CaptainHowdy.com The #1 Exorcist Fansite Since 1999
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But you did bring up a good point, that maybe the Dr was unable to finish Regan's exam. As always with you, Sof, good food for thought.
We don't know if the Dr completed the exam or not – the text doesn't tell us anything about it except Regan's obscenities Therefore we don't know how far the exam proceded before Regan objected. Maybe the Dr chickened out and therefore got zero data; otoh, he may have been able to go far enough along with it to ascertain the basics. Also I would think that the Barringer testing would, as a matter of course, have included a gyno exam, with the specific purpose of checking for molestation which might account for Regan's symptoms. That's not stated in the book, either, but to eliminate molestation is almost demanded as part of the thoroughness Blatty wants to convey … in order that the reader knows that no mundane physical cause has resulted in Regan's condition.
Actually I'm glad they put that in, because modern audiences are so attuned to PedoParanoia that they would almost need to have this unpleasant contingency waved right in their face. In the novel, and implicitly in the film, Regan's many medical tests never uncovered sexual abuse. But implicitness is no longer trustworthy for a public steeped in news of sex abuse, especially the “Catholic” kind. So it is probably good that the issue is brought up, faced squarely, and rejected – so that audiences can get back to the story itself, whose only molester is the demon. They can relax, knowing that Regan has not been abused by any human agency, and pay attention to the unfolding narrative.
Ken said:
I just finished eating when I came across this.There was something about communion hosts made out of flour, feces, semen, and all things that are disgusting.Bearing this in mind, I must leave now and go vomit.Those descriptions of black mass were even more disturbing to me than the crucifix scene..I have to wonder what must have been going through Blatty's mind as he was writing all of this down.
I was thinking the same thing. This is sick, creepy stuff. If memory serves, in the novel, Karras mentions that “satanism” is a psychiatric disease in which particpants cannot experience sexual pleasure unless accompanied by blasphemous words and acts. Blatty skillfully blends this all-too-human symptomology with the very real possibility that a demon is lurking in a Georgetown bedroom … creepy stuff again.
Late-night scenes of Karras and Kinderman respectively researching this twisted stuff. Actual “black Mass/witchcraft” desecrations in the church … Regan's fingerprints on the blasphemous altar card, her paint on the desecrated Mary statue … real “satanic” practices being carried out by an innocent twelve year old who ought to know nothing about them … except (Blatty's genius at work again), she may have read about them in a book left at the house by the psychic Mary Jo Perrin. Regan – is she a sick, acting-out little pervert or a truly possessed innocent … ? Is the demonic real, or just a series of peculiar mental disorders? Blatty continues this guessing game to the very final pages … what a writer, what a book.
Welcome aboard :) Sounds like you have an active interest in all things Exorcist and have stories to tell…
Yeah, I need a lengthy break between watching favorite movies and books, so next time I can approach them “fresh”…
Maybe the scene of Karras looking at the sunset where he used to “find God”; a scene of him counseling a younger priest (Chris observes a scene like this but we can't hear the dialogue); Karras putting money into the “urine-soaked” pants of the passed-out drunk, instead of just walking away; there could be a Karras voiceover telling us what he's reading when researching witchcraft and demonology, some of whose details would add a purely verbal chill to the film…
So as not to overkill, I watch/read it maybe once a year… any shorter span than that, then it's like being in a relationship that's gone gray and stale with over-familiarity, where you know what your partner is going to say/do before they say/do it… kind of a claustrophobic feeling, you know… 🙂
Sof, thanks for the flattering words 🙂
But for me, reading the novel while watching the movie would wreck the experience, i.e, I can only read the book and watch the film at certain intervals, else they become flat, stale and numbing. I’ve done this with a few books and movies until over-familiarity just kills reading-watching pleasure. So I’ll have to defer your kind invitation until next time I watch the movie and/or read the book. I can jot down items that I notice that differ between the two media and post them in this thread, if you like. But I can’t state a time-frame at this point, because I don’t know when I’ll next be reading/viewing the film or the novel…
More good points of difference between the film and novel, but as for me adding anything, I couldn't do it without reading the book along with watching the movie. I lack your encyclopedic knowledge of the novel – which is one reason that makes reading this thread so interesting 🙂
The story's only molester is the demon itself.
Regan is fond of Dennings and says it's ok for him to attend her birthday party.
None of Regan's extensive medical exams disclosed anything resembling molestation.
Thus – the demon is the story's one and only molester.
