Pele (deity) - Pop Culture References

Pop Culture References

• The musician Tori Amos named an album Boys for Pele in her honor. A single lyrical excerpt from the song "Muhammad My Friend" makes the only outright connection, "You've never seen fire until you've seen Pele blow." However, the entire record deals with the ideas usually associated with Pele, such as feminine "fire," or power. Amos claims the title reflects the idea of boys being devoured by Pele, or alternatively, as boys worshipping Pele.
• Simon Winchester, in his book Krakatoa, stated about the Pele myth: "Like many legends, this old yarn has its basis in fact. The sea attacks volcanoes – the waters and the waves erode the fresh laid rocks. And this is why Pele herself moved, shifting always to the younger and newer volcanoes, and relentlessly away from the older and worn-out islands of the northwest."
• In 2004, American composer Brian Balmages composed a piece entitled "Pele for Solo Horn and Wind Ensemble" on commission by Jerry Peel, professor of French Horn at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. It was premiered by the University of Miami Wind Ensemble under the direction of Gary Green, with Jerry Peel on Horn.
• Pele is mentioned in the song "Hot Lava" by Perry Farrell on the South Park Album.

"And after the eruption, we lay dormant for a while

Let's just hold each other and talk,

For now, Pele sleeps"

• Steven Reineke created a musical composition called "Goddess of Fire" which was inspired by the story and life of Pele.
• In the 1990s a character claiming to be the goddess Pele appeared as a villainess in the DC Comics comic book Superboy. Pele later reappeared in the comic book Wonder Woman where she sought revenge against Wonder Woman for the murder of Kāne Milohai, who in that story was her father, at the hands of the Greek god Zeus.
• In Marvel Comics's Chaos War event, Pele appears as an ally to Hercules and the daughter of Gaea.
• An eight-woman world-beat band (featuring djimbe drums, steel drums, and saxophone) called Pele Juju was based in Santa Cruz, California.
• Pele appears on Sabrina the Teenage Witch in the episode "The good, the bad and the luau", as Sabrina's relative, who gives her the final clue to the family secret. This version of her has a slight tendency to unwittingly set things on fire.
• In Borderlands, Pele is referenced in some rare weapon descriptions which explode causing fire damage on impact. The description reads "Pele demands a sacrifice!"
• In the YA books written by Karsten Knight, Pele's is one of many deities that are reincarnated in teenagers along the centuries. Ashline Wilde and her two sisters (Evelyn and Rose) represent the spirit of the goddess (the Flame, the Spark and the Fuse), which was divided in three by the Cloak because of the (self)destructiveness of hers.