ABSTRACT
Regan, the young female protagonist of The Exorcist, is a truly monstrous figure. She spews green bile, utters foul obscenities, tries to fuck her mother, causes inanimate objects to fly, rotates her head full circle on her neck, knocks men to the floor with one punch, tries to castrate a priest, murders two men, and in her spare time masturbates with a crucifix. As a possessed figure, Regan belongs to that lineage of dual personality horror figures such as the split personality (Sisters), werewolf (The Wolf Man) and invaded subject (Invasion of the Body Snatchers). The possessed or invaded being is a figure of abjection in that the boundary between self and other has been transgressed. One of the most interesting aspects of The Exorcist is the way in which it uses woman’s body to represent this conflict. The rebellion is presented as monstrous yet immensely appealing; in this way the film presents the ambiguous aspect of abjection.
