Post by Joanna on Nov 2, 2018 20:57:45 GMT -5
Temple of Satan May Sue Netflix over Baphomet
Halloween may be over, but a battle of otherworldly powers is just beginning to brew. Sort of .....
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a darker reboot of the late 90s/early 2000s Sabrina the Teenage Witch on Netflix is sparking backlash from an unlikely source – the Satanic Temple.
In the show based on the Archie Comic series, the titular character Sabrina Spellman attends a witchcraft school known as the Academy of Unseen Arts. The character is a half-human, half-witch who must navigate both worlds and the problems they bring. Sabrina’s school has a large statue of the Baphomet, a half-man, half-goat creature often used as a reference to the occult. In Sabrina, the statue represents Satan, or “The Dark Lord,” as he is called in the show.
According to Lucien Greaves, the co-founder and spokesperson for the Satanic Temple, the Baphomet statue used in the Netflix series is “appropriated” from his organization’s copyrighted design. “Yes, we are taking legal action regarding #TheChillingAdventuresofSabrina appropriating our copyrighted monument design to promote their asinine Satanic Panic fiction,” Greaves tweeted a few days ago.
So what makes this particular Baphomet depiction so distinctive? When comparing the statue in Sabrina (above right) to the depiction from the Satanic Temple (left), both feature the half-man, half-goat creature with a pentagram on his forehead and two standing children. Additionally, neither representation depicts the Baphomet with breasts, which has been a feature in other interpretations, Broadly reported.
Greaves tweeted a side-by-side comparison to illustrate the similarities. But the issue goes beyond using copyrighted imagery, according to an interview with Greaves in the San Francisco Gate. Greaves claims the use of the statute in Sabrina could incite a “Satanic Panic.” In the show, the Baphomet is associated with something evil, which is not the image Greaves wants for the Satanic Temple, he says.
People on Twitter have been quick to point out to Greaves, however, that the Sabrina statue resembles a lot of different Baphomet depictions, including a mid-19th century illustration that is in the public domain.
A production designer for Sabrina responded to Greaves’ claim and told Teen Vogue the design is an original depiction.
Netflix hasn’t yet released a public statement on the matter.
Source: Susan Gonzalez, KNXV, November 1, 2018.