Broom, Magic Wand, Spoon Witchcraft and Womanhood on the Screen

Abstract

The problems associated with the gender-specific social position of women dominate most witch-themed movies. Since the 1980s, the figure of the witch has increasingly been depicted as the epitome of self-conscious, ambitious womenhood and disobedience and rebellion against male-dominated society and its rules. Apart from this, the representation of witches is far from being homogenous: the trends and counter-trends of feminisms and the cultural fashions of femininity can be clearly discerned in them. This study examines popular witch-movies from the last few decades, including The Crucible, Practical Magic, The Craft, Penny Dreadful, The Witch, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, and The Seventh Son, and demonstrates that while “good” wiches come to be content with the domestic sphere, “bad” witches are characterized by their desire for power and their striving to be the ruling gender of society. Representing the hate-symbol of the “feminazi”, they serve - once again - as the scapegoat of social tensions, while giving opportunity to their docile “good” sisters to advertize conventional feminine roles.