Illuminati in popular culture

The Eye of Providence above an unfinished 13-step pyramid appears on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States and the U.S. dollar bill.

Founded by Adam Weishaupt in Bavaria in 1776, the Illuminati have been referred to in popular culture, in books and comics, television and movies, and games. A number of novelists, playwrights and composers are alleged to have been Illuminati members and to have reflected this in their work. Also, early conspiracy theories surrounding the Illuminati have inspired a number of creative works, and continue to do so.

Books and comics

• Gothic literature had a particular interest in the theme of the Illuminati. The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction states that readers had a "scandalous vogue for German tales of the Illuminati."^[1] The role of the Illuminati in Horrid Mysteries, as in Montague Summers' introduction to a later reprint of it. The Illuminati also turn up in two spoofs of the gothic genre, which both also reference Horrid Mysteries, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and Nightmare Abbey by Thomas Love Peacock.^[2] A number of writers have indicated the familiarity of Mary Shelley with the early anti-Illuminati text Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism due to Percy Bysshe Shelley's enthusiasm for it and see its influence in Frankenstein, Zastrozzi and The Assassins particularly, reading the Monster itself as an amalgam of Shelley's Illuminati-influenced ideas and of the Illuminati itself, with the monster being created in Ingolstadt, where the Illuminati had been formed.^[3][4][5]
• The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson is a three-book science fiction series published in the 1970s, which is regarded as a cult classic particularly in the hacker community. An incomplete comic book version of the Illuminatus! was produced and published by Eye-n-Apple Productions and Rip Off Press between 1987 and 1991. Robert Anton Wilson also wrote The Historical Illuminati Chronicles in the early 1980s, and several other books and stories making use of it. A nine-hour theatrical adaptation was produced by Ken Campbell.
• Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum is a labyrinthine 1988 novel about all sorts of secret societies, including the Illuminati and the Rosicrucians.^[6]
• Fallen Angels by Bernard Cornwell (under the pseudonym Susannah Kells) (1984). A love story set in the shadow of the Paris revolutionary guillotine and the grounds of Lazender Castle in England. The illuminati plot to bring revolution to England is a central thread.
• Angels & Demons (German title: Illuminati), Dan Brown's 2000 precursor to 2003's The Da Vinci Code, is about an apparent Illuminati order plot to destroy its enemy the Catholic Church by using antimatter to blow up the Vatican while Papal elections are being held. In this novel the Illuminati movement was founded by Galileo Galilei, and others, as an enlightened reaction to persecution by the Catholic Church. They were initially based in Italy, but fled after four key members were executed by the Vatican. Apparently there are four churches to them in Rome, each representing one of the four elements. In actual fact, the Illuminati are indeed defunct and the events of the book are orchestrated as part of an elaborate scheme by its central antagonist.^[7] This is also the plot of the film of the same name. Simon Cox, writer of Cracking the Davinci Code has written the book Illuminating Angels and Demons, in which he explains the facts behind the pagan signs and secret societies in Angels & Demons.^[8]
• In Michael Romkey vampire novels, the Illuminati are an order of benevolent vampires, consisting of many famous figures throughout history (Beethoven, Mozart, etc.). The main character, David Parker, joins the order, but later leaves.^[9]
• In Larry Burkett's book The Illuminati, "The Society" seeks world power.^[10]
• In Marvel Comics, the Illuminati is a group of superheroes who joined forces and secretly work behind the scenes in Marvel's main shared universe.
• In War & Peace by Leo Tolstoy, Count Pierre Bezukhov, a Freemason, is accused of attempting to introduce the ideals of Illuminism to his lodge.
• In Kazue Kato's manga Blue Exorcist, the Illuminati are a secret organization that oppose the True Cross Order (an organization of exorcists that specializes in killing demons) and, by extension, the Vatican itself, which controls the Order. Their goal is to merge the world of humans and world of demons so that Satan, the king of all demons, can rule over the new world order.

Television and film

• In the 1986 comedy film The Whoopee Boys, the 'Bavarian Illuminati' is a group of men who learn how to charm their way into a high-society lifestyle.
• In Simon West's 2001 film Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, a group of high-society villains call themselves Illuminati, developing a plan to rule the world. Along with Lara Croft's father, they claim that the Illuminati have existed for four millennia for this purpose.^[11][12]
• In several episodes of the Walt Disney animated series Gargoyles, one of the major antagonists of the series, David Xanatos, was revealed to be a member of the Illuminati.^[7][13]
• The History Channel series Brad Meltzer's Decoded featured Illuminati author Mark Dice, who met with the show's investigators to discuss the Illuminati and their operations today.^[14]
• The Illuminati is parodied in an episode of American Dad! called "Black Mystery Month", in which the "Illuminutty" is a secret organization involving the origin of peanut butter.
• They are also parodied in The Cleveland Show, where hip-hop celebrities form an organization called the hip-hop Illuminati

Games

• Several games from Steve Jackson Games are based on the Mythos : the card game Illuminati and its trading card game reincarnation Illuminati: New World Order, and the role-playing game GURPS Illuminati.^[15]
• The Illuminati appear as one of several secret societies in the Dark•Matter expansion book for TSR, Inc.'s tabletop role-playing game Alternity. When TSR was later acquired by Wizards of the Coast much of Alternity, including Dark•Matter, was incorporated into their d20 Modern RPG.
• In the role-playing game Paranoia the Illuminati is a secret society so secret that all its members are undercover, pretending to be members of one of the other, less secret, secret societies and presumably attempting to influence their activities for some greater purpose.
• The Illuminati appear in the Deus Ex series of video games as the chief organization behind many conspiracies.
• In the MMORPG The Secret World, the Illuminati is one of the three playable factions.^[16]
• References to the Illuminati can be found throughout the video game Grand Theft Auto V, such as buildings and in some character involvement.

Music

In the 1990s, the book Behold A Pale Horse was popular among rappers and a lot of them were inspired by it.^[17]

• Immortal Technique - "Cause of Death"

... You think illuminati's just a fucking conspiracy theory?
That's why conservative racists are all runnin' shit
And your phone is tapped by the Federal Government
So I'm jammin' frequencies in ya brain when you speak to me
Technique will rip a rapper to pieces indecently
Pack weapons illegally, because I'm never hesitant
Sniper scoping a commission controlling the president ...

• Meek Mill - "Fender Up"

"Illuminati wanted my mind, soul, and body
They ask me would I trade it for all for a Maserati"^[18]

• Young Jeezy - "Never Die"

"Guess they find it odd how a nigga beat the odds
No Illuminati never been a fan of Satan"^[19]

• Pusha T - "Doesn't Matter"

“Since y’all claim I’m Illuminati, tell me why would you try me?
Kennedy, John F., or Bobby
Almost caught Reagan, but they stopped us at the lobby
And that was broad day, so how the fuck you gon’ stop me?”

• Hopsin - "Nocturnal Rainbows"

"...The change he's making isn't good, that's just how you conceived it
It's like we all broker than ever, it's due to reasons
Dealing with self-beneficial plans and the movement he's with
Illuminati, or whatever the fuck they go by
They’re the reason real shit happens, and we don’t know why”

• Gamma Ray - a metal band which has created an album about the New World Order conspiracy theory called No World Order. The first song, "Introduction" has the following lyrics:

“Illuminati
You've come to take control
You can take my heartbeat
But you can't break my soul
We all shall be free

Illuminati
You'll never take control
Your new world order
Will lead to none at all
We all stand before you as one
Heaven is for everyone
To be free from the dark”

• Madonna - released "Illuminati" on iTunes on 20 December 2014, as 1 of 6 new songs to promote her March 2015 album Rebel Heart. The chorus includes the lyric: "It’s like everybody in this party’s shining like Illuminati."

Two days later she commented on this song in an interview with The Guardian: “There’s a lot of talk in pop music right now about people saying, ‘Oh, this person’s a member of the Illuminati,’ or they’re Illuminati, or you’re Illuminati, and people’s idea that there’s a group of entertainers or very wealthy people, they’re referred to as the Illuminati, and they work behind the scenes and they control things and they’re very powerful, and there’s possibly a reference to something dark, or black magic, or something like that. And I have to say I laugh at all of those things.

“I think there are some people who don’t mind being referred to as that, but I know who the real Illuminati are, and where that word came from. The root of the word is “illuminate”, and that means “The enlightened ones”, and it came from the Age of Enlightenment, when a lot of arts and creativity flourished, from Shakespeare to Isaac Newton, to Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo: the philosophers, artists, scientists were all engaged in a kind of high level of consciousness through their work, and they were enlightening and inspiring people around the world. And those are the true Illuminati. So the purpose for writing that song was really in a way, ‘So, if you think I’m the Illuminati, then thank you very much, a compliment, because I would like very much to be part of that group, the real Illuminati, and this is what it’s not’”.

See also

• Conspiracy theories
• Illuminati
• Secret societies in popular culture

References

^[1]

1. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/21/madonna-album-hack-living-state-terror