{"id":200,"date":"2019-01-27T18:07:25","date_gmt":"2019-01-27T23:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/?p=200"},"modified":"2019-01-27T18:07:25","modified_gmt":"2019-01-27T23:07:25","slug":"whats-going-to-happen-in-a-head-full-of-ghosts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/2019\/01\/27\/whats-going-to-happen-in-a-head-full-of-ghosts\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Going to Happen in A Head Full of Ghosts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching The Exorcist<\/em> and reading A\u00a0<\/em>Head Full of Ghosts<\/em>, I\u2019ve been trying to apply Isabel Pinedo\u2019s frame for postmodern horror. I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that The Exorcist doesn\u2019t quite fit, retaining more elements of classic horror. Because A\u00a0<\/em>Head Full of Ghosts<\/em> was published so recently, and because of the genre-mashup we already see within the plot in Merry\u2019s life (her life is literally a horror\/reality TV show), I think it should fit Pinedo\u2019s qualifications more closely. So, I have some predictions about A\u00a0<\/em>Head Full of Ghosts<\/em>.<\/p>\n

First, I want to explain what about The Exorcist<\/em> departs from Pinedo\u2019s standards for postmodern horror. I think it comes down to two points she identifies the genre fulfilling: the triumph of irrationality and the lack of narrative closure. While The Exorcist<\/em> follows a system of logic internal to the film (one in which demons are a believable ailment and exorcism a viable treatment), I argue that the protagonists are logical nevertheless. Regan\u2019s mother, when exploring treatment for her, starts with psychiatrist after psychiatrist. When that doesn\u2019t work, she seeks the help of a priest (the next logical step). During the exorcism, even, Father Merrin proceeds calmly through his prayers, performing a pre-planned ritual that should arrive at the desired outcome of dismissing the demon. Though it is Father Karras\u2019 invitation of the demon into his own soul that rids Regan of the burden for good, he\u2019s only in the room because of mom\u2019s and Father Merrin\u2019s logical procession, so logic is not abhorred in The Exorcist<\/em> by a long shot.<\/p>\n

The second departure from the postmodern frame is in the conclusion. Though I\u2019m pretty sure The Exorcist<\/em> does get a sequel, the plot of the first movie reaches narrative closure. Regan is freed from her demon, who exits into Father Karras, who kills himself. The demon is gone along with him. Regan and her mother move away to start anew, and there is no suggestion in the closing scenes of any loose ends. Here is my prediction for A\u00a0<\/em>Head Full of Ghosts<\/em>: we will not see such narrative closure as we\u2019ve seen in The Exorcist. <\/em><\/p>\n

The adult blogger Merry has herself pointed out the many similarities between her sister\u2019s affliction and Regan\u2019s, so where will the two girls\u2019 plots diverge? Not with the exorcism \u2026 we know the reality show centers around the exorcism of Marjorie\u2019s demon, right? So I say the divergence will be with the happy ending, and I think we\u2019ll get to witness that divergence through Merry. She\u2019s already told us she has trouble differentiating her own memories from the populace\u2019s collective conception of her early life via the TV show. I think this is where the lack of narrative closure will manifest. I bet we never get a satisfactory answer to the question of whether Marjorie was mentally ill or possessed by a demon, and I bet the horror of Merry\u2019s life, young and adult, is her inability to discern the answer through examination of her own memories. This will establish the central antagonist of A H<\/em>ead Full of Ghosts <\/em>not as the ghost in Marjorie\u2019s head, but as the ghosts in Merry\u2019s: the voices of TV producers and audiences who, thanks to the technology that took over her life, had such undue power over the formation of her young memories. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching The Exorcist and reading A\u00a0Head Full of Ghosts, I\u2019ve been trying to apply Isabel Pinedo\u2019s frame for postmodern horror. I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that The Exorcist doesn\u2019t quite fit, retaining more elements of classic horror. Because A\u00a0Head Full of Ghosts was published so recently, and because of the genre-mashup we already see within …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-group-c"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paB9Ga-3e","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200\/revisions\/201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/death19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}