In the childhood memories of many generations, the figure of the witch\u2014portrayed in stories such as Snow White or Hansel and Gretel\u2014often embodies evil, grotesqueness, and acts of poisoning. Perhaps for this reason, throughout the course of history, women\u2014who were associated with the image of the wicked witch\u2014had to live under society\u2019s hatred, constantly carrying within them the fear of being restrained or even deprived of their lives.\n\nYet the figure of the witch has gradually stepped out of the darkness of stigma to become a symbol of women\u2019s autonomy and power. This transformation is clearly reflected in women\u2019s continuous struggles, especially through works of cinema and literature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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From a long-standing fear of demons and supernatural forces, medieval European society gradually formed a belief system that associated magic with heresy and Satan, leading to the rise of witch hunts. As early as the eleventh to fourteenth centuries, these ideas had developed strongly, turning vague suspicions into religious and legal accusations, and laying the groundwork for later witch hunts.\n\nWithin this context, the publication of Malleus Maleficarum \u2014 roughly translated as The Hammer of Witches \u2014 by Heinrich Kramer in 1486 was not only a crucial turning point that reinforced such fears, but also a text that legitimized the killing of women in the name of religion [1].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Over the three centuries from 1450 to 1750, fabricated stories began to spread widely. Absurd accusations\u2014such as replacing newborn babies or depriving men of their masculinity\u2014were, in reality, a mask used to eliminate women who existed beyond the control of the dominant ideology. These were women who lived independently, possessed knowledge, understood healing practices, or worked as midwives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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From this point onward, the figure of the witch was gradually transformed into an object of social fear. Women labeled as witches were framed as mad, ugly figures who rode broomsticks or made pacts with the devil. This distortion inflamed extreme imagination, turning the title of \u201cwitch\u201d into a death sentence for thousands of innocent lives.\n\nEven after witch trials were abolished, this ghost continued to haunt popular culture through horror films and Gothic novels. From Abigail Williams in The Crucible to Thomasin in The Witch, women continued to be portrayed through loneliness and wildness\u2014as beings born to be feared, judged, and hunted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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In the face of the powerful vitality of progressive social movements, the seeds of that fear gradually began to wither, opening a new chapter of understanding and the restoration of dignity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The first turning point came in the 1960s with the television series Bewitched, which served as a lens reflecting the profound social transformations taking place in the United States during that decade. The series used magic as a metaphor for women\u2019s power and independence within a patriarchal social context.\n\nThe protagonist, Samantha Stephens, is a witch who appears to be an ordinary middle-class woman. She represents the image of the modern woman torn between the role of a traditional housewife and that of a person with extraordinary abilities, as she is often forced to conceal her magic in order to please her husband, Darrin.\n\nIt can be said that the work not only reflected the pressure to conform and the suppression of women\u2019s intellect at the time, but also played an important role in the journey of redefining the witch figure\u2014from a frightening villain into a symbol of feminism and autonomy [2].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The year 1964 saw the publication of The Feminine Mystique, written by Betty Friedan. The work directly challenged patriarchal structures and became a spark that encouraged women to break free from outdated chains of power within both the family and the workplace. The book laid the groundwork for women\u2019s rise in reclaiming justice, eliminating violence, and dismantling traditional social stereotypes about women\u2019s work and their position within the family.\n\nInfluenced by these echoes, 1968 witnessed the first protest organized by W.I.T.C.H.\u2014Women\u2019s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell\u2014on Halloween night, when its members dressed as witches and marched down Wall Street to challenge patriarchal domination across the United States. This event marked the moment when the image of the witch was incorporated into the feminist movement and became a stepping stone for subsequent protests [3].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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By the 1970s, Stephen King\u2019s Carrie offered a much harsher perspective by portraying the witch as a victim of repression and social violence through its protagonist, Carrie. Unlike the pretty and gentle image of Samantha Stephens, Carrie is depicted as an outcast and a violent figure, rejected not only by her peers but also by her own mother.\n\nRather than spreading baseless fear, the work forces viewers to confront empathy and to recognize that explosive power can sometimes be a form of resistance by individuals who have been pushed to the very edge [4].<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Entering the 1990s, films such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and The Craft continued to soften the image of the witch by associating magic with the process of growing up and searching for personal identity. In both works, the witch figure became more relatable to younger generations, as the characters used their powers to beautify themselves and to confront school bullying.\n\nUnlike earlier images of the witch as frightening or repressed, here the witch is portrayed with a gentler and more feminine quality. Through these two representative examples, readers can see that power and femininity are not separate elements, but rather harmonize within a new image: the modern witch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The intellectual revolution truly reached its peak in the twenty-first century through two milestones: Wicked and Maleficent. If Elphaba in Wicked overturns the conventional understanding of good and evil, proving that \u201cwickedness\u201d is often merely a label imposed by the crowd upon those who dare to resist, then Maleficent completes this portrait by exposing the wounds and powerful protective instincts hidden beneath a thorny exterior.\n\nThis chain of transformation officially dismantled outdated prejudices, turning society\u2019s fearful gaze into empathy and admiration for women who had been misunderstood for centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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These changes are the accumulation of countless powerful voices\u2014those who dared to stand up, to speak out, to change their own destinies, and to challenge outdated perceptions that had seemed deeply rooted in society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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III. A NEW SOCIAL PERSPECTIVE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200e<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every struggle for women\u2019s rights, through even the most persistent efforts, has gradually opened the chapter we now inhabit\u2014a chapter of liberation and the redefinition of identity. In the contemporary context, the figure of the witch no longer lurks in the darkness of fear, but gradually steps into the light as a symbol of power and independent individuality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200e<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rise of lifestyles associated with crystals, gemstones, and Tarot has given shape to the concept of \u201cmodern witchcraft.\u201d These practices are no longer viewed as heresy or superstition, but are instead embraced as a way for people to reconnect with the self and the universe. Exploring magic today has become an intriguing cultural practice, a journey in search of inner peace amid a turbulent world, and a means through which people seek guidance for the future.\n\nAlthough society\u2019s view of magic has become more open, there are still regions in the world today where prejudice against witchcraft continues to cause violence against women. In Ghana, witch camps such as Kukuo, Tindang, and Gushiegu still exist, housing hundreds of people. Women accused of being witches have been captured and burned alive because local people believe that unless a witch\u2019s body is burned, she will rise from the grave [5].<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200e<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can be said that the journey of the witch from villain to feminist symbol serves as a mirror reflecting women\u2019s relentless efforts to reclaim their freedom and happiness. The struggle is far from over, yet the witch will remain an enduring symbol because she represents the untamable part within every woman\u2014a reminder that true power lies in daring to be different and daring to rise up, both for oneself and for other women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200e<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reference materials:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200e<\/p>\n\n\n\n Author: Le Tran Gia Linh<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the childhood memories of many generations, the figure of the witch\u2014portrayed in stories such as Snow White or Hansel and Gretel\u2014often embodies evil, grotesqueness, and acts of poisoning. Perhaps for this reason, throughout the course of [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-women-and-literature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4758"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4758\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4770,"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4758\/revisions\/4770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vnsfemaleassociation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n