What's next a Werewolf in the White House?

There was a time when monsters weren't funny. Before the hilarity of: Twilight, American Werewolf in London, Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein, etc. Werewolves roamed the Earth, coming out at night, making the body their possession. What was worse, becoming a Werewolf or getting eaten by one? I think most people would rather take their own life then eat a loved one. Times have changed, we no longer fear what we once did. Now we make satire, I think perhaps the best example of this (there are many) is The Werewolf of Washington. The story of a Hungarian Communist Werewolf biting the Press Secretary of the United States as he heads back to the U.S. While our lead player Jack  (the wolf) loses control, he seems to have some control over those he kills, mostly rich white folk with a pentagram on their hand (there is a running joke about people mixing up Pentagram and Pentagon.) There are a couple times he breaks down like a little puppy around those that he sees as weaker. This phenomena of taking the scary and turning it a little more "human" is strange to me. The beginning of the film takes place in Hungary, where people dress from a long lost time. No one seems to have a problem believing in a Werewolf, When Jack gets to the U.S. He soon realizes his predicament and tries to tell anyone who will listen what he is. But the Americans refuse to listen, it can't possibly be real. There is a metamorphosis (and it is glorious), no "illusions" or "hallucinations". No eating of babies, I mean this Werewolf runs around in a suit. I'm not sure how much more we can change the lore of the wolfman. I almost went with Altered States as another example of how we have changed our views on the Werewolf (although he is more of a Neanderthal), if anyone has seen that I'd love to hear their views on it. Jason Bateman was in Teen Wolf Too. Scott Baio was from .Charles in Charge.  Practical Magic had Nicole Kidman. The Craft was with Fairuza Balk.

Worgen, the Werewolves of Azeroth

            My favorite contemporary example of werewolves comes from World of Warcraft, an immensely popular video game. In this game there are a race of characters called Worgen, whose beginnings relate strongly to the early modern period werewolves. Worgen began as humans or elves who fell under a curse and would turn into a werewolf form, part wolf and part humanoid. Although not initially evil or bearing ill intentions, they were seen as outcasts because of their monstrous form, and were exiled or imprisoned. They were seen as outcasts and monsters, and thus treated inhumanely, just as people in the early modern period treated the alleged werewolves in the werewolf persecutions. The punishment of Stubbe Peter was clearly a punishment far beyond the ethical boundaries of treatment for any human, regardless of their crimes. However, in World of Warcraft, the Worgen are able to push past being seen as monstrous and reintegrate themselves into society.

            The acceptance of Worgen as another regular race began when a small group of the original Worgen, turned feral and evil by their imprisonment, escaped and began to attack and infect a major human city. As more and more humans fell under the curse, it was clear that it was spreading too fast to be controlled. The remaining scientists and wizards all gave one last effort to find a cure before the entire city was destroyed. They succeeded in finding a solution that although not a complete cure, prevented the curse from being spread any further. The Worgen that were cured could no longer pass on the curse, but they also did not completely regain their human form. They have the ability to transform between a human and Worgen form, however their Worgen form comes out naturally under high emotional stress or in combat. This new race of Worgen, very similar to popular perceptions of werewolves with the ability to transform between human and wolfish forms, began to build a new society and sought to be accepted again amongst their human compatriots in other areas of the world. Eventually they were successful, and the Worgen were accepted into the Alliance as a real race, equal to the other races of men, elves, and dwarves. This acceptance shows how people were able to look past the monstrous form and pay attention to the fact that they were still a population with physical and intellectual capabilities equal to those of the other high races. Similarly, our modern society is experiencing a social movement towards not viewing any group of people as monstrous. Whether it be race, sexual identity or orientation, or any other factor, we are beginning to become more accepting of all people, just as werewolves, or Worgen, were able to become accepted into their culture.

Good Witch True Witch?

In Hallmark Channel's series, The Good Witch, Catherine Bell plays the town of Middleton’s “modern witch” Miss Cassie Nightingale. In the movie series of the franchise, we never see Cassie do any magic but it is implied that she is magical by the soundtrack, the odd things that seem to work out for her, and her knowing look. Unlike her broomstick flying counterparts, Cassie is more like the wise herbalist who able to cure the townspeople’s hurts with some home remedies and some clever little tricks that force people to build relationships with each other. The townspeople visit her shop  Bell, Book, & Candle ( which is another witch movie) tell her their life problems and she is able to give them something to solve the issue if they are willing to put some work in themselves. With society's knowledge base broadening in all fields, Cassie is able to bring back some the mystic of the  early witches of around the world by using skills and techniques that can be explained, while leaving some things for the viewer to ponder over. This I believe is society's view of witches coming full circle where in the beginning “witches” were seen as healers and spiritual guides for the folk who couldn’t pay for a doctor.

It is interesting that we never see her do magic, but we do see some the signs associated with black magic. Her pet is a black cat, and she has the corn broom stick that we see flying witches’ use. The town’s resident Mrs Nosy, Martha Tinsdale, works to show that since Cassie is weird that she should be forced out of town. Eventually Martha accepts that Cassie is a good neighbor and stops trying to kick her out.  Since we never see Cassie consorting with the Devil and gets married in a Christian church, it is my belief that the series is saying that it is ok to be considered a witch if you don’t do what society considers evil.

There is a tv series that takes place after the movies but I don’t know if they still hold to Cassie never using “real” magic.

Wizards of Waverly Place - "Yea, I Went There"

The Wizards of Waverly Place is a Disney channel show with Selena Gomez as the front woman, so yes, I know, this blog post should end right now. However, the show provides a great case study in understanding the witch as a medium for social regulation.

Alex (Selena Gomez) is a witch in training with her two brothers. Once they reach a certain age, the three wizards/witches compete to keep their magical abilities. Only one witch may continue using their powers, and a little sibling competition is the perfect test for which sibling ‘deserves’ the mantle. Competition based on meritocracy is just another word for capitalism, and our society today is run on the ideal of capitalism. In the show, the magic is upheld as the end goal through fun shenanigans and predictable farces, but just look at the father who teaches Alex and her brothers magic. He was the good child in his family and was the rightful winner of the magic mantle, but he fell in love with a regular human and had to give up magic to his brother. Clearly, a message is presented here, one can either have a social life (wife, friends, etc.) or material wealth (magic), and based on the magnitude of quips tossed the fathers way and the fact that the show is about who is going to get the magic, wealth is clearly more highly valued. Yet, this is still a contemporary interpretation specific to the show. Taking a step higher, the witch as a symbol has evolved in its social, regulatory function, which is even more interesting.

Before, witches were used to symbolize behavior and ideals that were transgressive and not ok. They operated as a negative regulatory function. Negative of course meaning behaviors and world-views a person should not possess. However, today the witch serves a positive regulatory function. In other words, these are the behaviors and world-views one should part take in and value. So why were witches able to make this shift? Well western civilization evolved socially, technically, and economically. Now the original substance of the witch is irrelevant because of progress, but that doesn’t change the fact that the witch is a medium. Witches, werewolves, and vampires are paintbrushes, while the ideals they symbolize are the picture. These days the pervasive world-views and ideals revolve around capitalism, and ask any psychologist which works better: negative reinforcement or positive reinforcement.       

Witches Through Times

Witches are used to be evil figures in the classical stories. however, the opinion has been somehow changed these days. They are not ugly, old, withing wearing robes, hats with a magical wand in their hands. in stead, they would be as normal as one of us, which could not be recognized easily by their looking. and also people would prefer denying the exist of witchcraft due to their cognizance of science.   

The  most impressive movie i have watched is called The Skeleton Key. It talks about Caroline took the position at the plantation house lives with old couple. the lady of the house takes care of her husband, Ben, who cannot live the wheelchair for years because of stroke. Caroline has the key to every room in the house and one day she found a lot of weird stuff such as dolls, book of speels and other magical paraphernalia, which the lady of the house, Violet, claims that they are belong to the previous owner. The two previous owners are called Mama Cecile and Papa Justify, who were the practitioner of Hoodoo. Weird things happened to Caroline and the house, so at the end Caroline finds out Conjure of Sacrifice, a spell of immortality, in which the caster sacrifices someone and gains the remaining years of their life. and the truth is that Mama Cecile and Papa Justify have been using this Hoodoo method to extend their life for a long time with looking for other sacrifices.

while, as people became more educated and intelligent, they refuse to accept things they could not figure out. we believe that everything can be explained by science. And existence of witches might be real but there is only few people believe that. 

A modern perspective for the witch: Maleficent

According to Palmer’s reading, witches represent evilness and cruelness in ancient times. “The generic witch was a mythological construction composed of vague attributes and a culture of fear.” “ They were said to cause not only natural calamities such as death and drought, but more prosaic hurt such as the infliction of routine sickness or the loss of animals.” However, the 2014 Disney movie Maleficent portrays the witch in a totally different angle, or we can say, in a modern angle. In this movie, Maleficent show her evilness after the king betrays her and destroys her home. She is not born to be a wicked witch due to the fact that in the beginning of the movie, Maleficent is kind, innocent and warmhearted. This is significantly different from the reading: The witch is not intrinsically immoral anymore, and there are good witches in the world.

Furthermore, based on the reading, since ordinary people believe that witches are born to be bad and will always attack and hurt them, they try to kill witches as much as possible.“Between 1450 and 1700, hundreds of thousands of reputed witches were put on a trial.” “Perhaps 200,000 formally investigated witches were drowned, hanged, quartered, pressed with suffocating weights, burned at the stake.” However, in the movie, ordinary people have their own judgments of right or wrong. Their bias toward witches has been corrected. In contrast to the classic fairy tale, this movie dose not classifies characters in simple black and white. Instead, the witch loses her mind and tries to revenge initially. Then the trust and love is formed between Maleficent and the princess so that the witch ends up helping the princess going back to her kingdom.

Good Witch and Bad Witch

     Supernature, witchcraft, ghosts, monsters and so on are always a popular topic in the ACG culture (animation, comic, and game) in Japan. Recently I play two Japanese role-playing games related to the witch hunt, which I think demonstrate two specific types of witches in contemporary culture.
     The first one is called The Witch’s House. The heroine Viola was trapped in a witch’s house, facing the evil and magical traps the witch Ellen set to kill her. As the story continued, it seemed that Ellen had already killed dozens of kids in the house in order to keep herself alive by sacrificing the children to the demon. However, when Viola managed to destroy the house and escape from Ellen eventually, it turned out that Viola, whom players are controlling, was the real witch. The so-called “witch” throughout the game was the real Viola. Ellen cheated Viola to switch body and then took over whatever Viola used to have. The true identity of the main character was the witch, and the real Viola was just trying to get her body back. However, the story ended up a tragedy. Ellen, the real witch, successfully deceived Viola’s father and made him shoot his real daughter.
     Meanwhile, the other game named Wizard of White Box is a completely different story. The main character Maria lived in a forest with a wizard who literally had a white box on his head. One day, Maria accidentally encountered a dark shadowy creature in the forest and seemed to be in danger. The wizard came back in time and eliminated the monster. However, there is also a reversal in this story. Maria was the real witch and the wizard used to be the warrior who was sent to killed the witch by villagers. It turned out that Maria and her family had been prophets in the village before, but their ability to foretell the future decreased day by day. Eventually, their failure to predict disasters was regarded as their curse to the village, and the name of witch spread out. The villagers blamed Maria for every difficulty. Yet, the wizard of the white box they sent to kill the witch fell in love with her and let Maria forget her experience and her real identity by magic in order to keep her safe.
     Similarities between these two stories are apparent. Both the witches are covering their identities and pretending to be an irrelevant girl. Both of them hope to be normal and happy and living in ordinary life.
     Yet, the differences are also distinguishable. Ellen, who sacrifices children to the demon in exchange for her power and her life, represents the classic bad witch throughout the history. She is cruel, selfish, diabolical, and even erotic by implying her sexual interest in Viola’s father in the end. Her power is not inherently born. Instead, she voluntarily seeks for power from a devil and burns her parents to death as the first sacrifice. As Palmer claimed in his articles, witches, especially female witches, are the boundary for deviant and transgressive behaviors. In the past, witches were the women who fell out from social norms at that time, like prostitutes and sexual nonconformists.The public eliminated rebels simply by claiming they had witchcraft. They did so because they were evil. Nowadays, it seems that we will not consider a woman a witch basing on her sexual behaviors or her nonconforming attitudes toward the patriarchal norms. We set the boundary of deviance on certain behaviors like murder and massacre. However, in The Witch’s House, the reason that Ellen kills dozens of children and seduces her body’s father still falls into the classic category: she is a witch. She inherently has the evil in her. Or maybe a step further, she is a woman.
     On the other hand, in Wizard of White Box, Maria is apparently the good witch. First of all, her power to foretell the future is inborn. She doesn’t have a choice. She even wants to give up the ability if she can. Unlike The Witch’s House, there is no demon in this story. It also shows a trend that more and more witchcraft is designed to be inherent in many stories. In other words, as long as the witches don’t voluntarily seek for the power or have any other choice, then they are innocent. What’s more, villagers’ attitude toward Maria also fits one of Palmer’s explanations. The elite in the village knew that Maria and her family were not witches. However, the villagers needed some scapegoats to blame for the natural disasters and their own failure. Therefore the elite intentionally pushed Maria onto the rack, providing villagers a way to express their dissatisfaction and rage.
     As far as I concern, the real witchcraft still represents the deviance in our social norms. By the real witchcraft I mean the strong power that people voluntarily seek for. The inborn ability, which is more and more prevalent in the pop culture, is still sending out information that you are innocent because you don’t have a choice. You can’t choose to be a witch, but you are allowed to be born to be one. It sounds like the way we are talking about sexual orientation now.

The "Charmed" Trio

Over time there has been a steady shift in how we define a witch, the roles they play in our society, and the groups of people, social, and religious movements they tend to represent. Around the same time as the show “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” there was another show that dealt with a trio of witches and their lives in modern society, “Charmed.” While Sabrina was targeted towards a younger demographic with the show revolving around the main character and her adventures in high school, Charmed was targeted towards adults with their characters all being well past their high school years and dealing with issues of love and women holding positions of power and authority. The sisters in Charmed are meant to be the most powerful witches ever known already setting them up to mirror the struggles of women in society as more career paths open up for them in the professional world with a decrease of sexism in the work place and the fight for equality that has become ever more prevalent in the 21^st century.

Looking back on the writings of Palmer and Otten it is evident that the aspect of the witch was used as a tool to alienate women who lived differently and fulfilled roles in society that contrasted with social norms. As time went on society started to change their views on various things such as women’s roles in society, separation of church and state (where it was no longer a law to violate church doctrine), and what is and is not acceptable sexually. The sisters in Charmed allowed women to fulfill their desires by living vicariously through the lives of three sisters who are supposed to be the most powerful witches, more powerful than men or the warlocks, and have numerous romances with characters within the TV show.

In the end it can be seen that witches were more or less used to describe, as previously mentioned, a group of people, specifically women, who lived on the fringe of society; as what has been determined as being the “fringe” of society has changed, and that being different doesn’t necessarily mean evil, the witch has evolved from describing someone as an outcast to be hunted and tried for their evil crimes to a representation of what can be when the rules and boundaries of society are stretched. Although not literally witches in real life, women who now fill the seats where once only men stood, pose a problem to the age old traditions of man. By deeming them witches it is an attempt to oust those seen as a threat, but this is no longer a crime punishable by death and now represents an evolution in society and a way of coping with changes brought on by the development of new ways of thinking.

Hemlock Grove

Hemlock Grove is a TV series that sets place in modern day Hemlock Grove, Pennsylvania. The town is split economically after a steel mill shuts down (the major source of employment). The protagonist, Peter Rumancek is subject to a lot criticism as the people suspect he is a werewolf and behind the numerous murders in the town. Even the Peter is in fact a real werewolf there is no evidence saying he is besides the few friends that know. Throughout the episodes Peters friends unveil themselves as other monsters which we could go easily go in depth on. 

The show as a whole is a clear ode to the original tales of werewolves. The portrayal of poverty and the rich really sets the stage to create these low-life degenerates. In the times of the original trials there was a predominant number of peasants that appeared to be werewolves. Peter is a Gypsy so even the poverty-stricken do not like him, he is such an outcast everyone wants to pin the blame on him for the murders (even though he may have actually murdered people). Teenage females are usually the targets of the savage killings and they are left for random people to find. I can’t recall anything of incest but I do recall rape, murder and cannibalism (relating to the details of the trial records of lycanthropy).  

Because Peter is a Gypsy there are all sorts of unknown questions about where he is from and who he is. He comes from nowhere, woos girls and murders start to occur around his arrival. All signs point to him but the people of Hemlock Grove are really shoving their problems towards a common interest. 

The Scarlet Witch

The witches described in the Palmer article are given many attributes, although most of these stem from problems with women being in a position of power or from straying from societal norms. These fears manifested as witches allied with the devil. Witches were provocative creatures who had supernatural powers, such as flight. The attributes associated with witches are also associated with mysterious night. For this blog post, I chose to analyze the contemporary Scarlet Witch from the newest Avengers movie.

The Scarlet Witch has many similarities to historical witches, almost all of which are rooted in distrust and a lack of knowledge. The Scarlet Witch is able to manipulate her surrounding in a way that is never really explained. This is especially unusual, considering how much detail is put into the background stories for many other comic book characters. The Scarlet Witch’s powers also allow her to manipulate people, often causing them to see visions of their greatest fears. Unlike historical witches, the Scarlet Witch is not very provocative. Her attire is conservative for a modern movie and she has no apparent love interests throughout the movie. The presence of the Black Widow exaggerates the conservativeness of the Scarlet Witch.

The Scarlet Witch’s role in the movie also highlights a changing view of “the witch”. She starts as a character shrouded in mystery (she is often referred to as one of the twins, not by name), who is the result of some unknown experimentation. As she fights the Avengers, she is portrayed as evil, but she later becomes a valuable asset to the Avengers. Her character helps to show that a witch is no longer seen as inherently evil, but rather an empowered woman. Her character’s transformation could also reflect a change in sentiments regarding women in power.

Satan and Hircine's Hunters

I was really surprised to learn that the legend of the werewolves originated with witches and demon worship, which all came from the church. While I usually believe that most of the older monster stories from Europe have a religious background, contemporary media’s interpretations of werewolves made me believe that magic and demons had no relevance to them. Most of my monster knowledge comes from entertainment media such as video games (I am not the biggest fan of horror movies, which monster movies usually are). Most of the werewolves in these games tend to be regular people that were bitten by another werewolf at some point. This is why I thought of them as unfortunate casualties to an illness that was out of their control. This is why I had always believed that werewolves were something made up by ordinary citizens that experienced someone getting bitten by a wolf with rabies, just like one of the readings stated. In contemporary media, the victims of werewolf bites usually went through an unwilling transformation into a new werewolf every full moon. According to the readings however, the church believed that only god had the power to create and transform living beings. Werewolves were actually supposed to be witches that had the blessing of Satan, and thus were able to use illusions to disguise themselves as terrifying monsters. The only trait that the contemporary werewolf seemed to relate to its older versions is that they roam during full moons, which is when witches were believed to practice their devil worshiping.

Obviously not all of the newer werewolf stories are the same. There are some that are far more similar to the devil worshiping wolves from the readings. Out of the contemporary werewolves that I can remember, the ones that are the closest to its historical roots are the ones found in the video game series, The Elder Scrolls. Like most modern werewolves, lycanthropy is spread with a bite and they actually transform into beasts. The werewolves in these games are not witches. In fact, they are usually against the use of magic in a world full of it. The main reason that I find them similar to the original werewolves is because of the origin of the disease in the universe: it was given as a gift to the followers of some higher power. A Daedric Prince (equivalent to gods in The Elder Scrolls) called Hircine gave his believers the power of the werewolf so that they can hunt down any creature. Once werewolves died, their soul was claimed by the Daedric Prince. Similarly, Satan was also believed to have given the witches the forms of werewolves for a similar purpose: to hunt and kill the creations of god. The church also taught that people who commit sin (such as devil worship) were sent to hell to be tortured by Satan forever.

Other similarities between Hircine and Satan’s werewolves are that they are cannibals, and are feared by the rest of the residents of the world. Both of the deities gave their gifts to be used to induce fear to the people. However, only Hircine’s wolves gain actually strength to back up their appearances. The reason why I think the contemporary werewolves are not merely illusions is mainly because of secularism. The main reason werewolves couldn’t transform was because only god was supposed to have the power of life and transformation. As the church lost its influence, tales of Satan worshiping monsters died out and became scary stories people tell for entertainment. Stories of werewolves were probably separated for witches and magic to become a creature worthy of their own story.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Sabrina the Teenage Witch is a sitcom about a teenager witch that lives with her two aunts.  She lives the life as a normal teenager and nobody would be able to tell that she's a witch by looking at her.  This is quite different than what Palmer described witches to be in the early modern period.  She's not old and ugly.  She doesn't have satanic motives and has much more purpose than to cause misery for others.  Witches in today's society are even often seen as superior to regular humans.  They are the same except they can perform magic, whether it is for good or bad, it is something everyone has dreamed of being able to do.  Due to the way our society views witches, we are able to have shows like Sabrina that rely on comedy and family values.  They aren't these creatures that are out to get everyone anymore.
Similar to witches in the early modern period, Sabrina often has to deal with feeling like an outsider.  While the viewers may love her, this isn't always the case in the show.  While people aren't going after her wanting her killed, they're a little wary of her, because of the powers she holds.  If she doesn't like them, she has the ability to do some terrible things.  No matter how accepting society is of witches, there will always be a little tension between them due to the harm they can do with a point of a finger.  We never see Sabrina do anything too terrible though.  For the most part she uses magic to help her in her everyday life and it rarely affects those around her.

Witch Hunters

The only movie or show that I have seen that involves witches or werewolves that I can remember is "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters". This movie was based on the old story of Hansel and Gretel. It's been a couple years since I've seen it, but I still remember mainly what the witches were like. There are actually two kinds of witches; the white witches and dark witches. Obviously, the dark witches are the bad ones and the white witches are good. The way I picked up on the dark witches is that they were nasty and not very intelligent creatures. They were most likely from a lower class as they lived in the woods or something, but they could also kind of transform. The main bad witch looked decent and acted normal, but then transformed into a disgusting monster that had basically super powers. These dark witches can compare to the witch of older times. Palmer wrote an essay about witches that talks about how they are the most evil thing and have been brought here by the devil. He also talks about how they are far different than the norm and gives examples why such as cannibalism, incest, bestiality, etc. The dark witches from Hansel and Gretel can definitely resemble some of those characteristics as they could transform and basically ate people. They captured like 12 children and were going to sacrifice all of them into a fire or something and they were going to receive something in return. The dark witches may be like that since the story of Hansel and Gretel is from a while ago, but the white witches resemble more of the modern day witch. The white witches were trying to do good and help people. When people think of modern witches, most of them think of witches as being the good guys. This is because of the new TV shows and movies of witches being good. Maybe this all can be related to class however. The witch in the TV show (I forgot what it's called or what they are called) is pretty well off from what I remember from when I have seen it. The white witches in Hansel and Gretel are well off as well. I'm not sure about the ones from the modern day movies, but I believe are well off too. However, the witches of old times were thought of as the lower class, poor and disliked by fellow citizens. This is the case for the dark witches from Hansel and Gretel as well. Maybe the witches that are well off do "good" because of the upper class that they are in. Maybe the evil witches do bad things because they are the lower class and think they are being treated with disrespect. I feel like because of these things class may have a huge impact on the roles of witches in the past and today.

Wicked Witches

In line with the general trend of role reversal that has seemed to overtake modern day iterations of classical stories, the contemporary witch has become more a role of empowerment and celebration of the breaking of societal norms than a cautionary tale of transgressiveness.  “Consorting with the devil, who in turn urged all to violate God’s commandments, women were seemingly natural recruits to a culture of ultimate defiance in which the consecration of witchcraft was the Sabbat’s copulation with the devil and his worshipers, an unrestrained orgy of intercourse, sodomy, fellatio, mutual masturbation, incest, and group sex (Palmer 56).  During the time of the witch hunts when such thoughts of what witchcraft signified ran rampant, society thought of transgressive attitudes as untoward and wholly unacceptable.  As described in Palmer’s writings such individuals were thought to have committed such unnatural actions and sexual acts that many described as deeply sinful and possibly even satanic.  This attitude converses greatly with the more modern iterations of the witch that treat such attitudes of self-empowerment and strength.  One such modern witch, Elphaba from the play Wicked offers a perfect example.  Whereas in the original characterization of the Wicked Witch of the West the green-skinned deviant acted as the antagonist to, the for the most part normal, Dorothy, in the more recent retelling the witch is given a name, a life, and a cause that the audience can admire.  Instead of an advocate of chaos and evil she acts as a rebellious free spirit who fights for what she believes in without a care for what others might think.   Like the witches in the readings Elphaba is looked down upon.  The people around her, the society in which she resides see her as monstrous.  Seen as evil and very much hunted down.  So on the surface there is little difference between this modern witch and the historical ones.  Deviation instead comes into play when one takes the audience of such tales into consideration.  When pamphlets and cautionary tales of witch hunts and burnings spread across Europe they had the intention of instigating social control and warnings to not stray from the social norm, because to do so meant straying to evil.  With this new wicked witch of the west however, instead what once society oppressed and denounced as evil now presents itself as something to celebrate.  A symbol of courage, of steadfast belief, and resilience.  Somewhere the goal became not to oppress, but to admire those who stand against oppression.  And when that shift occurred witches changed from the antagonist to the protagonists.

The Witch as a figure of political change

In modern culture, the witch has become a more celebrated figure. She is still a subversion of patriarchal power, but that subversion is no longer as threatening--instead, the figures opposing the witch (i.e., the men in power) are seen as oppressive, dominating tyrants. In this way, the witch is, in many contemporary cases, a champion of the people, a sort of folk hero that assaults misogynistic, greedy leaders.

Consider Leslie Knope from the popular NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation. Knope's relentless optimism and tenacity makes her a threat her to rivals, an assortment of sleazy and corrupt male politicians. Knope's devotion to a fair and balanced state legislative body is like witchcraft to these men, who can't seem to wrap their heads around the idea of idealism in government. They're also frequently threatened by her status as a powerful woman. The show takes this to a humorous extreme when her fellow city council representatives (all male) make a calendar following her menstrual cycle. Like the political leaders of the early modern era treated the threatening women of their day, these men treat Knope, as a woman, with extreme prejudice in order to suppress her thoughts, leadership, and attitude.

Knope even goes so far as to conscript other women into her crusade against corrupt male politicians, proclaiming her doctrine of positivity in the face of total cynicism. She sculpts her best friend, Ann, into a politician despite Ann's insistence that she isn't cut out for the work. Similarly, she squashes the negative attitude in her female intern, April, by teaching her the power of hard work, a strong will, and clever thinking. These concepts are so foreign to Knope's adversaries that they might as well be considered witchcraft. Through these concepts, Knope taps into a power her enemies simply cannot use.

In the modern era, the witch's ability to siphon power away from male leaders is not feared, but revered. This is because these leaders use their power incompetently. They are not omnipotent representatives of God or the State. They are fallible, and in the current political climate, they have proven their incompetence time and time again. Leslie Knope as a character promises that there is an alternative to these leaders. She, like the witch, provides an antithesis to the way her society is structured.

The witch is, in modern society, an appropriate champion of the people, a figure that promises revolution and change. A witch represents a freedom from the roles that society places on an individual, whether those roles are political, gender-specific or racial. When the status quo doesn't work, the witch provides a seductive alternative.

Hermoine

In Palmer's quest to understand the witch, he laid out several key aspects to the transformation of woman to witch. The most important feature of these witches, besides being a poor peasant woman most likely high on opiates and hallucinogens from their bread, was that they were the transgressors in society. As peasant females in the patriarchal and sacred focused society, they were the very essence of the marginalized. With little to no say in the man driven household and even less in societal affairs, they were pushed to the sides and instructed how to be a good woman. If they transgressed from these misogynistic laced ideals of a woman, they were deemed a witch and most likely perished soon after their raunchy confession.

Therefore, the witch is a tool that allows us to examine both "natural" and "unnatural" behaviors of the early modern society through the labeling of witchcraft. Since, western witchcraft was established it has gone through transformations of meaning and acceptance. However, does the witch still represent the transgressor of society? If so,what can that say about our current norms and stereotypes surrounding the woman in the 21st century?

I think the witch still represents the transgressor in the modern world. One of the best examples of a modern witch, is Hermoine Granger from J.K. Rowling's much celebrated Harry Potter series, because her character challenged the norms of representing fictional woman in media. Before, Hermoine's character was born in the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, it was hard to find a realistic woman for little girls to look up to. Most females represented in society then, and arguably still now, were distinguished by good looks and the ability to be captured and patiently wait to be saved my a man. Not, saying that woman are the only victims of media generalizations. Men too face demeaning simplifications and depictions of "how to be a good man" in media.

As an independent woman, who takes control of her own fate, Hermoine challenged the popular depiction of the woman. However, instead of being celebrated for intelligence in her early years, she was told that she was "too studious" and "too bossy". Her intellect and quest to learn were something deemed not normal. Arguably, if Hermoine's actions had been done by a boy, she would not have faced these accusations. Especially, as much of the 20th century woman have not been celebrated as the intellectual beings like men were. Woman were expected to pursue education until they found a good husband to take care of them and then start popping out babies for him. While, a lot has changed since this was the argued norm in the mid 20th century, it was still recent enough to have negative impacts on the depiction of women and in some cases might still be the norm.

It is also interesting to note her relationship with the main character, which is strictly platonic. This platonic relationship shows that men and females are able to successfully have a friendship. Hermoine is able to work in tandem with Harry without her sex getting in the way. This is especially interesting with the term "friend-zoning" that has been circulating around pop culture recently. The term, which I doubt I have to define but will anyway, is when one party in the friendship, usually the male, develops unrequited feelings for the other. While, this might be harmless, it can be argued there is underlying misogynistic thoughts with friend zoning, such that if a male is nice or friendly to a girl, she is expected to drop her panties for them and if she refuses him she magically transports him to the friend zone. Witchcraft!

Generally, Hermoine kicks ass without the help of a man and throws the damsel in distress 1950's housewife stereotype out the window for the modern woman. Hermoine's sex never impedes with her ability to perform and often times out performs her male counter parts. It could even be said that the stories progression and the eventual destruction of Lord Voldemort (sorry for the spoiler) could not have happened without Hermoine and her logic, cunning, and strong sense of self. Without Hermoine, Harry would never passed the potions puzzle in the chamber of secrets, Voldemort would have come back to life in the first book, and killed Harry. The End. This pattern of Hermoine saving the day with her emotional and intellectual intelligence repeats itself throughout the entire series, she is the one who figures out the basilisk's hiding place, her time-turner she was given to pursue an intensive course load saves Serious Black and Buck Beak, she believes harry in the fourth book and is the only one who helps him and is thus deemed a harlot by the popular columnist Retter Skeeter, and so on.

After reading Palmer's work, I believe that Hermoine represents an excellent example of a fictional woman challenging the norms and scruples of what the 20th/21st century woman should be and act like. However, her representation in a children's book means much more than that. It shows young girls that they don't have to shy away from their intelligence and interests. This is especially pertinent now, with the concerning existing gender gap in the hard sciences. Therefore, Hermoine represents the modern transgressional woman who is able to lead, follow her intellectual interests, maintain a healthy platonic relationship with a man without her sexuality getting in the way, save herself and her male counterparts, and whose last concern is wasting her time applying Sleakeazy's Hair Potion every day in order to make her physically appealing to the opposite sex.

Professor Lupin

            A scapegoat is often needed in society to keep the machine running smoothly. In the early modern society, people that threatened the cultural norm were perceived as witches and werewolves and sentenced to death or exile. In this early period the people believed to be werewolves were often individuals that went against the grain of society in their beliefs and attitude, people that were drugged, or were mentally/physically ill. There were a few other reasons for why people were perceived to be werewolves, but for the sake of time and redundancy let’s leave it at these three. Assigning these realistic narratives to the societal and individual problems would not produce results so they created these monsters to explain away their problems. This delusion led to the creation of the werewolf, a monster that has since been transformed into a sympathetic character in recent years who represents the uncontrollable attributes of a persons being.

            The werewolf that I find to be the best example of this is Professor Lupin from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (yes, the one werewolf from a series about witches and wizards). Through the lens of Lupin in the novel and film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, we see the struggle that he is faced with as a wizard-werewolf in a society that looks down on him and doesn’t know what to do with him. He is afflicted with his werewolf “disease” not by his own choosing. This led him to be discriminated against in his society and unable to find work. The social theory that I find to be the most applicable surrounding Lupin (which I must admit I had read an interview with J.K. Rowling a few years back) is that his affliction is symbolic of the disease HIV/AIDS. The character Professor Lupin is afflicted with a disease which he has no control over, causes others to fear and distance themselves from him, and keeps him from holding a job because of the risk factor. This is something that holds a mirror up to our modern society and its treatment of people with these types of diseases, not just HIV/AIDS. This werewolf is a representation of a major issue does a lot to show the struggles of a group that is sometimes forgotten or marginalized in our society.