THE EXORCIST AND THE 1970s
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The Exorcist is a horror film produced in 1973 directed by William Friedkin, adapted from the novel The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty published in 1971. It is based on the exorcism case of Robbie Mannheim. The exorcism deals with the demonic possession of a young girl, Regan MacNeil played by Linda Blair. The symptoms that young Regan exhibited were seizures, unnatural powers such as levitation and great strength, and curses and blasphemes in a demonic male voice. At first Chris MacNiel, Regan’s mother played by Ellen Burnstyn, took her to medical professionals and when all tests of the brain turned out negative they advised her to see a psychiatrist. All attempts at any medical treatments fail, while symptoms start to strengthen. The last resort to save Regan was by performing an exorcism. Father Damien Karras, played by Jason Miller, was the priest who eventually recommended Regan for an exorcism. With the help of Father Lankester Merrin, an experienced exorcist played by Max von Sydow, the two priests perform the dangerous exorcism on Regan. During the exorcism Regan threatens and taunts both priests physically and verbally. While Father Karras steps out of the room right after Regan had spoken in the voice of his dead mother, Father Merrin falls and dies. Father Karras rushed back into the room and after seeing the dead Father Merrin, he wrestles Regan to the floor, looks into her eyes, and yells the words, “Take me. Come into me. God Damn You. Take me. Take me,” and then jumps out the window plummeting to his death. Regan seems to make a full recovery with no signs of any demonic possession. The film ends with Chris and Regan leaving Georgetown, putting their past behind them.
Major themes that are apparent in The Exorcist directly reflect major issues and concerns of many American citizens of the time period. The country was in the midst of a war in Vietnam which brought about a fear of child rebellion in many adults. Throughout the war, students at universities and even students in high schools took it upon themselves to protest the government and all those people that were “pro-war”. In the film, Ellen Burstyn plays the role of Chris MacNeil, a famous Hollywood actress and mother to Reagan. | 9.  |
Within the opening scene, we see Burstyn portraying an angry mob member protesting on the Georgetown campus about wanting to be included in the educational system. The riot portrayed in the film, although part of a movie being made within the movie itself seems to be violent and strong, much like the riots of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s actually were. The organization Students for a Democratic Society was formed and played a major role in the protest of the war in Vietnam. They were a representation of the “New Left” that was beginning to form in society, a group focused on radical political and societal change. The New Left was a part of the Hippie Movement and therefore was made up of much of the younger generation. This group of young people threatened the power of the older and more traditional views of how the country should be run. They organized protests and rallies and advocated for a change to the existing American society. However, these young revolutionaries were feared by their authorities. According to the article, “Juvenile Justice: History and Philosophy - The Constitutional Domestication of the Juvenile Court”, the American Court at the time believed that “they should socialize and acculturate poor and immigrant children to become middle-class Americans like themselves”. It is apparent that adults feared being overruled by their own children and wanted to work to keep them suppressed so that they could preserve the old ways of the country.
10.  | These
fears of child rebellion and child control are also apparent in the actual acts
of the demon-possessed Reagan MacNeil. She constantly uses profane language
when addressing her elders and also attempts to physically control them.
Although these acts of rebellion are not directly Reagan herself acting out and
are technically the devil, they still come to life through her body acting as a
medium and it can be assumed that the director was using this as a symbol for
how Americans were feeling during the time period. |
Another
social change that was taking place during this time was the sexual revolution.
This was a period in which many young people including teens and young adults
experienced a sense of sexual liberation, or the ability to express themselves
more sexually. According to an article about The Sexual Revolution, “student
protests, counter culture movements and medically prescribed contraceptives
ushered in a decisive break with the preceding values which prescribed
confinement of women’s sexual pleasure within the suburban walls of
heterosexual marriage.” | 11.  |
The introduction of contraceptives helped to liberate people to have sex for pure pleasure instead of having to deal with the consequences. This was also a divergence from the conservative part of the country. Many began to blame contemporary problems on promiscuity, pornography, single parents families, and drugs and youth crimes. Many of these themes that were being used as scapegoats are apparent in The Exorcist. In one scene in particular, Reagan is depicted to be masturbating with a crucifix while repeatedly saying “F**k me! F**k me!” This scene directly reflects many aspects of new teenage life that upset conservative Americans: a young girl expressing sexual desire, the use of profane language, and the use of the Christian religion is such a crude setting. The Exorcist took the problems that Americans had with the sexual revolution and channeled it into a movie by it being represented in the form of the devil. The devil was the “thing” that inhabited Reagan’s body and this reflects the view that a switch to a more liberal society would be the equivalent of letting the devil take over young people’s lives.
