June 17, 2020 • 20 mins
Must be the season of the witch. Anney and Samantha look at the intersection of witches and exploitation throughout history and the current cultural moment they're having.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuff.
I never told you protection of I heart radio, so
this fun it was something I'd never heard of, but
definitely should have known it was a thing, but you
(00:27):
brought it to my attention Samantha. Today we're talking about
which plantation, right, Yeah, I was very of course, I
was in my world of twitter verse and there was
several uh whether it was I think she was publishing
some books and doing some speaking and then below was
talking about whish plotation, which I was like, whoa, oh, oh,
(00:50):
what is this? Annie must know? And I just started
to texting, you know, I was like, hey, let's talk
about this because this sounds really interesting, especially since we
seem to be really too, which is right now and
by the way, they're killing it at the protests like
they're there and go ahead, which is yes, yes, um.
It's a long history of which is in protesting, which
(01:11):
will touch on a little bit in this one, and
we have touched on it before, and yeah, we've been
doing a lot of which content lately. We did the Craft,
we did the witch um right, so we thought more
we have a big list. We do have a big
list that it's not a lie. So as we love
to do. At the start with the definition in a
(01:34):
literature cinema, the use of the craft are more broadly
paganism in general for sensationalistic, usually horror inducing ends. Um.
And this is from the Mapping Contemporary Cinema website, which
I found a lot of great content on if you're interested, Um,
(01:54):
it might help us to define the exportation film genre
at large. Two and a bit of that history. So
these films emerged in the nineteen thirties and at the
time they were uh verging on pornographic, often described as
the film version of freak shows, and they usually came
(02:15):
with some heavy handed moral messaging. They frequently used pornographic
images to condemn pornography, for example, playing on what audiences wanted,
what they thought was forbidden, and then getting away with
it under the guys that ultimately they were condemning these things,
i e. The sexy lady would die for being sexy.
(02:35):
A simple definition of exploitation films is something that is
in quote bad taste for the time. Yeah. So, by
the time the sixties rolled around, exploitation films had evolved
from the strip tease to the nudity blatantly looking to
start up feelings that were disturbing and arousing. The moral
lesson was out the window, and this happened to coincide
(02:56):
with the renewed interest in which is wicka the occult
and in part driven by the psychedelic community. Here we
see the rise of which plantation films. So let's talk
about which is One of the most recent examples of
mass which burning was the Salem which trials of the
six hundreds, culminating in the death of fourteen women. But
(03:16):
our cultural interest never truly went away, as we see
it all the time, Yes, as we keep talking about
it ourselves. Also Asterix, there a lot of people use
the term which burning to call to encompass any kind
of killing, of which is in the Salem which trials.
I believe it was hanging um. But yes, the death
(03:38):
the execution of which is if we step back to
six is best selling witch hunting manual Malius Maleficarum, written
by Catholic inquisitors and theologians. We can see the long
history our society has of fearing female agency. Here is
a quote from that book. When a woman thinks alone,
she thinks evil, which I can't deny, but come uh.
(04:03):
He claimed that women were having sex with devils and
demons and writing on roomsticks a k a uh dildos,
which was troublesome because it implied that these women didn't
need a man. Look, I know, horror of horrors. The
book addresses it directly in quote how as it were,
which is deprived men of his virile member? Uh? Yes,
(04:28):
And it goes on. And what then is to be
thought of those witches who, in this way sometimes collect
male organs in great numbers, as many as twenty or
thirty members together, and put them in a bird's nest,
or shut them up in a box where they moved
themselves like living members and he oats and corn as as.
But as has been seen by many, and it is
(04:51):
a matter of common report right there, right, that's like
a pet I I mean, it's really funny now their
modern eyes. But yes they I mean they were killing
people um from the mid four hundreds of sixteen hundreds, yes,
which hunting resulted in a death of up to one
(05:12):
hundred thousand in Europe. About eight percent of those deaths
were women, many who lived in some way on the
outside of society. Healers midwives, those who lived alone or
poor or widowed, or in some way controlled or owned property.
Those who complained if they weren't religious. Um torture usually followed,
(05:35):
including an examining of the body for a third nipple
and a vaginal teat where it was believed that women
milk gave their milk to like goats and rabbits and stuff,
and it found guilty death by fire, beheading, or hanging.
So the examination was an autopsy after they died. No,
(05:55):
this was before hand, Yeah and interesting. So historians believe
which hunting had to do with Europe's and later America's
need to control women's bodies surprise, and their ability to reproduce.
Of course, within the sanction family structure for capital and labor,
(06:17):
their ability to produce more workers. This included the bodies
of enslaved black women as well. Enslaved women of childbearing
age were called an increase because they could increase potential
wealth of the owner. Women who quote did not need
a man who weren't having children for one reason or
another were a threat. The Maliu's mouth Acuram addresses this
(06:39):
directly too, so quote how which is impede and prevent
the power of procreation and quote, which is, who are
midwives in various ways kill the child conceived in the
womb and procure an abortion or if they did not,
this offer newborn children to the devil obviously jeez oh.
(07:02):
And I just want to put in here too. We're
not focusing on it today, but there is a witch
hunting tradition outside of Western culture. Uh. And I know
I read some about what has happened in India and Africa.
Would love to come back to that too, but pretty
much focusing on Europe in America for today. Um. In
(07:24):
fourteen four, Pope Innocent the Eighth, who I would bet
everything I have was not innocent everything I have? Um?
He claimed that which is quote, by their incantations, spells,
conjurations and other accursive superstitions and horrid charms, enormities and
offenses destroy the outspring of women. They hinder men from
(07:45):
generating and women from conceiving. How dare they? Yes? Terrible?
As Sylvia FREDERICI concluded in her two thousand four work,
Caliban and the witch witch hunts fueled by misogyny were
one of the building blocks of capitalism and our mod
in state, along with land and other natural resources. Women's
bodies and enslaved bodies were exploited for capitalistic profit. Previous
(08:08):
feminist thinkers argue too, that the targeting of midwives in
particular was a way of making women dependent on male
doctors for knowledge about their own bodies, something that continues
to this day if we think about who is creating
an upholding laws about our reprotective rights restrictions around childcare
and paid leave. In this context, the rise of digital
covens casting hexes on Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh makes
(08:32):
sense too. And the fear of which is seen in
churches saying protective spells to save them from hexes. I
actually didn't know that happened until doing this research. Well,
I mean, that's what's happening apparently in this protest which
churches are like trying to get the hexes off. And
also I don't know about the charges probaying to get
the protectives away from the hexes, but which is our
(08:54):
sending out hexes? Oh okay, I was like, yeah, I
knew about that. Now if they hear that there are
which is out there's that's gonna be somewhere somebody it's
going to be doing this, I'm betting. So we started
to see a mark resurgence in which is in our
media in the nineteen sixties and seventies, and there was
(09:15):
one main difference though. Instead of old hags, these new
witches were seductresses, young and sexy. Gone was an old
woman and the threat to fertility she symbolized replaced with
the threat of female sexuality scary something to be feared
and obviously punished because you gotta and the new which
was something to be consumed by who else men and
(09:39):
of course then discarded. Yes. Some prime examples include the
nineteen seventy two film The Version, which the film follows
a model who gets all mixed up with the covin
of lesbian, which is of course it was endorsed by
a British adult magazine, if that tells you anything. Um.
This was a typical plotline of which portation films. Young
woman seduced by witchcraft somehow and this frees her from
(10:03):
her sexual inhibitions. They usually have elements of softcore porn
and horror, which is power, the fear she held over men.
It was turned into something that served their pleasure, and
she eventually was punished for that power. Bitchcraft is another
example from the seventies. Um and the Mark of the
Devil a nineteen seventies German film about an Austrian witch hunter,
(10:26):
and it came with the promise that it would set
your stomach. I believe it's set on the poster guaranteed
to upset your stomach. Interesting, indeed, very interesting. So that's
kind of a rundown of exportation films and some witch
plotation films. We do have some more for you, but
(10:46):
first we have a quick break for word from our sponsor,
and we're back, Thank you, sponsor, and we're back with
something a lot of you listeners have written in about,
(11:08):
so I'm excited to talk about it. Yeah. So, as
we've discussed in previous episodes, which is are having a
cultural reno sance, one that seems to crust and fall
every decade or more so. One move that came up
in our research and a few of you have suggested
we check out is The Love which by Anna Biller.
It presents a feminist take on the whole witch ploittation thing.
(11:29):
Here's the plot. A beautiful young witch named Elaine cast
a love spell to find her perfect match. It doesn't
turn out like she imagined and leads to a murder
spree and a brush with insanity. Of course, while there
are signs of our modern day, much of it involves
the style of sixties which ploitation film. The rituals are
(11:50):
shot with the same attention frequently given to the female
body in these films, and while her body is exposed
in certain ways, imagery around her Mistrell cycle, for instance,
is not done for pornographic purposes, is done to illustrate
dual power and the vulnerability of female body. The director
has expressed her frustration that her previous films were labeled
as exploitation instead of critics on those films that borrowed
(12:13):
some of their styles. To underline the point, and we
can see that here in this one. Elaine is wooden
in the way she speaks, in acts, stilted, in one dimensional.
She was in love with the idea of love. But
every time my suitor shows any real emotion towards her,
she kills them whoops, and she doesn't understand it either,
resorting to a spell. Really, she's more interested in power.
(12:35):
She's what women so frequently are in poor movies, a
one dimensional rendering without emotions, She even says that you
have to give men sex and that that's love. But
the movie is on it totally self aware. It flips
the stereotype and every time that man shows emotions, she's
the one that can't take it. Yeah. I really enjoyed
watching this movie. And the first time I watched it,
(12:58):
I was like, man, she just like flat out saying
really sexist things, and the person she's talking to, Trish,
is like you you've been brainwashed by the patriarchy, and like, oh, whoa,
what is this movie? There? It is? It's true. Um,
here's the quote from Alice and Anders at talk House,
(13:19):
fear of the female planet rules the men and the love,
which they not only recoiled the side of a bloody
tamp on one cop doesn't even know what it is.
It continues to amaze me how ministruation is still such
a taboo and cinema. Thank you someone else who agrees
with my whole theory that it's all about male writer's
fear of the female period. Um, it's a marvelous delight
(13:41):
to see the male characters not only not in charge
of the narrative, but disempowered and frivolous. It's hard to
feel sorry for any of them, honestly, and that's really
really fun for a change, to see the men as
the one dimensional characters, the ones we find hard to
take seriously, the uninteresting ones that so father Biller has
called Lane a quote glam or, which but in a
(14:02):
sense of the true meaning of the word. The relationship
between filming and allure and magic, but in our culture
has gotten reduced to superficial appearances. So this uses in
the film provides commentary on how female power has been
reduced down to beauty and a facade of power quick
and fading. Elaine even flashes back to her ex husband,
praising her for wearing makeup and for losing weight, equating
(14:24):
her artificial power to her looks, and the camera frequently
zooms in on her eye makeup as she cast spells,
suggesting her power comes from this artificiality, and when the
magic has done his job, the makeup has shown smeared.
Mm hmmm um. The film also critiques our media representation
of witchcraft and paganism. The male leader of the Covin
(14:46):
is the one who lectures the female members on how
to get men in power. This was another steamer. It's
like wait, what is happening here? Um, he says, you
know you've got to wear makeup, You've got to use
your sexuality. Elaine's joining ritual is played off much more
as an abusive thing, with the leader having sex with
her while the others watch. Um. This movie came out
(15:06):
three days after the election, and Biller said about it
as soon as the election happened that the reviews became
very different. And those scenes with the near rape and
the crowd shouting burn the Witch, that all feels pretty
Trumpian all of a sudden. Um. And our previous feminist movie,
Friday Pick the Witch comes up a lot in which
(15:28):
pointation conversation too, is another example of turning that stereotypical
narrative that trope on its head. Feminism does end up
as part of this conversation quite a bit, which makes
sense given how often conversations around which is involved feminism,
as you could tell when we've been talking about the movie.
For example, there are the hashtag, which is of Instagram,
(15:51):
a group looking to introduce people to the craft by
spreading information via social media, and they post it called images,
often with feminist captions. And there's this quote from Rachel
Mosley's Glamorous Witchcraft, Gender and Magic and teen film and television,
The myth of the which is essentially a product of
male fears, historical stories warned of, which is crash shading
(16:11):
men of unbalancing patriarchal structures, which is which Yes, we
do have a little bit more for you listeners, but
first we have one more cup break for word from
our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsor. Something else
(16:40):
we wanted to touch on. It was the rise of
black millennial women practicing witchcraft and particularly African rituals. And
there's actually someone Eve's um is trying to put me
in contact with. He works at Georgia Tech who knows
all about this, and I would love to talk to her. Um. Yeah. Yeah.
Many of these black women describe it as empowering, and
(17:02):
along with that, we've seen an anxiety around white women
appropriating or continuing to appropriate uh African rituals. You can
even hear it uh in Princess Nokia's song Brujas Everything
You've Got you got from Us. So in twenty fifteen,
Lakisha Harris formed a digital coven called Black Witch Chronicles,
and in twenty seventeen she opened a Black Witch University
(17:25):
with the goal of reclaiming African traditions and concepts. When
it comes to witchcraft, Vice quoted her as saying, Audrey
Lord says, the master tools will never dismantle the Master's house.
So what will dismantle the Master's house? Your tools? Go
and reclaim your tools, your magical dismantle the Master's house.
And they have a podcast, so if you want to
check it out, you definitely should. Yes, Yes, in a
(17:48):
very very teen nut show. African American witchcraft is thought
to originate with the West African yoruba Um religious traditions
centered on ancestors and deities. Once enslaved with African people's
were forcibly brought over to colonial America, your combined and
involved with Western religions like Catholicism, also largely forcibly eventually
(18:10):
giving birth to things like voo doo and who do.
And there's been a long history of exotstizing and fetishizing
and mothering of witchcraft practiced by black people, and we
see that play out in our media. While which is
in general empowered in our media, black witches are often
one dimensional characters that prop up the main white Witches storyline,
and many are culturally problematic and or depict evil villas
(18:32):
terrorizing good white people. This speaks to not only the
lack of representation, but continue fear of the power and
agency of black women. Yes, um, always we always suggest
being critical of your media and its messaging. Do your research. UM.
I have a good friend who says, you know, she
(18:53):
has kids, and before she shows her kids anything, even
if she remembers it fondly, uh, worth a rewatch because
you don't You might not remember something in there. It
doesn't mean don't show it, but you know, have that
conversation if you need to of problematic messaging or or
don't show it. You know, right, critic I was gonna say,
(19:14):
I think our new game and our generation has become well,
I guess it's every generation. Honestly, when we think of
things fondly as children and we re watch it and
you're like, oh my god, why didn't my parents let
me watch this? Yes, yeah, some of it has been shocking, honestly,
like oh wow, um, interesting messaging in this one, um.
(19:37):
And certainly as we are seeing this resurgence in which
is in our media. I found a lot of examples
of Black which is more fully developed, well formed characters,
and we would love suggestions from listeners. I really appreciate
the love which suggestion spot On loved it. Um So,
if you have any more for us to to check
(20:00):
out or that we should share with the sminty audience,
please send them to us. You can send them to
Stuff Media Mom Stuff at i heeart media dot com.
You can also find us on Twitter at momsff podcast
or on Instagram and Stuff I Never Told You. Thanks
as always to your super producer Andrew Howard comes up,
and thanks to you for listening. Stuff I Never Told You,
(20:20):
the production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
iHeart Radio, visit i Heeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows,
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to stuff.
I never told you protection of I heart radio, so
this fun it was something I'd never heard of, but
definitely should have known it was a thing, but you
(00:27):
brought it to my attention Samantha. Today we're talking about
which plantation, right, Yeah, I was very of course, I
was in my world of twitter verse and there was
several uh whether it was I think she was publishing
some books and doing some speaking and then below was
talking about whish plotation, which I was like, whoa, oh, oh,
(00:50):
what is this? Annie must know? And I just started
to texting, you know, I was like, hey, let's talk
about this because this sounds really interesting, especially since we
seem to be really too, which is right now and
by the way, they're killing it at the protests like
they're there and go ahead, which is yes, yes, um.
It's a long history of which is in protesting, which
(01:11):
will touch on a little bit in this one, and
we have touched on it before, and yeah, we've been
doing a lot of which content lately. We did the Craft,
we did the witch um right, so we thought more
we have a big list. We do have a big
list that it's not a lie. So as we love
to do. At the start with the definition in a
(01:34):
literature cinema, the use of the craft are more broadly
paganism in general for sensationalistic, usually horror inducing ends. Um.
And this is from the Mapping Contemporary Cinema website, which
I found a lot of great content on if you're interested, Um,
(01:54):
it might help us to define the exportation film genre
at large. Two and a bit of that history. So
these films emerged in the nineteen thirties and at the
time they were uh verging on pornographic, often described as
the film version of freak shows, and they usually came
(02:15):
with some heavy handed moral messaging. They frequently used pornographic
images to condemn pornography, for example, playing on what audiences wanted,
what they thought was forbidden, and then getting away with
it under the guys that ultimately they were condemning these things,
i e. The sexy lady would die for being sexy.
(02:35):
A simple definition of exploitation films is something that is
in quote bad taste for the time. Yeah. So, by
the time the sixties rolled around, exploitation films had evolved
from the strip tease to the nudity blatantly looking to
start up feelings that were disturbing and arousing. The moral
lesson was out the window, and this happened to coincide
(02:56):
with the renewed interest in which is wicka the occult
and in part driven by the psychedelic community. Here we
see the rise of which plantation films. So let's talk
about which is One of the most recent examples of
mass which burning was the Salem which trials of the
six hundreds, culminating in the death of fourteen women. But
(03:16):
our cultural interest never truly went away, as we see
it all the time, Yes, as we keep talking about
it ourselves. Also Asterix, there a lot of people use
the term which burning to call to encompass any kind
of killing, of which is in the Salem which trials.
I believe it was hanging um. But yes, the death
(03:38):
the execution of which is if we step back to
six is best selling witch hunting manual Malius Maleficarum, written
by Catholic inquisitors and theologians. We can see the long
history our society has of fearing female agency. Here is
a quote from that book. When a woman thinks alone,
she thinks evil, which I can't deny, but come uh.
(04:03):
He claimed that women were having sex with devils and
demons and writing on roomsticks a k a uh dildos,
which was troublesome because it implied that these women didn't
need a man. Look, I know, horror of horrors. The
book addresses it directly in quote how as it were,
which is deprived men of his virile member? Uh? Yes,
(04:28):
And it goes on. And what then is to be
thought of those witches who, in this way sometimes collect
male organs in great numbers, as many as twenty or
thirty members together, and put them in a bird's nest,
or shut them up in a box where they moved
themselves like living members and he oats and corn as as.
But as has been seen by many, and it is
(04:51):
a matter of common report right there, right, that's like
a pet I I mean, it's really funny now their
modern eyes. But yes they I mean they were killing
people um from the mid four hundreds of sixteen hundreds, yes,
which hunting resulted in a death of up to one
(05:12):
hundred thousand in Europe. About eight percent of those deaths
were women, many who lived in some way on the
outside of society. Healers midwives, those who lived alone or
poor or widowed, or in some way controlled or owned property.
Those who complained if they weren't religious. Um torture usually followed,
(05:35):
including an examining of the body for a third nipple
and a vaginal teat where it was believed that women
milk gave their milk to like goats and rabbits and stuff,
and it found guilty death by fire, beheading, or hanging.
So the examination was an autopsy after they died. No,
(05:55):
this was before hand, Yeah and interesting. So historians believe
which hunting had to do with Europe's and later America's
need to control women's bodies surprise, and their ability to reproduce.
Of course, within the sanction family structure for capital and labor,
(06:17):
their ability to produce more workers. This included the bodies
of enslaved black women as well. Enslaved women of childbearing
age were called an increase because they could increase potential
wealth of the owner. Women who quote did not need
a man who weren't having children for one reason or
another were a threat. The Maliu's mouth Acuram addresses this
(06:39):
directly too, so quote how which is impede and prevent
the power of procreation and quote, which is, who are
midwives in various ways kill the child conceived in the
womb and procure an abortion or if they did not,
this offer newborn children to the devil obviously jeez oh.
(07:02):
And I just want to put in here too. We're
not focusing on it today, but there is a witch
hunting tradition outside of Western culture. Uh. And I know
I read some about what has happened in India and Africa.
Would love to come back to that too, but pretty
much focusing on Europe in America for today. Um. In
(07:24):
fourteen four, Pope Innocent the Eighth, who I would bet
everything I have was not innocent everything I have? Um?
He claimed that which is quote, by their incantations, spells,
conjurations and other accursive superstitions and horrid charms, enormities and
offenses destroy the outspring of women. They hinder men from
(07:45):
generating and women from conceiving. How dare they? Yes? Terrible?
As Sylvia FREDERICI concluded in her two thousand four work,
Caliban and the witch witch hunts fueled by misogyny were
one of the building blocks of capitalism and our mod
in state, along with land and other natural resources. Women's
bodies and enslaved bodies were exploited for capitalistic profit. Previous
(08:08):
feminist thinkers argue too, that the targeting of midwives in
particular was a way of making women dependent on male
doctors for knowledge about their own bodies, something that continues
to this day if we think about who is creating
an upholding laws about our reprotective rights restrictions around childcare
and paid leave. In this context, the rise of digital
covens casting hexes on Donald Trump and Brett Kavanaugh makes
(08:32):
sense too. And the fear of which is seen in
churches saying protective spells to save them from hexes. I
actually didn't know that happened until doing this research. Well,
I mean, that's what's happening apparently in this protest which
churches are like trying to get the hexes off. And
also I don't know about the charges probaying to get
the protectives away from the hexes, but which is our
(08:54):
sending out hexes? Oh okay, I was like, yeah, I
knew about that. Now if they hear that there are
which is out there's that's gonna be somewhere somebody it's
going to be doing this, I'm betting. So we started
to see a mark resurgence in which is in our
media in the nineteen sixties and seventies, and there was
(09:15):
one main difference though. Instead of old hags, these new
witches were seductresses, young and sexy. Gone was an old
woman and the threat to fertility she symbolized replaced with
the threat of female sexuality scary something to be feared
and obviously punished because you gotta and the new which
was something to be consumed by who else men and
(09:39):
of course then discarded. Yes. Some prime examples include the
nineteen seventy two film The Version, which the film follows
a model who gets all mixed up with the covin
of lesbian, which is of course it was endorsed by
a British adult magazine, if that tells you anything. Um.
This was a typical plotline of which portation films. Young
woman seduced by witchcraft somehow and this frees her from
(10:03):
her sexual inhibitions. They usually have elements of softcore porn
and horror, which is power, the fear she held over men.
It was turned into something that served their pleasure, and
she eventually was punished for that power. Bitchcraft is another
example from the seventies. Um and the Mark of the
Devil a nineteen seventies German film about an Austrian witch hunter,
(10:26):
and it came with the promise that it would set
your stomach. I believe it's set on the poster guaranteed
to upset your stomach. Interesting, indeed, very interesting. So that's
kind of a rundown of exportation films and some witch
plotation films. We do have some more for you, but
(10:46):
first we have a quick break for word from our sponsor,
and we're back, Thank you, sponsor, and we're back with
something a lot of you listeners have written in about,
(11:08):
so I'm excited to talk about it. Yeah. So, as
we've discussed in previous episodes, which is are having a
cultural reno sance, one that seems to crust and fall
every decade or more so. One move that came up
in our research and a few of you have suggested
we check out is The Love which by Anna Biller.
It presents a feminist take on the whole witch ploittation thing.
(11:29):
Here's the plot. A beautiful young witch named Elaine cast
a love spell to find her perfect match. It doesn't
turn out like she imagined and leads to a murder
spree and a brush with insanity. Of course, while there
are signs of our modern day, much of it involves
the style of sixties which ploitation film. The rituals are
(11:50):
shot with the same attention frequently given to the female
body in these films, and while her body is exposed
in certain ways, imagery around her Mistrell cycle, for instance,
is not done for pornographic purposes, is done to illustrate
dual power and the vulnerability of female body. The director
has expressed her frustration that her previous films were labeled
as exploitation instead of critics on those films that borrowed
(12:13):
some of their styles. To underline the point, and we
can see that here in this one. Elaine is wooden
in the way she speaks, in acts, stilted, in one dimensional.
She was in love with the idea of love. But
every time my suitor shows any real emotion towards her,
she kills them whoops, and she doesn't understand it either,
resorting to a spell. Really, she's more interested in power.
(12:35):
She's what women so frequently are in poor movies, a
one dimensional rendering without emotions, She even says that you
have to give men sex and that that's love. But
the movie is on it totally self aware. It flips
the stereotype and every time that man shows emotions, she's
the one that can't take it. Yeah. I really enjoyed
watching this movie. And the first time I watched it,
(12:58):
I was like, man, she just like flat out saying
really sexist things, and the person she's talking to, Trish,
is like you you've been brainwashed by the patriarchy, and like, oh, whoa,
what is this movie? There? It is? It's true. Um,
here's the quote from Alice and Anders at talk House,
(13:19):
fear of the female planet rules the men and the love,
which they not only recoiled the side of a bloody
tamp on one cop doesn't even know what it is.
It continues to amaze me how ministruation is still such
a taboo and cinema. Thank you someone else who agrees
with my whole theory that it's all about male writer's
fear of the female period. Um, it's a marvelous delight
(13:41):
to see the male characters not only not in charge
of the narrative, but disempowered and frivolous. It's hard to
feel sorry for any of them, honestly, and that's really
really fun for a change, to see the men as
the one dimensional characters, the ones we find hard to
take seriously, the uninteresting ones that so father Biller has
called Lane a quote glam or, which but in a
(14:02):
sense of the true meaning of the word. The relationship
between filming and allure and magic, but in our culture
has gotten reduced to superficial appearances. So this uses in
the film provides commentary on how female power has been
reduced down to beauty and a facade of power quick
and fading. Elaine even flashes back to her ex husband,
praising her for wearing makeup and for losing weight, equating
(14:24):
her artificial power to her looks, and the camera frequently
zooms in on her eye makeup as she cast spells,
suggesting her power comes from this artificiality, and when the
magic has done his job, the makeup has shown smeared.
Mm hmmm um. The film also critiques our media representation
of witchcraft and paganism. The male leader of the Covin
(14:46):
is the one who lectures the female members on how
to get men in power. This was another steamer. It's
like wait, what is happening here? Um, he says, you
know you've got to wear makeup, You've got to use
your sexuality. Elaine's joining ritual is played off much more
as an abusive thing, with the leader having sex with
her while the others watch. Um. This movie came out
(15:06):
three days after the election, and Biller said about it
as soon as the election happened that the reviews became
very different. And those scenes with the near rape and
the crowd shouting burn the Witch, that all feels pretty
Trumpian all of a sudden. Um. And our previous feminist movie,
Friday Pick the Witch comes up a lot in which
(15:28):
pointation conversation too, is another example of turning that stereotypical
narrative that trope on its head. Feminism does end up
as part of this conversation quite a bit, which makes
sense given how often conversations around which is involved feminism,
as you could tell when we've been talking about the movie.
For example, there are the hashtag, which is of Instagram,
(15:51):
a group looking to introduce people to the craft by
spreading information via social media, and they post it called images,
often with feminist captions. And there's this quote from Rachel
Mosley's Glamorous Witchcraft, Gender and Magic and teen film and television,
The myth of the which is essentially a product of
male fears, historical stories warned of, which is crash shading
(16:11):
men of unbalancing patriarchal structures, which is which Yes, we
do have a little bit more for you listeners, but
first we have one more cup break for word from
our sponsor, and we're back, Thank you sponsor. Something else
(16:40):
we wanted to touch on. It was the rise of
black millennial women practicing witchcraft and particularly African rituals. And
there's actually someone Eve's um is trying to put me
in contact with. He works at Georgia Tech who knows
all about this, and I would love to talk to her. Um. Yeah. Yeah.
Many of these black women describe it as empowering, and
(17:02):
along with that, we've seen an anxiety around white women
appropriating or continuing to appropriate uh African rituals. You can
even hear it uh in Princess Nokia's song Brujas Everything
You've Got you got from Us. So in twenty fifteen,
Lakisha Harris formed a digital coven called Black Witch Chronicles,
and in twenty seventeen she opened a Black Witch University
(17:25):
with the goal of reclaiming African traditions and concepts. When
it comes to witchcraft, Vice quoted her as saying, Audrey
Lord says, the master tools will never dismantle the Master's house.
So what will dismantle the Master's house? Your tools? Go
and reclaim your tools, your magical dismantle the Master's house.
And they have a podcast, so if you want to
check it out, you definitely should. Yes, Yes, in a
(17:48):
very very teen nut show. African American witchcraft is thought
to originate with the West African yoruba Um religious traditions
centered on ancestors and deities. Once enslaved with African people's
were forcibly brought over to colonial America, your combined and
involved with Western religions like Catholicism, also largely forcibly eventually
(18:10):
giving birth to things like voo doo and who do.
And there's been a long history of exotstizing and fetishizing
and mothering of witchcraft practiced by black people, and we
see that play out in our media. While which is
in general empowered in our media, black witches are often
one dimensional characters that prop up the main white Witches storyline,
and many are culturally problematic and or depict evil villas
(18:32):
terrorizing good white people. This speaks to not only the
lack of representation, but continue fear of the power and
agency of black women. Yes, um, always we always suggest
being critical of your media and its messaging. Do your research. UM.
I have a good friend who says, you know, she
(18:53):
has kids, and before she shows her kids anything, even
if she remembers it fondly, uh, worth a rewatch because
you don't You might not remember something in there. It
doesn't mean don't show it, but you know, have that
conversation if you need to of problematic messaging or or
don't show it. You know, right, critic I was gonna say,
(19:14):
I think our new game and our generation has become well,
I guess it's every generation. Honestly, when we think of
things fondly as children and we re watch it and
you're like, oh my god, why didn't my parents let
me watch this? Yes, yeah, some of it has been shocking, honestly,
like oh wow, um, interesting messaging in this one, um.
(19:37):
And certainly as we are seeing this resurgence in which
is in our media. I found a lot of examples
of Black which is more fully developed, well formed characters,
and we would love suggestions from listeners. I really appreciate
the love which suggestion spot On loved it. Um So,
if you have any more for us to to check
(20:00):
out or that we should share with the sminty audience,
please send them to us. You can send them to
Stuff Media Mom Stuff at i heeart media dot com.
You can also find us on Twitter at momsff podcast
or on Instagram and Stuff I Never Told You. Thanks
as always to your super producer Andrew Howard comes up,
and thanks to you for listening. Stuff I Never Told You,
(20:20):
the production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from
iHeart Radio, visit i Heeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or
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