If you pay attention to it, you get surprised of the number of references to it you will find in popular culture (not taking into account the numerous cover versions of the song, which is a subject that deserves a post for itself). As late as the other day, I was watching a Japanese animé (what we in the western world call a cartoon) by the name of Cowboy Bebop from 1998. The series is set in the future, specifically 2021, and follows the crew of the spaceship Bebop, who are bounty hunters trying to earn a living by catching criminals on the run.
the Cowboy Bebop castMusic plays an instrumental part in the show, particularly american jazz from the 40ies and 50ies and rock from the 60ies and 70ies - for an example see the opening theme below.
In episode 6, which is called Sympathy for the Devil the crew of Bebop get mixed up with what appears to be a young boy - Wen - who is world famous for his harmonica talents. In reality the boy is more than 80 years old, but were immortalized by a freak natural phenomenon. At the end, using a special substance they manage to kill him, and he expresses gratitude of finally being able to die.
Though Wen is not the devil as such, he bears quite a lot of resemblance to the devil in the Rolling Stones song. He is immortal, he kills without hesitation and he tricks and uses people. The blues harmonica the boy plays also have some devilish connotations - i.e. he's made a pact with the devil to be able to play so uncannily good - and the general mood of this particular episode is very dark, which also resulted in it being removed by the Japanese censor board on the first run.
In episode 6, which is called Sympathy for the Devil the crew of Bebop get mixed up with what appears to be a young boy - Wen - who is world famous for his harmonica talents. In reality the boy is more than 80 years old, but were immortalized by a freak natural phenomenon. At the end, using a special substance they manage to kill him, and he expresses gratitude of finally being able to die.
Though Wen is not the devil as such, he bears quite a lot of resemblance to the devil in the Rolling Stones song. He is immortal, he kills without hesitation and he tricks and uses people. The blues harmonica the boy plays also have some devilish connotations - i.e. he's made a pact with the devil to be able to play so uncannily good - and the general mood of this particular episode is very dark, which also resulted in it being removed by the Japanese censor board on the first run.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment