The Craft was considered the Scream of Witchcraft movies. Which is Ironic since Sidney is one of the witches. It was regarded as a teeter totter between what was considered realistic and hollywood style magic. And it didn't stem from the truth. Actress Fairuza Balk who is a real life Wiccan had also been technical advisor in order to make the film as realistic as possible.
The Story goes like so. Sarah Bailey, a troubled suicidal teenager makes friends with a group of misfits: Bonnie, who was burned in an accident that left her body covered in scars, Rochelle, the only other sane person in the movie who was constantly racially harassed, and Nancy Downs, a girl with a troubled homelife. Sarah later discovers that the 3 are a witch coven who need a 4th in order to complete their circle. However with Sarah they got more than they bargained for since she is the only one of the 4 that is a natural witch. (I'll get to this later.) They start off by initiation to let Sarah in their coven and do simple spells in order to improve their lives. Sarah's was a love spell to get even with a guy that spread rumors about her being promiscuous. Bonnie's was to have her scars removed so she wouldn't hide herself anymore. Rochelle was to have her racist bully suffer ultimate humiliation. Nancy was to find the source of power from the deity they worship Manon. Needless to say they all work. Especially Nancy who decides to use said power to gain more power until eventually she and her coven gain abilities similar to Sarah's natural abilities. However as they enjoy their newfound power the spells they originally cast begin to backfire. The love spell caused the guy (Chris) to be violently obsessed with Sarah. Bonnie becomes as vain as the people that picked on her. Rochelle feels guilt and pity for the one she formerly hated. Nancy begins to go mad with power and paranoia. This causes a battle of wits and magic between the former friends as Sarah fights for her life.
Now the big question, Could It Exist In Real Life?
Now before I answer this one, I'll get this out of the way. While I am neutral in terms of belief, I am an Agnostic Pagan. However despite that, my knowledge of the subject is limited and anything else I find are from outside sources such as wikipedia and other things. So like Daria Morgendorffer says "If I'm wrong please correct." Oh and don't try this at home blah blah blah.
First is the spells. I already went on about Glamour during my Atop the Fourth Wall Article. So no need going down that road again. The first spell they cast is a wishing spell, in which their specific wishes are granted. The existence of it varies since many have either made wishes that come true and others chalk it up as coincidences. However there is a matter of being careful and specific in what you wish for. So far the only one that did by my shock was Nancy. All she wished for was the means to invoke Manon and it snowballed into getting the spell book to invoke him. A simple wish that only backfired, because she used her power irresponsibly. The other three however were more vague in their wishes. Rochelle wanted her bully to feel the pain she felt when she was harassed by her. However this backfired because she never thought it would make her feel bad for the bully. Bonnie wanted to feel accepted by people that ridiculed her in the past. However this in turned made her lose her humble and vulnerable personality and made her just as bad as the people she wanted to accept her. Sarah got the worst of it. She wanted to teach a jerk a lesson by placing a love spell on him However what she failed to realize is that a wish of that caliber could have dire consequences. First he was simply noticing her and doing things for her whether he liked it or not. She pretty much made him a slave and humiliated him the way he did to her. However it got worse. He started calling her, stalking her and when he got her alone, he forced himself on her. Why all these spells backfired I'll explain in the end. The next spell which is the most prominent, invoking the spirits, this exists in many ways such as simply praying to summoning a spirit. Not just in Wicca either, every single religion, cult, or fad revolving around the supernatural has one form of invocation or another. In this case they invoked Manon to give them power. Nancy used it to be on equal power terms to Sarah, but because of a combination of her own problems and the power itself, she went crazy and paranoid. She treated her friends more like minions to order around and Sarah like an enemy. She used her powers to further her own selfish goals. Sarah at first didn't want to do the same since she feared it would make her as bad as Nancy. However when push came to shove she surrendered to the higher power who acted through her to stop her former friend and in the end, she got to keep her power. Though she rarely uses it unless she needs it. Last but not least in the spell department is a simple one. A binding spell. This is real too. A binding spell is a form of restriction magic that keeps whomever you are binding from harming others or harming themselves. It exists in every Wicca medium in the world.
Next we have the god Manon. According to the Craft Coven. Manon is described as "If god and the devil were playing football, he'd be the stadium." While this was mostly Hollywood hogwash, there is some truth to it. Manon is a mix between different God and Goddess in Wicca and other related religions. More specifically Mananan, the Gaelic god of the sea. Rumor has it during the invocation scene on the beach, the waves became violent and when finished, the power went out on the set. One wonders if they must have summoned something by accident.
Last but not least is a concept that has existed in the movie. Something that has been overlooked by film critics and often debunked as "Reality is unrealistic" by those that do notice. This concept is called "The Power of Three Times Three." We all heard the old Karmic saying "What goes around, comes around." Well in the case of the Craft, not only does it come around, but the caster gets it 3 times. When I said the spells backfired, I was merely humoring and speaking in the point of views of those that watched it on the surface. The spells didn't backfire, what happened was Nature giving back to them what they sent out times 3. The Wiccan shop keeper warned Sarah about it, but was rebuffed until it showed. Even with her newfound power Nancy got it back three times in the form of an empowered Sarah defeating and depowering her. Leaving her to suffer her own insanity in an institution. This is what I mean by "Realistic Magic." Had they all used their magic for good instead of evil their lives would have improved 3 times better. As I explained it in The Atop The Fourth Wall Article, when Linkara was using his powers selfishly it came back to him 3 times. Luckly for him, it wasn't cancelled out by his own doing but the help of another individual who used Glamour to make him see. It's not just centered around magic, or even Wicca either. Christianity calls it divine influence. Middle Eastern Religions call it Karma. Even science believes it to with the phrase "For every action there is an equal or opposite reaction." All life as we know it, both natural and supernatural have followed this rule whether they know it or not.
As usual, debate, argue and let me know what I missed. Stay tuned for more.
No comments:
Post a Comment