The PERFECT Reimagining of Dante's Inferno

[Music] suppose you recognize this explosive quote from literature in that case you've either had the pleasure of reading Dante's Inferno or you might have indulged in the bubblegum allegory of the poem in Dan Brown's iteration either way you have some ideas of the harrowing thematic inclination of the notorious theological text The Divine Comedy for starters there's nothing comedic about Dante's Vivid envisioning of the nine circles of hell where different Sinners are being punished in the 14th century poem a man who is a reflection of Dante himself embarks on a miraculous in otherworldly journey to hell purgatory and Paradise throughout this gruesome Journey the man has two guides Virgil and beatric the Roman poet Virgil is the truest epitome of wisdom and knowledge and let's just say that becomes super handy when you got to navigate your way through The Inferno and Purgatory while these two places are ideal for condemning the Sinners Virgil's holier than thou approach to life and the underlying annoying sense of self-righteousness is well fun yet even then Virgil is a pagan Soul because he was never baptized moving on Dante's guide in Paradise is beatric a woman who's a spitting image of the man's former flame and his ideal woman while the story is an epic description of the dark afterlife and gives a religious Centric moralistic sermon to embrace the higher word of God its approach is pretty grim and maab you see when Dante is giving us a tour of the nine circles of hell the stars of the show are these Souls that are being tortured for an array of sins and as much as we don't want to remind you of death in the afterlife we're going to segue into that a bit for instance the punishment for glutton is to get rained on by garbage and sit in the trash while worms decompose it yeah told you it's maob and this is perhaps one of the more tame methods of torture from the book then you have the gloomy or in modern language the nists who were forced to choke in the river of black tar for eternity Heretics being burned alive and flatterers buried in poop not your ordinary poem right but hey highbrow literary dudes love Inferno I had to read it in college all right it's a fun idea but we're not doing a modern retelling of the Divine Comedy instead we're going to break down perhaps the most clever and ingenious appropriation of Dante's Inferno and no we're not talking about the long and tedious iteration of Dan Brown Tom Hanks has that covered thank you very much so let's focus on a different quote a brilliant way of looking at life the futility of trying to plan everything out and the chaos of the universe all that from cartoon networks's animated miniseries Over the Garden Wall yep that heartwarming tale of incredible friendship between two brothers has its own twist with maob plot lines in witty intrusive stylings but the fact that he's series for children in some childmind adults was inspired by a gruesome poetic depiction of Hell In The Condemned can be pretty mind-boggling Over the Garden Wall is a classic brainchild of Creator Patrick male who unapologetically appropriated The Divine Comedy for some easier to digest entertainment and it worked like a charm the series revolves around W and his younger half brother Greg as they try to find their way back home after getting lost in a treacherous in nefarious Forest called the unknown now that's a pretty common Trope in popular culture in literary masterpieces yet the brothers turmo oils in the woods are highly inspired by Dante's Journey Through The Nine Circles of Hell to be clear the series doesn't Encompass the entirety of the Divine Comedy but it does latch on to Inferno to draw some striking in remarkable imagery of the unknown and how the siblings find their way out so other than the plot the three main characters in over thee Garden Wall are also direct appropriations of Dante Virgil and beatric in fact if you watch the series knowing Inferno you you'd be able to make all the right connections instantly of course it takes a certain narrative jump to base animated harmless characters into the depiction of hell but you would have gotten there W is a classic depiction of Dante himself he has an incredible affinity for poetry has a massive crush on a girl and well he likes to stay in his head in this representation the most striking similarity in this case is W's infatuation with pros and how this particular Quirk drives most of his person ality the obsidian Cricket of our inevitable Twilight singing our requium dare we say it but just like Dante our main character is also a huge nerd in a poet at heart we see this Larger than Life comparison very early in the show citing innocence when Greg suggests that the duo leave a trail of candy to find their trajectory home W's response is a recitation he recites the following though I am lost my Wounded Heart resides back home in pieces strewn about the graveyard of my lost love when it comes to physical similarities male's characters recognized Quirk is his red hat which is identical to Dante's preference in his 14th century poem what's really interesting is that W just like Dante also exhibits some level of being an anti-hero they don't always know the answer sometimes they get it wrong and they both are highly insecure within themselves this sort of character sketch would become more clear as you watch the video but now let's talk about Greg we have our Virgil in W's half brother in companion Greg and this is where things get super interesting right off the bat we have to pick our favorite allegorical character we'd pick Greg in a second nothing against word though it's just that M gives an interesting twist to this particular representation overall we can see how Greg is a barlik companion for his older brother clearly This is highly reminiscent of how Virgil was a Guiding Light for Dante in its perplexing and life-altering journey through hell in each circle of hell the methods of torture are literally insane but what keeps Dante going is Virgil's profound wisdom and knowledge in the absolute self-belief that he has been a good person in the past and since he had spent a significant chunk down there he knew every nooking cranny of each circle of hell such details of Virgil's character make him super Brave and courageous while he leads his friend to Paradise the the comparison striking right you have a traveler who's stuck in the unknown and finds a guide in a man who seems to know everything it's almost brilliant that Greg most of the time couldn't be more different than his counterpart while maintaining some occasional commonalities you see Greg is absolutely clueless in the unknown he doesn't know what strange situation is around the corner and he doesn't know how to navigate the woods to take his brother home safely yet despite being unknowledgeable about the depths of the treacherous Forest Greg is Brave and man nothing gets more poetic than this because if you put this in perspective the younger brother here has all the leeway to hold back in the journey as he's completely out of his League here but he takes the bigger step of navigating the depths of the unknown and dealing with the consequences later that's precisely why we say Greg is more of a hero than Virgil ever was on a very intuitive level the heroic characterization of Greg seems a bit paradoxical stupid even because you can easily stand up and respond with hey the foolish younger brother got himself into trouble in the first place and W was dragged along with him sure but as we look further the story has a huge desperation for driving out Redemption arcs in a very non-don way so all in all the Virgil esque bravery of Greg is almost defined by how he responds to the bizarreness of the unknown and the uncertainty it induces at this point we're compelled to quote HP Lovecraft best known lines citing the fear of the unknown he said the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear in the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown and we think this is critically important because this is exactly where W falls short his response to the unknown is initially very dismissive for instance he can't wrap his head around the fact that beatric is a bird who doesn't only speak but also has the prowess to guide his journey through the unknown on the other hand Greg doesn't show that prolonged movement of hesitancy to accept the fantasy world because certain things just can't be explained given the duo circumstances Greg's philosophy is genius so genius that it ends up creating this beautiful contrast between the moral implications of Inferno and Albert Cam's absurdism all right sorry we know no one asked for this nerdfest but dang it's almost diabolical how much Over the Garden Wall is packed with philosophical Reflections in between you and us it's also refreshing how a miniseries from Cartoon Network can philosophize a 14th Century High Brown theological text that's Transcendent in every way possible so why do we think Greg is one step further from Virgil to start off we've already talked about the knowledge differential between the two characters but more importantly Greg finds his Ingenuity by avoiding one important crisis with himself he doesn't go out of his way to make sense of things that startle him and are completely new to him this is where the character also starts to buy into Kim's absurdism Greg finds an edge over his older brother by implicitly accepting that the world is inherently nonsensical tragic and full of suffering to search for meaning in an incomprehensible world is meaningless in its own right because well there's no order to fall back to the very notion of absurdism comes from our natural desire to explain stuff or Find meaning in things like our own suffering and all that becomes super relevant when Nature is indifferent towards our search for meaning because again there isn't any when word is struggling to accept the unknown in all its treachery and weirdness Greg seems to do the opposite and that's what sets him apart so yeah Greg becomes the manifestation of this classical lyrical response from Taylor Swift you're on your own kid always have been while we're down this rabbit hole we can also talk about why we see very different character trajectories for Greg and wor despite the very obvious Canon and our response is quite simple right the wise Mentor in Dante's World recognizes the consequentiality of your actions the souls being tortured in the nine circles of hell are simply there because well they broke the completely sensical meaningful rules that were laid out in a sacred holy world as opposed to the unknown hell isn't absurd it's just an extension of your life when you got to pay for your sins cool we aren't going to argue on religious terms here but if we were to place Greg in Inferno we think he'd probably write an explosive philosophical text on finding hell completely nonsensical because how exactly are we internalizing the complete consequences of our actions in an inherently absurd World okay if you have an immense dislike for camo you might want to go off in the comment section but even deep down you know that it's a struggle to make sense of every single thing in your life and Greg just doesn't mess with that now let's talk about beatric who was a remarkable homage to her her literary counterpart from The Divine Comedy there are a few reasons why we find the character interesting in several regards Over the Garden Wall features beatric as a personified Bluebird who is portrayed as a false hero in the miniseries her origin is a direct inspiration from The Inferno character who becomes Dante's guide in Paradise in her literary representation she's also Dante's lost lover these particular characterizations are also true for beatric from over thee Garden Wall but we'd say her character in the miniseries is also reminiscent of the Divine Comedy in another interesting way so let's take a step back and think about why beatric is a bluebird in the series instead of assuming her mundane human form from the character's backstory we get to learn that as a girl beatric hit a sacred Bluebird with stones and as a divine intervention or punishment or whatever she along with her family were cursed to live as bluebirds losing all of their human agency in perks don't know about you guys but this particular plotline is straight out of Inferno that's why we talked about it earlier in the video hell is the philosophical and religious manifestation of hey your actions have consequences and the afterlife has some torturous yet creative ways to punish you for your sins Beatrice's trajectory in the unknown is indifferent when she was hitting those birds with stones she perhaps didn't associate a lot of meaning or consequentiality to her actions that's how life goes right yet if you read through Dante's Inferno and take a closer look at the nine circles of hell you'd see that no sin will go unpunished all right Lucifer isn't exactly turning people into birds for initiating violence but it's the idea of divine punishment that puts Inferno in Over the Garden Wall under the same light but the poem does give some interesting rules to birds in hell it's almost impossible to not think about The Uncanny similarity but the punishment for self-violence reminds us of BH say Arc in the series in Dante's Inferno people who had unived themselves are punished for not respecting their bodies enough so now they must lose all human form people are turned into trees for eternity and some horrid bird-like creatures pack the human trees bodies even the thought of this is almost frightening enough but the purpose of this maob relling is to bring your attention to the canonical retention of beatric and the way Mel responds to the absurdity of hell is pretty OB awesome eventually we see that beatric and her family regain their human forms in the epilogue while this calls for celebration we're still not over the Grim parallel between the origin of beatric the bluebird and Dante's Inferno there of course are some dissimilarities too in the series Words Crush on Sarah isn't framed as a stupid teenager infatuation that would be over in the daytime in fact male giv Sarah a more intense direction of love that work can't seem to figure out it's almost poetic that is feelings towards Sarah landed him in a graveyard in the first place and we know already that's when his life turns around as he finds himself in the unknown now all this seems very reminiscent of Dante's obsession with his love beatric yet since Beatrice's literary Cannon is a bluebird in the series she isn't the object of W's true love instead she takes another arguably more Monumental role in W's life you see beatric is a bluebird who doesn't mess around she effectively calls out word for his inaction and the fact that he keeps blaming Greg for their entire ordeal in a way beatric is a moral guide for work as her literary representation does the same for Dante in Paradise what's really paradoxical about his relationship are the inherent moral shortcomings of beatric and the series on numerous occasions she tries to abandon the boys to lift the curse on her family yet throughout the series we see the mediation of this conflict as both beatric and W try to come to terms with their individual shortcomings just like Dante and his lover do in Inferno and of course the retelling of hell is incomplete without the classic evil that lies within every circle of hell and in our case in the nefarious forest in the depths of the unknown lies the series's very own conjecture of Lucifer called the beast just like the classic biblical rendition of Satan the Beast of the unknown has an all- andcompany deceptive presence to trick people into going astray he has many thorns and faces as well male took direct inspiration from Dante's characterization of Lucifer as a shadow-like presence in all circles of Inferno and even when he isn't physically present his shadow induces this weird level of eeriness discomfort and uneasiness between Virgil in Dante Over the Garden Wall makes the presence of its own satanic rendition through small dark Turtles the central plot line about the beast in the forest is his incorrigible desire to keep the lantern burning with the Edwood trees now now those trees aren't ordinary they are a Dark Twisted manifestation of The Souls of lost Travelers that couldn't find their way out of the nefarious woods so it's in the best interest of the Beast that Greg and W don't find an escape from the hellish soul sucking life of the unknown similarly in Dante's Inferno Lucifer has a hunger to Devour the tortured Souls as well but here's the thing in many ways over thee Garden Wall is a remarkable antithesis to the hop that exists in Dante's Inferno because what it does so subtly is Turn The Divine Comedy into a more purposeful commentary on life that isn't devoid of Hope Redemption and second chances the Animated Series isn't purely theological despite its robust biblical imagery mainly because it doesn't completely stay true to Dante's condemned for eternity messaging in fact the Journey of Wharton craigg simply advises you to strive for redemption in goodness even when you're plunged into into total darkness so even if we deviate from righteousness or some sort of moral trajectory we aren't condemned all right it's a bit of a snafu yet there's always some Saving Grace for everyone sure these characters don't always take Center Stage to induce some sort of Messianic guide and they surely don't ask you to pay attention in Sunday School in fact just like Dante we also find siblings getting apprehensive about their Journey more dominantly in their moments of weakness they feel lost question how they got tangled in the unknown and if there's any incentive to fight their way out but the overall induced hopelessness to escape hell is exclusively inferno's Pitfall in the poem we first encounter the harrowing nature of Hell through the inscription above its gate the famous line reading abandon all hope ye who enter here that's where this is from if you didn't know and the inscription stayed true to its words throughout Dante's Journey Through The Inferno similarly we find a rebos allegory of abandon all hope in over thee Garden Wall through the siblings encounter with a Woodsman now we find this scene very important for one simple reason The Woodsman doesn't leave any stone unturn to warn the siblings about the Beast who signifies the death of Hope for everyone in the unknown he isn't wrong if anything his Revelation is perhaps the most well sounding allegory in the series Greg and work go through hell both literally and figuratively yet their Adventure doesn't Echo that all hope is lost for the siblings even in turbulent times they seem to do their own thing they save the dog from the beast's possession they save beatric they befriend turtles in many ways W in particular doesn't Define himself through the preconceived notions of the unknown instead even in the maddening darkness of the woods he urges himself to be the hero of his own story this is where we see more literary understanding between Dante's journey through hell and W's uneasiness in the treacherous Forest the two characters find their robust contrasts in episode four of the series and well if we had to pick a favorite episode of Over the Garden Wall this is probably our vote so what's so special about songs of the dark Lantern this particular episode is based on the trio struggle to find the directions to Adelaide of the pasture a woman who supposedly holds the secret to getting out of the unknown now this bit is important for the siblings final plan to get the heck out of the woods but we're not going to talk about that here we are more interested in the episode sheer prowess in pushing W to accept his trajectory as a Wanderer who may or may not be lost either way he just needs to keep going after all he's just in the formative years of finding his own path in life as he makes mistakes searches for guidance and being beatric and Greg and Longs for his girl crush the climactic push makes itself known when w tries to ask for directions from the people in The Tavern much to his surprise The Keeper of the tavern is more interested in finding out W's real identity or his place in life the keeper introduces everyone in the tavern through their roles in Life or their professions weirdly these people don't have names there's a butcher a teacher a tailor a master and so on so so w finds himself fighting a new identity crisis later in the episode things settle down when he finds a resonating label for himself the butcher from The Tavern calls W the pilgrim and a traveler on a sacred Journey while the baker tells him that you're the hero of your own story wart finds a lot of potential in his identity as the pilgrim and a hero in the making but he only fully Embraces his new yet novel labels at the end of the series and again W's pipeline from the defeated lost lover to the master of his journey stands in direct conflict with Dante's abandon all hope so let's transition to that when we were discussing the Beast of the unknown earlier we deliberately didn't push one very important symbolism of the Lucifer like creature this is because we first wanted to talk about W's emergence as the master of his own journey in the miniseries you'd see that the Beast hardly had any theological Connections in fact and more shockingly it's a strong symbolism for depression and an overwhelming sense of hopelessness W's Journey from feeling defeated to finally confronting the Beast and escaping is framed masterfully and beautifully without making it explicit W's trajectory ends up challenging the harmful connotations about unal living yourself and the ones who suffer from its ideation because let's be be honest W's healing process is confusing defeating and pretty apprehensive but the fact that he refused to turn into the Edwood tree is the only Benchmark that is worthy and important in comparison what Dante's Inferno offers us is the complete opposite of Mel's imagery in over thee Garden Wall in the poem people had taken their own lives were condemned for eternity while some acts of unal living yourselves were deemed virtuous this is a very paradoxical commentary on a highly complex and sensitive topic that impacts millions of lives so it's honestly remarkable how an animated series from Cartoon Network does a stellar job of making its highbrow inspiration look stupid and even harmful by today's standards at least all in all over thee Garden Wall is an excellent mediation of a low brow cult classic that does an incredible job of humanizing its source and in doing so it doesn't only redefine a new age of the genre it also leaves its viewers with a powerful manifestation of being their own hero after all hope shouldn't die but anyways this has been 10K Bill and thanks for watching comment down below what you like to hear me talk about next support us on our patreon if you like this content and want to see more like it and of course make sure you subscribe for all your entertainment related content a

Channel: 10K Productions

Views: 124,251

Keywords: 9 circles of hell, dante alighieri, dantes inferno, divine comedy, halloween, mythology and fiction explained, over the garden wall, over the garden wall trailer, spooky, the beast, what is dantes inferno

Id: ARg83d0lNuE

Length: 24min 32sec (1472 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 13 2023