Ancient Babylon? No, downtown Dallas.
Tuesday April 24, 2007
Photographer Norris Harrington photographed an eerie statue at Dallas's Fair Park. Look at the interesting shadow cast by this statue; it brings to mind the statue of the demon Pazuzufrom the Exorcist movies. Ever so slightly creepy, that....
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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That IS kinda creepy!
I can totally see the similarity to the Pazuzu statue from Exorcist II. On a side path, down which you might want to take a little walk, is how ineffectual the psychological examination of evil was to actually combatting or stopping it in the Excorcist films. Question to ponder: Did Blatty write those stories from a true understanding of psychology's ineffectiveness when dealing with incarnate evil or from literary license designed to make the Church the only capable agent for combatting evil?
I can't speak to Blatty's intention in writing "The Exorcist," but Blatty was inspired to write the story after reading a newspaper account in the 1940s of an actual exorcism in suburban Washington, DC. As it happens, I worked with Jerry O'Leary, who broke the story (he was by that time an old man), and I more recently worked with his son, Tim, here at the Dallas Morning News. FWIW.
bah - mis-spelled Exorcist.
Interesting little note about Pazuzu (I got intrigued and went web-surfing). While viewed as a demon and a bringer of famine, he was also viewed as a benevolent force that could be invoked against his rival, the goddess Lamashtu. People wore talismans of his head around their necks or hung them in their homes to keep her away. Lamashtu was a demon goddess that did evil for evil's sake, unlike Pazuzu who was seen as evil for the destruction his powers wrought (who wouldn't liken the guy responsible for famine as evil, after all?) Infants and the unborn were her primary targets. Here's a translation of an incantation against her: Great is the daughter of Heaven who tortures babies Her hand is a net, her embrace is death She is cruel, raging, angry, predatory A runner, a thief is the daughter of Heaven She touches the bellies of women in labor She pulls out the pregnant women s baby What this appears to mean is that Pazuzu may have been the first anti-abortion demon!
Ok - now my mind is working...
I wonder why it is that people who were afraid of miscarrying would venerate the god of famine. They saw a connection between fertility leading to possible visitation by this evil goddess so they prayed to a god whose shpere of control was infertility. Kind of like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face, don't you think?
I thought it was creepy - and then looked at it some more and realized it has a dumb smirk on its face...like a cow that climbed to the top of a pole and is thinking
"Huh, I climbed to the top of a pole...Cool...hey, how do I get down from here?...Huh"
Let's put this cowgoatbirdpig in context. The Texas State Fair Grounds got their big upgrade in 1936 for the Texas National Centennial. Agriculture was king, then, and all of animal husbandry was rolled into one in this statue. Art Deco was the cuting edge aesthetic of the day. All of the old buildings and their accoutrements on the fairgrounds are art deco treasures, as is the work under examination. But the shadow sure is eerie. As an aside, here's a shocker. The big show for the 1936 fair was a burlesq
What the...? My keyboard is possessed. As an aside, here's a shocker. The big show for the 1936 fair was a burlesque show. My dad was nine and had to remain outside while his family members attended.
Jumping at shadows, Rod? :) I guess the Pazuzu/shadow comparison is interesting, but I thought the actual statue looked a bit Assyrian... partly due to the Deco touches on the pedestal, probably (Deco being heavily influenced by the Egyptian discoveries being made at that time).
Rod,
It doesn't look at all to me like Pazuzu. Rather it seems simliar to a much more common image of Assyrian and Babylonian times - that of the winged bull (usually with a man's head. Winged bulls would often flank a monumental gate in a palace. The British Museum in London has quite a collection of these statues. As several readers have noted, Art Deco was often influnced by ancient Mesopotamian art, so the resemblance of the Dallas image is not surprising.
Yeah, it doesn't really look like that celebrity demon. However, it does evoke memories (for some) of the film. Often, impressionists don't really sound like someone else; often caricatures don't really look like the people they represent. They just capture something elemental and the eye and ear of another makes the connection. When I turned a corner and saw that statue and its shadow my first thought was of The Exorcist. I had to take a photo.
I always thought Pazuzu was this awful candy in funny dispensers. :+) Kim M
He's the demon with candy coming out of his neck.
Pezuzu?
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