The Satanic Temple Officially Endorses The Witch

Were you thinking of seeing Robert Eggers’ The Witch? Well, not only has it been positively received by various film critics, it now also has the Satanist stamp of approval.

National Spokesperson for The Satanic Temple Jex Blackmore calls it “a transformative Satanic experience” that “provides context to a period of American history that is too often fetishized.” I definitely agree that there’s a lot of mythologizing of colonial America that needs some deconstructing, so this endorsement only fuels my desire to see The Witch. She also adds that the film empowers women, who were heavily oppressed under the “hammer of theocracy.”

While the patriarchy makes witches of only the most socially vulnerable members of society, Eggers’ film refuses to construct a victim narrative. Instead it features a declaration of feminine independence that both provokes puritanical America and inspires a tradition of spiritual transgression. We are empowered by the narrative of The Witch: a story of pathological pride, old-world religious paradigms, and an outsider who grabs persecution by the horns. Efforts to oppress and demonize the heretic prove to be a path to destruction. The witch does not burn but rises up in the night.

To be completely honest, I went into this article ready poke some fun at the Satanic Temple but most of this sounds really great and aligns a lot with what I hope to see in The Witch. Some of us were cautious about the tendency in witchy narratives to use sexist stereotypes since accusations of witchcraft in history have been predominantly motivated by misogynistic and sexist thought, so I’m curious to see a story where the witch “rises up.” What do you think about this endorsement?

(via Indiewire)

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