Selective suspension of disbelief.

Of all the scenes in The Exorcist, there was one, and only one, that as I child, I said to myself, Whoa, okay, you just crossed the line into unbelievability.

(Sort of like the moment when you see a bus take a corner at 50mp in the movie Speed and you think Yeah, right, but in another theater on another weekend you’re willing to believe a man could dress up in a bat costume and fight crime).

Which scene strained my credulity? When Fr Damian is possessed by the demon he’s exorcising from the little girl Regan.

You see, we were taught as Baptists that a Christian can’t be possessed, so that scene unraveled the entire movie for me.

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I think a bit differently now. The story is credible within the world it occupies. I occupy a part of it myself.

[2013-11-02]

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