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Representation or Misrepresentation of Paganism in this film?

posted 14 years ago by power-junkie
61 replies | jump to latest

Im doing at essay for my 4th of uni on the representation or misrepresentation of Paganism in this film.

im currently looking for opinions of people who are both pagan, or not. and to get a general idea about how people feel the wiccan perceptions are put across the film.

Both sides of the argument are equally as important. im looking for how people thing the film helped ideas of paganism or maybe how it didnt do it any favours.
how did it make you feel about the magik? did you like costume and music? how about the invoking of Manon - was it depicted correctly?

i understand that the craft deals with the concepts of Manon (which is not infact true but if it were) so im really generalising with the idea of paganism as its core concept!
i hope to hear all your opinions soon!

PJ

[–] frogsaroyan 9 years ago

It's not plausible that anyone in the 4th year of an HBA program would be doing an "essay" on The Craft and the "representation/misrepresentation" of its themes. It would also be impossible to include any source material at all from this imdb thread, and it isn't even useful research. An assignment like this wouldn't even be acceptable at a high school level.

If for some reason the op wasn't just trying to get people to talk and for some reason using an "essay" excuse, then the only way I can believe their story is under the assumption they're studying economics or another science, required to take a bird course in film or religion to show that they can think and write critically at a general level.

[–] Wint3rFir3 (7384) 8 years ago

If you're asking how to invoke Menol, sorry can't help you there - no idea how accurate that was. I do know that the actress who played Nancy - Fairuza Balk - was a practicing wiccan and a consultant on the film before being hired over Angelina Jolie to play Nancy. She even bought the witch shop that was blown up in the movie after shooting ended.

How did it make me feel about magik? I think it portrayed it as both positive and negative. It showed how flawed people are at their core and how power is almost always misused because of this. And, true to its name, it really honed in on the fact that witchcraft is like any skill - a craft - that you have to be careful with and practice wisely.

Also, it definitely made me and many people my age curious about witchcraft at the time. It opened that door for a lot of people. I think every girl who saw the movie tried 'light as a feather, stiff as a board' at their sleepovers. And I mean every single girl.

As for the music and costumes, these worked really well in appealing to the intended audience. Not only were they dressed well, but they weren't wearing valley girl costumes - they started the 'cool modern young witch' style and still maintained each girl's individual personality. And the music is still good, which is why it was used later in Charmed and why, when you hear it, you remember the movie instantly.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

To quote my favorite English professor, “An artist must first be a crafts[person].” Only with complete mastery of craft, in ANY discipline, can the student then begin to create art. After having slogged my way through a maze of some of the most ill-informed, arrogant and bullshit-riddled Internet posts that I’ve ever seen in over 20 years of being online, I arrive to see you, my friend. There is no doubt the OP was not a scholar of any stripe, but someone looking to stir things up. You, Wint3rFir3, hit it on the head regarding the pop culture importance of The Craft. By whatever name you call it, the craft is NOT a quick and easy road to the results that one craves, and a road best avoided by 99 percent of people; hence, “occult,” meaning obscured, and, by extension, hidden or secret. You might even call it arcane😁 It requires the firmest grounding conceivable in the material world to begin study in the immaterial world. Remember the legend of Faust: He mastered ALL material disciplines before turning to The Path.

One thing I have to get off my chest, after having waded through so much ignorance about which practice is the best practice. I study martial art, and I study the arcane. A similar debate rages in both disciplines. Is Tai Kwan Do better than Kung Fu? Is Santaria more powerful than Wicca? You know what’s better? The better PRACTIONER, and it doesn’t matter what discipline(s) s/he uses. All that matters is the results that s/he gets. Blessed be.

PS From what I can tell, though the soundtrack seems to be saying Manol, the script has Mamon, which means profane, mundane, even greedy. This has nothing to do with the arcane. And I completely agree about the wardrobe (except for Fredrick’s Of Hollywood, not that I disapprove of that😈) and the music. Not just evocative of an era. They were a platform from
that era into the future. I’ve always liked Fairuza Balk. I’d no idea that she was a practitioner. Thank you for that.

PPS Angelina Jolie as Nancy?! Dear Lord!, did we ever dodge a bullet on THAT choice!

[–] catsidhe (1649) 6 years ago

Doesn't matter which brand of witchcraft you follow, "The Craft" was just a fun film, not representative of witchcraft itself. Just a fantasy.

But I will say that there was a rise in interest in witchcraft after this movie came out. You could always tell who was really interested in older ways or who just watched "The Craft" too many times. 😅

[–] PaladinNJ (21781) 6 years ago

It's a fictional movie. It's not meant to be taken as a realistic portrayal of any form of Wiccan ort other practice.

[–] R_Kane (15828) 6 years ago

If you take the time actually to read the thread, it’s developed into a discussion having little to do with the movie, but instead it became a reaction to preposterous assertions by posters who are utterly ignorant of the occult. The movie itself is fun. I enjoy Fairuza Balk’s performance more than ever. About the only occult fact that the movie got right is that the energy that you put out comes back to
you, times three. The OP was a troll who was trying to stir things up. His energy came back to him, times three.