Masonic Secrets in Popular Culture
From About Freemasons
Freemasonry and its secrets have long captured the imaginations of the public and of artists, writers, and movie-makers. As a result, the so-called secrets of Freemasonry often emerge in popular culture. For example, best-seller Dan Brown has a novel, The Lost Symbol, that draws heavily on Masonic secrets. The plot of the novel involves investigator Robert Langdon, who is searching for the secret Mason's Pyramid, reputedly hidden underground in Washington DC.
Some artists who are masons include playful allusions to masonry in their works. For example, mason Rudyard Kipling wrote the story "The Man Who Would Be King" full of Masonic symbols. Mozart – also a mason – wrote The Magic Flute opera filled with symbols of Masonry as well. Listening to this sort of music or reading these sorts of stories is like putting together a puzzle – masons and those who know about Freemasonry will recognize the symbols (and their significance) while most readers and listeners will not.
In addition to writing and music, film makes use of Masonic symbols and secrets as well. In The Affair of the Necklace (2001), the character Cagliostro (played by Christopher Walken) refers to himself as “the Grand Master of the Illuminati”, while a bishop character in the film has a desk filled with Masonic symbols. The film Anatomie (2000) is concerned with a secret society that seems very close to Freemasonry. The entire plot of the film revolves around the exposure of the fraternity after a number of murders are linked to it. The Cremaster Cycle (1995-2002) is a series of films with many Masonic symbols. The 2001 film From Hell, starring Johnny Depp, has sometimes been referred to as anti-Freemasonry because Masonic symbols and images are used throughout the film to suggest that Jack the Ripper may have been linked or in some way protected by Freemasonry. National Treasure (2004) is a film that linked the Knights Templar and the Freemasons to the founding of the USA through symbols found in national monuments and historic artifacts, including the Declaration of Independence. Revelation (2001) is all about a group of The Knights Templar searching for a relic that can resurrect Christ.
In television, the popular cartoon the Flintstones features friends Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone. The pair belonged to a fraternity with a secret password, hats, and other secrets. Led by the Grand Pooh-Bah, the group was variously referred to as the “Loyal Order of the Water Buffalos” and "Loyal Order of Dinosaurs." The TV cartoon The Simpsons also makes several references to a fraternity, the Stonecutters, a group that Homer Simpson eventually joins.
Occasionally, news stories make references to masonry. For example, there has been speculation that President Barack Obama has exchanged secret Masonic handshakes with the president of Notre Dame University and with a member of the NBC Tonight show while cameras were rolling.
