Afterlife fantasies from Dante’s
Divine Comedy to Pixar’s
Soul have always been a unique way to look at society. In this short series, I’ll be looking at the film tradition of afterlife fantasies, and discussing the recurring themes and imagery across a century of cinema.
Last time I set sail with
Outward Bound and
Between Two Worlds, two films that followed a group of souls on a journey between life and death. Today I’m wrestling with four interrelated films, three starring a personification of Death, and one starring…the Devil!
Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Angel on My Shoulder, Heaven Can Wait, and
New-york
United-states
Florida
Hollywood
California
Wellington
New-zealand-general
New-zealand
Jordan
James-mason
Eugene-levy
Edward-everett-horton
What lies beyond the grave? Human cultures across space and time have imagined many kinds of afterlives, from the attenuated shades of Hades to the lush paradise of the Islamic Jannah to the merger with the infinite anticipated by mystics. From a theological perspective, it’s not the descriptive details that matter but rather the functions played by these portrayals. What we expect to happen after we die affects how we choose to live.
In other words, most concepts of the afterlife are really all about this life. (What isn’t?) Despite the infinite horizon of eternity, which from a quantitative standpoint shrinks our earthly threescore-and-ten into insignificance, almost all popular images of immortality hang from the framework of our brief mortal lives. Perhaps our ultimate destination is determined by our deeds or moral standing: the compensatory afterlife, wherein just deserts possibly denied or escaped during life are executed eternally in heaven or hell. Or the reverse: the w
Jordan
Harry-segall
Albert-brooks
Islamic-jannah
Heaven-can-wait
Defending-your-life
ஜோர்டான்
ஹாரி-செகல்
ஆல்பர்ட்-ஓடை
சொர்க்கம்-முடியும்-காத்திரு
பாதுகாத்தல்-உங்கள்-வாழ்க்கை