Because I think Catholics in particular have our own unique relationship to horror, and in contrast, hope. I was actually talking to a friend yesterday, half-joking, about how M*A*S*H is lapsed Catholic culture-- and while they’re different genres, I think the two shows do similar things in terms of only providing hope in terms of defiance of evil. The Exorcist is so comforting because it doesn’t lie to us. It shows us the demons. It exposes the literal demons, and also everyone’s metaphorical demons, and then it deals with those problems directly instead of trying to pretend they don’t exist. This is in line with the Bible itself, because the whole thing is that we show these horrible stations of the cross in gory detail, we show the betrayal, we show the blood on his body, we show his arms held aloft and know they’ve been like that for 3 hours, and we show him saying “Father, forgive them” anyway. Catholicism is supposed to be a very in-your-face religion, and a very transparent one. It’s why we have confession as a means of absolving sin. It’s why we have crucifixes, not crosses. It’s arguably why sitcoms that aren’t centered on Catholicism, but have Catholic characters, have plotlines that revolve around having to communicate to identify a problem before they use communication to figure out a solution (think Jane the Virgin, One Day At A Time, possibly The Real O’Neils). A lot of “Catholic guilt” and lapsed Catholicism stems from the pressure to lie-- we’re supposed to believe in the infallibility of the Pope, but Popes and opinions both change; we have our own private opinions/interpretations of scripture, not the least of which is the church’s stance on the LGBT.Which brings us back to The Exorcist. The Exorcist doesn’t pretend that the flaws in the church don’t exist, or sugarcoat them, or try to twist them in order to justify them. And it doesn’t treat those problems as abstract, it brings characters impacted by them to the forefront. And it even picks actors impacted by those problems, to hammer home that while these exact situations are fictional, the problems with the church are not. And while there are definitely some problems with the church they notably haven’t acknowledged, and maybe should, they address way more issues than anyone who isn’t dismissing the religion as a whole normally do. Often, religious LGBT people are presented with a false dichotomy: you either have to repress your sexuality, or repress your faith. Both are bullshit. Neither is your “true self.” The show proclaims that, loudly and often, and its a service our community desperately needs. And it not only does that, but does so in a way that reinforces that pointing this out isn’t a reformation of what God thinks. The Exorcist says that God has always thought the LGBT are righteous, and should defend their righteousness, and its the mortals of the Church as an institution who have been corrupted-- not by God, but by demons. By the devil. Homophobia is a sin. It shows why its a sin, too, but not in a way that assaults the audience. It just makes those who don’t experience that pain look at it, in a way that tells the audience that does experience it I see you. And that method is consistent with the way Catholicism tells its story. We see Jesus interact with people, messy people, traitorous people, skeptical people-- his own mom, born without sin, nonetheless nags him into performing his first miracle before he feels comfortable, not because of an emergency, but because this wedding has run out of wine. But we also see Jesus recognizing that the reason his mom is doing that is because she doesn’t want her friend to be embarrassed, he sees that humanity is literally murdering him, but its also volunteering to wipe his brow to bring him comfort. No one should have to see a man crucified, and no one should have to suffer a crucifixion, just like no one should have their arms ripped off, or see their child break their other child’s knee: but there’s incredible hope and beauty in seeing people in those desolate situations choose selflessness and generosity. This got a way from me a bit, but even though you and I both live in a world where we are conditioned to “joke” that we don’t “deserve” basic recognition and comfort, and that’s not fair to either of us, I hope you find incredible hope and beauty in how we can nonetheless have shows like this, and find each other to talk about them with. God bless you.
