The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina: Witches in Media

         Witches have been portrayed in media for hundreds of years as green women flying on broomsticks and doing the work of the devil. Stemming from the Salem witch trials, this has been a common narrative throughout generations.  Even today, the ignorance surrounding witches and Wicca is astounding. The attitude towards witches has barely made any change even in today's modern times. In my opinion, this is do to poor portrayal in media. Horror movies present their representation as evil and conieving old hags who kill children and sacrifice animals. This couldn't be anywhere farther from the truth.
         Before I delve into the analysis of a specific show, I will provide a brief history on Wicca and common misconceptions which are perpetuated by media. Wicca is a spiritual practice based on love and respect for the elements of nature. It is very peaceful, it's main ethical belief being "An it harm none". Although all Wiccans are witches, not all witches are Wiccans. There is a plethora of pagan paths from around the would which witches may be. Despite popular belief due to horror movies, no witch worships Satan. Only Satanists worship Satan. We are all about peace and love. On that note, one may be Christian and  a witch as well. Being a witch is not part of any specific religion. It is seldom a spiritual practice. Another common misconception popularized by media is that it is specific to only females. People of all genders are witches, not just women. However, witches are portrayed solely female in media. Modern witches do not usually "curse" people either, Many follow the "rule of three", which means that anything we put out into the world, positive or negative, it comes back to us in groups of three. For this reason, we do not usually curse or fall into the "evil" stereotype. Being a witch is something which is very close to my heart. It is the empowerment of my own personal power and the spreading of good will towards others.
         A Netflix show which premiered last Halloween is "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina". The plot is that a half witch half mortal teenage girl is forced to choose between following in her families footsteps of pledging herself to Satan and her mortal loving boyfriend. She cannot have both and tests the limits of both worlds. In my opinion, this show was just sad and fed into century old stereotypes. Even Harry Potter portrayed witches better than this. For one, the family of witches all had to sign their name in the devil's bible on their 16th birthday during a ceremony. On Sabrina's special day, she wore a wedding dress which turned black as soon as she signed her name.I took this as symbolism as if she was giving her mortal "purity" away to the devil. On the topic of Satanic stereotypes, the characters exclaim " Oh my Satan" instead of "Oh my God". This doesn't even hide the fact that they are portraying witches as worshiping Satan. I also believe that it mocks those who believe in god as well as witches. A final point is that witches where not portrayed as gender neutral. Men in the show were called warlocks. This is less problematic than my previous point. I did not expect a Netflix show to use the correct terms. I had high hopes for this show yet it still fell into the trap of turning back to old myths.
        In conclusion, media has perpetuated negative stereotypes of witches for centuries which has led to common ignorance of them. This is something which I am extremely passionate about. Witches are peaceful. Witches are real and are not just the stuff of story books and horror movies. Thanks for listening :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybKUX6thF8Q

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2020 at 12:56 AM

    I agree despite the fact that I love Netflix's sabrina it does feed into those stereotypes. I think this is due to ignorance rather than spite or them trying to be offensive because Sabrina does include male witches or warlocks which goes against the stereotype that all witches are female. I think it's because Netflix may be unaware of Wicca or they are portraying their belief of the other type of witch that isn't Wiccan. I'm not trying to defend Netflix I'm only saying this because I have never heard of Wicca until now so it's very possible that they haven't either. Although now that I do know about it I'll try to keep a more open mind the next time I hear people talking about witches or see them on TV.

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