{"id":20678,"date":"2024-02-27T16:57:14","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T00:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=20678"},"modified":"2024-02-27T16:57:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T00:57:53","slug":"primes-newest-project-hazbin-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/primes-newest-project-hazbin-hotel\/","title":{"rendered":"Prime’s newest project: Hazbin Hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jaylin Hardin | Sports Editor<\/span><\/p>\n

Content warning: <\/b>this article contains spoilers, mentions of sexual assault, abuse, drug and alcohol use and violence\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Amazon Prime is no stranger to streaming shows based around angels, demons and the redemption of sordid characters. When Neil Gaiman\u2019s \u201cGood Omens\u201d premiered on the company\u2019s streaming service, Prime Video, it quickly gained notoriety among subscribers. Prime\u2019s newest show, \u201cHazbin Hotel,\u201d has been met with similar excitement since its release.<\/span><\/p>\n

In its early days, \u201cHazbin Hotel\u201d was first posted on a YouTube channel run by the show\u2019s creator, Vivienne Medrano, who went by the handle @vivziepop. Since its initial release on Oct. 28, 2019, the pilot has garnered over 97.1 million views. In 2020, film studio A24 earned the rights to fund and produce the series, but it did not find a home company until Prime Video picked it up for partnership.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHazbin Hotel\u201d follows Charlie Morningstar \u2014 played by Elsie Lovelock \u2014 as she attempts to rehabilitate sinners in her hotel. Working at the hotel with her is the enigmatic Radio Demon, Alastor, bubbly one-eyed Nifty and alcoholic Husk, who act as the hotel\u2019s business partner, housekeeper and bartender respectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, they work to better the souls of p**n star and addict, Angel Dust, and the loveable loser, Sir Pentious. While attempting this, the hotel residents must prepare to face the coming exorcism, led by none other than the first man himself, Adam, or \u201cthe original d**k\u201d as he calls himself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The show\u2019s first season runs eight episodes, with a runtime of 25 minutes and two songs per episode. It also boasts a well-known cast of Broadway stars, including Alex Brightman, who performed in \u201cBeetlejuice: The Musical,\u201d Stephanie Beatriz, known for Disney\u2019s \u201cEncanto\u201d and \u201cCentaur World\u201d and Keith David, who stars in Disney\u2019s \u201cPrincess and the Frog\u201d and \u201cCoraline.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the surface, \u201cHazbin Hotel\u201d may seem like a raunchy, adult comedy with flashy animation and rock-style musical numbers; however, it goes much deeper than what meets the eye.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A primary example lies beneath the surface of character, Angel Dust, played by Blake Roman. At face value, he is flirtatious, constantly intoxicated and hides his insecurities under aloofness, but, in his song \u201cPoison,\u201d the audience is given a glimpse into Angel Dust\u2019s inner monologue, as well as his abusive and controlling relationship with demon overlord, Valentino. In episode five, \u201cMasquerade,\u201d viewers see Angel \u2014 in flashbacks \u2014 assaulted and beaten by Valentino, as well as being forced to star in adult videos, usually with violent premises.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an act! It\u2019s who I need to be! And this, this is my escape. Where I can forget about it all and how much I hate everything. A place where I can get high and not have to think about how much it hurts. And maybe if I can ruin myself enough in the process, if I end up broken, I won\u2019t be his favorite toy anymore, and maybe he\u2019ll let me go,\u201d Angel says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHazbin Hotel\u201d also explores strained father-daughter relationships, with Charlie and her father, Lucifer \u2014 played by Jeremy Jordan, who is known for \u201cNewsies\u201d and \u201cTangled the Series.\u201d In episode five, \u201cDad Beat Dad,\u201d Lucifer comes to the hotel to help Charlie in her enterprise, and ultimately repairs his relationship with Charlie in a song titled \u201cMore Than Everything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The hashtag \u201chazbinhotel\u201d has garnered over 1.1 million posts on TikTok and 767 thousand on Instagram \u2014 skyrocketing the show into popularity in the wake of the finale. Edits and clips of the show have taken over the for you pages of many TikTok users, as well as some users on the platform, gaining overnight fame due to their cosplays of characters and usage of dialogue or songs from the show.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt definitely deserves the hype it\u2019s getting,\u201d said sophomore, Faith Woolsey. \u201cThe plot is amazing and the animation is so good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, there has been some bible-thumping, Ned Flanders types who have taken to TikTok to claim that the show makes Satan the hero and God the enemy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One such video was posted on Jan. 28, by TikTok user @kmarie_g, and captioned \u201care they getting bolder with satanic worship or are we waking up more? Either way, it\u2019s here and it\u2019s in the wide open. Amazon\u2019s new cartoon series about Satan being the good guy should be a wake up call to all Christians that now more than ever we need to stand up and guide people to Jesus because this world is doing everything they can to pull them the other way.\u201d In the comments, it was a similar story: other users supported her \u201cmessage\u201d and were asking God and Jesus to bring the end times. None of the users had watched \u201cHazbin Hotel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is evident because these claims could not be further from the truth. For one, Lucifer and Satan are two different people in the Hebrew Bible; while Satan is known for trying to tempt Jesus, Lucifer is known for serving him. Lucifer led Jesus to the cross and was cast from Heaven for rebelling against God, while Satan rebels against God and wishes for humanity to serve under him. The title of \u201cDevil\u201d is interchangeable for both Lucifer and Satan. Additionally, it is Adam and his exorcists who are portrayed as evil in \u201cHazbin Hotel,\u201d not God \u2014 who is not even seen and hardly mentioned in the show\u2019s first season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHazbin Hotel\u201d has been greenlit for a second season by Prime Video, with the show\u2019s creator stating a one and a half to two year period before the release of season two. For now, fans can enjoy the show\u2019s sister series \u2014 Helluva Boss \u2014 on YouTube.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlsports@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1094,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}