The Rhetorical Analysis of The Exorcist And Its Relationship With The Audience - Movie Review Example

The Rhetorical Analysis of The Exorcist And Its Relationship With The Audience On December 1973, Hollywood released The Exorcist. It sparked a chain of critics and overwhelmed the audience. The film was commercially successful t the time of its initial release it had sold about seven million tickets in the U.S by early 1974 and promised to spread throughout the globe (Blatty 67). The reaction of the audience implied that the movie had touched on issues that were common in the 1940s to 1970s. The film seemed to be trying to define and shape the evils that dominated the era in the political, social and cultural arena. The people who fought for public morals received the film with mixed reactions. Many people claimed that the film depicted child sexuality, blasphemous acts and vivid description of evil. They further claimed that it was not suitable for children that were 17 years and below. There was evidence of some viewers fainting, breaking down and even committing suicide. Consequently, some clerics and Protestant condemned the film. However, the Catholic News claimed that the age needed such a film to make it realize that evil was present, and thus exorcist was still vital. The Exorcist applied kairos, logos, ethos and pathos to appeal to the audience and pass its views and solutions to the issues that faced the people of that era. The film applied logos to convince the audience to start attending church to eliminate a rampant evil within the society. It showed that evil and goodness existed. The basis of the film was a historical event where in 1949, a demonic possession had been exorcised from a boy in Mount Rainier, Maryland (Cull). The people at that age believed that such practice belonged to the old age but had gone down due to the increased awareness of the mental diseases. However, the incidence shocked the people, as it was unusual. The film used the evidence to appeal to the audience that evil existed. The awareness of sin would make them believe that goodness also exist and start going to church. The story also came into being at a time of political crises in an attempt to show the existence of evil (Frentz and Farrell 27). It thus used kairos to appeal to the audience of the time that evil was real. The increasing spread of communism worldwide as evidenced by spy scandals and labor disputes threatened the existence of America. In late 1969, the American soldiers killed about 200 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai. Additionally, the era still had many Americans regarding the 1963 murder of President John F. Kennedy as the initial sin of the age. The action of the film occurs in a home, the most uniquely privileged realm of the American post-war culture. The use of logos here is to appeal to the audience that evil have even penetrated in families and familiar settings. The home’s sacred sphere was at risk. The film reflects the breakdown of families as Regan is from a broken marriage. Career engages her mother and the initial manifestation of the demon as a friend lures Regan into thinking that he can perfectly substitute her father. The film tries to show how women have embraced the masculine world of work at the expense of the disintegration of their families. He also uses a female body of the main character to illustrate the possibility of women liberation. The use of the female body in The Exorcist also touched on increasing concern for overproduction and the possibility of women giving birth to the demons over the then past decade. Shocking birth defects in 1960s because of using certain birth control drugs had been witnessed. The possessive child Regan also projected the guilt of people that had accepted legal abortion. The debate on abortion had touched on whether women had a right to control their body. The film also used ethos to convince the audience about the existence evil. The academic theology dominated the era to a point of making people forget about the idea of a personal devil and evil. In November 1972, Pope Paul VI had emphasized the existence of evil as an effective agent, a living spiritual being, perverted and perverting, and a terrible reality. He thus urged Catholic faithful to study evil. Three Jesuits assisted in the development of the film by giving technical advice and even being actors in it. The film also used pathos to appeal to the public’s emotion. It used frightening and depressing scenes that tried to tell the reality of evilness. It also used moral ethics in regard to abortion, child birth control, and other social issues. The film came at a time social evils were dominating. It particularly attempted to address the issue of divisions among Americans along the inter-generational lines. The youths had embraced a culture and language that defied the ways of the older Americans. At that time, the war in Vietnam had caused protests in campuses. In May 1970, some protesters at Kent University were shot. The film evokes these backgrounds by showing scenes where Regan’s mother is an actress begging an agitated mob of students to work decently (Dempsey 25). The film uses pathos in that the young demon-possessed girl called Regan represents the fear that Americans needed to have about the future of its youthful generation. The name Regan alludes to the thankless children in King Lear of Shakespeare. It also uses pathos to show the guilt that middle-aged had to have for neglecting their parents. The priest, Father Karras, is very guilty when he sees his mother suffering in the mental hospital. The film also demonstrated its concern over the ability of science, a widely accepted utility in America. In one occasion, the possessed Regan predicts the death of an astronaut when she encounters him at her mother’s party. Additionally, science was not able to figure out her problem based on her strange symptoms (Cull). The numerous gut-wrenching tests on Regan portray the ceremonies and dogmas of science. Even though the church also has its ceremonies and costumes, the film shows that the church works better than science. Thus, the film attempts to make the audience embrace priest’s view that human existence is in constant conflicts between good and evil. It tries to suppress the idea of doctors that humans are mere collections of electrical impulses. The film also portrays characters as living in emotional deserts. The characters live in mutual alienation in a city that exhibits emotional desert. It depicts the desert ruins of Iraq that is full of evil screeching and noises of fighting dogs. The noises are replaced by their modern equivalent, which is traffic noise of the modern America. The representation targeted an audience whose demographic makeup consisted of youths and older generations. It required the audience to embrace a culture that values togetherness, emotional support, and morally dealing with social issues such s abortion and inter-generational conflicts. It insisted that the Americans should not abandon religious roots for science, since the former has proved to have more capability of dealing with the evils surrounding the Americans. It tries to claim that the enemy and evil in America emanated from outside, specifically from the Arab world. The representation can change the behavior of Americans by creating an awareness of the disintegrating social, political, and economic lives of the Americans (Blatty 89). The Americans can decide to embrace the views of the film for better lives. However, the evil in America has stayed the same since they did not fully grasp the effect of the monster and embrace the views for a good life. Most Americans still value science over Christian religion as a solution to their problems. They do not think that evil still exist around them. They still allow social evils such as abortion. The generational conflicts are still being seen. There is a disintegration of emotional unity among the culture of the audience. Women are demanding equal rights as their male counterparts, thus causing a disintegration of marriages and families s the two genders compete. The evil monster hence gets bigger each day due to the disintegration in all areas of life. The Exorcist depicts the evils that surround a culture that neglects Christian religion and the church and embraces science. It implies that lack of understanding of the existence of good and evil eventually leads to a disintegration of families, marriages, and political power. It had used kairos to appeal to the audience by being set at the time when social and political evil had perverted the culture in which it was released. The major social, cultural, and political events at the time affected its settings since the film depicted the events in its scenes. The film also applied ethos by riding on the then request of the Pope that people needed to realize that evil was an awful reality among them that necessitated the help of the church. The film also applied pathos by appealing to the feelings of fear, guilt, and worry. Furthermore, it applied logos by appealing to the reasoning of the audience in matters regarding morality. Works Cited Blatty, William P. The Exorcist. New York: Harper, 2011. Print. Cull, Nick. "The Exorcist." History Today. N.p., 5 May 2000. Web. 8 Apr. 2015. . Dempsey, Michael. "The Exorcist . William Friedkin, William Peter Blatty." Film Quarterly 1.2 (2001): 20-31. Print. Frentz, Thomas S., and Thomas B. Farrell. "Conversion of Americas Consciousness: The Rhetoric of The Exorcist." Quarterly Journal of Speech 13.2 (2003): 20-31. Print. "Watch The Exorcist Online Free Putlocker." 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