The film adaptation of The Devil's Exorcist deviated from the war that Blatty mentioned in his short story. The film focuses more on social evil, ie intergenerational conflict. America has never been so divided. The world of young people, whose language and culture defied the past, was a closed book for older Americans. Campuses across the country protested against the Vietnam War, culminating in gunfire on demonstrating students at Kent University in Ohio in May 1970. A similar scene takes place in the early minutes of the film, when we learn that Regana's mother is an actress in the film. who deals with this event. We see her pushing with an angry crowd protesting against working in the system. The transformation of Regan into a wild beast is actually a paraphrase of adolescence. We would find a similarity in the 'ungrateful children' in Shakespeare's King Lear. But the film also touches on the neglect of children by middle-aged parents. And not only that. Father Karras is also frustrated by his mother's vision at a psychiatric clinic. And it is his fault that, during the last confrontation with the demon, becomes a weakness that eventually, literally, breaks his neck.

As for the environment of the film, it is mostly in the area that was clearly preferred in post-war America: in the household. Evil is twice as frightening as it has been able to invade otherwise very safe territory. After all, the poster for the film was in this spirit. On it, now well known, was a scene of a man with a briefcase in his hand, standing in front of the house, from which the light from a lamp lit in the bedroom falls on the street:

Something incomprehensible is happening to a girl who lives in this house. This man is her last hope. This man is an Exorcist.

The sacred environment of the household was thus in danger. Blatty's story reflected contemporary fears of a family breakup. Regan was a child from a single-parent family. Her mother only cared about her career and left her acquaintances to take care of her child. The demon's early manifestations, as a girl's imaginary friend, thus seemed to replace the missing father. In this case, the mother actually fit into the male role of breadwinner. But nothing could be blamed on her, she was simply a woman of her time.

Unlike the possession that took place in Mount Rainier, Blatty inserted a demon into a woman's body, which is actually a typical area of ​​the horror genre. From Regan's body flows a flow of obscene words, deeds and various fluids of various colors and textures. Didn't the fear of the male population about the growing emancipation of women hide in such uncontrollable behavior by chance? The Devil's Exorcist also came across Regan's appearance at the then-current drug-thalidomide affair, which maimed thousands of newborns by various deformities and the ensuing debate over the need to legalize abortions. This debate has started another hot topic: women's right to control their own bodies.

The film also touched on another problem, namely the fear of science. Although the horror films of the XNUMXs already dealt with this topic, the Exorcist went deeper. In one of Regan's obsessive manifestations, an ancient demon's clash with modern science can be traced by telling one of the participants in a party in their house that he is going to die, which he intensifies by urination. Then the whole carousel of medical examinations (often painful) starts, but nothing is discovered. Here it is necessary to note that even medical facilities have their ceremonies and rituals in the form of a series of different tests, which in their procedure are similar to those performed by the church before the very process of exorcism. But in this case, only the church could help. And so the viewer is asked the question: are doctors right when they claim that human thought is just a cluster of electrical impulses, or, as the priests state, are we just pawns in the cosmic battle of good between evil? Either way, both variants have unfortunate consequences.

The Iraqi prologue to the film is also suggestive. Merrin stands in front of a huge statue of a demon, in front of which two furious dogs are beating their blood. In Mesopotamia, Pazuzu was the god of the wind, the bearer of disease (if he opposed enemies) and also the patron of childbirth (used as an amulet). In the Exorcist, however, it takes on a completely different meaning. In addition, his raised fist evokes Nazism or African-American protests.

The environment of Iraq is no stranger to American films. It featured images from the XNUMXs about Egyptian excavations and associated curses. In addition, the sight of workers digging more and more artifacts from the trenches is reminiscent of the First World War and therefore the endless struggle. But the Middle East was frightening to Americans in the XNUMXs, even without any film embellishments. Their fear of the Arab world was reflected in it.

Thus, there was evil of a foreign origin in the Exorcist, which encouraged the audience to distrust the isolated areas. Iraq is presented as a place where time stood still. Literally, when the wall clock stops in Merrin's office after the demon's head is discovered. In addition, the whole scene is complemented by views of dark alleys, frantic digging by workers, foreign and distrustful views of locals and an Islamic call to prayer.

Although Blatty's name appeared in the title of the film three times, the success of the film lay mainly in the work of director Friedkin. The Exorcist is an amazing example of film manipulation. It is so well captured that the viewer feels like in real space. The same goes for sound. Thanks to the great sound system, the demon's voice is even more frightening. But one thing the film lacks: Blatty's political undertone. The unprecedented brutality at the time completely undermined him.

Although the Devil's Exorcist did not bring America back to the pews, it did increase the demand for the horror genre. And so creators like John Carpenter and Wes Craven appeared on the scene, drawing on Friedkin's legacy. There was also a continuation of films featuring the so-called 'evil, devilish child, if not a descendant of Satan himself': Rosemary has a baby and Omen. A completely new topic also appeared: the living dead (Night of the Living Dead).

But the devil's exorcist still holds the status of a cult for decades since its inception. This is despite the fact that he failed in his original intention, that is, Blatty's desire to return people to God, because what seemed to be a serious topic in the XNUMXs now evokes a smile on his face. But still: isn't a beautiful day for exorcism today?