Film Analysis #3
Witchcraft is a belief that is rooted deeply in the country of Africa. In the film, women of Ghana are accused of being witches and are exiled to ‘witch camps’ where they will likely live the rest of their lives, having been torn apart from their families and some were even abused by their own family. Since their ancestors were illiterate, they told stories in the form of folk tales and such.
Stories of witches and the misfortunate they can bring is deeply ingrained in their minds as children. The fear of being targeted and possibly killed by a witch keeps people from misbehaving and acting out. Witchcraft is used as a means of social control, for example, it provides a definite explanation for sudden and or irrational
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In the 21st century, in a time that calls for action and social justice, many want to dismantle the camps altogether. Although in theory it might sound like the best solution, it’s a very complex issue. While it is the right thing to do, it could possibly make the situation worse. In the film there were a couple suggestions as to what they could possibly be done. One was keeping the sites as a tourist attraction to increase revenue. Another suggestion was to keep the camps but improve the conditions. I feel that the latter would be hard to do, considering that many are already living in destitute, plus many might believe they deserve to live that way. If the camps were to be destroyed, the women would have nowhere to go back to. The camps themselves didn’t have any fences or guards. There was technically nothing stopping the women from physically leaving the village. They just didn’t have anywhere to go back to. They were accused by the people of their village and escorted by their families themselves. Even if they were to go back, they would not be treated equally to others or to how they were treated before they were accused. It doesn't change the fact that the incident happened and the accused women would likely be targeted for any future incidents. Some women originally had to escape in order to not be …show more content…
One girl commented that there is no exception to this attitude towards killing witches, even if it had been her own mother. Although many women give birth, provide child care, cook, clean, and work, they are seen as disposable. One man confessed to rushing to conclusions when his wife was accused of being a witch. He said that he now believes it could have been because of other causes, but he also commented that his wife was getting older and could not bear more children, a woman's primary function as perceived by their society. Another man commented that “if she was young and [the husband] still wanted her then they would possibly go back to get her from the
Witchcraft is the most illogical and despised practices involving the supernatural power. “It implies the ability to injure others. A witch usually acquires his power through an inherent physical factor or through the power of another witch. Witch possess a special organ called mangu, located somewhere behind the sternum or attached to the liver.”[11] Woman/man may become a witch through the influence of another witch or contact with another witch. Witches do not intend to do harm; they are as much the victims of witchcraft as those upon whom they practice it. They have innate power and often don’t know what they are doing. The belief in witchcraft helps people explain the causes of illness, death and misfortune experienced by a person or a group when no other explanations can be found. Most of the time when witches create injury and calamity, they were punished by death, sometimes by exile. They also were forced into admission of guilt by torture, fear, or the hope for lighter punishment. “Most witches work by night, are capable of covering long distances very rapidly, tem...
During the time of the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, more than twenty people died an innocent death. All of those innocent people were accused of one thing, witchcraft. During 1692, in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts many terrible events happened. A group of Puritans lived in Salem during this time. They had come from England, where they were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs. They chose to come live in America and choose their own way to live. They were very strict people, who did not like to act different from others. They were also very simple people who devoted most of their lives to God. Men hunted for food and were ministers. Women worked at home doing chores like sewing, cooking, cleaning, and making clothes. The Puritans were also very superstitious. They believed that the devil would cause people to do bad things on earth by using the people who worshiped him. Witches sent out their specters and harmed others. Puritans believed by putting heavy chains on a witch, that it would hold down their specter. Puritans also believed that by hanging a witch, all the people the witch cast a spell on would be healed. Hysteria took over the town and caused them to believe that their neighbors were practicing witchcraft. If there was a wind storm and a fence was knocked down, people believed that their neighbors used witchcraft to do it. Everyone from ordinary people to the governor’s wife was accused of witchcraft. Even a pregnant woman and the most perfect puritan woman were accused. No one in the small town was safe. As one can see, the chaotic Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 were caused by superstition, the strict puritan lifestyle, religious beliefs, and hysteria.
In today’s times, witches are the green complexed, big nosed ladies who ride around on broomsticks at Halloween. Back in the 1600’s, witches looked like average people, but they worked alongside the devil. Salem, Massachusetts, was a religious town of Puritans. They were strong believers in God, and had believed that witches were the devils workers. Everything was usual in Salem in 1692, until, 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigale Williams had sudden outbursts of screaming, contortions and convulsions, the doctor came and diagnosed witchcraft (Blumberg, Jess) And from this time on, the people of Salem believed there were witches all around them.
The witch hunts in early modern Europe were extensive and far reaching. Christina Larner, a sociology professor at the University of Glasgow and an influential witchcraft historian provides valuable insight into the witch trials in early modern Europe in her article 'Was Witch-Hunting Woman-Hunting?'. Larner writes that witchcraft was not sex-specific, although it was sex-related (Larner, 2002). It cannot be denied that gender plays a tremendous role in the witch hunts in early modern Europe, with females accounting for an estimated 80 percent of those accused (Larner, 2002). However, it would be negligent to pay no heed to the remaining 20 percent, representing alleged male witches (Larner, 2002). The legal definition of a witch in this time, encompassed both females and males (Levack, 1987). This essay will explore the various fundamental reasons for this gender discrepancy and highlight particular cases of witchcraft allegations against both women and men. These reasons arise from several fundamental pieces of literature that depict the stereotypical witch as female. These works are misogynistic and display women as morally inferior to men and highly vulnerable to temptations from demons (Levack, 1987). This idea is blatantly outlined in the text of the 'Malleus Maleficarum' written by James Sprenger and Henry Kramer in the late fifteenth century. This book is used as the basis for many of the witch trials in early modern Europe (Levack, 1987). The text describes women as sexually submissive creatures and while remarking that all witchcraft is derived from intense sexual lust, a women is thus a prime candidate for witchcraft (Sprenger & Kramer, 1487). In this time period, men are seen as powerful and in control and thus rarely...
I thought women were only witches but I guess I was wrong. Johanne, lord mayor of Bamberg a city in Germany starts off the letter by referring to the hundred, thousands, good nights he’s spent locked away from his beloved daughter Veronica. He claims to be an innocent man tortured and killed under false accusation of witchcraft. There was much superstition and ignorance in the 17th century. Witchcraft had been illegal since 1563 and hundreds of women were wrongly accused and punished ‘Proof’ of being a witch could be a third nipple, an unusual scar or birthmark, a boil, a growth, or even owning a cat or a pet. Confessions were often made under torture, same goes for the case of
Witchcraft is a social phenomenon that is prevalent among the Tiv as Laura Bohannan describes in Return to Laughter (1954). It is generally believed that witches have the power to cause harm in others by the virtue that allows them to make spiritual journeys. The belief in the power of witches allows groups such as the Tiv, make sense of their seemingly arbitrary hardships and place blame on a particular person rather than coincidence, thus leading to unfortunate allegations of witchcraft. Witchcraft accusations are done mainly by those who feel threatened socio-culturally or economically. Witchcraft accusations may be an implication of struggle for resources, domination and power among men within the Tiv in Nigeria.
Witchcraft is said to be the most widespread cultural phenomenon in existence today and throughout history. Even those who shun the ideas of witchcraft cannot discount the similarities in stories from all corners of the globe. Witchcraft and its ideas have spread across racial, religious, and language barriers from Asia to Africa to America. Primitive people from different areas in the world have shockingly similar accounts of witchcraft occurrences. In most cases the strange parallels cannot be explained and one is only left to assume that the tales hold some truth. Anthropologists say that many common elements about witchcraft are shared by different cultures in the world. Among these common elements are the physical characteristics and the activities of supposed witches. I will go on to highlight some of the witch characteristic parallels found in printed accounts from different parts of the world and their comparisons to some famous fairytales.
...they don’t understand. Reactions of witch-hunts were based on misconceived panic and anxiety of anything outside of the common religious beliefs. Because of poor record keeping, the exact numbers of men and women persecuted on the account of being witches may never be accurate enough to decide if it was an issue of misogyny.
In the 1690's in Salem, MA a group of young girls accused a young indian slave by the name of Tituba of being a witch and using witchcraft to pinch the girls. Tituba was one of the first accused witches out of around two hundred accused, according to the Smithsonian. Out of all these people nineteen were hanged ,one was pressed to death, and five died in prison ,as well as that many more were locked away in prison. These accusations, and death were brought upon by Ann Putnam, Jr. who played a crucial role in the witchcraft trials. She was twelve years old at the time, and she was one of the first to join Betty Parris and Abigail Williams as an "afflicted child". Though she is easily criticized for her role as one of the most persistent accusers in the trials, i...
...em Witchcraft Hysteria is that the women were trying to stand out and tried to prove social equality because of social and attention seeking. So basically, they wanted to be noticed. I feel the search for power is a common aspect of the human nature because everyone wants more than others and that is what brings dissatisfaction of what we have. Also, coming from my cultures point of view which is highly and greatly superstitious a culture, we know that every evil has consequences so therefore, I take it to be that the girls knew that witches would face several consequences. Moving further, the counter point in Laurie Winn Carlson's article has no substantial evidence to support her theory. Furthermore, they wanted to seek the power and respect they never had the opportunity of having and wanted to benefit from it. This argument supported by sociologist Dodd Bogart.
Were the Witch-Hunts in Pre-modern Europe Misogynistic? The “YES” article by, Anne Llewellyn Barstow, “On Studying Witchcraft as Woman’s History” and the “NO” article by, Robin Briggs, “Women as Victims? Witches, Judges and the Community,” will be compared, and summarized.
Witchcraft is a term which sprouts many different meanings. As stated above, it is attributed to witches. But what is a witch? Probably an evil haggish-like women who has signed a pact with the devil if we think of it in the English sense. So witchcraft must be evil doings; putting curses on people to make their life miserable, using wicked spells to transform humans to frogs etc. But does this hold true to everyone's idea of what witchcraft is.People's believes on the subject of witchcraft might differ between different cultures.
For many centuries to the present day, Christians have lived in fear of witches. They were known as to be the devils child who only practiced black magic and thought of as the Christians “persecution”. Witches have been known to mankind since the 1200’s. Throughout the 1400’s, the examination of witches was more focus and moved from the Jews. In the church’s law, it was stated that the belief of existence and practices of witchcraft was “heresy”. Because of what the Christians believed, churches would then torture and hunt down anyone who they thought were witches and killed the many women and only a few of the men. They even made them make the confession of flying through the midnight sky, being in love with the devil himself, practicing black magic and even turning into animals.
While this story at first appears to be first-rate tabloid matter, it plays on several different tensions within African culture. Most obvious is the tension between the traditional belief in witchcraft and the modern disparagement of that belief. To a westerner, witchcraft is a remnant of a ‘primitive’ society, and encourages feelings of superiority, but to a traditional African, it is a part of existence, and a form of theodicy. Witchcraft explains suffering in such a way that it can be dealt with; the witch can be sought out and forced to amend his or her evil actions. Gcabashe’s claim, that a witch physically abd...
Belief in witchcraft is the traditional way of explaining the ultimate cause of evil, misfortune or death.” The African worldview is holistic. In this perception, things do not just happen. What happens, either good or bad, is traced back to human action, including “ancestors who can intervene by blessing or cursing the living.” Witches, on the other hand, harm because they want to destroy life.