I thought that this article by Rountree was definitely an interesting read. Usually, what comes to my mind when I think of a witch is the stereotypical mean old woman in the black pointy hat casting spells over a boiling black pot. Rountree reminded me that real witches are quite different than the ones in Disney movies. She made a great argument of how witches are feminists who are sensual and desire power and independence, especially from men.
I am beginning to have a better grasp of what witchcraft is and what witches actually do. Like I said earlier, growing up, characters in Disney movies created my first impressions of witches. Therefore, I grew up with connecting witches with Halloween, pumpkins, black cats, and flying broomsticks. Now I am starting to get a different idea of what a witch is, a more realistic one.
Reading this article made me think of a TV show I saw a few years ago. On a Halloween episode of Boy Meets World, one of Corey's friends got into a crazy predicament with a witch. He didn't know she was a witch at first. The girl that played the witch (lets say her name was Lauren, I don't remember) was very pretty and seductive with dark red lipstick... you can imagine. Anyway, the guy practically melted when he met her and was completely under her control, or spell. Later on in the show, the viewer finds out that she and a huge group of other witches, who were all very sensual and seductive young women, were just using the poor guy to sacrifice him on Halloween night. The witches hated men and seemed to be fighting for feminist reasons, just like the witches Rountree was describing in her article. Luckily, Corey's older brother intervened and saved the day.
My idea of witches and witchcraft has definitely changed over the years. When I was really young, I thought of them as evil old ladies with magic spells and potions. Now that I am older, I have realized how that idea is not very realistic. Rountree's explanation of witches, as feminists with a desire to have control and independence in their lives, definitely makes more sense to me. Although that part makes sense to me, I still have tons of questions. In her article she talks about feminist witches as a sub-group of feminists, which makes me wonder what the differences are between feminist witches and feminists who don't consider themselves witches. I'm not sure I completely understand it.
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2 comments:
I agree that Rountree's article was an interesting read. It certainly made me reevalute the criteria of what defines someone as a witch. My idea of what a witch is is changing, just like yours! I like your Boy Meets World reference, what a classic show. It is a perfect example of how modern day witches are sometimes portrayed, we now know that that they aren't always the lustful suductress but are people just like you and me.
I remember that episode of Boy Meets World! So crazy. I love that it was so "typical" and man-hating. Go Disney, right? This also reminded me of that one Scream episode where Corey, Sean, Topanga, Eric, and Angela were all running around in the school and a hooded figure was killing everyone. And then they woke up, and it was all a dream. I guess that doesn't have anything to do with this, but I felt it was worth mentioning anyways.
At any rate, I definitely agree with what you've said. We were all raised not only on classic fairy tales like Hansel & Gretel, but also on movies like Hocus Pocus... or particular episodes similar to the aforementioned Boy Meets World. I think it's really interesting how our culture's acceptance of "witches" (and all that that term entails) is much more tolerant, and how the term now pertains to such a wide variety of attributes.
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