I am back to this topic because in some sense exorcism is not something that one discusses in polite circles, certainly not with a cup of Earl Grey and a slice of Battenberg. It might be spoken of in the dead of night to scare just before one gets out the Ouija board. In broad daylight many scientists might scoff at the notion and speak of psychological problems, delusions or schizophrenia. Yet to the practitioners of voodoo (or Voudou Lalwizyàn) the notion may not seem so obscure. There may even be a buck in it. There is a current exorcist in our department at Saint Brieuc.

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“Abbot Placide Guillermic, nicknamed Tadig Kozh, (born January 5, 1788, in Plounez, died April 28, 1873, in Bégard), was a Catholic priest and canon mythologized by Breton beliefs. Little biographical information is known about him, but eyewitness accounts mention the exorcisms this rector of Bégard performed at Méné-Bré in the Saint-Hervé chapel. Anatole Le Braz recounts that Tadig Kozh possessed knowledge of life and death, as well as supernatural powers, enabling him to reincarnate indefinitely, and to command demons and the wind.”

From Wikipedia

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Tadig Kozh performed exorcisms in a local chapel on a nearby hill.

In the movies the exorcisms are often dramatic, with profanity, bodily fluids and some garish biologically impossible movements. People possessed puke, piss and defecate. The exorcist is challenged by temptation, often sexual, by guilt and with fear. The faith of the hierophant is called into question and tested thoroughly. In general, there is some resistance from the possessing evil / demon which has some kind of anthropomorphic or zoomorphic shape. Rarely is the bad-doer entirely abstract. Sometimes the hierophant gets possessed to save others.

I’ll postulate that a fair deal of imagination is present and that may comment on the psychology and hang-ups of script writer and director. A good commercial director knows that sex sells so they would aim to include at least some nudity, preferably young and female.

I’ll speculate that those writing such material have not had personal experience either as hierophant or the person being exorcised. The theme music of such moves enters the collective consciousness.

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While things remain in the realm of imagination, they are safe if a little creepy. If, however, a rite of exorcism started to become reality, detached observer orientations might fade. If it started to dawn on you that you yourself or a loved one were in need of an exorcism, what would you do?

Would you call up the departmental exorcist?

Look in yellow pages or on line?

Answers to the question “Can exorcism be done by Zoom?” suggest that it is possible and also by ‘phone. There may be a fee. A perusal online suggests that churches do not charge fees {but a gift may be welcome post hoc}.

I am not belittling here. What is very serious in the life of some is very serious.

An alternative movie script is when a sceptic doubts and gets drawn into situations way beyond their ken and control. The arrogant sceptic is punished and shits several large bricks. Their end may not be entirely happy.

The general gist is don’t take the piss of things you don’t understand.

In scenes of exorcism with whom do you most empathize?

Are you with the priest, overcoming doubt to banish with the help of God?

Are you with the helpless and afraid family whose loved one is possessed and whom they love and fear the loss of?

 Or are you with the demon telling the feckless priest of a non-existent religion to fuck off?

There is something vicarious and voyeuristic about watching a dramatized exorcism and not far below the surface are sexual overtones of possession and dominion. It could be said that portrayals of exorcism are a tad kinky.  There are S&M elements to movie portrayals.

Any movie which holds the attention must be at least a tad vicarious. We might imagine ourselves Hermione Grainger, Sheldon Cooper, Thor, Lara Croft, James Bond or Wotan Wagner in Ragnarök. Unless we are drawn in, we do not experience the emotional engagement.

Which poses the question would you prefer to be exorcised or to attempt an exorcism?