In this section, we will talk about what a ritual is in the realm of religious studies. What does it involve? How do the rituals Chris experiences in the film relate to religion? The way in which the Armitage family select their victim, then befriend them, then slowly brainwash them, then ritualistically and carefully prepare him for his murder is very precise, thought out, and done in a ritualistic manner akin to a religious ritual. In short, this part of my website will explain how the Armitage’s racialized killing patterns mirror religious rituals. 

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Many of us are already quite familiar with religious rituals and what they entail, but for an example, we can look to ceremonies such as baptisms. At a baptism, there is a set number of steps the infant, the infants family, and the priest carry out to baptize the child. these things stay the same for each baptism, and are carried out in a specific order.  If we look to a more extreme religious ritual, ritualistic killings within religions, we see the same thing. For example, we can look to Witch hunting that occurred in Salem, better known as the "Salem Witch Trials", when the Christian church hunted women they perceived to be witches, gathered them in public, and burned or lynched them. 

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The way in which the Armitage family lure Chris in is very ritualistic, and everyone plays a specific role, as we see in religious rituals. Rose's job is to find Chris, and start dating him, as she does with all their victims. Then, they drive to the ritual site, the Armitage house. In this example, the house can represent the church. Rose's father is the Neurosurgeon, and his job is more specific to the end of the film, he performs the transplant of the white persons brain, the one who bid the highest on Chris, to Chris' skull. In this way, A part of Chris is still there, he remains trapped in the sunken place forever, while the highest bidder lives their life in Chris' body. In this case, the man was blind, and wanted Chris for his eyes. Rose's mother is the psychiatrist, and it is her job to hypnotize Chris, bring him to the sunken place, and keep him there. Rose's brother doesn't have that large of a role in the ritual compared to the others, but by far is outright the most racist to Chris, before they even drop the facade and reveal they want to kill him. In the ritual, his job is to deliver Chris and the highest bidder to his father in the operating room. 

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In Roy Rapports book, Ritual and religion in the making of humanity, Rapport defines ritual as: the performance of more or less invariant sequences of formal acts and utterances not entirely encoded by the performers. He goes on to say that ritual is very much not exclusive to religion, and also that it can be used to produce consequences. This is evident in the film, through Chris' journey through the ritual and the consequences of his life that come with it. Rapport also states that outsiders can also contribute to the ritual unknowingly, and this is what the white folks who come to the party do. The party, in reality, is actually a facade for a silent auction over Chris. Every person who bid contributed to the ritual, whether they know or not.