Originally Posted by xen11
"do you know what she did? Your ****ing daughter?"
regan's mother is, in a way, negligent of her daughter. Burke is hanging around a lot. Burke going up alone to her room. He is also a drunk. Why?
There's a very uncomfortable reality to this film. Whether you believe in the religion bs or not, subconsciously there is an underlying reality to these people living their life that everyone can relate to: Getting old, parental dependence, financial burden, growing up, loss of innocence, parental neglect/divorce, molestation, secrets we keep, lies we tell, sickness/suffering, fear, death and the inevitable horror that is life.
That's why its so powerful.
Even as an atheist, its powerful. For me, its not about religious myths: (god and the devil, demons and angels), but an allegory for the base and disgusting nature of things that happen (behind closed doors, right near us) which we ignore or don't realize. And on a grand scale, the raping of humanity in society by those in power.
Religion / hollywood / mental asylums are huge organizations where molestation/sexual abuse is ripe for picking around every corner. Priests molest kids, directors and producers etc. Molest young and vulnerable talent, doctors do whatever they please with their disorderlies/patients, etc.
Notice all the sexual imagery that regan enacts. It's as if she can only express the horrific secrets she desperately wants to tell through this "possession". The 'twisting of burke's head'. And isn't it telling that we never actually see the event. We just see the aftermath.
Remember when you were young and your parents or grandparents asked you what you did today? Remember the times that you had to lie about what happened because if your parents found out... Well, that's not an option. You lie. You roll your eyes and say you had a cheery old time. Even though you were probably playing with yourself or making out and having sex with that hot or handsome friend of yours. Maybe you were smoking pot or snorting crack cocaine. Or maybe you broke something and you're just biding time so you can have a moment alone again to fix it.
What if your mom was a big time actress? What if your parents got divorced and now your mother is on her own and she's very lucky to have this acting gig which supports the both of you? What if the big time producer, that is responsible for your mother's employment, took you on a walk to a secluded area in wooded park? What if he was a likable fella but then he started touching you too much? What if he started making sexual moves on you and you are scared as to what you should do, so you just go along with it because he's an adult and a very powerful one? This powerful man that has everyone supporting his back, including your mother. Your mother that relies on him for her fame. What would happen if you told your mother about this? The absolute shame and embarrassment you would feel for even allowing it to happen. What if you told and it caused a huge stir and your mother lost her job or the director lost his job? Would he try to hurt or kill you? Would your mother disown you? ... Would anyone believe you?
Here's a rundown of all scenes pertaining to regan and her being a victim of societal and personal molestation:
The first scenes we see of chris (regan's mother) is hearing something but ignoring it and just shooing any investigation into it. It must be "rats".
"burke, take a look at this damn thing will ya, it doesn't make any damn sense." she's focused on her work and nothing else. She doesn't understand what her purpose is in the scene.
(there's also someone holding a sign that says "no arrogant rat military yesmen".)
"hey, come on! We're all concerned with human rights,for god's sake. But the kids who wanna get an education have a right, too! Wait, hold it, don't you understand? It's against your own principles for god's sake! You can't, you cant accomplish anything by shutting kids out of their school. Hold it! Hold it! If you want to effect any change, you have to do it within the system."
parents shut their kids out of education/the truth. You can't accomplish anything by shutting them out. You have to be straightforward with them, especially in their own family. Otherwise, you give them fear and anxiety because they are very perceptive to you holding back the truth from them.
It's ironic that chris is acting this out but in her real life doesn't hold the truth behind these words to her own child.
She walks home and passes by innocent kids running, then the sounds of a motorbike, followed by nuns, and then a priest that admits, "there's not a day in my life where i don't feel like a fraud."
seems like an evolution of: Innocence, followed by growing up (old enough to drive), then compliance within the system (nun), then the unhappiness and recognition of living as a "fraud". Innocence lost.
chris gets an invitation to the white house "5 or 6 people". She is in the middle of power itself, the organization you don't **** with.
Her assistant is eating an apple (temptation).
She sees regan and asks what she did today.
"played a game in the backyard and we had a picnic down by the river." regan talks about seeing a man on a beautiful grey horse.
"what kind? Was it a mare? Gelding?"
"i think it was a gelding... Oh, mom, can't we get a horse?"
a gelding is a castrated horse. Regan wants a horse with its dick cut off.
Add to that: A girl riding a horse can break the hymen (even cause pleasure) and essentially take her virginity.
chris's attention is then taken to work and regan grabs a cookie (further temptation) and runs, wanting attention from her mother, to catch her eye, away from her blindness of the system she's surrounded herself with.
There's definitely a lot of symbolism pointing towards regan losing her innocence and growing up to have sexual feelings.
Regan is making something in her private corner of art. Notice the big bad wolf disguised in clothing with the little girl, goldilocks.
Regan makes a bird and gives it to her mother (sending a message to her). Chris: "i better put him over here to dry though, he's still wet." as regan paces and hits her hands together as if she's thinking of how to proceed.
Chris finds the ouija board.
"hey where'd this come from?"
"i found it."
"where?"
"in the closet."
"you've been playing with it."
"yep."
"you know how?"
"i'll show you."
"wait, a minute, you need two."
"no you don't. I do it all the time."
out of the closet, disclosing secrets, revealing answers. There's also all the "he's wet" talk and regan playing with herself.
Regan proceeds to make up someone (cpt. Howdy) that gives the answers to the questions she brings up, as if to deflect herself from giving answers.
"captain howdy, do you think my mom's pretty?"
regan brings up burke and tries to find out if her mother likes him. She's trying to gauge the relationship and why he's coming over.
"you can bring mr. Dennings if you like."
"mr. Dennings?"
"well, you know, its ok."
"well, thank you very much but why on earth would i want to bring burke on your birthday?"
"you like him."
"yea, i like him. Don't you like him?"
"you gonna marry him, aren't you?"
"ohhhhh, god...
"what?"
"... Me marry burke dennings, don't be silly. Of course not. Where'd you ever get an idea like that?"
"but you like him?"
"of course i like him. I like pizzas too, but i'm not gonna marry one."
"you don't like him like daddy?"
"regan i love your daddy. I'll always love your daddy. Burke just comes around here a lot cause... Well, he's lonely, don't got nothing to do."
"well i heard... Differently."
"oh you did? What did you hear?"
"i don't know."
"well, come on..."
"i just thought.."
"well, you didn't think so good."
"how do you know?"
"cause burke and i are just friends. Ok. Really."
is regan looking for a father figure and sees that in burke? Does she wish for that or is she scared he's trying to take her father's place?
It's obvious her father doesn't care for her by not calling on her birthday.
Does regan take to burke more forwardly and openly because she wants this father figure in her life? Does burke prey upon that?
Regan is then in her mother's bed because "my bed was shaking. I can't get to sleep." horniness? Or trauma from a similar moment?
Then there's a statue of the "virgin" mary with a phallic symbol (similar to the nose of the bird regan just made) sticking out of her bloody private area.
regan then gets penetrated, by a needle.
"unroll your fist. Arm up. That wasn't so bad was it?"
"remain perfectly still, breathe normally."
"tell me if you feel a vibration. Regan? Do you feel anything? Can you feel this?"
regan: "i don't feel anything!"
we then hear suggestive rhythmic beating against a couch and the sound of a kid struggling. (coming from the two boys fighting on the couch.)
"put this in your mouth. Keep it there. This tells your temperature. When the red light goes on, that's your temperature." (temperature rising)
"i don't want it!!"
regan is pressed up against a door, she releases into a euphoric floaty high, and collapses.
she apparently tells the doctor to keep his fingers away from her "goddamn ****".
chris thinks regan is sleeping when she's really faking it and aware of what's going on (disturbed). Regan pisses herself, which is a sign of trauma and fear that happens to children in circumstances where they have no control.
Regan's bed shakes as she cries for her mother to make it stop.
"i don't want it!!!!"
*regan is penetrated*
"you ****ing bastard!!!!!"
"regan, can you sit up, scoot over here?
A little more.
Good.
Regan, i'm just gonna move you down on the table. Let me do this. It's ok. See. There we go.
It's just for a short time.
You're doing fine.
Very sticky.
Now regan you're going to feel something a little bit cold and wet.
Ok, now you're going to feel something a little stickier.
Don't move.
Good.
Ok, you're going to feel some pressure here. Now don't move."
(regan is penetrated...)
(blood coming out of her)
*regan moans*
"look up."
*rapid beating as regan moans louder*.
(as she rhythmically and violently beats against the bed she moans and screams)
"please, mother make it stop! Make it stop!! Mother it's burning!!! It's burning!!! Please mother make it stop!!! Make it stop!!! He's trying to kill me!!! Mother!!!! Mother!!!!! "
(man's voice) "keep away!!!! The sow is mine!!!"
"**** me!!! **** me!!!! **** me!!!!"
"stay away from me!!!! Stay away from me!!!!"
therapy/confession time:
"when i touch your forehead, open your eyes. Are you comfortable, regan?"
"yes."
"how old are you?"
"twelve."
"is there someone inside you?"
"sometimes."
"who is it?"
"i don't know."
"is it captain howdy?"
"i don't know."
"if i ask him to tell me, will you let him answer?"
"no."
"why not?"
"i'm afraid."
"if he talks to me i think he'll leave you. do you want him to leave you?"
"yes."
"i'm speaking to the person inside of regan now. If you are there, you too are hypnotized and must answer all my questions. Come forward and answer me now. ... are you the person inside of regan? Who are you?"
*regan grabs his crotch*
"it looks like a type of disorder that's rarely ever seen anymore except in primitive cultures. We call it somnambuliform possession. Quite frankly we really don't know much about it all except that it starts with a conflict or a guilt and it leads to the patient's delusions that his body has been invaded by some alien intelligence, a spirit if you will."
"incidentally, you might ask your daughter if she remembers seeing mr. Dennings in her room that night."
"look he wouldn't have any reason in the world to go up to her room."
regan's voice: "no"
man's voice: "do it."
regan's voice: "please, no!!!"
man's voice: "you *****, do it!!!do it!!!"
regan's voice: "please, no!!!!"
man's voice: "let jesus **** you. Let jesus **** you." 'masturbating with cross' religion is literally raping her.
Man's voice: "lick me!! Lick me!!" 'pushing chris's head into her crotch'
burke's voice: "do you know what she did? Your ****ing daughter?" *her head twisting around just like burke's*
(this is similar to the accusatory outbursts burke denning's would have at the party.)
earlier at the party, burke was going off on certain people, basically showing that he knows their secrets. Was burke trying to protect regan? He's obviously knowledgeable about the evils of these people in high places. Or was burke hypocritically a part of it with his own inner demons of molesting young girls? Or allowing it to happen?
He tries to tell chris something as he leaves the party, but he decides not to. The first insult he throws at the guy regan later speaks to (about "you're going to die up there".): "there seems to be an alien pubic hair in my gin." "i beg your pardon." "never seen it before in my life. Have you?"
burke is suggesting something secretly sexual, like he knows this guy is screwing around. (it's also interesting that he uses the word "alien", just like the doctor later uses to describe what's invading regan.)
i get the impression that burke (the director, like friedkin) is revealing the church's and hollywood's holocaust on the innocence (molesting) of these children.
I'm not sure if burke is her guard dog / guardian angel (as depicted in regan's art that karras looks at) or if he pretends to be but is also a part of the molestation. He is at least part of it in the sense that he knows and isn't saying anything, as all people in the business silently agree on for fear of banishment, retaliation, or loss of their life. These are very powerful people.
Regan literally spells out, "help me" to father karras.
As father merrin walks into the house and chris gives the first indication of who it is, "thank you, father" regan screams. Metaphor for the evils of our ancestors that are passed down to us, further represented by regan's father not giving a shit about her?
Father merrin tells karras not to listen to her, that its the most important thing. As he says this to him, we see chris sitting on a chair knitting, a typical image of a mother who spends her time doing needless chores while ignoring the reality of their children and what they suffer.
When father merrin first walks into regan's room, the first thing said to him, "stick your cock up her ass, you mother****ing worthless ********er!!!!" is that the first expectation when a priest goes into regan's room? A voice calling out what it sees.
Is that lone voice, that encompasses the hidden voices of many, the voice of the victims crying out the atrocities of religion? The climax a battle between victims that are demonized by the organized religion that ties them down and labels them as evil and deceitful because they are speaking uncomfortable truths labeled as blasphemous lies?
Does father karras listen to those cries of the victims and sacrifice himself for it, releasing their truth to the world while sacrificing himself in the process? The victims pointing out his own discretions of how he abandoned his own mother to protect this priesthood, this evil organization? The voice even says, "**** him, karras!!!!" as if telling him not to follow father merrin.
Look at the whole climax as victims, the youth, vs. The old, religion. Father karras is the young reluctantly following in father merrin's footsteps, torn between science (facts) and religion (lies).
All those moments where karras is sitting outside regan's room, torn between helping regan reveal the truth or helping father merrin conceal it and shut her up.
When they are sitting together on those steps both facing opposite directions leading down the staircase from father merrin to karras as if passing on the decision of where the next generation will lead (science or religion), karras asks, "why this girl? Doesn't make sense." father merrin tells him that she's lying basically, that what she (they) are saying is a trick. Father merrin excuses himself for a moment alone where he is quite disturbed and takes his medicine to mask his fear. Karras decides to go in alone with regan and listens closer (literally, with a stethoscope). Notice how he listens to her intently and father merrin comes up behind him as regan looks karras straight in his eyes as if she knows that he now understands the truth. When father merrin says, "what is it?" karras turns around like he's just been caught. Karras is caught between them as she pleads with him and father merrin tells him to get out.
The door closes and silence.
Father merrin walks over and stares at regan. He grabs the phallic bed post then walks to the other end and twists that one slowly as he gets closer to her. He takes his crucifix out and kisses it. Then gets his holy water out. He gets regan wet and grabs her hand as he starts his ritual.
Karras sits downstairs contemplating. Chris asks him if its over? Then asks him, "is she going to die?" he looks at her with certainty and says, "no."
he then goes upstairs.
The old generation, father merrin, is now gone. Limp and dripping, he is finished with his abuse. Regan is on the bed in a daze, like a rape victim who feels nothing anymore. The cycle will continue on through regan and its all because karras went along with it and didn't listen and speak up. He beats father merrin violently, wanting him to return and take responsibility for his evil actions, but its too late. Karras is now in his place and must take responsibility. He recognizes what he has protected and for a moment reflects that by pinning regan down and beating her. Karras is too late to have spoken up. The old generation is gone and the damaged to the young is already done. He beats regan in anger as she inherits the violence conducted through him via the necklace/pendant. As she does this, karras recognizes the total truth of the evil passed on from father merrin through to regan and he is a conductor of that. He grabs for regan like the evil organization he has protected and screams, "no!". He throws himself out the window.
"you want to make a confession?"
karras responds affirmatively with his hand clasping the younger priest's.
"are you sorry for ... All the sins of your past life?"
karras affirms.
But notice that he is symbolically passing on the evil (or the truthful knowledge) he has inherited to the other priest.
Does the truth die with him?
Regan later sees a priestly father and is attracted to him. Recognizes the neck collar. Kisses him. She takes comfort in the symbol of her abusers. The victim is now willing because its all she ever knew of love. Her father was absent and everyone around her was ignorant. The priestly father (the church) is now her father figure.
As for the pendant necklace passed through the generations (complete with symbol of a father holding a child) it represents the evil inherited. Chris tries to give it back to the father (does she recognize it now?) but the father gives it back to her (a sign she's still ignorant to what happened? Especially after saying that regan doesn't remember a thing...).
The detective always seems to miss what really happened. He never quite sees the whole picture, even when suspecting the priests. He tries to get closer to them by conning them via seeing a movie. But you can't bullshit a bullshitter. Wuthering heights is mentioned. That's a story about abusive relationships that constantly reverberates from generation to generation. No end in sight. "evil vs. Evil"
these are my observations on watching the exorcist the second time around (just now) as an observant movie-analyzing adult. The first time around i detected it, but now i can study it closer and its been extremely enlightening.
|
All countries
Argentina
Austria
Belgium
Brazil
Bulgaria
Chile
China
Colombia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Denmark
Finland
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
Indonesia
Ireland
Israel
India
Latvia
Lithuania
Malaysia
New Zealand
Norway
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Russia
Singapore
South Africa
South Korea
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Linear Mode
