In a November 12, 2010 article from The New York Times, Laurie Goodstein reports “The rite of exorcism […] has largely fallen out of favor with the Roman Catholic Church in the United States”; however, “American bishops are holding a conference […] to prepare more priests and bishops to respond to the demand [of those seeking an exorcism], which some believe is consistent with Pope Benedict XVI’s emphasis to return to “traditional rituals and practices” (source).
This is quite a fascinating issue to bring to the forefront of the Catholic Church given the pedophilia controversy that wraps itself like a pall around the clergy. At the same time, one reason why this practice is being revisited is because exorcism has been pejoratively stigmatized by Hollywood, offering The Exorcist and other demon-driven spawn as procedural examples. In truth, “most exorcisms are not as dramatic as the bloody scenes in films,” but without these scenes, the suspense in the film would often be lost, so there have to be some concessions to fantasy when writing a script, and this is particularly easy when the number of exorcisms doled out is extremely low. Moreover, because of the stigmatization of exorcism, there are very few exorcists “eager to be identified,” so correcting procedure also seems unlikely.
Luckily enough, Hollywood is releasing yet another handbook to instruct exorcists waiting to blossom into maturity. The Rite opens on January 24th and stars Anthony Hopkins, whose last January release was Wolfman, so there’s little faith (no pun intended) that The Rite will be much better. However, whether or not the movie will be worth a view seems less important than an overused and nearly ubiquitous tagline employed by dozen of studios and production companies: “Inspired by true events” or some incarnation thereof: “Inspired by actual event,” “Inspired by real people” and the like.
While I chalk the handful of previous tags up to a need to market films based on emotional connection, potential nostalgia, or the viewers’ desire to live vicariously through others, the phrase itself is obnoxiously misleading, particularly because the events that drive the movie are rarely those that “inspired” the creation of the film in the first place, and the “event” that inspired the writer or director is never specified, so the movie is marketed and thus perpetuated by fallacy. Does this mean we shouldn’t see any movie with this tag? No. However, I find that it often suggests the movie is lacking in content and technical merit, so the last recourse is to fabricate a humanistic tale rooted in nostalgia by weaving an artificial connection between the characters in the movie.
What’s more, “inspiration” is a vague and subjective term that can be applied to any event that spurred a thought in an individual, so what if the inspiration to any movie were a stumbling upon a sealed water bottle on an August day in which you were running through the park? Serendipity? Sure, but also an inspiration if you are sweating profusely, feeling like passing out and then notice the bottle glimmering in the sun, begging you to drink and quench your thirst. Then, you begin to wonder what real dehydration is and how you would survive if you were stranded under the earth on an expedition without food or drinking water – see the also “inspired by true events” Sanctum.
Take for another example, The Rite, which is also inspired by true events. As exorcisms are still practiced in certain parts of the world, there could be a minor connection here, though any of the truly creepy moments in The Rite are clearly exaggerated and used to make the audience jump and scream given the lack of drama in true exorcisms. This shouldn’t make The Rite terrible, but it leaves the viewer wondering what the inspiration was. If the gore and the creepiness are fabricated, then we’re left with a priest learning about the rite of exorcism. Okay, sure, but should this encourage me to see the movie? Probably not. Then again, the inspiration could be a young priest’s journey to Italy, which would have little or nothing to do with exorcism, which means the tag should have little to do with me seeing the movie as well.
The horror / suspense genre’s use of this tag is not novel, and The Rite can’ t be blamed for using a common marketing strategy, but these exorcism-based movies expose their unoriginal hands when it all comes down to their inspiration. Essentially, each of these movies (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Stigmata, et al.) are derived from the same tale that inspired The Exorcist – however, the original The Exorcist was not marketed as being inspired by true events – one that involves a young boy outside of Washington D.C., who was afflicted by supposed preternatural events in 1949. The case study was documented by a priest who claimed to have exorcised the boy for well over a month after seeing firsthand the furniture move without human agency and the young boy levitate off of his sleeping bag. (The bed was removed to allay the priest’s suspicion of trickery.)
Now, the amount of merit in this case study is still up for debate, but it seems to be the most well-documented case that could have inspired any and all of these movies, so The Rite and the like that use the “inspired” tag are merely admitting to unoriginality, re-imagining another tale with little deviation aside from setting and afflicted party.
A similar object of inspiration is Ed Gein, an American serial killer with a bit of a skin and bone fetish who serves as the inspiration for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Psycho, and Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs. However, the “inspired” tag wasn’t employed until the remake of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a more gorrified and bloody version of the original, so once again, the paucity of content gives way to a clever marketing tag.
In the end, does this tag relegate each film that uses it to the rubbish pile? Not necessarily, but with supernatural-driven films, the stigma of this tag takes any enjoyment from the film because it has become a euphemism for “we’d appreciate your money and thanks for your time.” Will this tag prevent me from seeing The Rite? No, a brief bit of narration has done that: “Early signs of possession are subtle: social withdrawal, persistent tremor in a limb.” During the preview, I felt like I was watching a commercial for Lexapro, Paxil, or Zoloft, that depression medication poses “tiredness,” “malaise,” “lack of energy,” “sleeplessness,” and “irritability.”
