So last time I talked about how Anita Sarkeesian, while talking about videogames, spoke of some positive female role models on Television (and Music, in one case), and how I didn't quite agree with her assessment; providing the same negative tropes that I think she'd apply to those if she wasn't using them to make a point.
Last time I wrote about Charmed, and the 3 Halliwell Sisters. This time, I'm off to visit another family of (mostly female) Witches, From Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
This time I promise it'll be a little shorter, as Sabrina and her journey is the main focus of the show, although I could say a thing or two about her Aunts as well.
Plot: Sabrina finds out she's a witch on her 16th birthday and needs to cope with that while finding her way through highschool, boys and life.
Crimes against Humanity: Not as many as Charmed, not nearly at all, but one or two pretty big ones that are kind of soul crushing.
The thing about this show is that Sabrina becomes a witch on her 16th birthday, sort of signifying or alluding to the idea that she's become a woman, but then she's told she needs to hide her identity, her true self, from the world... Which is the exact opposite of the self esteem building we should be teaching young girls (and boys for that matter)
This also happens in Charmed (only they're older, and have more experience in life), and I didn't really cover it there, because I wanted to do it here, but there's just this prevailing "woman has to hide inner self" sentiment with each of these shows, that comes in the form of them actually being more powerful then any one around them, including men/boys, that just serves to keep these characters locked up and afraid, unable to spread their wings and truly be happy. And as a man looking in through the glass, I'm appalled by this.
And no, it's not because, "Oh he just wants powers, huh huh huh," it's truly because I believe all people shouldn't be afraid to be themselves, no matter who they are or what they can do -even the assholes. There are some truly wonderful people we'll never get to really know because they're forced to be other people; be it because of appearances, or the what other people not only want to think, but NEED to think of them. This idea that the fallacy is better then the real thing isn't a good lesson to teach anyone.
So yeah, Sabrina's a witch who needs to hide herself while going to school, and for the sake of keeping things light, comedy ensues from it -if it were only that easy for everyone with a secret. Sure, she's up beat most of the time, but thats where I feel like we're asked to have the biggest suspension of disbelief, aside from the talking cat or magical powers. We really see her struggle through highschool (and later college) not being able to tell her best friend she is what she is, or be able to get truly close to the boy she really likes, because she has this mystical, (actually) genetic (something that both series has -they can't run away from it because it's in their blood), monkey on her back. But we're also supposed to laugh through it, which can get pretty hard at times.
There are also light daddy issues, which could be construed as a trope itself (Daddy Issues = Problems Everywhere) because her dad is the genetic tie to her magical side and he's just never around, instead having her live with, and be raised by, her Aunts.
But all this witch talk brings me back to something I alluded to wanting to touch on back in Part 2.1, when the title asked "Which girl is the witch girl?" : These characters are witches.
I know, derp, right? I've only said this a million times by now...
But just think about that for a minute. Witches are traditionally evil things. Sure, in recent decades that sentiment has been quelled by the eco-friendly, just plain friendly, Wiccans, and with various portrayals in TV shows like these, but, classically, witches suckle at the tit of El Diablo.. Or.. Is that the other way around? Either way, they're usually evil, reviled creatures, that we sought fit to burn, drown or torture people innocent people to reveal; lest we forget the Inquisition and Salem Witch Trials. They're beings of power, but often hid among us (for fear of death), usually depicted in such a way where they'd kill us in our sleep and steal our organs for their brews and what-nots. Some of them have flying monkeys; most of them have, traditionally, been female.
These characters hide because, if they don't, if the mortals find out, and they're not in a magical land they happen to control, their lives would actually be a living hell. In the case of Charmed, having the demons know who they are means constant attempts on their lives -so their lives are a living hell because they're witches. I'm pretty sure that Sabrina's family actively tells her that being caught being what she is will lead to a new witch trial.
It's as if these show's are trying to say that, even though you live a good life with the best intentions, your witchiness implies womanhood, and womanhood loops back to implies witchiness, and witches are bad things that everyone wants to kill or lock up. This isn't the most glowing representation of how to treat women out there -but we're supposed to believe that it is, in these two series, just because Anita says so on the fly, without support, in order to support a falling pillar in her argument about videogames? We're supposed to believe hiding our true self is a positive, no matter who or what we are, be it female, transgendered, geeks.. Anything? Please...
It reminds me of either Junior or Senior year, we had a speaker come to my high school that was basically there to tell us that we should bury all of our feelings; that we'd be happier. The message was.. Odd.. When I was sure that everything around us at the time was telling us that doing things like that ended up making you a maniac (and in a way, it does warp you heavily). So, I kind of sort of did what I'm doing here, I sort of.. I wouldn't say heckled him, but it comes close...
The guy did get so mad at us by a certain point that he negated his entire statement by storming off the stage and very audibly telling the principal that he was "fucking finished", leave out the auditorium side door. But basically his message seems to be close to the one that I feel Sabrina tries to teach: Bury yourself and you'll be happier-When, honestly, it seems like the exact opposite is true. Or at least I know burying myself for so long as really hurt me, personally.
Because I'm not exactly sure how to close this out, the best way I feel I can do it is to repeat what I closed Part 2.1 with:
The most important thing to come away with here, and something I wish I were easily able to say by the end of part one before I got caught up in all the frustration her skewing facts made me feel, is that these things are all just entertainment. No matter who you are your not watching Charmed for the deep storylines or searching for the intricate meanings of life -your watching that shit to see some demons get their asses handed to them. If your watching Sabrina your probably a teenager girl who's looking for a Boy Meets World alternative, or a boy with a bashful crush on Melissa Joan Hart (Verdict: guilty), not searching out how you should live your life.
Outside current events shows, like news broadcasts, where we should be taking some things seriously, we take entertainment a little *too* seriously, and that maybe where we need to stop ourselves and take a breath. Some of the things we come away with from it, like both sides in the fight Anita's brought to light, just cause far more complications then they help, and I think we can all agree that stopping videogames won't help women's privates from being mutilated in countries that really don't give a shit about videogames. Videogames are a first world thing, and a lot of what Ms. Sarkeesian talks about, what most of the more vocal feminists talk about, are very much first world problems. Besides, we're talking about things that may or may not feature a talking cat.. How serious can we really take them?
Next time: Tell me what you want, what you really really want... No, seriously, because using these 3 late 90's media giants as a positive representation is really confusing.
(PS: Again, didn't go out of my way to find pics of Sabrina -or the rest- in revealing clothing or down-the-shirt photos. This is a becoming trend in itself, with the things Anita has pointed out)
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