The number 666 is very recognisable because of its connection with the devil, and as it being famously called “the number of the beast.” Since I have decided to focus more on the depiction of Satanism and Cults through film and media rather than just their religion – which I mentioned in a previous blog is a lot different to how I had initially thought it would be – and so, I want to focus heavily on the stereotypical connections made with Satan and the devil to portray through my short film, one of these being the number and connotations with “666”.

There are many interpretations of the number 666 and what it means, for example the bible reference to it is much different to what it is represented as through media and much of our modern day views of evil and the devil. The bible shows the number, yes, as the “mark/number of the beast”, but its meaning to show the failure of our political systems and the act of going against god by putting our faith in politics rather than religion; “The Bible says that people receive “the mark of the wild beast” because they follow it “with admiration,” to the point of worshipping it. (Revelation 13:​3, 4; 16:2) They do this by giving worshipful honor to their country, its symbols, or its military might. As The Encyclopedia of Religion states: “Nationalism has become a dominant form of religion in the modern world.”” Although I doubt this will come of much use to me when I start planning as I do not have an idea of how I could utilise this concept through my work, it may still impact my view of 666 by knowing the various interpretations.

JW.ORG. (2019). What Does 666 Mean? What Is the Mark of the Beast? | Bible Questions. [online] Available at: https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/what-does-666-mean/ [Accessed 21 Mar. 2019].

I now want to look at the modern day and most widely accepted version of the meaning of this infamous number, as well as how it has been portrayed through film and other art forms within pop culture. The number 666 is placed cleverly throughout horror films and art and often isn’t obvious and is placed within these scenes as a subliminal message to tie in with the iconography of horror. Because the number is most commonly associated with the antichrist, using it cleverly throughout my short film may be a great way of tying those ideas together and to indicate the presents of something much more sinister than a general ghost etc. As I want to use the idea of the anti-christ/satan/the devil and the idea of cults in my film but within my dream/nightmare sequence, I would like to look at various ways I could link them into the dream, and how they got there, possibly looking into the idea of a Ouija board or Tarot Cards used to contact them. This, however will all be in a later blog.

As well as horror films and other art forms, I have found some interesting references to 666 in music and their lyrics, and wanted to look at a song called “The Number Of The Beast” by Iron Maiden, and its lyrics. The lyrics of this song are focused heavily on the devil and, in a few lines, the blurred lines of reality and fantasy, for example: “I left alone, my mind was blank, I needed time to think, To get the memories from my mind, What did I see? Can I believe that what I saw, That night was real and not just fantasy?” This verse links quite closely to my idea for my short film, as well as some of the other lyrics that also include the idea of dreams and imagination etc, and so the rest of the lyrics may help with giving me some other ideas to further the detail of my short films plot. I have an idea of having some of my cult members chanting while a ritual takes place, and I was finding it difficult coming up with something for them to say. Through looking at the lyrics of this song I found some lyrics that read, “The ritual has begun, Satan’s work is done. 6 6 6, the number of the beast, Sacrifice is going on tonight,” and I thought these would be a very fitting line to be use in my film.

I searched online to try and find some information on 666 in pop culture and the horror genre but there weren’t many useful articles on this, most articles that deal with the concept of 666 were talking about the biblical meaning. However, I feel like I can maybe use the ideas behind the biblical references to the meaning of 666 and even if I don’t use it to directly effect the story of my film, the idea of our political downfall may be an interesting thing to look at.