So, since it's Halloween... lets talk about this red band trailer for "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters," which looks about as agood as these "stupid on purpose" genre riffs get. Specifically... is it at all "weird" that I find this in somewhat bad taste?
What I mean is... I totally "get" that they're just riffing on the familiar fairytale (LOVE the gag with the milk bottles) and that 0.00000% of this is meant to be taken seriously, but... they MUST be aware that "Witch" isn't strictly a fictional, made-up thing like vampires or zombies or whatnot, right? That there's an actual, recognized religion (several of them, in fact) in the 21st Century world that calls it's practice "Witchcraft" and it's adherents "Witches," right? I mean, this cannot be NEWS to anyone making a big-budget American fantasy/horror movie, yes?
I know it's kind of a weird area, since Wicca etc. names itself AFTER the historical/mythic version of Witches/Witchcraft and not the other way around, but still... the whole jokey "the only good witch is a dead witch" thing kinda rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I'm oversensitive to this, having known and been friends with more than a few real Witches in my time, but it seems kind of weird to not be qualifying them as "evil witches" here, fairytale or not.
I dunno, maybe I'm nuts... but this feels, to me, just a little bit like having "The Wandering Jew" show up as a monster in something and saying it's okay because it was an actual 13th Century legend. I don't know that it's a huge deal (any Wiccans and/or Witchcraft-identifying neo-pagans want to chime in?) but it feels odd in the 21st Century - regardless of context, can you see someone making a movie called "Christian Hunter" or "Muslim Hunter?"
What I mean is... I totally "get" that they're just riffing on the familiar fairytale (LOVE the gag with the milk bottles) and that 0.00000% of this is meant to be taken seriously, but... they MUST be aware that "Witch" isn't strictly a fictional, made-up thing like vampires or zombies or whatnot, right? That there's an actual, recognized religion (several of them, in fact) in the 21st Century world that calls it's practice "Witchcraft" and it's adherents "Witches," right? I mean, this cannot be NEWS to anyone making a big-budget American fantasy/horror movie, yes?
I know it's kind of a weird area, since Wicca etc. names itself AFTER the historical/mythic version of Witches/Witchcraft and not the other way around, but still... the whole jokey "the only good witch is a dead witch" thing kinda rubs me the wrong way. Maybe I'm oversensitive to this, having known and been friends with more than a few real Witches in my time, but it seems kind of weird to not be qualifying them as "evil witches" here, fairytale or not.
I dunno, maybe I'm nuts... but this feels, to me, just a little bit like having "The Wandering Jew" show up as a monster in something and saying it's okay because it was an actual 13th Century legend. I don't know that it's a huge deal (any Wiccans and/or Witchcraft-identifying neo-pagans want to chime in?) but it feels odd in the 21st Century - regardless of context, can you see someone making a movie called "Christian Hunter" or "Muslim Hunter?"
