Critical Reflection Essay Religion and Horror
Students will write and submit short critical reflection essays (5 full double-spaced
pages, 12-point font, times new roman) on the last exorcist:
1) Carefully respond to all of the following: utilizing the ideas of religion as orientation
(Charles Long) and sociophobics (Douglas Cowan), write an in-depth analysis exploring
the relationship between religion and horror as portrayed through one character’s
orientation and one sociophobic theme in the chosen film (note: the sociophobic
theme should come from Cowan’s typology, e.g., fear of death and of dying badly,
fear of change in the sacred order, fear of supernatural evil internalized and
externalized, etc). How would you describe this orientation? What are its primary
characteristics? How would you describe the sociophobic theme? What are its main
elements? How is the religious orientation used to help build a sense of fear associated
with the sociophobic theme? What might all of this together suggest more broadly
about the relationship between religion and sociophobics in American cinema horror?
Students are advised to select at least two specific scenes from the film in order to
tightly focus their essays. All critical reflection essays should include an underlined
or italicized thesis statement (central argument) in the opening paragraph, a body,
which provides specific details (e.g, particular characters, dialogue, scenes, events,
etc.) from the film as well as analysis supporting the thesis statement, and a
conclusion. These essays must be submitted via email.
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