The Owens Girls

 

In the immediate aftermath of watching the 1998 fantasy romantic film Practical Magic, I text my friend Morgan. 

Let's find a house somewhere that's nearly identical to the one in Practical Magic. We'll round up all of our friends, move in, maybe get a cat or two and live like the Owens women. Very Dionysian. Very poetic. Very witchy-writing-women-Stevie-Nicks of us. 

Practical Magic has a 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, but for my friends and me--it has a 100% in our hearts. 

It is genuine magic. Yes, it has it's cheesy moments. Yes, there are some very CLICHE moments that really let you know this movie was released in '98, but, goodness, is it fantastic. 

The film overwhelms with the concept of sisterhood. It's Now and Then but for the Halloween, witchy audience (and perhaps a more mature audience; some concepts may be too on-the-nose for the young eye).

I know I will touch on this in my female gaze essay--but I adore the modern adaptation of the witch. If you asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would've told you without any shred of hesitation or embarrassment: a witch. It was confident and certain; it was matter-of-fact, and it was because of Practical Magic. 

It was a yes, I want to spend my days living on a coastal Massachusetts town in a grand white Victorian home where we eat chocolate cake for breakfast and homework doesn't exist. I want to live with my friends and spend my days working at my apothecary shop with my long brown hair and long skirts and black Mary Jane shoes. 

I think it is so important to recognize how influential media can be on children. Practical Magic and the dream of being an Owens girl has stuck with me. I think that's why I wrote a paper about the female gaze when it comes to witches--why teach young, impressionable little girls from an early age that witches are ugly? That they're bad? That they'll descend evil upon your small town? There is a historical insinuation that it's just women. Women are bad. Women are evil and ugly. And though that concept has evolved, and perhaps many writers don't recognize the history behind the word "witch," there still exists the patriarchal connotation.