{"id":247,"date":"2017-01-31T02:37:38","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T02:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/?p=247"},"modified":"2017-02-02T02:49:29","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T02:49:29","slug":"possession-in-the-exorcist-and-be-right-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/2017\/01\/31\/possession-in-the-exorcist-and-be-right-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Possession in The Exorcist and “Be Right Back”"},"content":{"rendered":"

While reading Barbara Creed\u2019s \u201cWoman as Possessed Monster\u201d from The Monstrous Feminine<\/em> I could not help but draw parallels between Creed\u2019s examples from The Exorcist<\/em> and the Black Mirror<\/em> episode \u201cBe Right Back.\u201d Creed actually drew me to make this comparison when she pointed out that part of the horror of The Exorcist<\/em> stems from Regan\u2019s possession creating an other out of an otherwise known character. Though The Exorcist<\/em> deals with the possession of a young girl by a demonic entity, \u201cBe Right Back\u201d showcases a different kind of \u201cpossession\u201d through Ash\u2019s online persona inhabiting the body of a robot modeled to look exactly like him.<\/p>\n

To Creed, \u201cthe possessed or invaded being is a figure of abjection in that the boundary between self and other has been transgressed\u201d (32). In The Exorcist<\/em>, the abjection is seen through a female body, as Creed claims it is most often (32). However, in \u201cBe Right Back,\u201d the abjection is seen through the workings of the male body. This can be seen simply in Regan and Ash\u2019s \u201cbodily excretions,\u201d something Creed claims, \u201cmust be treated as abject\u201d (38). In The Exorcist<\/em>, Regan\u2019s possession leads her to urinate publicly and projectile vomit, something that places a distinction between the self\u2014the true Regan, who would not commit these actions\u2014and the other\u2014the demon controlling Regan. In \u201cBe Right Back,\u201d the creators take the opposite approach. Ash\u2019s robotic form need not ever have bodily excretions, and this lack of bodily excretions illustrates the possession and thus abjection. By manipulating the bodily excretions of Regan and Ash, the viewer is forced to recognize the fact that these characters have become an other, and thus something to fear.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Seen here in The Exorcist, Regan’s excretion of bodily fluid marks her as an other.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Regan and Ash\u2019s \u201cotherness\u201d can also be seen in the sexuality brought on by their possession. While Regan\u2019s possession plays on an incestuous mother-daughter relationship, all of Regan\u2019s sexuality is brought to the viewer\u2019s attention by the fact that she is possessed by a demon, which causes her to shout obscenities and her desire to act on her sexual impulses. Regan\u2019s otherness is created by her manifestation of sexual desire, but Ash was a sexual being before his possession. His possession, \u00a0gives increased autonomy and skill with regards to sex, something real Ash lacked, thus classifying him as an other or possessed being.<\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n

Creed, Barbara. “Woman as Possessed Monster: The Exorcist<\/em>” The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis<\/i>. New York: Routledge, 1993. 31-42. Print.<\/p>\n

Image Citation<\/p>\n

horrordigest.blogspot.com\/2010\/01\/pukeapalooza-best-vomit-in-horror.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While reading Barbara Creed\u2019s \u201cWoman as Possessed Monster\u201d from The Monstrous Feminine I could not help but draw parallels between Creed\u2019s examples from The Exorcist and the Black Mirror episode \u201cBe Right Back.\u201d Creed actually drew me to make this comparison when she pointed out that part of the horror of The Exorcist stems from … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Possession in The Exorcist and “Be Right Back””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29,28,16,32,36,27,31],"class_list":["post-247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-group-c","tag-ash","tag-be-right-back","tag-black-mirror","tag-other","tag-regan","tag-the-exorcist","tag-woman-as-possessed-monster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.digitaldavidson.net\/dig215\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}