Seven(david Fincher,1995) Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Seven(david Fincher,1995) - Research Paper Example The movie is immersed in Christian culture and imagery, with emphasis on the way that sins or crimes that were once considered to be repulsive, immoral and horrific are now accepted and generally ignored. As a motif the seven deadly sins are widely known, and generally accepted as part of Christian culture. Despite popular belief, the idea of there being seven specific sins does not originate from the bible, but reports of the current list date back to the 6th century . Pope Gregory the First, and Saint Thomas Aquinas also reaffirmed the list, ingraining it into the Catholic church in the process . The list was made famous in Dante’s The Divine Comedy an epic poem that describes the journey that Dante took through Heaven, Purgatory and Hell. In his examination of Purgatory, Dante details seven levels of torture each of which is associated with one of the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony and lust. In Dante’s poem, each sinner is punished base d on which of the seven sins they were the most involved with during their life . The Divine Comedy itself is mentioned numerous times throughout the movie, with Somerset using it as a reference when he begins to suspect that the modusoperandi for the killer is the seven deadly sins, as described by Dante. ... This is considered a sin as it provides for the body while neglecting the soul and the mind. In addition, gluttony on the part of one individual often leads to not enough food for the poor and hungry .This is the only murder for which the name of the sin is not immediately obvious (Somerset finds it written behind the fridge on reexamining the scene), although most viewers already know of the role that the seven sins play through advertising for the movie and even the title itself. Much like the sinners in Dante’s purgatory, the murder victim was punished in such a way as to fit his crime. He was fed spaghetti sauce continuously until a kick to the stomach from the murderer finally killed him. When John Doe, the psychopath that the detectives are chasing, later talks about the victim, he does so with disgust. He considers that someone who eats as much as the victim should be the brut of jokes, that being around them would make most people sick. In society in general, gluttony is an interesting sin, and one that bears a complex and fascinating history. Until the beginning of the Renaissance, the main danger of gluttony as a sin was based on the idea of people becoming obsessed with food to the point of idolatry. It was thought that a person who became focused on food in this manner would be diverted from following God. As society advanced, fear of gluttony as a sin decreased, and signs of overeating became evidence of wealth and means. Over the last 50 or so years, society has shifted again, with concerns about the way that overeating affects health, and a heavy focus on body image. As such, gluttony has once more been brought to the forefront, although now it is considered less as a sin and more as something