When Regan is first possessed by the demon, no one knows that anything is wrong with her. She and her mother Chris live a perfectly normal life, if not for the absence of her father. It doesn’t seem like Regan is at the point of trying to push her mother away, and she still plays with her mom and they go on outings. This shows how Chris hasn’t quite become the aject mother as referred to in Creed’s writings. She does demonstrate the maternal authority, which according to Creed is, “the trustee of that mapping of the self’s clean and proper body”. Chris shows this well while she’s cleaning Regan in the bath after Regan had an accident in front of all her mothers friends at their party. This shows something that would be inappropriate in a different situation, but since it’s mother and child, it changes the context completely.
One main way abjection is shown in horror films is just having a lot of images of abjection in general. Regan causes plenty of instances of this, at various points in the film. As stated in Creed’s work, “a more archaic level the representation of bodily wastes may evoke pleasure in breaking the taboo of filth”, as demonstrated how demon-Regan laughs and laughs after throwing up on Father Karras went to visit her, and covering her mother in blood. The evil being possessing Regan is enjoying crossing the unsaid borders that come with abjection, as shown by how often some type of bodily fluid is used to disgust all of the adults trying to save Regan. The abjection comes from, “these images of bodily wastes threaten a subject that is already constituted, in relation to the symbolic, as “whole and proper”.” In this case, Regan is a young girl who acts properly and like the perfect daughter, before her possession. When she’s taken over, the demon uses the bodily fluids as a way to make Regan not the proper girl she was before, using blood, vomit, and pee to cause discord.
There’s also the abjection that has to do with the crossing the border of good to evil. Regan being possessed is an example of this. When one thinks of someone good, it’s hard to go wrong with a happy little girl who has a good relationship with her mom and usually gets what she wants. Then, when one looks at the demon possessing her, the contrast is stark. The demon-Regan spits and pukes, and uses vulgar language, while the original Regan liked to make arts and crafts and play games. The battle between good and evil is very clearly portrayed by Regan and the demon inside her, and the evil crosses the border of social niceties making the abjection present for all to see.
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