Hocus Pocus... That Spell Won't Work

                Most people in today's society do not spend every waking hour worrying about the fact that their next door neighbor could be a witch. In other words, the fear aspect, or at the very least, the belief in them has decreased exponentially since the Early Modern period.

                The witches of the movie Hocus Pocus basically transcend this range of time from 1693 to 1993. An earlier post already kind of summed up the premise of the movie, but an important part is that the witches lived in 1693 and now have been brought back to life in 1993.

                The humor of the movie comes from the fact that society is tremendously different from what it was like in 1693. The witches are walking around outside on Halloween while kids are trick-or-treating, and are basically flabbergasted. Nobody is afraid of them because a lot of people are dressed up as witches for Halloween. This is unintentionally a symbolic moment in the movie that represents how gender roles have transformed over time. In 1693, a patriarchal society would have been afraid of powerful women, such as witches. By 1993, the United States had already moved past the idea that women should not have too many rights (aka power).

                In addition to societal roles changing, beliefs have been altered due to science and a general increase in knowledge. People still get freaked out by scary movies that contain witches, but most people do not think that what they saw in the movie actually exists and will attack them. Of course, a witch in a movie is much different than a witch in person, but, nevertheless, the fear of witches is much more short-lived than what it used to be.