The Exorcist and the Question of Human Identity and Self

What makes this paper effective

• It uses a popular horror film as a lens for exploring genuine philosophical questions about identity, demonstrating how close reading of cultural texts can yield substantive academic insight.
• The paper builds its argument through a series of layered analogies — mental illness, adolescent change, and dementia — each reinforcing the central claim that the self is defined by character, not just the body.
• Its tone remains analytical rather than sensationalist, grounding even the film's most visceral scenes in recognizable human experiences shared by viewers.

Key academic technique demonstrated

The paper demonstrates sustained analogical reasoning, systematically connecting a fictional supernatural scenario to three distinct real-world conditions (mental illness, puberty, and dementia) to illuminate a single philosophical question. This technique allows the writer to expand the significance of a narrow textual observation into a broader claim about human identity without introducing unrelated evidence.

Structure breakdown

The essay opens by introducing the central philosophical provocation — what constitutes the self apart from the body — and immediately grounds it in specific scenes from the film. Each subsequent paragraph develops a distinct analogy (mental illness, parental trust, dementia) before converging on the mother's desire to recover her daughter's former self. The conclusion returns to the viewer's perspective, asking how the audience itself navigates the separation of body, character, and identity, which gives the argument a satisfying circular closure.