Movies/Scenes Representing the
Ubiquity of Evil
- The Shipping
News (2001)
- Sin/Evil as a knot - good and evil are tangled together into a "knot" - "knot" images are seen throughout this film.
- Chocolat (2000)
- The Comte has broken into the Chocolatarie on Holy Saturday to destroy it. He is in the display window breaking things. He has been severely fasting all during Lent. A piece of chocolate lands on his lip. His tongue reaches out and tastes it. He loses control, stuffing himself with every kind of chocolate until he passes out, to be found in the morning by the priest headed to church. (Darrel Manson, Artesia Christian Church, Artesia CA)
- The movie, Chocolate, presents a wonderful opportunity to talk about the nature of evil, the goodness of creation, and the reality that nothing human is alien to us. Just as is true of the Biblical stories, something of every character lives inside each of us. The people whom we like the least can function as sacraments to invite us to look at those aspects of ourselves which we dislike or of which we are ashamed, and which we therefore project onto others in order to avoid meeting them in ourselves - and therefore cutting ourselves off from the possibility of opening them to God's love, (which accepts all of us - not just the "good" parts) and allowing it to heal and transform us so that we may live life from our true center, which is Love - and which is the only power more powerful than the power and the reality of Evil. (Senter Crook)
- Blue Velvet (1986)
- Jeffrey is drawn simultaneously to save Dorothy and to hurt her because of his own shame/guilt/pleasure.
- The
Empire Strikes Back (1980)
- Scene where Luke is on Dagobah learning to use the Force from Yoda. He ventures in a cave and fights Darth Vader in a vision. He is horrified to find his own face is that which is hidden by Darth Vader's mask. (Ted Sherrin)
- Cabaret (1972)
- What does evil look like? Two men, one German and one American, stop at a local festival in the German countryside. A beautiful young boy stands and begins to sing "Tomorrow Belongs to Me", a hauntingly lovely ballad. One by one, other young people join him in the song. Finally, the camera pulls back and reveals the boy's Hitler Youth uniform. The charming scene becomes one of horror as we realize the evil implications of the song. (FUMC, Natchitoches, LA)
- On the Waterfront
(1954)
- See Theresa Shetler's paper, "'I?ll Be Back!' The Battle continues?On the Waterfront: Art Reflects Culture."
