At least according to this story by ABC News.

I've seen trailers for Wicker Man, starring Nicolas Cage, which opens tomorrow. Or rather, I've noticed them on television but studiously avoided watching them. You see, I can't handle scary movies. Even the trailers tend to give me nightmares. I hear creepy music or see icky images and I'm hightailing it to the kitchen to top off my glass of pinot. (I know, I'm a witch, this stuff shouldn't phase me. Meh.) When I came across this link in a news feed, I'll admit I was intrigued.

The first thing that struck me about this article was that a major news network was actually refraining from painting Wicca with a wide, black paintbrush. The tone even comes across as sympathetic to witches who are offended by how they generally are portrayed in popular entertainment. The author, Buck Wolf, makes it very clear that sacrifice (an element contained in the film) has absolutely nothing to do with Wicca and includes this paragraph in his conclusion:

What attracts many people to Wicca is its belief in a god and goddess, and its celebration of nature and, especially, fertility. By some estimates, there are more than 200,000 practicing this faith in the United States, and perhaps as many as 1 million, with proponents claiming that it is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world.

Wow! Someone who got his facts straight - I'm impressed!

Wolf also interviewed and extensively quotes both Phyllis Curott, Ivy-League educated lawyer, author, and priestess of the Temple of Ara, and Fiona Horne, Australian-born witch, rock star and TV and radio personality, who spoke at Harvard earlier this year at a conference called "Witchcraft and Paganism in Contemporary Media." Although it's likely that he got much of his information on Wicca from them, it's obvious that Wolf was not just out to write a sensationalistic fluff piece about a high-profile horror flick. The article is as much about Wicca and it's place in American culture as it is about Wicker Man.

About the film, Buck Wolf says:

One might think modern day witches, who've revived ancient traditions in the Wicca faith, would be outraged by the film, as they were with "The Blair Witch Project," and other negative depictions. Instead, many witches like the original "Wicker Man," and are eager to see what new twists Cage and director Neil LaBute have brought to the remake.

I have a fuzzy recollection of someone, somewhere mentioning that the current film is a remake - it may even have been on a witchy blog - but I had no idea what the story was about until reading Wolf's article. Cage's character is investigating the disappearance of a young girl and encounters a mysterious island, isolated from the contemporary world, whose inhabitants are practicing a "strange, vaguely pagan belief system." Hopes are high - and the Wiccan community seems poised to discern - that the new film is as good as the original.

... many witches say that [the original] "Wicker Man" was one of the first popular films of its time to consider some of the aspects of the ancient traditions that made them relevant today.

I may actually have to go see this movie. But only if someone will come along to hold my hand and ... well, let's not finish where that sentence was going!

Posted by Angela-Eloise at 3:53 PM