Female empowerment is always seen as a threat to the patriarchal society. I view witches as a feminist icon because of how the church controlled much of the female body. During the premodern era, witches were seen as evil and something that is forbidden and should not be messed with. Witches are females that broke away from the church's teaching and thus seen as evil or bad.Today's views of witches are much different. Witches today are seen as strong females who have powers to control patriarchy. One prominent show in today's media is American Horror Story: The Coven. The story focuses on the decline of witches, and a school is made to teach witchcraft and preserve the witch lineage. The show puts and emphasis on the use of dark magic and playing around with the devil. Much of what makes it witch by the pre-modern standard is the use of sex and magic and the devoid of Christian morals. One thing that I noticed is that being a witch means you have to be a person of Caucasian descent. Most of the people who were not Caucasian practiced voodooism. One can trace back witchcraft of the Salem witch trial to the black caretaker who practiced west indie traditions. But how does The Coven tie feminism to witchcraft? Many of the antagonists of the show are men. The witch hunters are all men. There is a famous scene in which Fiona and Marie show up to the corporate headquarters of the witch hunters. Fiona talks to the men that are in power and then kills them with an ax. Marie is seen in the background taking pictures with her iphone. The whole notion of not taking crap from men runs amuck in the show. The female empowerment of using magic power is a huge part of what separate pre-modern witches to post-modern witches. Witches today have it so much better than how they were treated in the past. Now my question for everyone is, do witches embody feminism?
I agree with you that witches are closely tied to feminism. It makes total sense when looking back at women’s place in society in the early modern period. They were not expected to show independence or stray from their gender norms and any that exhibited these feminist qualities were labeled as witches. While feminism was viewed as a bad, scary thing back then, female empowerment now is encouraged and has become much more accepted overall. I think this switch in attitude toward feminism is seen in the modern representations of witches that portray them as good, relatable people. Examples that come to mind are Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service (whom I wrote about for my blog) and Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. Both are strong, independent women as well as good role models for children. I haven’t watched American Horror Story: The Coven, so I’m not sure if the witches in that show match the representation I’m thinking of. They sound like they’re empowered but they also sound rather violent. Maybe not the best feminist role model to start young girls out on.
ReplyDeleteWitch is the reflection of the society how people think about women' s social status. Witch is indeed feminist icon in the modern world. Witch, as the respective of women, are gradually pursuing their goal, and their value of life. Also the feelings in the modern world. In the early days, patriarchal society, Witch is a threat to to the patriarchal society. So from the books, how they describe the women, are evil, ugly. They are meant to die in the end to show if
ReplyDeletethe women do something bad, they will get punishment from the patriarchal society. it is a threaten to women if you do not follow how patriarchal society want you to do, you can not survive. However, as time pass by. Witch gradually became friendly and even help people. How the writer describe the witch, indeed is the reflection of women's social status and feminism.