Similar to the plot of "The Divine Comedy", the animation tells that Dante took a "tour" with the poet Virgil to hell, with the purpose of saving Dante's lover Beatrice who was captured by Satan. In this process, the film reveals the sins committed by Dante before entering hell through flashbacks. These flashbacks are quoted through the characteristics of the hell level reached by Dante and Virgil. In the animation, the hell is divided into nine layers: the first layer is the judgement, the ancient pagans who failed to accept the baptism, waiting for God’s judgment here; in the remaining eight layers, the souls of sinners are based on the sins committed during their lifetime. (Greed, gluttonous, greedy, angry, cult, rape, fraud, betrayal), accept different harsh punishments. When Dante and Virgil came to the second level of hell (the level that punishes greedy people), Dante recalled that he had accepted the temptation of pagan beauties during the Crusades. This was clearly interpreted by Christianity as " Sin". And on the seventh floor of Hell (the one that punishes violent people), Dante recalled his brutal treatment of infidels during the Crusades. Dante is deeply aware that the "sin" he committed in the world has effectively transformed into his retribution-the beloved is taken into hell, and he can only come to hell to accept many dangerous tests- This is undoubtedly an excellent religious propaganda-you must strictly abide by the teachings of God, otherwise you will be out of luck! I think for young people, the role of cartoons in propagating doctrine may be greater than that of words. In my opinion, cartoons are an effective propaganda carrier that keeps pace with the times.
However, when religious themes are transferred to market-oriented animators, it must yield to the market to a certain extent. This can be proved by a large number of bloody and violent scenes in the cartoon. This is also what I admire most about this cartoon. And because of the heavy taste of the bloody scenes, I feel that this cartoon is not a religious preaching film, or that it is not like a pure religious preaching film, it is more like an animation "Young and Dangerous" ". Dante, as the boss of a certain society (the Crusaders), his woman was snatched away by the boss of another society (the boss of hell, Satan). For this reason, he carried a huge sword (later a big knife) and hacked to death almost all the bosses in the hall of hell (and it was a very cruel hack, either by chopping hands or feet or watching the head). I think this kind of plot must be very attractive to those who are tired of watching cartoons (such as "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf"). However, this also planted the seeds of profound contradictions for this animation: on the one hand, it has the purpose of promoting people’s religious beliefs, but on the other hand, it contains too much violence and blood (and even some pornographic content). More importantly, the place that it attracts the audience is likely to lie in its violent and bloody part. In this way, "Dante's Journey to Hell" is like a tree trying to carve itself into a wooden sculpture with an ax in order to make others like itself. For this, I think those who really understand the history of Christianity should be able to understand (and those who understand the history of Christianity should also be able to understand): The powers and followers of Christianity have never left violence and bloody. The Crusade is a perfect example. He did not hesitate to use war, massacre, torture, and plunder to force pagans to believe in Christianity. No matter how the Christians explain it, this period of history is enough to dye the color of heaven red. Superstition can stop and create evil. Therefore, I thought that when watching "Dante's Journey to Hell", it would be better to treat it as a heavy-taste animation.
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