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Kinda confused about a line-obviously spoilers

posted 15 years ago by softballstarmb13
3 replies | jump to latest

so at the end, when he makes his 7th wish and voids the contract,Elliot asks the devil why she is being so nice and she says something about good and evil being up to the person. It didn't seem to make sense to me. Maybe i am just not getting it. But was she saying something like the devil and god are not really good and evil? I'd appriciate some insight who has watched this and understands the religous meaning but again, i am just a little confused with what she is saying, and why she is not this evil demon when he gets his way out of the contract, and then, in fact plays chess with the angel. Haha it's like she was serious when she was pretending to be upset over her job. But thanks in advance for any claification :)

[–] I_have_a_brain_cloud 15 years ago

I'm not sure that the director (who considers himself to be a Buddhist) had this in mind, but by presenting good and evil in this way the story is taking a very traditional Christian position. Evil has no power of its own, evil (like everything else) is controlled by God. God gave his angels the choice to choose good or evil--how else would God know that they loved him, unless they had to make the choice? So some of his angels, such as Satan and Beelzebub, chose to go off by themselves and be evil, and they became what we think of as "devils." This is not in the bible, this is theology cooked up by Christian scholars in the middle ages.

By choosing something good for his last wish (not something self-serving), Elliott (for the first time) denies the devil's power by choosing good, and thereby voids the devil's power over him. I know this is a little difficult to understand, but that seems to be what happens.

The best explanation is given by the angel who shares Elliott's cell in jail. He tells Elliott that the devil . . . how does he say it? oh, yeah--that no matter what the devil says or does, the soul ALWAYS belongs to God. No contract, no action on the part of the devil or any human can change that.

It's all in the choices that Elliott makes.

This is fairly complex theology. For a much better explanation, read John Milton's Paradise Lost. Then you'll understand everything!

You--lighten up. You--big trouble. You--get in the car.

[–] softballstarmb13 15 years ago

thank you :) i'll definitely try to find a copy

[–] Sensitive78 15 years ago

Yes, that true as when you think about it, in all of the movie, Elliot really wanted HIMSELF to be happy, without thinking what Allison really wanted. It was all of Elliot's pleasures and happiness. This was what the contract with the Devil was about, and in the end when Elliot finally realised that its best to ask for Allison's happiness and where it might be, it totally destroyed the contract (Because the contract was based purely on one's own wishes). She also mentioned the good V evil idea, and it simply means that to be a better human being, we must make the best of choices right in this world, so that we can have a better place in eternity. She says it all comes down to the choices we make, and Elliot made the best of all choices when he wished that Allison always be happy, even if not with him.