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Populär Culture Review
Unfortunately, it is a game that Parker connects to Voodoo, a
religion that is foreign to Harry Angel and to probably most o f the
viewers o f the film. By linking Voodoo with devil worship and soul
snatching, Alan Parker demonizes the religion and Supports Hollywood’s
unjustified and misleading Voodoo construct. As a result, he
misrepresents and undermines the work o f any ethnologists researching
Voodoo, as they “condamnent categoriquement cette maniere de voir
dans le voodou un culte du demon” (categorically condemn the
perception o f Voodoo as belonging to the cult o f devil worship)
(Montilus 111).
Magic, Conjure, and Voodoo Dolls in The Skeleton Key
The element o f soul snatching also finds expression in Iain
Softley’s film The Skeleton Key. Here, Violet Devereaux, an elderly
woman, pretends to be in need for Caroline Ellis, a young nurse from
New Jersey, to take care o f her husband Ben, who, after a stroke, has lost
speech and leg movement. Violet, however, is not interested in curing
her husband. Her only interest is in Caroline’s soul and body, which,
when the time is right, she desires to snatch away from her in a ceremony
called “the conjure o f sacrifice.” Until then, Caroline shall remain on the
property o f the old plantation home under the false premise to be the
caretaker o f V iolet’s husband.
Interested in her patient and her new environment, Caroline
explores the old house and its surroundings in order to find clues about
what could have caused Ben’s physical and linguistic paralysis. Similar
to Harry A ngel’s discovery o f the Voodoo altar behind a closed window,
Caroline soon detects a locked-away room filled with jars, roots, animal
skulls, and Voodoo dolls. Not being familiär with New Orleans’ unique
Voodoo Hoodoo tradition, she concludes that something mysterious and
evil has caused Ben’s disability to walk and talk. Her initial
bewilderment tums fast into a growing suspicion o f Violet’s true
intentions for having her reside at the plantation, and a personal quest to
identify the real cause for Ben’s disability.
Even though she is right assuming that Ben’s condition is not o f
any physical nature, she is wrong determining Voodoo as its cause. As
Carolyn M orrow Long points out in her article “Perceptions o f New
Orleans Voodoo” (2002), the goal o f Voodoo is not to harm, but to
establish “a balanced life characterized by harmony with the human
community, the natural environment, the Iwa, and the ancestral spirits”
(Long, “Perceptions” 88). Nevertheless, to Caroline— and probably to