Elliot Richards' Bedazzled

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Elliot Richards' Bedazzled

Literature that was published in the 1800s in Germany is still used as a basis, or can be, for modern movies. I found this to be true when comparing Faust to the movie “Bedazzled.” Faust is a Romantic story that encompasses the Romantic movement to the fullest. “Bedazzled,” while encompassing many of these characteristics, has characteristics of the enlightenment, modernism, and postmodernism. Society’s character at the time of production of each storyline plays a huge role in how the story plays out. We can see this in how each desire is portrayed, how good and evil are portrayed, and how each hero gets themselves into their situation.

Romanticism was a movement to experience passion and desire to the fullest. Goethe portrays Faust doing this through an evil pact with the devil. Many evils come about because of his experiences, yet he is saved. This says that to be human, one is to experience their humanness to the fullest. In “Bedazzled,” Eliot Richards also makes a pact with the devil to experience his greatest desires, mainly love. On this basic level these two correlate very well.

Goethe is breaking away from the period of enlightenment, a period of reason that thinks these experiences can be great in moderation. In “Bedazzled,” it is seen through the movie how Eliot learns that most things are good in moderation. This movie encompasses many of these literary movements in its portrayal of Eliot’s adventure.

Before delving into the correlating experiences of Faust and “Bedazzled,” here’s a background on both. Faust is a respectable scholar and doctor. He makes a pact to give his soul to the devil if the devil can please him. Faust agrees to...

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...s heading and how we lead that life. Eliot does end up with a girl in his life that he loves to finish this parody in a Romantic way.

Faust also gets out of his contract. He is finally pleased with this paradise he is going to build. The ability for following generations to enjoy this paradise was his pleasure. This selfless act of joy was what allowed God to save him, even though the contract said otherwise.

Both of these stories parallel each other. The differences mainly lie in the ideology and culture behind each of them. Faust follows a pure Romantic ideology where as the movie “Bedazzled” bounces around through eras picking and choosing the best of all eras to make a funny, enlightening, and optimistic film. Literature and other forms of media play a great part in portraying a culture in time. Yet, these works of art are timeless.

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