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Please also review the “Who should be the exorcist?” scene. 😛 In it, Karras is temporarily chosen, but then they decide to get someone with experience. 😉 But I do like the apparent ambiguity of the title, nonetheless. 🙂
M.I.K.E.
Ive Always Felt that Both are the Exorcist, Merrin is The Exorcist there to Perform the Exorcism, In a Sense the Torch is Passed From Merrin to Karras, Merrin Dies, Karras Finaly Excepting that he is dealing with the Devil, Becomes The Exorcist By Getting Rid of The Demon, The Acts of both Merrin and Karras Result in a Certain Unity.
Yeah, hatter76, that sounds right. I think it was “meant to be” for Karras to be the one who actually gets the demon out… Merrin (imo) was there to boost his faith during the exorcism. The final battle was to be Karras’ own.
The most confusing thing, then, is the trailer(s), which clearly state “One hope. The Only Hope… The EXORCIST” while showing the classic shot of MERRIN arriving.
I’m not going to debate Karras is the exorcist (in fact, that’s kinda cool), but in terms of marketing, the studio definitely had everyone believing otherwise. Especially as, in the film, Merrin has a heroic, ‘here to save the day’ arrival.
I think it’s Legitamit that Merrin is “THE EXORCIST”, But by the end, Karras has assumed the role and become “THE EXORCIST”
It may sound cheesy but I think a good example would be “THE MASK OF ZORRO”
Someone quoted Blatty as saying in person, also: Click Here to read.
I could see how if Karras were the sole human target that he’d be elevated above Merrin as being the title character, THE Exorcist. But since he is not — others in the Georgetown house/community are amongst those targeted — I just don’t understand how Blatty in more recent years is saying Karras is such; I think Blatty’s free to change his mind or opinion on such key details of past works (look how much LEGION, book or film, breaks the rules), but that’s just it: he’s changing things on us. YET: The work, The Exorcist novel and/or film were immortalized they day they were released, and were written by a younger, different writer than whom said writer, Blatty, has become and is today. In a sense, I guess, he’s not talking sense, no offense to the man(!); he just has a different interpretation than he once did.
Karras was a Ghostbuster-in-training, as it regards his exorcism credentials; he was a lapsing Catholic and priest and he had to get into some heavyduty spiritual warfare, and the hostage he sought to rescue was a little girl; the stakes were high, and he couldn’t do it alone, noble as it is that he offered to. Merrin, however, WAS an exorcist. The novel/film are not titled “The Junior Exorcist”, you know? I dunno. I’ll let Blatty say or think whatever he wants, but he’s not gonna win this argument. 😛
Merrin deserves better, because that’s the kind of character the 1971 Blatty crafted the character, how he wrote him. To believe Karras to be the title character neutralizes a lot of the mystery and enigma surrounding and infused within the character of Father Merrin, an exorcist with extensive experience and who remains in conflict for DECADES with a genuine Satanic force.
Yes, I am close-minded. 😛 Sorry, Mr. Blatty. I can forgive the strange changes you made in Legion novel and film, but Karras trumping Merrin for the title character slot of the original Exorcist novel and film, I’d sooner appreciate The Heretic than entertain the idea. Again, no offense…! 😐
Respectfully,
M.I.K.E.
Ps. That line, “This time you’re going to lose.” WOULD be great if added back in. I think it might be feasable to edit in… have it playing over footage not picturing the possessed Regan — when the camera is pointed elsewhere — so they don’t have to mess with dubbing or CGI-ing in a few seconds of Regan for such a purpose.
Blatty on The Exorcist: From Novel to Film (1974):
“…gone from the movie is the demon’s crucial line to Merrin: “This time you’re going to lose.” You will recall that in the first-draft script, the line was delivered by the demon off scene. In the final draft, it was the first line uttered by the demon as Merrin entered the room for the exorcism. This, plus other hints, created an aura of vendetta, further indicated that Regan’s possession is a setup; that the target all along is Merrin – at least, as the demon has construed it. Though another way of construing it – and my own – would be that Karras was the target and that the demon himself was being used as the crucible of Karras’s salvation…”
I totally agree with MIKE! Blatty’s perspective of what happened to KArras in Legion completely differs from The Exorcist novel/movie. That’s why I don’t care for any of the sequels. I hate Heretic! Regan was never supposed to be a healer. In Blatty’s words she was an ordinary little girl. Thank God, Heretic wasn’t Mr.Blatty’s creation. 😉
Anyway, I love Blatty! 😀 He looks like a Papa Bear. He said in “The Exorcist:From Novel to Film”, that his daughter called him that ha-ha.I must admit I always thought it was Merrin who was the Exorcist. Aswell as the trailers showing Merrin being the exorcist, in the film itself where the two priests are discussing who should do the exorcism one of them says “should have someone with experience”. So it is difficult at first glance to consider Karras as the exorcist.
Technically they were both exorcists since both performed the exorcism ritual. Only one of them was successful – namely, Karras. However, he was not successful _as_ an exorcist.
The ritual plainly was not working – the demon was on the verge of killing Regan despite Merrin’s and Karras’s exorcistic efforts.
What Blatty suggests worked was Karras’s self-sacrifice via inviting the demon to “come into me!”
Therefore, although the novel and the film had two exorcists, neither of them was a success in that role. The redemption of Karras and the saving of Regan were completely unrelated to exorcists and exorcism. Perhaps Blatty should have chosen a different title.
He did – “The Ninth Configuration”. The entire thing is about that precise sort of self-sacrifice, hence why it should have been the first true sequel, and Legion the third. 😉
The trailer certainly makes it clear that Karras is the titular exorcist. “The one hope….the only hope…the exorcist” is said as Chris opens the door to reveal the silhoutte of Karras. As for the film itself, I don’t think the film makes it clear who is the exorcist.
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