What ‘The Witch’ Teaches Us About the Power of Words
A deeper look at the 2015 horror film
You know when you’ve seen a true work of art. No matter how many times you look at it, watch it, hear it, the excitement never fades. For me, it’s The Witch.
The Witch is a film that was released in late 2015, with a wider release in early 2016. It is also a movie that I have seen more than two dozen times. In 2015, I was living in Los Angeles and I was very excited to see The Witch. From the peek-a-boo scene in the first moments of the trailer to the final shot of a boy with a bloodied mouth, arms spread wide, looking to the sky, and everything that happened in-between. All underscored by a beautiful yet blood-chilling score, I was hooked! Needless to say, my ass was in a theatre seat the minute I was able.
Minutes into the film, I was entranced. Everything had me unnerved. By the end, it was as if I was no longer in the theater but a black void of my own; just the film and me. The movie ended and the teenagers behind us were not impressed; I think they were excepting a more generic horror film. I, on the other hand, literally stood up in the theater and slowly clapped as the credits rolled. Seeing no one joining in with me, my girlfriend tried to bring me back to reality. I didn’t care what anyone else thought though, as I knew that I had just seen one of my favorite films of all time. I had seen a true work of art.
Two more times I went and saw The Witch in theaters and once it moved to home video, I started to lose count of my viewings. No matter how many times I’ve seen the movie, I am still blown away by the intricacies of the story, the set pieces, the music, the acting, and of course the directing.
On the surface, The Witch is about a family (in the 1630s) cast out of their Puritan colony over a dispute on religion, leaving the family to fend for themselves. The family settles in a new house located in a valley, surrounded by forest. One day, Thomassin (Anya Taylor-Joy) takes her baby brother, Samuel, out to the middle of the valley to play peek-a-boo. In the time it takes for Thomassin to cover her eyes and then open them again, the baby disappears. Her mother Katherine is distraught from Samuel’s disappearance. Soon, odd things begin to happen to and around the family. Thomassin unfortunately seems to consistently be in the wrong place at the wrong time. As is natural at that time, the family begins to reject Thomassin and proclaim her to be a Witch.
(Spoilers from here on out, if you have not seen The Witch, I strongly encourage you to bookmark this post for later and go watch it).
In a 2016 interview with Vice, Writer/Director Robert Eggers talks about the “fear of women in power” being a strong influence on the film. How could it not be? That was one of the hallmark psychological aspects of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Often women in the past have been shamed for exerting their power over men, expressing their sexuality, or even questioning authority.
We are in the year 2021 and sadly not much has changed in our society. Women have slowly been getting the rights they deserve, but not without heavy backlash from the men in power. Women today are fearful to come forward about a myriad of issues, including sexual misconduct. Not only do men still seem to hold power over their lives, but the fear of society's negative gaze dog’s their every step. If they are not believed by their own society, who would believe them?
Thomasin’s family is cast out of their village because the village believes they have done something wrong. The truth didn’t matter. Once an idea has spread, how does one stop it? The entire village, including all the people Thomasin has ever known, shun her and her family and tell them that they are no longer welcome. When weird things start happening around the family’s new home, they are immediately driven to question if the village was right. Maybe they had lost their faith and let evil in. After all, how can an entire village be wrong? The family ultimately makes their daughter Thomassin their scapegoat, blaming everything that has gone wrong on her.
By the end of the film, when her entire family is dead and nothing is left for her, she makes a choice. A moment that shocks still, the devil comes to her and asks her if she “wants to live life deliciously”. Why wouldn’t she? She has been rejected in every way, no one believes her, and she has no one left to live for but herself. She says yes and becomes the very thing that everyone feared. Independent, powerful, and a Witch.
With the advent of social media, things have only become worse for women and marginalized groups. Embarrassing pictures or videos can be uploaded instantaneously to the internet where it lives in perpetuity. The town square that once existed in small colonies, like in the witch, are now online where millions can access it. The modern bully is able to attack the vulnerable without any face-to-face reaction and words can be tossed around vagrantly. Misinformation is easier to spread than ever and in the last few years, we have seen that the human mind is very easily misled. The belief of a witch in the midsts is the conspiracy theory of the 1600s.
The Witch not only serves as a warning of what words can do, as they have the power to change lives in either direction, but also as a rallying cry for women. Who is a more powerful being over man than a witch? Who has more autonomy over themselves than a witch? As the final moments play out on screen we see that Thomasin is not afraid, she is rapturous. She revels in this newfound power over herself. False words and fearmongering may have tried to tear her and anyone else they don’t agree with down, but that only makes them want to become the thing that everyone feared. Powerful.
