Another Student Comment:
Besides, we see that the devil grinds Regan down and causes three men to die. In my opinion, it seems like the punishment for those people; however, are they really deserved all they get? I don't think so because I don't find that they have any serious mistake.First, there is no reason to believe these characters are necessarily worse than the others, just bad enough.
Second, we have to deal with psychological weakness as well as moral weakness. It's true Regan's mother may be worse than the others, but she seems psychologically strong and aggressive, so not as vulnerable as the others (she's an actress, used to handling her emotions and controlling them: the point is made in the campus film sequence when Chris clearly seems to be in control of pretending emotions while preparing for her on-camera scene).
Compare the three victims:
Father Karras is old; he seems to be without true faith (joyful, dedicated), and is mainly living on old ritual. He seems already defeated early in the film, swallowing pills and disheartened (discouraged) by his sense of the Devil's power. From the first he doesn't seem a suitable adversary for the eternally young Devil. He follows a routine, but doesn't live his faith. Moreover, sexual aspects are suggested (the devil calls him a "faggot," a slang insult for homosexual).
Father Damon's name itself links him with the Devil (demon/daemon). We see him troubled (hence, vulnerable) from the first: he feels guilt over his mother (the weakness of the film is that we don't believe he has betrayed his mother; but we're supposed to believe it). Regardless whether the film proves he has betrayed his mother, clearly the film wants us to believe he has (his brother says so). The logic seems to be that if he had not entered the priesthood, his mother would have been better cared for. Yet the mother clearly loves where she lives!
More important, Damon doesn't behave like a priest; like Karras, he doesn't live his faith: under pressure he doesn't go to church but to the gym, to punch out his anger on the punching bag (an important cut in the film). True, we do see him in church, but he seems more fearful than faithful. (The other priest sees the sexual image of the Virgin Mary: The priest has denied the sexual parts of the body and the Virgin Mary's statue has those parts multiplied in exaggerated form. This is what Freud called "The return of the Repressed" in obstinate and distorted form (the undying pursuit of monsters like the Frankenstein monster, the Mummy, Dracula, Freddy Kreuger, the zombies in Night of the Living Dead, etc. is the undying compulsion of our libido [Freud's term for the sex urge]).
As for the director, he has sexual problems. He appears to be coded as a homosexual; and his drunken pass at Chris (Regan's mom) before leaving the party and being killed seems like a direct reaction against his homosexual urges. He's living a pretend life. (I don't think we're supposed to take his interest in Chris, or hers in him, seriously. It's part of the pretend world of Hollywood.)
There are similar scenes of moral guilt. When Regan pees on the rug in front of the party, it occurs after the priest has said his dream of Heaven was to have the perfect audience as an entertainer! Clearly we're talking about corrupt values when a man whose goal should be to worship God thinks the greatest glory is to be applauded in Heaven!
So why wasn't the priest punished?
The Devil, as I've said, is opportunistic. The priest has too much confidence in himself. He's too strong. Father Damon on the other hand (like Regan and the "homosexual" director) seems troubled, weak, a perfect mark for the Devil, who seizes an opportunity.
Many years ago there was a news item of robbers who went to hospitals to pick victims. The idea seemed to be that people mourning a dying or dead relative would be easy marks (victims): they would be too emotionally weak to resist.
The Devil acts the same way.
As for the general goal of the Devil, according to the Christian Gospels the world belongs to the Devil (the Devil offers Jesus the world, which Jesus refuses). But Creation (as distinct from human corruption of Creation: what the New Testament calls "the world") belongs to God, who "saw that it was good." Jesus comes in the "flesh" to prove this point. As the wise buck in Walt Disney's Bambi suggests, it is "man" who ruins God's forest (and kills Bambi's mother) with worldly desires (greed, killing, etc.). (Even Disney can preach the Gospel!)
So the Devil does not want a "vulgar display of power," since the world already belongs to him. He wants people to surrender to him, exploiting confusion within themselves (the two priests; Regan; the homosexual director). And this must be done in a crafty way, not by a direct or vulgar display of power; so a person's confidence in themselves is undermined, weakened; the person feels discouraged, with no hope for the future.
This is not strange. Many romantic relationships begin the same way. The young person feels worthless in his or her family and the first man (or woman) who makes them feel worthy captures their heart and soul, even though the romantic partner ends up exploiting that person. But the person is "trapped" in the relationship because it's the sole source of self-esteem (something is better than nothing). The Devil sings a romantic song of pessimism ("it doesn't matter anyway"; "it's hopeless so your hopes are not worth pursuing").
To beat the devil, as Kris Kristofferson sings, you've got to steal his song and make a new song out of it: "Sing a new song," in the words of Psalm 96 (and other biblical verses).
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