What follows is my attempt to distill everyone’s comments into a manageable post. As I went through the lists I discovered a good argument for including the Wizard of Oz by Sheherazahde and so included comments on both sides of that movie. I also discovered I had missed some suggested for the final nomination list, for which I apologize – and here is a last chance to add details as to why they should be included. For example, there is Jan’s nomination of Dark Secret
\nof Harvest Home (Bette Davis) Wtches of Eastwick, and Dragnet (1987). <\/p>\n
I apologize for missing them. It was oversight, not censorship.<\/p>\n
I did deliberately omit Snozepossum’s suggestion of the Devil’s Rain. It is about Satanists and we aren’t that. (Ironically, I read LaVey’s Satanic Bible as Ayn Rand plus magick.<\/p>\n
Anyway, below the fold is the list I’ll send to Beliefnet unless you guys convince me to alter it.<\/p>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Witches and Pagans <\/span>That said, \n<\/p>\n The Witches<\/b><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n As one put it, “I Hocus Pocus<\/b><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n One observer wrote Bell Book and Emphasizes the <\/span>“Bad use of Magick – The Witch uses a Witches are depicted Over and over again Blair Witch It “Depicts witches OTHER MOVIES<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n <\/b><\/span> were not so strongly condemned, or if people regarded as The Wizard of Oz<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n “While it is true “The best reason to call But in is defense, another The Craft<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n “As a movie, I don’t But another suggested Scooby Doo and the Had lots and lots of Witchcraft is not an Buffy and Charmed <\/b><\/span>were often linked together. <\/span>As one commentator put it: “Both these shows portray the Charmed <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n “In Charmed, a witch In it <\/span>“main characters . . . <\/span>use magic to stop evil. While the magic Buffy<\/span><\/p>\n “At least in Buffy, there <\/span>“Willow is primarily a good representation of a witch (if not On the other hand, it Bewitched <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n “Why on earth would <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What follows is my attempt to distill everyone’s comments into a manageable post. As I went through the lists I discovered a good argument for including the Wizard of Oz by Sheherazahde and so included comments on both sides of that movie. I also discovered I had missed some suggested for the final nomination list, for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pagan-culture"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n
\n<\/font><\/p>\n
\nare often portrayed in movies and on television, and while many of the more
\nrecent portrayals are often more nuanced that older ones, they rarely if ever
\nprovide the viewer with a portrait of Pagan practice recognizable to those of
\nus who practice it. <\/span><\/b><\/span>Even one that many of us mostly love, an older movie,
\nThe Wicker Man” in its original uncut form, (not the lousy recent version)
\nturns disturbingly dark at the end as the Sergeant discovers he has fallen for
\nan elaborate ruse because of a need for a human sacrifice. <\/span>So there is little that is really
\naccurate out there. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nsome movies made repeated appearances initially as nominations for among the
\nworst, or when people added comments as to why they agreed. <\/span>The four movies that overwhelmingly
\nwere criticized are<\/span><\/p>\n
\nlove most of Roald Dahl’s children’s books, but I can’t stand The Witches. They
\nare portrayed as child-hating monsters with bizarre, grotesque features such as
\nno hair, claw-like nails, etc. Their young victims meet with such unpleasant
\nfates as transformation into stone or animals or being trapped inside a
\npainting. The main character discovers the witches when they have a convention
\nunder the guise of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. (Let’s
\nintroduce children to the idea of a sinister conspiracy theory at an early
\nage!) The story ends with a plan to use the witches’ own mouse-transformation
\npotion against them–so that they will be trampled and killed by other people!”<\/span><\/p>\n
\n“Then there’s the awful film with Bette Midler, ‘Hocus Pocus’ that’s just
\nsilly.” <\/span>As another observed “First
\nand foremost, it portrays witches as immortal, purely evil beings. And then
\nthere’s the fateful spell: ‘If a virgin lights this particular candle, the
\nwitches will return.’ . . . <\/span>it
\nreinforces the idea that the magic witches do is selfish, unnatural,
\nnonsensical (why a virgin, particularly?) and extremely harmful to others. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nCandle<\/b><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n
\nlove spell on a man out of revenge against a girl she hated (the man loved the
\ngirl and the Witch ‘stole’ him away from her out of revenge).”<\/span><\/p>\n
\n“as hateful and incapable of love – The Witch falls in love with the man she
\nenchanted, and now has to decide between loving him as a ‘real’ woman, or
\nremaining a Witch.” <\/span><\/p>\n
\nPagans objected that it “perpetrates the belief that Witches are hate-filled
\nand cannot love or else they lose their ‘Witchiness’.” <\/span><\/p>\n
\nProject<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n
\nas evil killers. Pretty bad.” As another observed “The movie was horribly made
\nand witches portrayed as eating children and being evil. It’s probably ‘Worst’
\non my list.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nbad, granted they had some redeeming features.
\n<\/span>Some were even defended in response to their original critics.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthat there is a ‘good Witch’ in the story, the main antagonist is the ‘bad
\nWitch’, the ‘Wizard’ is a fraud, and the good witch looks like a fairy and
\nsends the protagonist on a totally unnecessary journey (She sees the shoes at
\nthe beginning but doesn’t tell Dorothy they are the way home till the end).
\nThis is unlike the Harry Potter series where the protagonists are also Witches
\nand Wizards.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthis the worst movie for Witches is that it has been influential in presenting
\nthe image of Witches as green-skinned pointy-nosed cackling hags. Few people
\ncome away from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ thinking of Witches as sparkling ladies who
\ntravel in soap bubbles.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nparticipant argued “I see Glinda’s challenge to Dorothy as the telling point:
\n‘Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?’ Surely, Pagans are not immune to this
\nparticular duality. Indeed, from my POV, the best witches will ask themselves
\nsome variation of that very question.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthink it was too bad. But their portrayal of witches as goth teenage girls with
\n(somewhat severe) psychological problems just rubs me the wrong way.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\n“The three “freaky” witches represented to me what happens when magic
\nis misunderstood and misused by people who are not emotionally and spiritually
\nprepared for it. Sarah and Lirio, on the other hand, get it right.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nWitch’s Ghost<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\ninaccurate information. At least the other films on this list didn’t try to
\nblend real witchcraft with the evil fantasy version.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nethnicity, as when a character said “I’m 1\/16 Wiccan on my mother’s
\nside.”\u2028 <\/span>In addition, Velma
\ndoesn’t call Ben out on pretending Wicca, as such, is about 300 years older
\nthan it actually is. “I thought she was the smart one!’ <\/span>Further, \u2028in “most Scooby-Doo episodes,
\nthe ‘monster” turns out to actually be a greedy human. This movie breaks
\nwith that 30-year tradition by making the monster not only real, but the ghost
\nof a Witch, AND she wants to destroy the whole world!”<\/span><\/p>\n
\npower of witchcraft without the philosophy or the spirituality behind it, so
\nthey are both lacking.” So for these movies the problems were more ones of
\nomission than commission.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
\nwas able to open her Book of Shadows (seemingly to the same page every time)
\nand stop Time without even breaking a sweat! [It builds up] unrealistic
\nexpectations of what happens when you practice witchcraft or become Wiccan.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nthey use may be totally fake, we should bear in mind that this is Hollywood,
\nand real magic probably wouldn’t look very cool on screen.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nare some consequences to performing magic and it shows it takes work and
\nstudy.” <\/span>But, as another observed,
\n“In Buffy, Willow the initially wholesome teen witch, became all evil with
\nblack contact-lens eyes, that’s always a bad sign!”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nnecessarily realistic.) ‘Bad Willow’ is a metaphor for succumbing to power, in
\nall the worst ways. So, other than the few episodes where she gives in to the
\ntemptation of masses of power, she is a Good Guy, and even then she is always
\nbrought back from the brink by her friends.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nwas “Dismissive of Wiccans as: ‘Bunch of wanna blessed be’s. Nowadays every
\ngirl with a henna tattoo and a spice rack thinks she’s a sister to the dark
\nones.’ <\/span>Not the worst.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nSamantha give up all that good witchy stuff, primarily going to witches
\nmeetings in wonderful 60s gowns, for the useless husband Darren?”<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/font><\/p>\n