Lights, Camera, Witchcraft by Heather Greene

Author:Heather Greene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: heather greene;heather greene;lights camera witchcraft;history of witches in film;history of witchcraft in film;witches in film;witches on tv;witches on television;the craft;sabrina;wizard of oz;american film;american film history;american television history;american television;CVR02112021
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2021-09-03T12:51:04+00:00

Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha Stephens and Agnes Moorehead as

Endora befuddle Darrin (Dick York) with magic in Bewitched (1964–1972)

[Source: ABC/Photofest. Copyright: © ABC]

However, like the two older films on which the show was reportedly based, Bewitched springboards off the collision between witchcraft fantasy and a conventional modern reality; this dance is what creates the comedic tension. In some ways, Bewitched is act 2 for the older films with Samantha in the role of the married Gillian or Jennifer. Whereas the two older characters both lived in fantasy while trying to retire to reality, Samantha lives in reality while fighting off fantasy.

Unlike her predecessors, Samantha is not forced to abandon her magic in order to experience what Gillian labeled the “humdrum.” However, as Ackerman suggested, Samantha is working to “kick her witchdom” habit. She repeatedly promises Darrin that she would not use magic. Despite all her efforts, she can’t fully escape being a witch. Therefore, Samantha is not a wild woman waiting to be assimilated; she is a fantasy witch. And it is the tension created by the show’s lurking witchcraft within the framework of contemporary reality that creates the comedic situations. For example, in the pilot, Samantha’s mother, Endora, repeatedly moves Darrin, who is wearing only pajamas, into the crowded hotel lobby in order to keep him from entering the honeymoon suite.

Witchcraft in Bewitched

In defining witchcraft, Bewitched capitalized on well-known fantasy iconography. In the first episode, when Samantha reveals the truth to Darrin, she says, “I am a witch. A real house-haunting, broom-riding, cauldron-stirring witch.” In the same episode, Endora explains that humans believe that witches wear those “big ugly hats and fly around on broomsticks.” Ironically, this was the exact imagery used in the animated opening credit sequence. The cartoon Samantha flies into the frame on a broomstick across the moon, wearing the iconic hat and dress. Then, in a different frame, she transforms into a cat. In several episodes, Endora and Samantha make trips to Salem to attend council meetings and a witch conference. Despite the use of this iconography, the show only toys with—rarely ever fully emerging into—the Halloween realm. The symbols are predominantly used as kitsch in a show that, beneath the surface, explores suburban life, gender roles, and social difference.

Bewitched’s magical world is also defined through its secondary magical characters and their eccentric appearance and behavior, including Endora and Uncle Arthur. The latter is a male clown witch, similar in construction to Gillian’s brother Nicky. Uncle Arthur (Paul Lynde) only appeared in ten episodes. Endora, as noted, is Samantha’s mother. Visually she has curly red hair, wears dramatic eye makeup, and dresses in vibrant colors that offset the pastels and drab palette of suburban life. Like Aunt Queenie and Bianca, Endora (Agnes Moorehead) is a contemporary clown witch. Hers and Uncle Arthur’s eccentricities are what distinguish the witch world from the human world—something for which they have little care or love. In the pilot, Endora expresses this disdain for humanity, explaining that humans are prejudiced against witches.

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