Honors Attribute Essay: Demons and Feminism
The impact of second wave feminism in the 1960’s and ‘70s wasn’t present in just politics or the workforce, but was an all-encompassing revolution that dominated the culture of the era. One of the last places people may think to look for the impacts of the sexual revolution and female liberation that marked second wave feminism is the horror genre of the film industry, but it is this exact space where the subsequent culture war that broke out amid the feminist movement got worked out within American society.
A deeper analysis of the 1973 film The Exorcist reveals just how influential second wave feminism and its clash with American tradition and religion had on the horror movie industry of the era. While the film portrays a family’s battle to rid the demon from within their daughter it also portrays the battle between the new age feminist and traditional American values, and just like the fight with the demon it is a struggle until the very end of the film to see who will come out victorious in the culture war. The start of the film opens up with the introduction of the mother, Chris, who is an actress starring in a movie that appears to be about the Vietnam War protests. Right away it becomes clear that Chris is the provider in her family that is considerably well off and that her daughter, Regan’s, father is not in the picture. At this point, Chris’ portrayal as a “new woman” who has broken away from the traditional family unit could be seen as a win for second wave feminism and how it is viewed in popular culture, but over the course of the film, just as Regan begins to change so does The Exorcist’s view of female liberation and the sexual revolution.
Regan’s possession became the vessel through which females, especially teenage girls, were sexualized and demonized during the culture war. Regan is introduced to the audience as the average twelve year old girl, whose main interests involved asking her mother for a pony. But once the demon in their house enters her she transforms into society’s worst nightmare: a hyper-sexual teen. As W. Scott Poole states in Haunted Houses, “The Exorcist used the emerging sexuality of a teenage girl as a metaphor for diabolical evil” (pg. 170). Regan’s possession causes her to act overtly sexual and profane, which leaves her mother, Chris, scrambling to find the best doctors and specialists money can buy to help cure her daughter. But as the film proves, all of Chris’ self earned money cannot save her daughter from the evil residing inside her. While The Exorcist uses demons and possession to scare its audiences the real fear it’s hinting at is the ‘60s and ‘70s cultural anxiety toward sexualized teens and liberated women.
Chris’ failure to cure Regan’s affliction becomes the film’s stance towards second wave feminism. A the start of the film she is a successful, well put together woman, but as Regan’s condition worsens she becomes more and more hysterical and desperate. She is then portrayed as needy and helpless and it isn’t until the introduction of Father Damien and religion that Regan has a chance at being saved. There is a point in the movie where Chris states that she isn’t religious, which is really a warning to the audience that if they aren’t religious and don’t adhere to the traditional family unit and values America had before second wave feminism then there’s no way they can protect their children, especially their teenage daughters, from diabolical evil. What appeared to be a win for second wave feminism and its showcase on the big screen ultimately reinforced the conservative counter- movement to the sexual revolution and women’s liberation. Through the character Damien Karras, The Exorcist suppresses America’s anxieties with its support of religion and a male figure in every home. When Chris, the new age feminist, realizes there is nothing she can do to help Regan she turns to the church who of course have a way to end Regan’s possession. By bringing a male presence into the home the film solidifies its stance on having a traditional family unit with a man as the head of the house. As Brian Riley discusses in his analysis of the film,“By positing the possessed Regan’s rebellion against ‘normality’ as ‘evil’—a rebellion that includes the release of sexuality as well as challenges to traditional authority figures—the text rather simplistically reaffirms the ‘rightness’ of the church, the conventional family, and patriarchy” (2013). Chris is viewed as incapable of helping her rebellious daughter and it takes the presence of the patriarchy to return their house to normal.
While the 1973 film The Exorcist showcases elements of the second wave feminism movement of the era by portraying the main character Chris as a single mother with a successful career it is actually an attempt to suppress the sexual revolution and female liberation by reaffirming the need of religion and a traditional family unit in every home. When Father Damien sacrifices his life for Regan and defeats the demon possessing her, it is the film proving that Chris, as a woman, could not have saved her daughter on her own. It is the film saying that no matter how successful Chris becomes on her own she is a failure because she cannot raise and protect her teenage daughter as a feminist. The backlash to second wave feminism in the 1960s and ‘70s was a conservative counter- revolution that reaffirmed America’s anxieties towards female liberation and sexual freedom, and horror films like The Exorcist were a space in popular culture that attempted to work these fears out, but ultimately supported tradition and the patriarchy.
Works Cited
Riley, Brian. “Revisiting The Exorcist: The Forbidden Pleasures of Resistant Reading.” Response: The Digital Journal of Popular Culture Scholarship, Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association, 2013,
Poole, W. Scott. Monsters In America : Our Historical Obsessions with the Hideous and the Haunting. Waco, Tex. :Baylor University Press, 2011. Print.
