Identity In The Exorcist
VOICE OF AUTHORITY
Writers of paranormal themed movies and television programs incorporate different disciplines into their plots to give the audience an authoritative voice, an expert to rationalize and thereby confirm the existence of the supernatural for them. Folklore, religion and science bring authenticity to paranormal media because those who occupy this realm (folklorist, priest, and scientist) are tasked with explaining the phenomenon that occur within the film or television program.
Folklore
The integration of folklore into a film can increase its truth-value. Michael Dylan Foster calls the integration, portrayal or parody of folklore and folklorist the folkloresque. The folkloresque is “the popular, vernacular, folk conception of folklore” (Foster 42). Foster further assert that “producers/consumers of popular culture interpret folklore and consciously draw on it for the sense of authenticity and authority it offers” (Foster 14). By depicting a legend, films and television shows become more …show more content…
Even when the doctors have found nothing physically wrong with Regan’s brain and after visiting their house where they are quite clearly confronted with non-medical symptoms they still insist that the problem is probably psychological. Chris, Regan’s mother, is skeptical of the doctors’ diagnosis from the onset. She turns to a priest for answers at the behest of a group of doctors. One doctor calls it “a stylized ritual” he continues on to say “[i]t has worked, in fact, although not for the reason they think, of course. It was purely the force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession helped cause it; and just in the same way this belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear” (The Exorcist). The doctors simultaneously acknowledge that some people believe in the supernatural while dismissing the reality of
Writers of paranormal themed movies and television programs incorporate different disciplines into their plots to give the audience an authoritative voice, an expert to rationalize and thereby confirm the existence of the supernatural for them. Folklore, religion and science bring authenticity to paranormal media because those who occupy this realm (folklorist, priest, and scientist) are tasked with explaining the phenomenon that occur within the film or television program.
Folklore
The integration of folklore into a film can increase its truth-value. Michael Dylan Foster calls the integration, portrayal or parody of folklore and folklorist the folkloresque. The folkloresque is “the popular, vernacular, folk conception of folklore” (Foster 42). Foster further assert that “producers/consumers of popular culture interpret folklore and consciously draw on it for the sense of authenticity and authority it offers” (Foster 14). By depicting a legend, films and television shows become more …show more content…
Even when the doctors have found nothing physically wrong with Regan’s brain and after visiting their house where they are quite clearly confronted with non-medical symptoms they still insist that the problem is probably psychological. Chris, Regan’s mother, is skeptical of the doctors’ diagnosis from the onset. She turns to a priest for answers at the behest of a group of doctors. One doctor calls it “a stylized ritual” he continues on to say “[i]t has worked, in fact, although not for the reason they think, of course. It was purely the force of suggestion. The victim's belief in possession helped cause it; and just in the same way this belief in the power of exorcism can make it disappear” (The Exorcist). The doctors simultaneously acknowledge that some people believe in the supernatural while dismissing the reality of