While Whedon’s witches have been recently attributed to causing a renewed interest in both feminism and Witchcraft, his ongoing misrepresentation of the Wiccan religion, helps to perpetuate the fears often associated with religious intolerance. In season one, episode three, “The Witch,” Whedon, presents a plot to his audience, which consists of the use of Witchcraft by a mother who is in envy of her daughter’s youth. Wanting to relive her high school cheerleading days, the mother uses witchcraft to switch bodies with her daughter, so that she can try out for and once again be, part of the high school cheerleading team. However, when the mother discovers that she is not good enough to make the cheerleading team, and has been given a spot only as an alternative cheerleader, she turns to magic to eliminate her competition. Using what can only be described as a cauldron full of green goo and Barbie dolls the mother begins to cast spells on individual cheerleaders. Hence, slowly, one by one, each of the cheerleaders succumbs to a strange and unusual alignment, which keeps them from being able to cheer until finally, the mother secures a spot on the team. The plot, an obvious play on the traditional perception of the dark and evil Witch, is used to perpetuate fear. The story line teaches us that Witches are selfish, evil and do evil things to others.

Unfortunately, despite, the obvious play on stereotypes in season one, Whedon’s misconceptions of Wicca and Witchcraft don’t end there. In season four Whedon exploits clichés concerning Witchcraft and lesbianism, when the shows main Wicca character Willow decides to join a collegiate “Wiccan group,” and meets her future girlfriend Tara. While Whedon will develop Willow and Tara’s relationship throughout seasons five and six, he ultimately kills Tara off with a stray bullet towards the end of season six. The season finally comes to an official end, when Tara’s death leads Willow to descend into dark magic, and Willow’s grief, ultimately opens the door for Willow to use her new magic to try and destroy the world.

While on the surface, modern day depictions of Witches and Witchcraft in shows like “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” may lead us to believe that we are becoming a more open minded, unbiased, religiously tolerant society, that message couldn’t be further from the truth. Just look at the message Whedon is sending out: Wicca and Witchcraft will lead to bad things happening to all those who practice and or believe in it, it will seduce otherwise good people into doing evil things and those who chose to follow a Wiccan/lesbian lifestyle will either die or be seduced by evil as a result.

It’s when we start to examine the storyline, plots and other information these kinds of shows are conveying to us, that we begin to discover that their messages are more often that not a mere reiteration of long-standing stereotypical perceptions. Take “Sabrina The Teenage Witch” for example which draws largely on the stereotype that witches end up as spinsters. In an episode titled, “The Great Mistake,” Sabrina who, as the show’s name implies, is a teenage witch, asks her Aunt Hilda, also a witch, how old she was when she had her first kiss, to which Hilda replies, “forty-eight!” (Booth Line 378) Sabrina then proceeds to ask her aunt if she has ever been married, to which her aunt replies that she has not. Hilda then goes on to tell Sabrina the story of how she was stood-up on her wedding day at an altar in Acropolis, by a man named Drell, a theme which would apparently play out again in the show’s finale, when Sabrina calls off her own wedding to a man named Aaron while standing at the alter.

The series, intended to be light, and funny, in fact at times is neither, particularly when it plays on the belief that women who practice Wicca and Witchcraft aredoomed to a life of spinsterhood. While one could argued that the series in leaving some of it’s main characters unmarried, is trying to present a more modern image of women, one has only to recall Hilda’s response to Sabrina’s initial question, about her first kiss, to realize that it is spinsterhood not modernity that the show is hinting at.

“Charmed,” on the other hand, tends to be a little less stereotypical when presenting it’s views of the relationships of Witches, in that at least one of the three sisters Paige, marries a normal, mortal, human in the final season. However while there are fewer stereotypes presented in “Charmed,” it does misrepresent the Wiccan religion and Witchcraft, in a number of other ways. For starters, “Charmed” tends to refer to supernatural powers--the ability to freeze time, see the future, and use telekinesis—as magic. Further, it also portrays magic, in its opening pilot as being something that is easily obtained and pays little attention to the years of study and hard work, that most Wiccans and practitioners of Witchcraft spend studying their religion and craft.
While each of these shows have exploited the negative stereotypes of Wicca and Witchcraft in one way or another, it appears that in spite of these exploitations, Wicca and Witchcraft are being, viewed in a positive light by many at least according to an academic study conducted by Dr. Kristen Aune of the sociology department at the University of Derby, who claims that “more than 50,000 women a year” who are unstatisfied with the “traditionalism and hierarchies they imagine are integral to the [Christian] church,” are “deserting their congregations,” thanks in part to shows like “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” which has introduced many young people to the female empowerment of the Wicca religion. (Beckford Pars. 1, 6, & 5) In a time when, women “feel forced out of the church because of its "silence" about sexual desire and activity, its hostility [towards] single-parent families and unmarried couples which are now a reality for many women,” in addition to the churches historic views which valued male members more so than female. (Beckford Par. 13)

Contary to the once widely held views of Witchcraft, as put forth by Aristotle, and those before him, who saw “women as being predisposed…to be witches,” because their “souls and bodies” where seen “as being inferior,” modern day Wicca and Witchcraft as portrayed in shows like “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Sabrina The Teenage Witch,” and “Charmed,” send out a strong, and attractive message that women are no longer inferior and can play central roles in the religion of their choice. (Brain Par. 1) This message obviously stands in sharp contrast to the message women receive “from Anglo-Catholic and conservative evangelist [communites] who believe that scripture and tradition teach that bishops must be male.” (Beckford Par. 19) Hence as more and more women leave the church to practice what they deem to be friendlier Neopagan religions, the Christian church has been left to deal with the “damaging effects of it’s traditional attitudes towards women.” (Beckford Par. 18)

In the end, while television shows like “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Sabrina The Teenage Witch,” and “Charmed,” play on negative stereotypes surrounding non-traditional Neo-pagan faiths, they also help to enlighten us that such faiths exist. While their protrayals of such religions and traditions may not always be acurate, they do have a profound impact on our culture in that, they make us question our own beliefs and ultimately lead to changes in our social structure, as is evident by the Christian’s church’s recent adoption of “female bishops.” While on the surface shows like “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Sabrina The Teenage Witch,” and “Charmed,” may seem like little more than teenage dramas, in reality they are so much more. For those willing to look past the obvious, these shows provide a world of insight into our culture.

Citations:

1 Buffy The Vampire Slayer. “Tough Love.” Dir. Joss Whedon. The WB, 1 May. 2001 Transcript. Joan http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/097_tran.html
2 Sabrina The Teenage Witch. “The Great Mistake.” Dir. Jon Sherman ABC, 2 May. 1997 Transcript. Booth, Paul. http://www.tvtdb.com/sabrina/transcripts/1x22.php
3. Beckford, Martin. Buffy the Vampire Slayer slaying church attendance among women, study claims. Telegraph [U.K.] 23 Aug 2008 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/2603343/Buffy-the-Vampire-Slayer-slaying-church-attendance-among-women-study-claims.html
4. Brain, James L. “An Anthropological Perspectice on the Witchcraze.” Magic, Witchcraft and Religion: An Anthropological Study of The Supernatural. Lehmann, Arthur C. and Myers, James E. 5th ed. Mountain View, CA 2001. 208.