Now, I don’t have time to blog on this extensively, but you can certainly check out my series of three posts (so far!) on ‘Women and Superstitions‘ where I’ve touched upon these issues before. In fact, go to my Essays pages for quite a bit on social influences.
If you’re not familiar with the work of Lynn Schofield Clarke, you should probably go check out an earlier investigation on the influence of pop culture on New Age beliefs: ‘Angels to Aliens: Teenagers, the Media, and the Supernatural’.
From The Times of India:
According to British academic Kristin Aune, television serials like ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ are inspiring women to leave the church and attracting them towards alternate belief systems such as Wicca, which is a pagan, polytheistic, nature-based religion whose central deity is a mother-goddess. Aune cites an English church census that found more than 50,000 women a year leaving the Anglican church. The research suggests that these women feel the church is no longer relevant to their lives. Because of the serial’s focus on female empowerment, ‘Buffy’ has popularised Wicca to the extent that there are more than 7,00,000 internet sites for teenage witches. The Pagan Federation in the United Kingdom reportedly receives hundreds of enquiries from teenagers every day.
This news has been greeted with alarm in many quarters. Some commentators are painting pictures of poor, naive girls being led astray by Satan to conduct bizarre rituals. But really, what’s wrong with a few women abandoning one set of beliefs for another? Every religion requires a leap of faith.
And in the case of the church, these women are letting go of a somewhat patriarchal institution to turn to something that actually celebrates their femininity.
Which I personally think is a major contributor to continuing these particular beliefs, in fact.
…With the popularity of such shows as ‘Buffy’, and the blockbuster success of the Harry Potter series, it isn’t surprising that more people are turning to new belief systems, including witchcraft. Wizardry and witchcraft have not just become cool; they’ve also become fun. There is a certain charm to dressing up in robes and wearing a top hat in public, or trying to write a spell while sitting in a circle. And lest critics let fly that these girls are going to somehow channel the devil, let it be said that witchcraft and the pop culture behind it make it a point to distinguish between right and wrong.
Don’t forget to check out the ‘counterview’ article called ‘This is irrational, dangerous stuff…’
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I once had a very good friend who was a Wiccan, back around the turn of the millennium, and we talked about religious beliefs a lot. I agree that it’s just another religion, not particularly disturbing, and that “magic” fulfils the same role for Wiccans as “prayer” does for Christians. I count my solitaire game among her lasting legacies, because even though there is a gap of many years between when our friendship ended and when I invented the game, I would never have had the idea if I hadn’t learnt how the elements are understood from a Wiccan perspective.
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