Popular Culture
- The character of the Great Red Dragon plays a prominent role in Thomas Harris' novel Red Dragon and its film adaptations, Manhunter and Red Dragon, in which the primary antagonist Francis Dolarhyde has an obsession with the painting. Dolarhyde is fixated with the strength and power he thinks the dragon exudes, so he takes up bodybuilding and, by the events of the novel, he is described as being able to dead lift, then shoulder press, 300 lbs, meaning he is physically very powerful, and in his mind, like the dragon. He also has a giant tattoo of the dragon etched onto his back. Thomas Harris makes an error in citing "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun" as the object of Dolarhyde's fixation while describing "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun", specifically the Dragon's tail wrapping around the woman, a detail specifically accurate of the "in" painting. As well, Harris refers to the "with" painting as having been loaned by the Brooklyn Museum for a Blake retrospective at the Tate—the "in" painting is the version held by the Brooklyn Museum. Note, however, that the Brooklyn Museum's own website shows the "in" painting, but labels it "with", so perhaps the error is the Museum's and not Harris'. Manhunter shows the "with" painting as named in Harris's book, and has the front-facing Dragon from that painting tattooed on Dolarhyde's chest, whereas Red Dragon uses "in" as described by Harris along with the back and leg tattoos.
- A mural-sized reproduction of The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun appears painted on a wall in "Sight Unseen," an episode of The Flash. The television series' art direction is noted for regularly featuring elaborate, theme-specific murals.
- All of the paintings in the series were used for the artwork of the Legend CD trilogy (1997–2007) by the band Saviour Machine.
- In Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1983) a picture in the Book of the Dead is based upon William Blake's The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in the Sun.
- In the 3rd book of The Tapestry series, Prusias is often associated by Max with this phrase, and when Prusias is angry, his shadow turns into a dragon. At the end of the book, it is shown Prusias' true form is a dragon. Additionally, he has a huge number of heads as well, hinting he is the dragon from the bible.
- Aizen's Hollow Form from Bleach resembles the Great Red Dragon as painted by William Blake.
- In Yu-Gi-Oh 5D's,the cards Red Dragon Archfiend and Stardust Dragon are both based on the Great Red Dragon and The Woman Clothed in the Sun respectively.
Read more about this topic: The Great Red Dragon Paintings
Famous quotes related to popular culture:
“Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrote a letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed spinach for her, with lots of butter.... I was impressed by Shirley Temple as a little girl my age who had power: she could write a piece for the newspapers and have it printed in her own handwriting.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)