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He was Swiss but we know that Burke called him a ‘cunting Hun’ and a ‘butchering Nazi’. He really seemed to hate Karl and one could tell that it was extremely personal. {maybe Burke was Jewish?}
Many Swiss {who are in fact majority ethnic Germans} collaborated with the Nazis, although they were officially neutral. Could Burke’s hatred of Karl be linked to his possible Jewish background?
And if Burke was Jewish does that make his murder a hate crime?
Was the Demon Pazuzu an Anti-Semite?
Hmmm … interesting thought processes here.
You can buy American Exorcist: Critical Essays on William Peter Blatty by Benjamin Szumskyj on this website. Check out Philip L. Simpson’s essay in this book entitled, “Fear of the Assimilation of the Foreign Other in The Exorcist.”
Actually, all the essays are excellent and Ben is superior editor.
Father Bowdern
Have always wondered about this and was interested in what other fans had to say.
I’ll have to check this out. Does Philip L. Simpson touch on similar types of issues in his essay?
I think that it would be easy to make such a connection after viewing the film and seeing the friction and open hostility between the European looking Karl and the slightly Semitic looking movie director Mr Dennings.
I have seen people come up with other ‘interesting’ takes on the death of Dennings, the most popular of course being that Regan killed him becasue she was jealous and didn’t want her mother seeing him, or the ridiculous one about Burke going up to her room to sexually assault her, but these all feel a little too far fetched and quite silly. I think my suggestion needs to be looked at more seriously. I would really love to hear Mr Blatty’s opinion on this matter.
Good points. We would all love Blatty’s points of views on here!
And, yes, Simpson does ponder effective ideas on this topic.
Father Bowdern
This also links us back to WW2 in Europe where Merin had witnessed much horror. The Demon was there as well. The Demon targeted Burke {who could possibly have been Jewish} and the Christain Priests, yet never harmed Karl. If Burke”s serious allegations against Karl were true it could somehow make sense for Pazuzu not to target him.
As for Regan, she was just collateral damage in the Demon’s war against Merin.The Exorcist continues to pose many questions which still remain unanswered.
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