Ethical Approach
Since the beginning of this project, we have tried to ethically orient ourselves to the subject matter. This has forced us to think and rethink what a witch film is, what a witch is, and what it means to talk about witchcraft in American media.
Since we decided to base our definition of a “witch film” on public opinion, we had to take into account the biases of the public. For example, this meant that almost all of the films on our list were about white women. This also meant that we did not include films that might include content that seems witchy in nature but does not explicitly use the witch label. We choose to identify and highlight these biases, rather than pushing them under the rug.
It is also important to us that we consider how witch films and the experiences of marginalized groups are tied. For example, we have tried to approach our work keeping in mind the differences between representations of witches in media and the lived experiences of Wiccans in America. We also work under the impression that the the witch as a figure is defined by their difference. The ideas of persecution and paranoia that are tied to the witch figure are also historically bound to American investments in structures of power and stabilized norms. The witch is both precarious and disruptive, both empowered and constantly maligned by those in power. Ultimately, what gives the witch figure its power and cultural currency is the lived experiences of marginalized groups.
With this in mind, we have tried to orient our project in terms of the way big film companies use and abuse the witch figure and witch narratives. On the one hand, it would be easy to simply look at the 80′s and 90′s boom of witch films and celebrate what it says about, for example, American feminism. Instead, we want to note that companies saw the popularity of the witch figure/witch narrative and sought to reproduce it for their own gain. This itself is closely connected to the white-washing and domestication of media representations of witches. Though one may rally behind a media representation of a witch as a symbol, we hope to always be aware of how these representations are used by those who are not invested in the wellbeing of marginalized groups.
