Lights, Camera, Witchcraft

Why does the witch look the way she does on screen? Film scholar Heather Greene traces the cinematic witch through American movies and television, from the silent era to present-day blockbusters. Starting with silent films such as Joan the Woman and moving on to The Wizard of Oz, the book examines how these productions helped shape popular ideas about witches.

Greene argues that these portrayals did more than entertain. They also influenced how real women understood and used their own power in a patriarchal society. The book surveys more than two hundred examples, arranged decade by decade, so readers can follow the witch's changing image over time. Along the way it connects these films and shows to wider conversations in critical theory, gender studies, and spirituality.

The book will appeal to readers interested in film history, popular culture, and the portrayal of women in media. Its discussion ranges from Carrie to Charmed, placing each work within the era that produced it.