"LORD OF DARKNESS" PARODIES: LUCIFER SERIES SYMBOLIC AND ARCHETYPIC REINVENTIONS

Abstract

The text presents the results of a research that analyzed the First and Second seasons of the American TV series Lucifer. The objective was to understand the symbols and archetypes surrounding the devil which have been disseminated in the cultural imagination (DURAND, 2002) through popular representations (CHARTERER, 2002). From a methodological point of view, the organization of a Focus Group (COSTA, 2005) expanded the impressions obtained in the Narrative Analysis (MOTTA, 2013) so as to assess the viewers' perception of the Christian myths reproduced in the TV series. The viewing of the episodes has shown that the image of the devil is deconstructed by parodies and humorous paraphrases (NOGUEIRA, 2010), in which sarcasm and ironic bias accentuate narrative complexity (MITTEL, 2012). As for aesthetic appropriation, the protagonist appears as a beautiful being, endowed with a sensitive personality, contrary to the signs and stereotypes common to cultural identifications (HALL, 2004) related to the devil. These devices corroborate a nonlinear narrative process that shuffles the characteristics of villainy and imparts charisma to the antihero. In this sense, the series subverts the shared social codes about the devil’s figure by appealing to the contradictory sensoriality of the fiction genre, both in the discursive and imagetic bias.