The Exorcist: Believer changed with America
Also, you know what's spookier than Catholicism? Nothing :)
Surprise! It’s Tuesday, but I didn’t post last Thursday and I’m making up for it. Instead of posting, I got a haircut, ate some dumplings, and then I came home and watched episode 5 of The Young Pope, which is the episode where Jude Law says “I am the young pope”.
This is Modern Relics — the weekly(ish) newsletter about religion and pop culture where, when the author takes a week off, he uses that time to consume some other media about religion and pop culture.
America has changed, and so has The Exorcist
Where I am in Sydney, Australia, it’s still only spring, but it feels like summer has well and truly begun. That doesn’t stop the internet being awash with cosy, spooky, pumpkin-spiced “fall” content though, because Americans are inescapable online (don’t worry I love you all).
I’ve been interested to read all the analysis of The Exorcist: Believer, which was released ahead of Halloween. I’m not a horror movie guy, but I do like reading about them, because horror, like sci-fi, is almost always about something other than what it’s ostensibly about.
Alissa Wilkinson contrasts this instalment of the franchise with the 1973 original: Believer pulls its punches in ways The Exorcist never did, revealing Hollywood’s lack of appetite for genuine controversy. Believer also rejects the idea that Catholics have a monopoly in the exorcism business.
In a similar way to the original, Believer (as perhaps befits the name) reflects the religious tenor of our times. …over and over, the characters state that religions all over the world have rites for exorcism, and ultimately opt for a (not very effective) nondenominational exorcism.
That patchwork approach to religion, though — in which it’s assumed that no one tradition is the right one, and that we can draw from all kinds of traditions in creating whatever works best for us to connect with the divine — is a marker of 21st-century America.
Rev Dr Helen Hall, from Nottingham Law School, writes in The Conversation that this “they’re-more-similar-than-different” religious sensibility risks flattening the complex and varied rites from different traditions into Western ideas around exorcism. This can make legislating around whether to allow certain rituals in a liberal democratic society more difficult.
She says, “Given the amount of media that treats black and indigenous religion as sinister and even demonic, this positive portrayal is a commendable choice” but:
[‘Exorcism’ is a] very general category [that] contains hugely diverse ideas. … These distinctions matter. Especially when it comes to weighing up the balance between autonomy and protecting the person in real-life exorcisms.
Treating all religions as essentially the same does a disservice to those distinctive traditions and cultures, and when it comes to exorcism it also leaves the door open to potentially dangerous practices that can harm vulnerable people.
Public authorities do not always fully understand the beliefs and practices of minority groups, and this can cause problems. They may incorrectly perceive a situation to be risky and intervene when it’s unnecessary. Alternatively, a vulnerable person may be left without help because police or social workers misguidedly construe harmful practices as acceptable due to the cultural context.
Lastly, Tyler Huckabee writes in Religion News Service that the Catholic Church — and Christianity in general — is no longer portrayed as an unambiguous good in modern horror, as it was in the original Exorcist.
He notes that film reviewer Roger Ebert wrote in 1998 that “Your other religions are good for everyday theological tasks, like steering their members into heaven, but when the undead lunge up out of their graves, you want a priest on the case.” But that:
Ebert’s review was about the last time anyone could say such a thing with a straight face. Catholicism’s pride of place in horror movies, from “The Exorcist” to “The Omen,” came crashing down in 2002, when The Boston Globe’s Spotlight team published its investigation into the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal.
Tyler argues that today, as well as being a symbol of purity and safety to subvert (as in most horror), the institutions and beliefs themselves, such as the Puritan fanaticism in The VVitch and the Catholic Church in The Nun II are sources of danger.
“[The Nun II’s villain] perverts objects of the faith for his own dark ends, but the faith remains secure. In this movie — as in the minds of many Americans — it is the institution that comes under suspicion, not the nuns.
I highly recommend reading all three pieces!
Ouch
Christian Girl Autumn is here again
Reader Marion sent through this Salon article about the Christian Girl Autumn trend, which started as a meme in 2019 but now seems like an inseparable part of the season.
Where hot girl summer is about embracing one’s individuality, Christian girl autumn is about embracing conformity. And where hot girl summer is about being a “bad b**ch,” Christian girl autumn is about being a “basic b**ch.”
Marion is an accomplished and well-respected academic whose expertise I rely on from time to time in my normal work, so it thrills and delights me no end that she also enjoys this meme-y side hustle of mine. Thank you for reading Marion!
Dress as a saint this Halloween
Greedy Peasant on TikTok is doing a series of videos about making Halloween costumes of Catholic saints. This year, he’s going as St Bartholomew, who was skinned alive, but the videos keep getting flagged for violent and inappropriate content. They’re fine though honestly.
@greedypeasantSister Cecilia IS @yuliya and they make the best Bart Blood Drop Bingo Chips you’ve ever seen 🩸❤️🩸🪡🧵🩸 #halloweendiy #halloweencostume #diy #greedypeasant #halloween
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I also enjoyed this one about St Denis who was beheaded and then carried his own head to his burial place!
CMYK angels
Emergency test exposes Amish
@yodertoter40Several Amish men get shunned by the Amish church when the emergency alert system went off. Lol. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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Apparently the recent emergency alert phone test exposed several Amish people as secret technology users. h/t Elle Hardy who tweeted about this.
Today’s mood is…
Sharing this post gives you one extra year of purgatory… wait…
Lord of the Rings x Orthodox iconography x AI
This thread of AI-generated scenes from Lord of the Rings portrayed in the style of Eastern Orthodox icons recently went viral on Twitter/X, and I think it’s a good example of just how good AI image generation is getting.
Of course, lots of details are off, and I don’t like how many of the villains have halos. I reckon if you want to portray a villain with a halo for whatever stylistic reason, it should be a black one, like in Judas, the graphic novel by Jeff Loveness. Judas isn’t the villain of that book but you know what I mean.
Anyway, user @RealTomEmanuel points out that a real artist has already tackled the Christian icon/LotR crossover much more successfully than a computer. That artist is Jay Johnstone, and it’s very striking.
Go off kings
Lastly, a request!
To make up for the fact that I didn’t post last week, I’m going to post again this week at the regular time, but in a different format.
I’ve been putting together a list of Contemporary Christian Music from the 90s/early 2000s that still holds up. I dunk on CCM here a lot, but it still makes up a fair percentage of what I listen to, even now, and I thought I would share some gems that stand out as good, actually.
My list is looking healthy, but I wonder if you have any suggestions? I’m particularly interested in music that isn’t by white men, considering white guys are where most of the money and attention were going in that industry at the time (and now). I’ve had a few suggestions via the Modern Relics Discord, but please feel free to comment below or email me back!