The Exorcism of Emily Rose and the New Religious Propaganda

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You can see the trailer here.

The New York Times reviewer of the film “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” hits the nail right on the head when he calls the movie propaganda disguised as entertainment. It seems the marketing people have finally woken up to the buckets of money represented by the “Fundamentalist Market” best embodied by Ned Flanders on the Simpsons. And judging from the fact the movie made 30 million in its first week and the early Sunday matinee I saw was half full- it’s working. But that’s not the whole story to what’s going on with this movie- there’s also a distinct element of proselytizing going on.
Let’s examine this phenomenon.
First, take the commercials. They implement the tried and true “Based on a True Story” (BOATS) maneuver, except in a new way. Instead of attempting to add a dubious realism to an otherwise badly made horror movie, like Poltergeist or the Texas Chainsaw Massacre; the BOATS in this case is used as code, telling the fundamentalists in the TV audience that this is a friendly movie.
Paranoid you say? Not when one takes BOATS in conjunction with the line in the commercial where a man says “I can’t help her. There’s no injection against the devil.”
Taken together with BOATS the marketing people for this movie are sending a clear message- this movie is taking the position that exorcism is true- that God is a fact and so if you are a fundamentalist come and get it!
Which is essentially true- that’s exactly what this movie is. Rent the movie sometime. (I cannot in good faith reccomend you actually go see it at the theatre) Notice that the prosecutor has a Hitler mustache. Notice that the entire story is told from the defendant’s point of view with literally no humanizing elements. And pay extra special attention to the final speech of the film. If you still disagree- I don’t know what else to tell you.
The second tier of the marketing campaign infuriates me instead of making me uncomfortable the way the BOATS stuff does. There’s certainly nothing wrong with getting a film to its core audience- even if they’re using code. The trailer uses every CG effect in the entire film- those distorted demon faces. This is the second head of teenage based religious propaganda- “Trick Them Into Thinking They’re Going to See Something Entertaining.” It is something that’s been growing like wild in the music world with heavy metal Bible Thumpers and Gangsta rappers for Jesus.
If you’re 15 and you watch the trailer, the movie looks like a generic horror film. This is where the true synergy comes in- teenagers are both the ones with the most disposable cash- and they also just happen to be at the age where they are deciding for themselves what their religious convictions are going to be.
So the fundamentalist right gets together with the corporate marketing whores to trick kids into going to the theatre with a multimillion dollar ad campaign. Kids think they’re going to see another variation on “The House of Wax” and what they actually get is religious propaganda that ultimately revolves around one central premise- no matter what “scientists” say- demons are real. Possession is real. Satan, the horny red devil- is real.
And only Jesus can keep us safe. Indeed, medicine will actually make you sicker.
Problem is, the only real evil involved in this whole story are those who use people’s fear and gullibility to relieve them of their hard earned money and purposely design ad campaigns to draw in kids- and then give them a double switch. The worst part is it wouldn’t surprise me one bit to learn people who put together the advertising for this movie are atheist anarchists. For the marketing folks- this whole thing is simply about money. It’s disgusting and cynical in the most corrosive way- and I’m normally no detractor of cynicism.
You can choose to pretend that the election of Bush and the rise of John Roberts to the Supreme Court aren’t connected to the release of this movie and the way that it’s being marketed- but if you do- you’re as deluded as the people sitting in front of me in the theatre who cross themselves every time the dark cloaked demon popped up on the screen. We are moving towards a world where religious myth is seen as being on par with science. It’s happened before- we call it the Dark Ages.
Oh, and as a horror movie- it’s a big sucko stinkhole car crash.