The Wicker Man: Wiccans give it a thumbs up...but why?
I hate to give the ending away, but the movie is over 30 years old, so you ought to know the ending. If not, don't read this post.
From ABC:
In the 1973 original — a classic that influenced "The Exorcist," "The Omen" and other horror films of that era — Edward Woodward is a Scottish police officer who comes to a strange island to investigate a little girl's disappearance. He begins to think the inhabitants might be planning to sacrifice the child as part of their religious practices, only to find that that very fate awaits him.
One might think modern day witches, who've revived ancient traditions in the Wicca faith, would be outraged by the film, as they were with "The Blair Witch Project," and other negative depictions.
Instead, many witches like the original "Wicker Man," and are eager to see what new twists Cage and director Neil LaBute have brought to the remake.
What did they like about the 1973 movie?
"The original plays on Christian fears of the old traditions, and if you take it literally, it's a horror story," says Phyllis Curott, an Ivy League-educated lawyer, author and priestess of the Temple of Ara.
"But if you take a literary perspective on 'Wicker Man,' it's really a story of repression versus sexual liberation and eroticism," Curott says. "You see the charming children dancing around the maypole and other old traditions that sustained societies and were lost."
Woodward's character is indeed devotedly Catholic, decidedly uptight and shocked to find the islanders so comfortable in their nudity and so reverent of sexuality.
Uh, yeah. Evverything they're saying is true. But let's be honest about why they like The Wicker Man (which I've seen and enjoyed as well). Sure the liberation, old traditions, charming children, blah, blah, blah.
Do you think any of the Wiccans enjoyed watching the Catholic thrown into the Wicker Man, then set of fire, screaming his futile prayers with his flame-seared lungs as the final credits started to roll?
You did know that the charming children and their parents burned the constable alive as part of their fertility rite, didn't you? I have no idea if that ending has been retained in the new version. Maybe not. No sequel potential.
But back to blessings for this movie. From the Temple of Ara website (where among of the rewards of joining are an official membership card and discounted admission on merchandise and programs):
The Temple of Ara does not acknowledge the existence of an absolute evil, but we acknowledge that human beings commit cruel or "evil" acts when they become disconnected from the Sacred or Divine.
I would like to think the pagans in the movie were disconnected.
It's funny, but if a movie depicted a breakaway sect of modern-day Catholics burning witches at the stake, and some bishop said he enjoyed the movie for the nice use of Latin in the church scene, many Catholics (and most Wiccans) would be up in arms over it. But then I'd like to think no bishop would ever say something like that.
I'm not saying Wiccans have to hate The Wicker Man. Like I said, there's a lot to like about the movie. I'm just surprised that they seem to think it depicts paganism in a positive light. Maybe the payback is just too sweet to really get upset about.
Charming children around maypoles. Yeah, that's the scene everyone remembers.
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Comments
I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about Wiccans, any I've run into over the course of my life have been among the dumbest of dumb losers you could ever possibly meet, they're a tiny minority way out there on the lunatic fringe with the alien abduction crowd. It takes all kinds to make this world, whatever gets them through the day, just warn your children about them.
Posted by: calgarian at August 31, 2006 07:28 AM
"I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about Wiccans...just warn your children about them."
Does that make any sense whatsoever?I'm not Wiccan, nor am I RC. I'm just wondering what you were thinking when you posted the above comment.
Posted by: Iron Oxide at August 31, 2006 08:00 AM
Any competent parent, as part of the on-going process of street-proofing and educating children, should include Wiccans among the cultists, drug pushers, and sexual predators children should learn to avoid. No good can come from falling in with those losers. That's my opinion, I'm not interested in any arguments about "keeping an open mind" about weird cultish groups like Wiccans. I've seen them huddled around a candle putting a curse on someone for "stealing a boyfriend", they're brutally ignorant.
Posted by: calgarian at August 31, 2006 08:21 AM
I have to agree with Calgarian. These folks are as dumb as a post, and they're unable to accept that we're better off if we can learn to discern true evil whenever it appears.
Posted by: Hoser Joe at August 31, 2006 11:42 AM
I spent time with these people. They worship the devil and have many strange ideas about how life should be. If you love your children, keep them as far away from these freeks as possible
Posted by: FREE at August 31, 2006 03:55 PM
To provide some balance (and I'm not a paganist, BTW) ... there's crazy Wiccans and level-headed Wiccans, just like there's varying levels of sanity among Christian and Islamic faiths. Wicca is a faith recognized by the US Military, and there are actually several Wiccans actively serving in all branches of the US Armed Forces, and law enforcement officers on both sides of our border who practice Wicca - there's an entire online mailing list with thousands of members.
For every teenager 'casting a curse' for unrequited love, and every goth punk who fancies himself a devil worshipper, there's a half-dozen decent, 'normal' people from all walks of life following paganistic belief systems.
Posted by: RL at August 31, 2006 07:06 PM
RL BS
Posted by: FREE at September 1, 2006 05:07 PM
Yes, that's quite the rebuttal.
Posted by: RL at September 1, 2006 07:02 PM
Most self-avowed Wiccans I know are decent people -- kind, relaxed, compassionate, fun to hang out with -- whose only fault is looking for a way to feel "spiritual," or have the sense of meaning that a faith system gives, without actually having to undertake the sacrifices, self-discipline and coherent organized thought most traditional religions properly demand -- looking for the thrills of religious belief without the work of the real thing.
The single biggest attraction of Wicca, and neopaganism in general, is the refusal to subscribe to a single overall pattern of belief and response, so it doesn't surprise me that there's a lot of inconsistency in how neopagans respond to various issues -- that inconsistency is the point.
That said, "Free" is correct in that there are dangerous lunatics among those circles, as there are in any circle, and some of them do deliberately embrace what may well be dark powers or forces (I've never seen any claimed occult power actually work, but I don't believe in taking chances with the immortal soul). Even the saner groups often have very wrong-headed ideas about healthy sexuality (most neopagans are very big on alternative and "liberated" sexual paradigms), and I wouldn't want my kids exposed to such groups without some very careful preparation beforehand.
One of the great tragedies of this world is that you can be a decent, sane, perfectly well-intentioned individual, and still wreak vast amounts of damage on those around you if you subscribe to the wrong ideas or go down the wrong path.
Posted by: Stephen J. at September 7, 2006 11:03 AM
 
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