOW/Feminist/Lesbian Priestess wings of our liberal churches will be howling about the portrayal of Satan as a woman (actually she looks rather genderless; I thought she looked eerily similar to the Bene Geserit witch in the old "Dune" film). I can't wait to see this. Did anyone else catch the symbolism in the trailer of the sandal coming down and crushing the snake? Fulfillment of the promise of Genesis 3:15...

[stanz]

I don't know anything about the specific way Gibson used these characters in "Passion" other than what you just posted, but women have been cast as evil-doers and accused of witchcraft for ages simply because they possess a kind of intuition that men just are lacking. You can call it instinct or just plain common sense, but women have an uncanny sense of recognizing evil/good, truth/falsehood, etc. and this has traditionally cast them in various roles - - some envied and others despised.

If Gibson is using a female to portray Satan, then he must have tapped into the same theme that's evident throughout mythology - - woman gives life and is revered, but woman is the temptress and is reviled....IMHO

[Psalm118]

Something tells me this movie will turn a great many people upside down, yet actually "RIGHT SIDE UP", if you can see what I mean.

Not about this movie, but about satan and his demons generally, this personal reflection:

I thought I was a Christian for many years. Boy was I wrong!
Until I was led to _TRUE TURNING AWAY_ I was being made a fool of by FOAL himself.

Then after all resistance to His Spirit collapsed, the extraordinary liberating journey has finally begun! We're asked to metaphorically step out of the boat and walk with Him, and sonofagun...I can't believe it actually does happen, as long as my eyes stay on Him...

[Pyro7480]

Yeah, there is a bit of discussion on here about whether it is Jesus crushing the head of the serpent or Jesus, since the figure shown immediately before that is a woman. But we know have figured out that this woman is Satan, and from the looks of it, it looks like a man's shoe, so it probably is Jesus.

[caisson71]

LOL.....very good....LOL.

[Yeti]

I'm sure the NOW/Feminist/Lesbian Priestess wings of our liberal churches will be howling about the portrayal of Satan as a woman

They love it when you refer to God in feminine terms, but feminizing the Devil will be decried as blatantly misogynistic.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

You can call it instinct or just plain common sense, but women have an uncanny sense of recognizing evil/good, truth/falsehood, etc. and this has traditionally cast them in various roles - - some envied and others despised.

You know where women's intuition comes from, right? It evolved from millions and millions of years of not thinking!

*grin*

[Pyro7480]

LOL! I hope you're wearing your flame-proof suit! ;-)

[MrConfettiMan]

The 2nd and 4th pictures are extremely powerful ones, IMHO.

[w_over_w]

I thought I was a Christian for many years. Boy was I wrong! Until I was led to _TRUE TURNING AWAY_ I was being made a fool of by FOAL himself.

What's FOAL?

[ThomasMore]

Genderless! Unique to this movie, but theologically most accurate.

[olliemb]

I saw the preview at a catholic bookstore. It was all those pics in a 1 minute movie. It was very chilling. It looks to be a great movie. It moved me to tears. And yes that third person was the devil lurking in the crowd.

[Centurion2000]

You can call it instinct or just plain common sense, but women have an uncanny sense of recognizing evil/good, truth/falsehood, etc

Not to disparage freeperetes but then why the heck are so many women closet socialists and can't see democrat hyprocrisy like the rest of us ?

[Pyro7480]

Yeah, see my original post and post #7 (the poster of that said that the Satan character looked genderless)