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So I watched The Exorcist a few nights ago, because it's Halloween. I remember my mom talking about how much it scared her as a little girl, and how when she was a teenager living in Vienna, VA, it wasn't uncommon to go see the steps in Georgetown where they filmed for a scare. Despite it just being a movie, people swore they felt evil. You know, according to teenagers in the 70's.
It got me thinking how different that movie must have hit in 1973 than it does today. I mean now, being a parent, and a parent of a child who's spent some time jumping through hoops to get things diagnosed, many of the medical scenes hit super hard. But the whole concept of demon possession, or even demons being real probably hit harder in '73. Supposedly 87% of the nation was Christian then, versus 65% now. I hazard to guess the quality of Christian back then was different as well. I know my mother would talk about her Southern Baptist upbringing, and the nightmares she'd have about demons and ending up in hell.
I wonder if it was like The Blair Witch Project. For like the first week it came out, people thought it was real. I certainly remember thinking it was, until the actors appeared on Letterman. It leaned hard into that leading up to the release. I'm sure in 73 people knew the Exorcist wasn't real, but maybe they felt like it could be real? In a way we simply fail to appreciate today.
It was advertised as “based on a true story,” and it really was, insofar as a 1949 exorcism helped inspired the novel that the movie was based on. I imagine viewers at that time may have been less skeptical of “based on a true story” claims than they are today, not realizing just how tenuous most of those connections are.
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