The Exorcist In this essay I will be talking about the symbols and their meanings and dichotomies found in the exorcist, as well as some elements of horror I found in the film and my own opinion about the film. The film was directed by William Friedkin and it is based on the novel The Exorcist from 1971. The film The Exorcist is about a mother who is an actor and her daughter who unfortunately has been possessed by the devil himself. It follows them and how the mother is trying to help her and that after trying everything she gets to priests to perform an exorcism on her and she is then rid of the monster. Dichotomy is when a seemingly harmless thing is portrayed as the opposite. One dichotomy in the film is Regan. Regan is a dichotomy because she is at first seemingly safe and non-threatening because she is a little girl and we expect her not to be a horrible murderer or the devil. But then through being possessed she becomes the opposite of her former safe non-threatening self. She becomes more violent and evil she starts using a lot more fowl language as well. Another object is the bed. We normally see a bed as safe, comforting and pleasant thing. However, when the bed starts randomly violently shaking during some scenes in the film, we get scared because then at that point in our head the bed no longer seems safe and comforting it seems scarier and dangerous. Giggling is another big one. When we think of and hear giggling/laughing we always associate it with