Monday, June 8, 2015

So You Sold Your Soul to the Devil...


     There comes a point in anyone's life where they feel that they have reached capacity for their value or work in the world. Some people take satisfaction in it and others become lost. In the case of the infamous German legend of Faust, he went the extra mile and sold his soul to the Devil, not to gain riches, but for knowledge and power.
     Christopher Marlowe, an English poet and playwright, wrote this age old tale called Doctor Faustus in 1592 and became one of his greatest works. It is a very interesting 14 scene, blank verse play that takes us on a journey with Faustus, a German Doctor, to find ultimate knowledge and power. Faustus conjures the devil and is received by his servant, Mephistophilis. Faustus signs in his own blood, a pact for the desires in which he yearns for. Lucifer himself makes an appearance as well and summons the 7 deadly sins, personified as individuals. Faustus doesn't take a hint well because this was Lucifer giving him a warning for what he is in for. Faustus spends the next 24 years entertaining people of power and himself with small tricks and ends up misusing his power until it was too late and is dragged into the fiery pits of hell or devoured by demons, that part is still left up to the reader and whichever version of the play you end up reading.
   
WWU devised play poster

     For those of you who don't read and like visuals for entertainment, I am right there with ya. I read the play as well as saw a devised piece at Western Washington University called /faust, which is an adaptation of Doctor Faustus. This play was centered on Felix, an amateur film maker on the rise to stardom who calls Mephistophilis to help him create the perfect film. It was definitely a thought-provoking play. It was the perfect amount of disturbing and weird to create a story line of devils and demons. The abstract representations of the demons were interesting, their costumes consisted of fitted sheets and red lines so that when they moved it was like a blob of evil was coming for you.  The use of projectors and lights were very intricate as well, on the walls you could see video of disturbing images and often made one feel unconformable. That was their aim, and they nailed it. I appreciated that the production placed a 'trigger warning' before entering the seating area stating that there was adult content and other aspects of the show that could potentially disturb some audience members. A scene that may have been too graphic to me was a nightmare scene where Felix destroys his partners film by being the puppet of Mephistophilis.
     One aspect that was greatly incorporated, was the themes of today's day and age which is the greatly controversial topic of the gender binary. /faust did a great job of portraying the dissolution of this with many different approaches. One thing that is clear is that the world seems like it is male centered, the play features a man and a woman competing to win a film making competition and instead of portraying the woman in need of assistance, it is the man who needs the help to stand on his own. Mara, Felix's fiancée, is tempted once by Mephistophilis, but rejects the demon, automatically taking us back to the original sin made by Eve and placing it on the man. Another steotypical tradition is the man placing the wedding ring on the woman, instead we see that Mara does this. The entire film that Mara is producing is also trying to convey this idea that women can break free from the oppression of man, symbolized by a corset. A movement that is being integrated in society right now is the "Free the Tits" and in parts of the play there was footage of women breaking free from their bras and showed nipple as if to say we are just as equal as man.Lastly, I noticed that in a bedroom scene instead of a man spooning the woman, it is flipped and Mara spoons Felix.

     I mentioned above that this play was an adaptation of the written play by Marlowe. But, what is an adaptation and how many are there? Well, good question. In my class we had a discussion of what an adaptation entails. In short, it is a story based upon the general plot of another. So, /faust is definitely based upon Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Just as there are other adaptations of other famous stories like Shakespeare's Hamlet  was adapted by Disney to make The Lion King. Or Romeo and Juliet being adapted as numerous works like West Side Story. Now, how many adaptations of this legend of Faust selling his soul to the devil? Well, there are so many mediums that have been adapted into this story plot including movies, plays, novels, music, poetry, paintings, videogames, comics and more!      
For example:

  • Ghost Rider (2007)
  • Click (2006 )
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1989 version)
    • This also has many adaptations of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera
  • Marilyn Manson's "The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles" (from the album The Pale Emperor)


Sources Cited:

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