I'm that Witch!

Another thing that has been interesting for me to observe throughout the popular media presentations has been the transition from the stereotype of the good, mischievous witch in popular media to the evil, dark, and scary witch that seems to predominate popular culture in current times. Through observing this transition, I have been thinking more about why this trend is occurring and the things occurring in our culture that are causing this shift in the way that we see witches.  In my second popular media presentation, I had the opportunity to learn more about the Bewitched series and movies. In the 1960’s series, Samantha is the mischievous fun witch trying to renounce her witch-y ways in pursuit of a more normal life with her mortal husband. This series was such a hit because of Samantha’s lovable character and this reflection of many of the issues and problems that people faced in everyday life and throughout society. Samantha would wiggle her nose and cause problems for others,...

Recently, I went on a weekend trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. I was so shocked and excited to see how many witches I met along the way!! Louisiana Voodoo is a wildly interesting reflection of American culture and history. Voodoo practices from people from West-Africa and Sub Sahara who were enslaved made it to Louisiana. These beliefs over time meshed with Catholic belief that was predominant in the area among the white people. This confluence of beliefs over time and space is part of what makes witch culture in Louisiana and New Orleans specifically so interesting and rich.  Although I didn’t get to spend much time in the city, I did run in to several witches on the street. Two of them was performing tarot card readings and I stopped to listen in. One of the witches was actually a man and he was a warlock performing what looked like a very intricate tarot card reading. The spread that he had in front of him looked like a game of solitaire and people gathered around to hear about t...

One of my favorite classes of the semester was when our friends presented on WitchTok and Oovomancy. I loved how they gave us the opportunity to participate in this fortune telling tool by bringing eggs to class. I was laughing because in my group of boys no one knew how to crack an egg. So, I was the one who cracked an egg, so the fortune was about me! Once it cracked, we looked at the whites and the yolks in the water. We let it settle for a minute before looking for the different signs according to the key that the presenters provided for us.  The yolk was covered in a layer of whites. My group and I interpreted this to mean that I was surrounded by a good group of people and a strong support system. I think that this is true to my real life so it was very interesting to make this observation. Another thing that we noticed on my egg was three short strings of egg whites and one long string of white pointing up from the center. According to the map, this was supposed to mean that...

I have loved getting to learn about different representations of witches in popular media throughout this course. I don’t watch a ton of TV or very many movies, so I have enjoyed getting exposure to different types of media each week in class. One movie that I have been very resistant to learning more about has been Harry Potter. I don’t know why, but ever since I was a kid I have had a very strong aversion to Harry Potter and have refused to watch any movie or read any book. As Harry Potter has such a strong cult following, my decision to do this has been met by severe shock and resistance by several people in my life. I often get made fun of for not knowing which house I am in, what quidditch is, or for knowing nothing about who Dobby the elf is. People in my life have been coaxing me for years to just give the movies a chance, going so far as to almost tricking me in to watching it. I have to say that learning more about Harry Potter this week in the popular media presentation reall...