Witches of Old vs Witches of New

In class we talked about how the idea of witches derived from the fear of transgressive women in a patriarchal society. As described in the reading Blood, Bread, and Blasphemy - Witches (Palmer) witches, slept with the devil, devoured their own children and went around putting dark curses on people. You would think that it is because of the bad things that they do that earns them the label of always being created and perceived as the bad guy. However even when the self proclaimed ‘good’ witches the Benandanti of Italy claimed to be doing good things such as fighting creatures from the dark and protecting humanity from the devil's army, the inquisitors still tried to “trick them into confessions of idolatry and heresy” (Palmer). This shows that witches were not actually viewed as a ‘bad’ guy for doing the bad things they do so much as for simply being a powerful woman. Women in a patriarchal society are not supposed to be powerful, they are not supposed to be able to destroy men by putting curses on them or protect men by slaying dark creatures. No matter what actions the woman does (good or bad) she is NOT supposed to be powerful, a powerful woman is a bad woman. However as we have seen in today's cinematic world there are plenty of witches depicted as not the ‘bad guy’ but the ‘good guy’. Glinda the Good from the Wizard of Oz is a great example. Glinda is a witch whose title literally has ‘the Good’ in it. She is a long shot from the portrayal of the witches of old who ate their babies, slept with the devil and cursed innocent people. She cares for and protects the people of Oz and all of the citizens in Oz love her for it. Why is it that in our time we accept Glinda as good, whilst in the past even though the Benandanti who were also ‘good’ witches received so much suspicion and cynicism. Perhaps this is a sign that our once patriarchal society model is beginning to fade out. There have been many recent steps made in history to help fade out this patriarchal model that fears powerful women. Things like the feminist movement, which demands equal rights for both sexes. People like Caitlyn Jenner, who transgendered from male into female. A once powerful man who chose to become a powerful woman instead sends a big message to the world about the direction that society is heading. This direction of equal rights embraces the thought of powerful women, and therefore embraces the idea of a witch that is a ‘good guy’.