Exploring a New Perspective of Good and Evil
Questioning Conventional Christian Beliefs
Sunday. As I am on my way to church early in the morning, hoping to still be enveloped by the warmth of my bed, I ponder whether any of the tales I have ever heard as a Christian are true. Including the well-known stories of Moses parting the sea, Noah carrying a boat filled with one animal of every species, and, most importantly, Jesus coming back from the dead. Of course, I have faith in my chosen religion, but when have any of the tales told been known to be true? These repeated far-fetched tales call into question Christianity’s biggest belief in what is considered “good and evil.”
As you go through your life, even from an early age, you will undoubtedly hear about the concepts of God and the Devil, even if you weren’t brought up religiously. Throughout your life, the people around you will tell you that God is good and the Devil is pure evil, but what if that common belief was flipped upside down?
This is where we introduce Lucifer/the Devil and Micheal/the angel, the protagonist and antagonist of Tom Kapinos’ 2016 television series Lucifer.
Lucifer, fleeing from his duties in Hell and punishing criminals on Earth with the help of a detective, soon undergoes several trials that demonstrate to everyone around him that he is slowly beginning to change and care about someone else other than himself, while his twin brother Micheal stands in stark contrast, as he is portrayed as a scheming angel intent on the downfall of Lucifer.
This portrayal challenges the traditional ideologies of both characters as the other characters in the show describe Lucifer as a misunderstood angel who was kicked out of heaven as a right of passage rather than a punishment, while Micheal is depicted as the embodiment of malevolence as he tries to employ many underhanded tactics to achieve his desires.
The Start
Kapinos’ Lucifer is portrayed in twenty-first-century Los Angeles. Lucifer begins this story with the appearance of a wealthy white man who has accumulated his wealth by opening a successful club called Lux, which he opened five years ago after deciding to give up his duties in Hell. After the death of someone close to Lucifer, he teams up with Detective Chloe Decker to solve the case. After uncovering the mystery of the case, Lucifer becomes fascinated with the detective, and his curiosity with the detective soon evolves into obsession. This incentivizes Lucifer to become a crime-solving partner of the detective, where Lucifer gets to witness the evil of humans first-hand and thus leads him to ponder the mindset behind such endeavors, which causes him to also reflect on his own actions throughout his time on Earth.
As time passes, Lucifer returns to Hell once more to stop the end of the world. During his absence, his jealous brother Micheal impersonates him, hoping to tarnish his reputation and relationships on Earth, as Lucifer has begun to receive recognition from everyone around him.
Shaping our Ideology
The interchangeable roles of “good” and “bad” between Lucifer and Micheal represent an ideological conflict between the images they portray in the television series and how we view them in our society due to religious beliefs.
According to Mary Klages in Key Terms in Literary Theory, Karl Marx stated, “Ideology is […] systems of beliefs and ideas available within any particular culture.” As a cautionary tale in Western culture, Lucifer embodies an evil ideology, and according to Klages, “all social beliefs and events have their origins in material culture.” Using this ideology, Klages introduces a Marxist philosopher named Louis Althusser, who suggest, “you show what you believe when you behave in a certain way.” Therefore, Klages notes that Althusser claims that your beliefs and behavior are inseparable.
Thus, the way Lucifer and Micheal are portrayed in our culture is, in fact, due to our societal structure rather than our internal belief system, and therefore, affects our behavior towards the subject as we reflexively classify Lucifer as a definitive evil and Micheal as a pure being, while the television series is trying to provide alternative perspectives.
Defying Expectations
Lucifer wastes no time beginning thetelevision series, immediately putting a crack in his “evil” stereotype.
Lucifer can be seen in his club, talking to his friend Delilah, whom he helped make famous as one of the “Devil’s favors,” and is trying to console her due to her noticeable depression. In the midst of their conversation, Lucifer calls to collect his favor, and instead of a nefarious task, he simply wants her to repay his kindness with the promise to pick herself up from her depressed state and wants her to head into her career with a newfound motive. After calming down the girl, they walk outside, where she is shot and killed. Thus, Lucifer’s wrath is unleashed, and he spends the next two days hunting down the mastermind behind his friend’s passing.
These favors suggest that Lucifer does, in fact, help people and doesn’t necessarily cross the bounds of being unreasonable when collecting his favors. Therefore, Lucifer is portrayed as a dependable friend, showing that he is not as self-serving as his textbook image, but instead has emotions that constitute understanding, instead of a greedy person only interested in his best interest. Thus, this supports the claim that Lucifer’s image has been structured around societal and religious beliefs, and according to Shmoop’s guides for Marxism Buzzwords, “chances are you didn’t make that ideology up yourself — you got it from somewhere else.”
Throughout these particular scenes, Lucifer is noticeably presented as an entity capable of making friends, caring, and being reasonable, demonstrating drastically different characteristics than the word “evil.”
Shifting Perspectives
Lucifer’s “selfish” ideology begins to change for the better as his brother comes into context.
Lucifer’s older brother Ammenadiel enters as a nagging angel urging Lucifer to go back to hell because it is vacant and there must be someone to pick up the mantle, but when Lucifer demonstrates his complete lack of interest in his brother’s warnings because of his fascination with detective Chloe Decker, Ammenadial has no choice but take a step back and ponder why Lucifer would bother caring about a human, as none of the other angels (including himself) seem to care. After several more attempts to reason with Lucifer to convince him to return to his post in hell, Ammenadiel grows restless as he notices Lucifer’s attachment towards the detective as he spends his days solving various cases with her. Seeing no other options, Ammenadiel begins to plot a way to kill Lucifer to forcibly send him back to hell so he wouldn’t have to take the vacant position himself.
Wayne Le Cheminant, an author with more than four books published, claims that ideology is based on certain assumptions believed as true by those who follow the ideology, suggesting that angels being seen as “good” and the devil being seen as “bad” is based on the beliefs of cultural society stemming from Catholic/Christian faith, but this is all proved wrong by Ammenadiel’s actions. This helps Lucifer’s image travel even further away from the ideology of him being selfish/evil and instead shows that the angels themselves can have their own corrupt and selfish reasons for their actions.
Therefore, it’s reasonable to assume that Lucifer’s selfish image is being chipped away, at least in the eyes of his brother, as he is shown being able to care for a human without underlying any motives, while his brother, an “angel,” is committing “sins’’ to achieve his goal.
Redemption Through Sacrifice
Lucifer’s nefarious image is evidently shattered as he makes an unexpected sacrifice for Detective Chloe Decker.
As Lucifer’s brother Ammenadiel adds the finishing touches to his scheme to return Lucifer to his place in hell, his plan crumbles as the “dirty” cop Malcolm Graham revolts from his control and tries to skip town before Ammenadiel forces him to kill Lucifer. In an attempt to acquire a substantial amount of money and tie up loose ends, Malcolm Graham kidnaps Chloe Decker’s daughter and lures the detective away from any means of aid with the promise of the safety of her daughter. Luckily, Lucifer soon arrives, even in his vulnerable state, but despite Lucifer’s efforts, he dies due to a bullet from the dirty cop in an attempt to buy some time for the detective and her daughter to safely evacuate.
Garry Crawford, a professor of sociology at the University of Salford, notes that the ruling ideas are from ruling classes, implying that Lucifer’s ideological image as the “embodiment of sin” is due to the immense sway that religions have on our society. However, Lucifer’s unforeseen actions in Kapinos’ television series plant numerous seeds of doubt that make one reconsider their own religious belief system.
Lucifer’s sacrifice for another marks the end of his need for redemption as he proves that he is not the villain that Western ideology has made him out to be, but can also be interpreted as a hero.
Unveiling Deception
Micheal disrupts the angelic ideal by meticulously scheming to sabotage his brother's life.
When Micheal descends to Earth and kidnaps Lucifer’s beloved detective, he begins to plant seeds of doubt in her mind about Lucifer, hoping to drive a wedge in their relationship. Fearing the worst, Lucifer frantically searches for the detective, but a confrontation soon erupts between Lucifer and Micheal. Hoping to see his brother’s despair, Micheal reveals his hand in every incident “where the devil did it” when he was just pulling Lucifer’s strings the whole time, as he even confessed to being a vital component to Lucifer getting kicked out of Heaven and into Hell.
Later, after rescuing the detective, Lucifer discovers Michael’s plans to ascend as the next God. While meeting on the final stage, Lucifer realizes that every angel has been told various lies to support Micheal in his endeavors. Trying to even the numbers between forces, Lucifer tries to persuade his siblings to join his side. Although a couple agree and try to join Lucifer’s reasoning, Micheal dispatches the deserters, showing that he is willing to kill his siblings if they are against him.
Una McGovern, a freelance writer and editor, defines evil as something considered morally wrong, corrupt, or wicked, demonstrating that Micheal, a supposed angel that represents only good, is, in fact, the very definition of the word evil, as he not only ruins the lives of family members that are seen as a threat but tries to essentially take over the world while fooling his siblings/army, suggesting that angels are subject to heinous deeds as well and are capable of having ulterior motives unbefitting their revered conventional images.
Micheal’s continuous animosity for his brother and his duplicitous persona, which fools everyone around him, deviates entirely away from the pristine ideology of all angels being the embodiment of good as they are shown to be subject to the same negative emotions as humans.
In conclusion, Tom Kapinos presents a compelling portrayal of Lucifer and Micheal as characters who defy their initial reputations as they prove to others around them and viewers of the television series that their ideological images in society are completely false. Though their stories seem to be cross-wired with each other, Micheal’s nature suggests that angels are not as pure as they seem, as he proves to be the nefarious antagonist responsible for every negative aspect historically associated with the “devil.”
Throughout your adolescence, there is a moment when you truly ponder the definition of good and evil. Whether from your parents, culture, or religion, the definition may vary, giving you an ideological conflict between society and your sense of reason. However, Lucifer’s story in the television series brings a new perspective to consider, making it easier to think for oneself based on reason and experiences instead of social norms. Therefore, as religious kids mature, the need to form their own ideological ideas instead of the ones handed by society only grows as it is important to search for a different path if they don’t agree with the ideology instead of going along with the belief system just because of everyone around you.
Additional Sources Used In this Article
Garry Crawford. “IDEOLOGY.” Dictionary of Leisure Studies. 2009. Found on Credo Reference.
Mary Klages. “Althusser, Louis.” Key Terms in Literary Theory. 2012.
Mary Klages. “Ideology.” Key Terms in Literary Theory. 2012. Found on Credo Reference.
Mary Klages. “Marxism.” Key Terms in Literary Theory. 2012. Found on Credo Reference.
Tom Kapinos. “Lucifer.” Jerry Bruckheimer Television DC Entertainment Warner Bros. Television. 2016.
Una McGovern. “Evil.” Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained. 2007. Found on Credo Reference.
Wayne Le Cheminant. “Ideology.” Encyclopedia of American Government and Civics. 2017. Found on Credo Reference.
