Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 9, No. 2, 1992, Page 38
Lydia befriends and is befriended by the previous owners of the house, Barbara and Adam, a
couple who were drowned when, while crossing a bridge, their car swerved to avoid hitting a
dog. Lydia alone of the new residents is able to see the former owners because “I‟m strange
and unusual,” which in this context means that she is an empathetic individual who shares
the former owners‟ taste for conventional furniture and despises her stepmother‟s sculptured
grotesqueries. Indeed, she is so attracted to Barbara and Adam that she plans to kill herself
to be with them however, at the last moment she is dissuaded (despite the efforts of the
poltergeist, Beetlejuice). Ultimately, the living and the dead are reconciled, but the films ends
with Lydia being nurtured by the dead couple.
Film and novel travel parallel paths. In both, the protagonist is an isolated, friendless
adolescent whose only nurturing figures are participants in the afterlife (Barbara and Adam)
or participants in the occult (the nanny). Their sense of isolation is intensified by the absence
of a conventional maternal figure. In The White People, the protagonist‟s mother is absent in
Beetlejuice, Delia, the stepmother, is in a frenzy to exorcise the house‟s cozy conventional
environment, substituting for it a palette of postmodern excess. In response, Lydia attempts
to empower herself through the occult and by committing parasuicidal acts. Her counterpart,
Beetlejuice the poltergeist, is the destructive adolescent who deals with his depression
through manic and rebellious activity. His persona of a “macho” nonconforming ghost is very
seductive to Lydia. In The White People, the nameless protagonist dreams of spells that will
transform her into a fairy princess who can revive her mother. In both works of art, there is a
conviction that the dead/departed are more alive than the living.
Other Perceptions of the Afterlife and Its Vicissitudes
Beetlejuice is just one of the many recent films in which the dead/death is portrayed as
offering more viable alternatives than life/living. All of the dead in Beetlejuice--the dead
couple‟s caseworker, Juno, and Beetlejuice himself--are played with a verve and manic energy
usually absent from the living. The question of whether or not an isolated and vulnerable
adolescent might draw a fatal lesson from these films is a cogent one. And, despite the dead
couple‟s disclaimers and Otho‟s remark that “those who commit suicide become civil servants
in the afterlife,” the reality of life after death as portrayed in these films might disarm the
fears of the vulnerable.
The “viability” of the afterlife was raised with particular charm in the recent film Ghosts.
Through the intervention of a medium, the departed is able to intervene in every aspect of his
living fiancée‟s life. In this film, as in the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians, there is a denial of
the very reality of death because it portrays an afterlife that is like life--only more so (and
without the problems inherent in living).
A grimmer world informs the players in Flatliners. While the goal of the “medical students” is
never explicitly defined, they appear to be searching for power in a quest for the ultimate
near-death experience. While this film employs a great deal of pseudoscientific verbiage, the
ganglike activities of the participants resemble a gang of body snatchers. The gang leader and
group processes encourage the gang members to pursue longer comas, leading them to
almost perpetrate a murder as part of their “scientific” quest. The gang members are involved
in a Faustian exercise whose goal is fame (and fortune). Ironically, the powers beyond the
pale introduce morality at the end, forcing the “students” to reconsider their narcissism by
film‟s end.
In contrast to the alienated and isolated adolescents of The White People and Beetlejuice,
who, in order to treat their depression, seek and pursue empowerment through an
involvement with the occult, the participants in Flatliners seek power as part of a “satanic
Faustian” agenda characterized by the absence of internalized objects and the diminished
sense of self that is present within the pathologically narcissistic. In both cases, even though
Lydia befriends and is befriended by the previous owners of the house, Barbara and Adam, a
couple who were drowned when, while crossing a bridge, their car swerved to avoid hitting a
dog. Lydia alone of the new residents is able to see the former owners because “I‟m strange
and unusual,” which in this context means that she is an empathetic individual who shares
the former owners‟ taste for conventional furniture and despises her stepmother‟s sculptured
grotesqueries. Indeed, she is so attracted to Barbara and Adam that she plans to kill herself
to be with them however, at the last moment she is dissuaded (despite the efforts of the
poltergeist, Beetlejuice). Ultimately, the living and the dead are reconciled, but the films ends
with Lydia being nurtured by the dead couple.
Film and novel travel parallel paths. In both, the protagonist is an isolated, friendless
adolescent whose only nurturing figures are participants in the afterlife (Barbara and Adam)
or participants in the occult (the nanny). Their sense of isolation is intensified by the absence
of a conventional maternal figure. In The White People, the protagonist‟s mother is absent in
Beetlejuice, Delia, the stepmother, is in a frenzy to exorcise the house‟s cozy conventional
environment, substituting for it a palette of postmodern excess. In response, Lydia attempts
to empower herself through the occult and by committing parasuicidal acts. Her counterpart,
Beetlejuice the poltergeist, is the destructive adolescent who deals with his depression
through manic and rebellious activity. His persona of a “macho” nonconforming ghost is very
seductive to Lydia. In The White People, the nameless protagonist dreams of spells that will
transform her into a fairy princess who can revive her mother. In both works of art, there is a
conviction that the dead/departed are more alive than the living.
Other Perceptions of the Afterlife and Its Vicissitudes
Beetlejuice is just one of the many recent films in which the dead/death is portrayed as
offering more viable alternatives than life/living. All of the dead in Beetlejuice--the dead
couple‟s caseworker, Juno, and Beetlejuice himself--are played with a verve and manic energy
usually absent from the living. The question of whether or not an isolated and vulnerable
adolescent might draw a fatal lesson from these films is a cogent one. And, despite the dead
couple‟s disclaimers and Otho‟s remark that “those who commit suicide become civil servants
in the afterlife,” the reality of life after death as portrayed in these films might disarm the
fears of the vulnerable.
The “viability” of the afterlife was raised with particular charm in the recent film Ghosts.
Through the intervention of a medium, the departed is able to intervene in every aspect of his
living fiancée‟s life. In this film, as in the afterlife of the ancient Egyptians, there is a denial of
the very reality of death because it portrays an afterlife that is like life--only more so (and
without the problems inherent in living).
A grimmer world informs the players in Flatliners. While the goal of the “medical students” is
never explicitly defined, they appear to be searching for power in a quest for the ultimate
near-death experience. While this film employs a great deal of pseudoscientific verbiage, the
ganglike activities of the participants resemble a gang of body snatchers. The gang leader and
group processes encourage the gang members to pursue longer comas, leading them to
almost perpetrate a murder as part of their “scientific” quest. The gang members are involved
in a Faustian exercise whose goal is fame (and fortune). Ironically, the powers beyond the
pale introduce morality at the end, forcing the “students” to reconsider their narcissism by
film‟s end.
In contrast to the alienated and isolated adolescents of The White People and Beetlejuice,
who, in order to treat their depression, seek and pursue empowerment through an
involvement with the occult, the participants in Flatliners seek power as part of a “satanic
Faustian” agenda characterized by the absence of internalized objects and the diminished
sense of self that is present within the pathologically narcissistic. In both cases, even though
