The movie The Exorcist is supposedly based on a series of real events and is the story of a woman and her daughter who gets possessed by an evil spirit. After a series of strange and unexplainable events like her daughter levitating and other supernatural occurrences her mother begins to suspect that there is something seriously wrong with her daughter. She begins to take her to a number of psychologists and her daughter ends up going through a variety of tests to try and determine why these strange things are happening. After the tests and evaluations reveal that there is nothing physically or mentally wrong with her daughter, her suspicion of a type of evil possession is even stronger. As her daughter gets worse two priests become involved as it is suggested that an exorcism may remove the evil spirit that has come to possess her body and cause all of these things to happen. After attempting the first exorcism one of the priests backs out after he thinks he cannot do it and the other priest dies. After what seems like a failed attempt to remove the evil from the girl the other priest returns and ends up sacrificing himself in order to finally free the girl of the evil spirit she was possessed by. Clearly this was a very provocative and intense movie at the time of its release. When the movie was first released there were efforts to have it not shown and many people disapprove of the movie in general. If released today, would the movie still have the same affect? If not does that show anything about American society and culture and how people have changed their views over time?
Tag: culture
In this section of Race, Wrongs, and Remedies the author goes into detail as to what needs to happen to both the culture of African Americans and to their personal values and goals. In the opinion of the author she believes that equality will be impossible to achieve unless there is a massive shift in personal and cultural values of the African American community. She argues that there must also be a shift in the family structure of the typical African American family. The author presents data showing the high rates of single-motherhood and out of wedlock birth and explains how she believes that the lack of a familial structure leads to a lack of values being instilled in children and perpetuates the problems that the community faces. Wax believes that there needs to be a shift in how African American culture views the family structure and how they address the inequality present in America. Wax argues that there needs to be a look into the future and not into the past meaning that she thinks there needs to be a shift towards self help. As she continues to emphasize she thinks that there is only so much others can do to help ones situation. She believes that members of the black community needs to take a proactive stance and mindset in order to improve their condition. Lastly she speaks about affirmative action, which she believes is not a particularly positive thing. Wax argues that affirmative action relies on the idea that an even playing field is not enough to achieve equality. Wax believes that affirmative action and programs similar to it hinder equality and do not create any actual change within culture. Overall Wax believes in a self help approach to inequality along with a massive shift in what she perceives to be the culture and views of the black community. Seeing as this book was published in 2009 are there now more things to take into consideration considering the climate of America today? Do Wax’s ideas make sense or is she not considering aspects about the condition of the African American community that are crucial in determining how to solve inequality?