Entertainment desk
< May 27	<< Apr \| May \| Jun >>	Current desk >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

May 28

DAYTIME EMM'YS

hnnngh where can I find archives of past daytime emmy awards, specifically i'm looking for the results of the 29th and 30th annual thanks cheers ~Helicopter Llama~ 14:48, 28 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Try our article List of Daytime Emmy Award winners. --Thomprod (talk) 16:20, 28 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Also, here: 29th Daytime Emmy Awards ... and here: 30th Daytime Emmy Awards. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 17:06, 28 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hollywood's conception of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory

Why does Hollywood usually conceive of Heaven as some sort of white, magical, puffy-cloudy place in the sky? Similarly, why does Hollywood conceive of Hell as some sort of fiery place underground where the horned, red Devil with the tail and pitchfork rules? Hollywood's conception of purgatory, as shown in The Haunted Mansion (2003), shows a bunch of ghosts being trapped on Earth, who somehow can't get into Heaven? 140.254.226.181 (talk) 21:12, 28 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Much of the traditional imagery of hell, at least, derives from Dante's Inferno. And given that the original meaning of "heaven" is synonymous with "sky", that imagery stands to reason also.[1][2] ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:42, 28 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Lake of fire is an ancient idea, but Dante is the most recent shared ancestor for most western depictions of hell. Dante's Inferno (at least the upper levels, since the bottom of hell is frozen) drew on Greco-Roman concepts of Tartarus, and (through the Islamic Kitab al-Miraj), the Zoroastrian Book of Arda Viraf. Also John Milton's Paradise Lost kept alive and solidified the aforementioned Christianized Romanized Islamo-Zoroastrian depiction of the underworld for Protestantism, while tossing out Dante's frozen hell.

The horned and cloven hooved devils were as much a result of Victorian obsession with classical paganism as medieval tendencies to just toss random animal parts on there. The pitchfork was probably inherited from Poseidon.

Greek mythology's depictions of Olympus probably were the seeds for Hollywood's heaven, which explains all the columns they usually have there, and why angels used to often be depicted wearing something like a Roman era chiton, tunic, or pallium. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed angels might be descended from the Aesir and Alfar.

The concept of Purgatory as a place of ghosts stuck(-ish) on earth appears in William Shakespeare's Hamlet, so the concept is at least that old, if not dating back to pre-Christian European beliefs, or even Sumeria. Dante's purgatory is separated from earth, but it was entirely possible for "Dante" to wander into Limbo. Ian.thomson (talk) 22:13, 28 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

There are, of course, films that don't fit the pattern you've seen such as Defending Your Life where people in purgatory are not ghosts still living amongst... well, the living. Dismas|^(talk) 22:48, 28 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Jewish Talmud, which far pre-dates Dante (but not Greco-Roman mythology, and thus bi-directional influence cannot be discounted), makes references to how those who are and will be punished will be burnt and have their ashes scattered beneath the feet of the righteous, so that's certainly something that conjures up an idea of fire for Hell. And you know what they say about Hollywood being run by the Jews... :) DRosenbach ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 15:10, 29 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]