Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Dinbilimleri Akademik Araştırma Dergisi, cilt.23, sa.1, ss.1-30, 2023 (ESCI)
Since the first years of cinema, countless movies have been made about different religions and their themes that made favorable or unfavorable comments and criticisms. In these films, one of the prominent representations has been the character of Satan. In the history of cinema, the earliest film about the representation of Satan is La Manoir du Diable, directed by French director Georges Melies in 1896. From the first example to the present, many films about Satan have been made and transferred to the silver screen. The subject of this study is to determine how the films inspired by the Christian tradition paint a portrait of Satan. Therefore the scope of this study is limited to films that concretely depict Satan in European and American cinema which use the Christian faith and culture intensively. In this study, it is aimed to determine to what extent the producers or directors, who mention Satan or demonic forces, benefit from the Christian scriptures or religious tradition and how they reflect the issues that attract their attention to the screen.In this study, in which qualitative research methods are used, on the one hand, an existing situation has been tried to be described, on the other hand, it has been aimed to examine the subject in depth. In this direction, the case study pattern was used. In addition, the films that are the subject of the study were selected in accordance with the homogeneous sampling, one of the purposive sampling methods. In this context, 43 films from European and American cinema, which use the devil motif, Christian belief and culture, have been watched and analyzed. The data obtained from these movies have been analyzed by content analysis technique. In this context, the following themes have been constituted: The Naming of Satan, The Physical Appearence of Satan, Satan's Desire to Have a Son and Its Relationships with Antichrist, The Nature of Satan and Its Effect on Human, Ways to Deal With the Devil and the Excorcism, The Exaltation of Satan and Satanism.In our country, studies on the use of the Devil motif in cinema films have been emerged later than the West. In our country, when looking at the literature on the use of religious elements in cinema films, it is seen that various studies have been carried out in different disciplines, including the History of Religions. Among these, there are also studies that mention the figure of Satan. Some of these studies have touched on the percept of Satan in a limited way within the framework of the motifs used in horror movies. In others, figure of Satan have evaluated only in one or a few films. However in this study, a larger sample have included. The data obtained within the scope of the sample have been diversified and classified under different headings. In addition to these, it also offers the opportunity to compare the data used between different films. In terms of these aspects, this study differs from its similars in the literature. It is hoped that this study, which aims to contribute to the enrichment of the literature in the field of the History of Religions, will also open the door to new researches with contents such as the representations of the devil or evil forces in other religions such as Judaism, Hinduism, Shintoism apart from Christianity. As a result, there is a serious diversity in the field of cinema about who Satan is and what he represents. In this diversity Satan stands out as a character who tries to seduce people and divert them from the right path, therefore needs to be constantly fought.