- What's up, you guys? Welcome back.
Is it me or is Satan having a very good year?
He's getting dates on match.com.
He's getting a lap dance from Lil Nas X.
He's on "Lucifer" and "Good Omens" and "Sabrina."
There's a tiny demon inside of me
that's titillated by this. (laughing)
So today, I wanted to talk about the changing face
of Satan in the media,
humanity's evolving ideas about evil,
and how, curiously, the devil himself
is becoming the mascot of LGBT and humanist causes.
Perhaps the time has come, you guys,
to embrace the dark side.
(man laughing)
(scary music)
Satan's portrayal in the media has changed
pretty much every few hundred years.
At first, Satan was portrayed as a beautiful
but fallen angel.
This is pretty much in line with Lucifer's origin story.
But by the Middle Ages and through Colonial times,
something interesting happened.
Satan's theology had become more complex and developed,
and people started to see him as a literal demon
with animalistic features like horns and hooves.
Why did Satan evolve to be a beast?
It was probably in response to the threat of Paganism.
Pagans worshipped the natural world.
They were accused of worshipping false gods
and all kinds of witchy business.
So naturally, people killed them.
And that's why they couldn't have nice things.
Paganism still had a huge impact.
They probably inspired most of the traditions
we associate with Christmas and Easter at the very least.
Back to Satan, it's fitting that he was basically portrayed
as a goat.
Now, by the 1800s, Satan had evolved yet again,
but this time, he was more familiar.
He started to look like a human.
Victorian Satan reflected changing ideas
about the nature of evil.
Evil was no longer the threat of the natural world
or a deceptive beast.
Evil became human.
It's a temptation lurking inside all of us,
a temptation for sex or money or fame.
And this is how the "deal with the devil" trope gets started,
where a beloved character in a story surrenders
something valuable to a devilish being
in exchange for some kind of personal perk.
(orchestral music)
Satan's popularity simply explodes in the '60s
with Hollywood horror classics like "Rosemary's Baby."
- He came up from Hell and begat us on a mortal woman.
- Hail Satan.
- But it's not just the movies.
In the '70s, Satan even got his own church!
Today, membership with the Church of Satan is booming.
Very interesting, very curious, why could that be?
Someone, somewhere out there would say
this is because humans are becoming evil
and we're succumbing to Satan and...oh God.
But I have a different take on this.
I think part of it is that humans have
a morbid curiosity.
We're weirdly compelled by very dark and disturbing things.
I mean, just take a look at the success
of the true crime genre.
Are true crime junkies okay?
But I think the other part of Satan's appeal
is that he is sort of
this timeless classic symbol of rebellion.
(hip hop music)
Satan is kind of a sex icon.
This guy (beep).
He's always seducing or banging someone.
By leaning into the Satan as a seductress trope,
Lil Nas X managed to piss off like 900 million people
in, I don't know, 30 seconds flat?
The music video for "Montero" was apparently so upsetting
that literal government figures had to weigh in
on Twitter...because of course they did.
She really said, "No fun allowed," huh?
It's ironic to me.
There are millions of kids all over the world
who are still being told that if they're gay,
they'll go to Hell, they'll burn for eternity.
That is some next level mind (beep)
that is so much more evil than a lap dance.
In that context, the embrace of occult imagery
by queer artists isn't that surprising.
In "Montero," he's kinda turning this on its head, right?
He's playfully questioning who the real villains are
in biblical stories.
When he goes up to Heaven, he's judged and stoned to death
with a butt plug, which makes it a little better,
but not much.
But when he pole dances on down to Hell,
well, then he's free. To dance, to love,
to claim his power,
and just to be, to exist.
And I mean, think about all that history,
all that context, right?
Satan is basically the original gay ally.
(hip hop music continues)
The Church of Satan
is another really interesting incarnation of Satan
in modern times.
- Satanism is really about not letting myself
off the hook, trying to continually advocate for people,
especially people who aren't able
to advocate for themselves.
- The Church of Satan is a legally recognized church
here in the United States.
They don't worship Satan.
They don't even believe in a literal Satan.
And it's probably the actual beliefs
of the Satanic Church that is drawing a lot of people in.
Empathy, reason, justice, bodily autonomy,
the freedom to be offensive...very important!
Respecting science, reckoning with your mistakes,
a spirit of compassion over blind obedience to authority.
You guys, this is a cult I could sell my soul to.
Satanism is leaving the mark of the beast
all over the county right now with a wave of lawsuits.
In Texas, they're challenging abortion laws
that require people to view an ultrasound
on the grounds that it violates their Satanic beliefs.
In Arizona, Satanists are currently fighting
for the right to offer a blessing
before city council meetings, like the Christian groups
in the area have done for decades.
And a similar case to that one was actually already fought
and won in Alaska.
(man singing)
- This man can show up in July in a October outfit
and act like a fool.
- Come along with me.
- Okay.
- You were given a lawful order to leave.
- Over in Arkansas and Minnesota,
they're attempting to erect a Satanic statue
next to statues of the Ten Commandments
at the state capitol.
- Different beliefs mostly came together
to say all or none.
If the Ten Commandments get to sit on capitol grounds,
so do the statues of their representative religions.
- (laughing) Oh, that just feels trollish.
But it's also sort of legally consistent.
In America, religious liberty isn't supposed
to favor any particular religion.
So, whether it's a troll or not,
it definitely forces lawmakers into a bind.
Like either you have to admit that you're kind of biased
toward one religion or they have to really open it up
to every religious group.
If Satanist causes continue to gain cultural relevance,
Satan may evolve in history yet again.
Not just as a sexy, cool symbol of rebellion,
but as a mascot for humanist causes.
And to that, I say.....hail Satan.
(scary music)
All right, my devilish darlings,
that's all I have for you today.
Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you next time.
(man laughing)