Wish Fulfillment and The Craft
When you’re a sixteen year old, you feel like the world is always against you. Despite being well out of high school, I see the appeal of the 1996 cult classic, The Craft. The premise is a bunch of teenage girls suddenly get results from witchcraft and they’re finally getting what they want, of course, at a price. It’s dramatic and over the top, but it’s 100% teenage wish fulfillment.
In The Craft, bullies run rampant and everybody’s kind of a dick to you if you don’t act the way that is expected or the social norm (shocking, I know). Unsurprisingly, the smart black girl, the poor white girl (in a pretty affluent looking town), and the jumpy burn victim are friends with each other and try to get solve their problems through witchcraft. They’re outcasts and find solace in each other and it only makes sense that the suicidal new girl joins their coven. It also helps that this new girl totally can do real magic.
Columbia Pictures
Once Sarah (Robin Tunney) joins their pack, that’s when the fun begins. Quickly, the spells begin to work and the requests of their become more brutal. The girls who once made fun of Rochelle’s (Rachel True) hair are now balding, Bonnie’s (Neve Campbell) skin treatment is going well, and all of them suddenly have the popularity they wished for. As a viewer, a girl balding against her will sounds pretty rough, but to a girl made fun of and wanting revenge, it’s pure power to see something go their way for once.
As the group becomes more powerful, the consequences grow. Nancy (Fairuza Balk) wishes her family would get money, and when her mother’s deadbeat husband suddenly dies, the mother and daughter do not look back to the past. Murder—albeit magical murder— is pretty damn serious; couldn’t Nancy just have wished her mom hit the lottery? However, since it was about Nancy’s needs, it was about this abusive piece of shit disappearing out of her life for good as well. In the movie, it’s not about getting the bare minimum, it’s about getting revenge.
While the coven’s abilities grow, Sarah realizes that this clearly is not right. The other three, however, do not care. Maybe it’s because Sarah only recently moved to the area and has not been bullied by these people for years and years, or maybe because she has thought about death enough to know exactly how serious death is, this wish fulfillment begins to scare her and it feels wrong.
What amazes me is that viewers are supposed to side with Sarah, but I feel as if in that position, many would end up doing exactly what Nancy, Bonnie, and Rochelle did. When given the chance, we will take what we want, especially after being beaten down for so long and I think the experience of getting everything that you asked for at the expenses of others feels great, for only a certain amount of time. It’s an outcast teen fantasy, with the added glamor of popularity, attention, and of course, witchcraft.
Overall, The Craft holds the attention of many after twenty years because of its universal relatable themes to teens and younger adults. Though a total cheesy be careful what you wish for story, it’s fun and spooky, and not only a great Halloween movie, but a good all year round movie too.
