CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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I wouldn’t say it was seducing her, but I believe, once the possession was in its defining stages, it is how Pazuzu presented himself to Regan in her mind.
Well.. yeah. He wanted to scare her. Makes sense.
No he didn’t, he wanted to make her like him. So he tells her he’s Captain Howdy and pretends to be her friend.
I think the novel supports Howdy’s attractiveness – initially, that is. After all, he is a surrogate Dad for Regan. He wins her trust before he torments her. Regan is shocked when the attractive, friendly Howdy changes into her nemesis. If he had first appeared to her as ugly and evil, his initial “seduction” (or invasion, or infestation) would have failed. Blatty shows the demon as insidiously insinuating himself into Regan’s consciousness, the first stage of which is via his ouija board communications. Regan perceived these as interesting and friendly.
The movie could be seen to support Howdy’s demonic hideousness, but this is based on a huge “IF”: namely, is the white-faced figure really Howdy? Or is it just a manifestation of Pazuzu’s living character (as opposed to his humanly-interpreted statue as seen in Iraq)?
The film never tags Captain Howdy with any explicit visual identifiers. TVYNS does show Regan seeing the white-faced demon in the doctor’s office, but again, this is never explicitly identified with Howdy or any other specific character, demonic or otherwise. The audience is left to put Howdy together with the white-faced demon – or not.
Yeah, that there is only one holds true for the original novel. But then Blatty modified that concept in Legion: the demon was controlling Venamun’s spirit, inserting him into Karras’s re-animated body. And there’s also the good twin “backstage” with whom the Gemini is in sporadic spiritual contact. Therefore, viewing Blatty’s demonology as a whole, it seems that he thinks that there can, after all, be more than one possessing entity within, or at least manipulating, a single victim.
I think the novel supports Howdy’s attractiveness – initially, that is. After all, he is a surrogate Dad for Regan. He wins her trust before he torments her. Regan is shocked when the attractive, friendly Howdy changes into her nemesis. If he had first appeared to her as ugly and evil, his initial “seduction†(or invasion, or infestation) would have failed. Blatty shows the demon as insidiously insinuating himself into Regan’s consciousness, the first stage of which is via his ouija board communications. Regan perceived these as interesting and friendly.
The movie could be seen to support Howdy’s demonic hideousness, but this is based on a huge “IFâ€: namely, is the white-faced figure really Howdy? Or is it just a manifestation of Pazuzu’s living character (as opposed to his humanly-interpreted statue as seen in Iraq)?
The film never tags Captain Howdy with any explicit visual identifiers. TVYNS does show Regan seeing the white-faced demon in the doctor’s office, but again, this is never explicitly identified with Howdy or any other specific character, demonic or otherwise. The audience is left to put Howdy together with the white-faced demon – or not.
I always thought it was obvious that the white-faced figure was what Pazuzu really looks like. Regan’s face morphs into his during the exorcism for a second.
Its way to scary a form to use when he was pretending to be her friend. If he’d appeared to her like that she would have been terrified, just like audience were in ’73!
I’m of the opinion that Pazuzu did pretend to be Regan’s friend (to aid in possessing her), but once he had complete control he presented his ‘Captain Howdy scary face’ to keep her frightened, lowering her faith and keeping her scared so he could remain in possession. We saw how Karras was able to fight the possession using his faith and will – so it is possible.
Pazuzu did ‘befriend’ her to gain possession, then kept her frightened with the Captain Howdy face presentation during the possession.
Just a theory.
But surely he doesn’t present himself in that form to her…that white face scared the crap out of audiences, so its fair to assume it would scare the crap out of a 12-year old girl.
I think what everyone means is that that wasn’t the way he showed himself to her in the beginning. The scary white face was how he really looked. But he didn’t show his true form to her until she was already his. By then she was helpless and was not fully herself. Maybe an example of how I think of it… Like sleep paralysis… She was terrified (take during the medical exam when the face appears and her eyes widen in horror) but not quite able to respond. A healhy (unpossessed) Regan might have had the same reaction of the audience; screaming, running out or whatnot. If she wasn’t already under his “spell” she would have done what is expected of a 12 year old girl seeing a face like that.
Exactly, Blizzi. Pazuzu wouldn’t have shown Regan his Captain Howdy face until he had possessed her.
hmm dear fans. I don´t think that Regan see Pazuzu look like we see him at all. First of all I recall he said something nasty about Regans mother and come on,,can that scary face make jokes? No I think that the thought was to give the audience an Idea of what was trying to get control of her. We get the truth immediately, as we get scared of the demon face. Regan never get the truth , she is led far away of self controll. Sorry If i sound to secure..It can ofcourse be the other way around, Scary looking faces did not scare me as a kid, ginger kids did. So I guess that you maybe not assosciate a white unexplainable face as true fear at all ages. But, no really she would throw the ouijja board if that face presented itself in that way.
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