The Devil Made Him Do It: Black Pain, Camp Trash and Christianity in Lee Daniels’ The Deliverance
by Max S. Gordon
“If you’re an example of decency, Sister, thank God I’m indecent.
— Madge Gibson (Joanne Woodward) to Mama (Vicki Lawrence) in The Family Sketches, The Carol Burnett Show (1976)
“If nearly half of all Blacks are not okay with white people…not according to me, according to this poll…that’s a hate group. And I don’t want to have anything to do with them…[T]he best advice I would give to white people is get the hell away from Black people. Just get the fuck away…Because there is no fixing this. This can’t be fixed.”
— Scott Adams, Real Coffee with Scott Adams Podcast (February 2023)
“I’m always asked why I play strong women, and I always think…hmm, that’s a such a weird question. Because I just play women. And women are strong. And women don’t give up. You know why? We can’t. We have to do it.”
— Sigourney Weaver, on Receiving The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement Award, 81st Venice Film Festival (August 2024)
(This essay contains spoilers for The Deliverance and The Exorcist.)
PART ONE
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