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wingedbeastI want to like Lucifer. Really, I do. It's... it's bothered me. Unlike when I started out my notes based on Forever, there are points where I actively dislike this show. There are also points where I see the potential, for the show and for a genre.
This isn't the first time a story has given us the perspective of a devil or a demon. This isn't even the first time a story has made such a character the good guy. Heck, Paradise Lost gave us Lucifer as the protagonist. But, I don't think the full potential is even attempted, let alone achieved.
There are reasons for that. They're not good reasons, but they are compelling reasons.
So, I'm going to do like I did with Forever. I'm going to make some notes. I'm actually going to hope that Lucifer gets a second season and, like many other shows, improves to the point of hitting its stride as it continues.
That said...
1. The demon/devil/Satan can't be basic.
I've not used "basic" as in insult, before. As I've understood the phrase, it's really nothing more than someone who's tastes are heavily informed by widespread trends. Pumpkin spice, having invested distasteful opinions on Justin Bieber preadolescence, etc.
Here, in Lucifer, I see a different definition. Someone who's character is wholly defined by such basic premise to the point of excluding the more complex or interesting. He enjoys sex and a few other superficial pleasures... and little else.
Here we have a being that has been making deals with human beings and been the opposition to God for millenia and he can't imagine anything but the most simplistic levels of the sentient experience.
At the risk of literally demonizing education, the devil should be intimately familiar with the intellectual as well as the carnal.
I think I see the reason for this. Like I said, it's a compelling reason, but not a good one. Most of the English speaking world is still Christian. Particularly in America, there are some... less than subtle strains of Christianity that would take ill to any positive representation of the devil in the first place. This means that putting a positive spin on the devil requires some effort to maintain a devil that is ideologically safe.
In just this past episode, Lucifer has made only the safest and most banal arguments against God at all. Problem of evil is only barely breathed upon and the problem of Hell is ever-present and ever-ignored, so that Lucifer can be the most obvious foil for the most obvious responses, full stop.
I can see the reason for this, but the answer needs some struggle.
2. Struggle.
One of the things that bugs me about most of the public faces of Christianity is their opposition to any real struggle with their faith, with their concept of God, or with their morality.
This isn't absent from all of Christianity. Fred Clark, the Slacktivist, is an Evangelical Christian who absolutely loves the line uttered by Huck Finn "All right, then, I'll go to Hell." And, it's a part of all of the Abrahamic traditions that needs to be encouraged. I don't say this because I want Christians to turn their backs on God. I do, however, want a better conversation than the one I've been getting.
When it comes to this kind of fiction, I mean don't make it too easy to fall into the standard scripts.
Don't make it all too easy. In Lucifer, the titular character seems to go out of his way to make identifying him as childish and in the wrong (at least as far as his relationship with God is concerned) the easiest thing in the world. That shouldn't be so easy. If he is an evil character, deciphering good from evil isn't always that easy. If it is, you might be missing something.
And, while things shouldn't be that easy to spot the evil...
3. Maltheism/Misotheism
Lucifer has had some good opportunities to explore maltheism and misotheism, the notion that God is evil. While I don't expect the show to support such conclusions, the ideas need to be explored, if only to make a devil character that is interesting... rather than just sometimes amusing.
After some prompting by an angel, Lucifer's therapist talks to Lucifer (not believing him to actually be The Devil) and speaks of God giving him dominion over Hell as an act of love. If there was any point where someone could take the actions of God and legitimately, even if the canon of the show will have this be wrong, give a maltheistic interpretation, here it is.
It would be easy for her to see him as, in the effort of some delusion, attributing the name of God to a parent who may be a clinical naricissist, even acting out a predictable pattern of abuse. Treating Lucifer as not a blindly rebellious son, but potentially as an abused son is at least an interesting realm to explore.
Again, you don't have to explore the idea and come out with it as the one truth. You can explore the idea, find it false but still a valuable exploration. And, because you explored the idea, the response can answer that idea honestly, which brings more interest than just ignoring it.
All of these together add up to enable the fourth note...
4. Sinners Can't Be Too Pathetic
I'm including the show's only representation of an atheist, who was a black-market purvayor of religious artifacts that openly claimed to worship the all mighty dollar. I suppose we could get into a story about how someone who is described, without any contradiction, as a life-long atheist could find himself in that position, but the show doesn't seem at all interested in that. The only atheist character and... well... I find myself insulted by the suggestion that this can represent me.
I'm not just insulted by the amorality/immorality of the character, but the shallowness of the character. I'm not just insulted that he represents my demographic of atheists. I'm insulted that he's a part of a common representationof my demographic of human beings.
From this atheist to a woman who has lustful thoughts about her husband's chaufeur to a sports star that's a virgin with temptations to sex... there's so little to this devil, he's kept so safe and so superficial that they have to be that superficial and or more to go along. The actual murderers that the mystery of the week seeks to find aren't so pathetic, but they're not presented as being manipulated by the ultimate master of deals and manipulation.
5. Ideologically Unsafe
This is, perhaps, the most important thing about any The Devil and any story that features The Devil as a main character or driving force. They have to be ideologically unsafe. They have to take the risks that Lucifer, so far, isn't taking.
Again, I get it. There are some compelling reasons not to take those risks, not the least of which being that it's a risk to make Lucifer the main character and good guy in a show at all. Even while staying so safe with the story and characterization and theme, there's likely already a few blog posts about how this show is a part of a devil-worshiping conspiracy. Take much more risks and you risk alienating a large audience base or gaining traction as an example of the Persecution of Christians.
But, at a certain point, those risks are needed. Those risks are what makes a story compelling or intriguing. Because they're risks, sometimes what you're risking happens. That's a reality. You still need to take those risks. Please take those risks.
This isn't the first time a story has given us the perspective of a devil or a demon. This isn't even the first time a story has made such a character the good guy. Heck, Paradise Lost gave us Lucifer as the protagonist. But, I don't think the full potential is even attempted, let alone achieved.
There are reasons for that. They're not good reasons, but they are compelling reasons.
So, I'm going to do like I did with Forever. I'm going to make some notes. I'm actually going to hope that Lucifer gets a second season and, like many other shows, improves to the point of hitting its stride as it continues.
That said...
1. The demon/devil/Satan can't be basic.
I've not used "basic" as in insult, before. As I've understood the phrase, it's really nothing more than someone who's tastes are heavily informed by widespread trends. Pumpkin spice, having invested distasteful opinions on Justin Bieber preadolescence, etc.
Here, in Lucifer, I see a different definition. Someone who's character is wholly defined by such basic premise to the point of excluding the more complex or interesting. He enjoys sex and a few other superficial pleasures... and little else.
Here we have a being that has been making deals with human beings and been the opposition to God for millenia and he can't imagine anything but the most simplistic levels of the sentient experience.
At the risk of literally demonizing education, the devil should be intimately familiar with the intellectual as well as the carnal.
I think I see the reason for this. Like I said, it's a compelling reason, but not a good one. Most of the English speaking world is still Christian. Particularly in America, there are some... less than subtle strains of Christianity that would take ill to any positive representation of the devil in the first place. This means that putting a positive spin on the devil requires some effort to maintain a devil that is ideologically safe.
In just this past episode, Lucifer has made only the safest and most banal arguments against God at all. Problem of evil is only barely breathed upon and the problem of Hell is ever-present and ever-ignored, so that Lucifer can be the most obvious foil for the most obvious responses, full stop.
I can see the reason for this, but the answer needs some struggle.
2. Struggle.
One of the things that bugs me about most of the public faces of Christianity is their opposition to any real struggle with their faith, with their concept of God, or with their morality.
This isn't absent from all of Christianity. Fred Clark, the Slacktivist, is an Evangelical Christian who absolutely loves the line uttered by Huck Finn "All right, then, I'll go to Hell." And, it's a part of all of the Abrahamic traditions that needs to be encouraged. I don't say this because I want Christians to turn their backs on God. I do, however, want a better conversation than the one I've been getting.
When it comes to this kind of fiction, I mean don't make it too easy to fall into the standard scripts.
Don't make it all too easy. In Lucifer, the titular character seems to go out of his way to make identifying him as childish and in the wrong (at least as far as his relationship with God is concerned) the easiest thing in the world. That shouldn't be so easy. If he is an evil character, deciphering good from evil isn't always that easy. If it is, you might be missing something.
And, while things shouldn't be that easy to spot the evil...
3. Maltheism/Misotheism
Lucifer has had some good opportunities to explore maltheism and misotheism, the notion that God is evil. While I don't expect the show to support such conclusions, the ideas need to be explored, if only to make a devil character that is interesting... rather than just sometimes amusing.
After some prompting by an angel, Lucifer's therapist talks to Lucifer (not believing him to actually be The Devil) and speaks of God giving him dominion over Hell as an act of love. If there was any point where someone could take the actions of God and legitimately, even if the canon of the show will have this be wrong, give a maltheistic interpretation, here it is.
It would be easy for her to see him as, in the effort of some delusion, attributing the name of God to a parent who may be a clinical naricissist, even acting out a predictable pattern of abuse. Treating Lucifer as not a blindly rebellious son, but potentially as an abused son is at least an interesting realm to explore.
Again, you don't have to explore the idea and come out with it as the one truth. You can explore the idea, find it false but still a valuable exploration. And, because you explored the idea, the response can answer that idea honestly, which brings more interest than just ignoring it.
All of these together add up to enable the fourth note...
4. Sinners Can't Be Too Pathetic
I'm including the show's only representation of an atheist, who was a black-market purvayor of religious artifacts that openly claimed to worship the all mighty dollar. I suppose we could get into a story about how someone who is described, without any contradiction, as a life-long atheist could find himself in that position, but the show doesn't seem at all interested in that. The only atheist character and... well... I find myself insulted by the suggestion that this can represent me.
I'm not just insulted by the amorality/immorality of the character, but the shallowness of the character. I'm not just insulted that he represents my demographic of atheists. I'm insulted that he's a part of a common representationof my demographic of human beings.
From this atheist to a woman who has lustful thoughts about her husband's chaufeur to a sports star that's a virgin with temptations to sex... there's so little to this devil, he's kept so safe and so superficial that they have to be that superficial and or more to go along. The actual murderers that the mystery of the week seeks to find aren't so pathetic, but they're not presented as being manipulated by the ultimate master of deals and manipulation.
5. Ideologically Unsafe
This is, perhaps, the most important thing about any The Devil and any story that features The Devil as a main character or driving force. They have to be ideologically unsafe. They have to take the risks that Lucifer, so far, isn't taking.
Again, I get it. There are some compelling reasons not to take those risks, not the least of which being that it's a risk to make Lucifer the main character and good guy in a show at all. Even while staying so safe with the story and characterization and theme, there's likely already a few blog posts about how this show is a part of a devil-worshiping conspiracy. Take much more risks and you risk alienating a large audience base or gaining traction as an example of the Persecution of Christians.
But, at a certain point, those risks are needed. Those risks are what makes a story compelling or intriguing. Because they're risks, sometimes what you're risking happens. That's a reality. You still need to take those risks. Please take those risks.
no subject
Date: 2016-03-23 04:05 am (UTC)Well, the TV Lucifer is based on a spin-off series from the Sandman series. And in Season of Mists (Vol. 4 of Sandman), Lucifer has this conversation:
LUCIFER: "And the mortals! I ask you--why? Tell me that--why?"
DREAM OF THE ENDLESS: "'Why' what, first among the fallen?"
LUCIFER: "Why do they blame me for all their little failings? They use my name as if I spend my entire day sitting on their shoulders, forcing them to commit acts they would otherwise find repulsive. 'The devil made me do it.' I have never made one of them do anything. Never. They live their own tiny lives. I do not live their lives for them.
"And then they die, and they come here (having transgressed against what they believed to be right), and expect us to fulfill their desire for pain and retribution. I don't make them come here.
"They talk of me going around and buying souls like a fishwife come market day, never stopping to ask themselves why. I need no souls. And how can anyone own a soul?
"No. They belong to themselves...they just hate to have to face up to it."
So that might be why TV Lucifer doesn't have a mind honed by millennia of dealing for souls...though it does sound like the TV show could do a far better job of spelling out his position.
It sounds like the show wants a safe Lucifer, though, not the Lucifer from comics canon, and so they're going the shallow route. Which is a crying shame.
(no subject)
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