Exorcsm and Folklore

This is the first spring break I have nothing to do.
No dissertation notes, no book chapter to work on, nothing.
I DO have a book chapter I'm working on, but it's not due until September. I like having the extra time because it means I can jot down notes, revisit, come back, think through some more.

I thought I'd share some of my process for writing. While every project is different my process is pretty much the same.
So, I answered a call for papers for an edited collection on Theology and Horror. A friend emailed it to me, asking if I'd seen it. The deadline was just a couple of days away, but this was right up my alley, so I had no problem writing this: Priests, Secrets, and Holy Water: All I Ever Learned About Catholicism I Learned From Horror Films Abstract 

The abstract always gets tweaked and revisited before writing, so with my abstract in front of me I made a page in my writer's notebook where I outlined some of the main ideas. Then I add to it as ideas come to me in both Post-It and note form.

The different colors also show the different layers of my visits to the page.

Because I'm a historicist the first thing I started looking at was the years these movies came out since my analysis will look at home these movies are a reflection of their historical and cultural moment. As I started doing this work, I also looked at where I could rewatch these films- The Exorcist and Amityville aren't available on streaming, The Rite and The Conjuring are currently on Netflix. One thing that struck me as I was doing this very preliminary work was how many of these movies are based on or claim to be inspired by true stories. This then led me to a couple of anecdotes. I think these anecdotes would be an interesting way to start my chapter, but I don't know.

Anyway, I thought I'd share here along with my notes.

Long before I saw my first horror film I was surrounded by stories about horror films. Mom had several. One was about seeing The Exorcist when it first came out when there were subliminal images in it. She was deeply affected by this, supplemented by the fact that she was also high at the time. After the movie she was so traumatized by it that she quit her job because it required her to walk past the M street stairs. Her last story was a little more vague. Mom always claimed that the book The Exorcist was based on a true story, what happened to Shirley MacLaine and her daughter, the reason for her spirituality.
My godfather lives in Bayshore, Long Island, eighteen minutes from the Amityville house. I remember one time we were out running errands, I was maybe ten and he pointed out that we had just passed "the house." I didn't know then what the house was but the moment stuck with me.

These stories highlight the perception that these stories are true, real, and emphasize the role of folklore in these stories, the blurred line between truth and fiction. The Conjuring does this, so does The Exorcism of Emily Rose, and The Rite. Movies that don't claim to be based on a true story still evoke this perception of authenticity through story and photography like The Last Exorcism. Whether or not these stories are real is immaterial, what matters is that they are perceived to be real. As far-fetched as the idea of possession is to most people, the frame of the Catholic church lends an authority to these stories and the lessons they present to their historical and cultural moment. "Folklore is the traditional art, literature, knowledge, and practice that is disseminated largely through oral communication and behavioral example." These movies are folklore for their local narrative foundation, the implication that it's a shared story, and then again for its dissemination through film.

In each of these films there is a priest who is described as a savior because they have skills, knowledge, no one else has. This knowledge is secret, guarded information grounded in the very history of the Church. The priest's power comes from the rituals he performs, fueled by faith as enacted by humans and therefore fallible and corruptible. These movies draw very clear lines between good and evil and present literal not abstract examples of both. These are black and white worlds, easy to understand the rules to.
These narratives present certain implications to the Catholic Church beyond the reception by movie goers. Whether or not someone is Catholic they can probably still list the material trappings of the religion and its priests, an understanding built by popular culture presentations. In most of these films the priests are the focal point, the point of strength despite the fact that they are not infallible or all-knowing. These priests are role models, saviors, last resorts. Salvation rests on them, their actions, their secret knowledge. Each movie then uses this knowledge to teach specific lessons, tell specific narratives.