![]() The end result was the decision that since the novel was on the “recommended” list and not the “required” list, parents could self-censor their children’s reading habits as they willed. The teenagers themselves did not express any concerns over the novel and its content. George Palk, another board member, swung back and forth, championing “liberal education” and “restraint” in the same sentences. Yet Torgersen still refused to have any passages read aloud at the meeting in his presence because he had reserved the book at the library, was highly anticipating the read, and did not want any part of the story spoiled for him. Board member Thorwald Torgersen admitted that he had not read the novel. What resulted was a passionate debate between the mob of parent protesters and a rather obstinate school board. In Chester, Delaware, the placement of the novel by the West Morris Regional Board of Education on the school district’s “recommended reading for English classes” spurred outrage from parents, over a hundred of whom attended a board meeting in January 1972 and demanded that the novel be banned forever in the school district. It is important to note that censorship attempts on The Exorcist had begun even before the shooting began. With this careful, intentional, and complex construction of diametrically opposed thematics and aesthetics, The Exorcist is a film that has provoked equal amounts of outrage and praise (Kermode 9) and remains one of cinema’s most censored and controversial works. This central visual and visceral trick is matched with groundbreaking special effects, “subliminal” and what may be called “near-subliminal” imagery, and stroboscopic editing (Kermode 45-48), all of which combine with a story centering around discussions of a lack of belief in God, to both excite the viewer’s fears and reaffirm their faith. Light is the source of evil, and darkness the guardian of purity (Kermode 89-90). The bedroom light transforms the night fog into a ghoulish haze through which the dark and despondent Merrin must penetrate. This motif is embodied in the film’s most famous image, that of Father Merrin’s (Max von Sydow) shadowy figure looking up into the eerie light emanating from the possessed Regan MacNeil’s (Linda Blair, with Mercedes McCambridge providing the voice of the demon and playing the possessed Regan in certain scenes) bedroom after having arrived at the entrance to the house on Prospect Street. Many of the normal iconographies of the horror film are reversed and perverted as darkness surrounds the good and light surrounds the profane. The paradoxical purpose is reflected in the film’s aesthetic design. The Exorcist is thus a work of sacred blasphemy, exposing its viewers to the foulest of images and sounds in order to guide them on a reverential journey through the dark night of the soul. Yet at the same time, the film is a religious story of good versus evil, in which Christian values are upheld and the powers of righteousness and humility are able to defeat the dark forces at work. ![]() On the one hand the film is an exemplar of horror and some might say obscenity, featuring the defiling of religious artifacts, prolonged scenes of medical tests involving needles and the drawing of blood, urination and vomiting, the humiliation and battery of clergymen, and strong obscenities spewing from the mouth of an innocent twelve-year-old girl possessed by a demon that may be the Devil himself. With the advertising slogan “almost beyond comprehension,” director William Friedkin and writer William Peter Blatty set out with the paradoxical goal of both shocking and spiritualizing viewers when crafting The Exorcist (1973). In his free time, he enjoys reading, recreational running, and card games, and can often be found exploring museums or attending Visions and Voices events. As a Film Production student, he has been a director and production designer on several student films. Although he enjoys all kinds of movies, his research at USC has primarily been in the horror and suspense-thriller genres. During his years at USC, he was a member of the Sidney Harman Academy of Polymathic Study and an assistant “game runner” for “Reality Ends Here,” an alternate reality game hosted by the School of Cinematic Arts. ![]() Originally from Federal Way, Washington, a suburb outside of Seattle, Michael Onorati is a senior double majoring in Cinematic Arts Critical Studies, with Honors, and Film & Television Production. ![]()
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