A Reflection of American Society on an Evil Cliché: The Exorcist

Abstract

For many years, the horror genre has been a part of culture due to its success of evoking curiosity and thrill. Horror is able to gain interest most of the time, and it provides satisfaction for the audience, even though it is considered as an unrealistic experience. Yet, no matter how it looks far from reality, it contains both cultural and individual anxieties and fears in it so that it brings a new point of view by functioning as a mirror that makes possible to examine fears conveniently. Thus, this article will attempt to analyse the cultural identity of the United States of America and its reverberations on one of the well-known horror film based on William Peter Blatty's novel, The Exorcist (1973). From the political perspective, it will focus on American Exceptionalism, and it clarifies the relation between Calvinism and American Exceptionalism. Additionally, it will support the notion with the Jungian theory of archetypes by adapting the characters' unconscious mind in The Exorcist to the collective unconscious of American society.