Witchety-Witch Witch ASSIGNMENT

  1. Look upallegoryand parable before reading the articles.
  2. Also find a brief summary of The Book of Job.
  3. According to the critics, what distinction is made between folktale, fairytale, and parable? Which of these is The Witch? Why?
  4. Both reviews see the film as feminist in some way. Explain how they view it as such.
  5. Google an image of Johannes Vermeer's portraits
  6. Can you find the image of theparticular Francisco Goyafamouspainting that she associates with the film?
  7. Number 5 and 6 help you understand what is being said about the imagery. This is the film version of what we’re doing with short stories. What else does the author—or do you—have to say about the way the film is made, in other words, the style?
  8. Read the first comment on the article and agree or disagree with its author:

kingcole225•8 months ago

I have to say that the reviewer really focused on the feminist message here... I mean, the film is no doubt feminist (in the same way that Goodfellas is against gangsterism,) but I really feel like the story was more of a statement on Puritanism as a whole (including fear of God, concepts of original sin, and of course sexism,) and therefore the ideologies that arise within a natural human society (bullying, fear, distrust of the self) than the review indicates. The reason I mention this is because my favorite part of the movie is that it refuses to make judgments on its characters or their actions. Not once does the film fault the father or the mother, who are indeed in the wrong. In fact, it does the opposite and attempts to make us sympathize with them. In this way, The Witch has basically no objective statement at all. The review makes it seem like it's a film with a message. The Witch is a film with a story.

I feel like The Witch resembles one of my favorite movies of all time: Carrie (the De Palma one of course.) There is this sad tragedy in the foreground that becomes cleverly and seamlessly intertwined with the supernatural, and instead of judging the "evildoers," the film remains mostly neutral, allowing the characters to speak for themselves until the characters can no longer speak for themselves. Then, and here's my favorite part, the movie itself takes up the slack and judges the victim as the evildoers would (like presenting Carries mother as a martyr.)

To call all of that a statement on feminism is confirmation bias. These movies are mostly statements on evil in general: historical evil and how it still affects us today, but most of all they are just clever little folk tales.

I think The Witch may end up being the best film of 2016. The acting is fantastic. I would watch this film for the acting alone.