Although it's only hinted at in the movie by the presence of a
pentagram ring, which could've been easily overlooked, it seems that the
filmmakers chose to elaborate on the mythology behind the _Blair Witch
Project_ and include what seems to be references to Heather Donahue's practice
of witchcraft herself, and not in the usual hollywood sense.

        Though it's a bit of a spoiler for the movie, the character's journals
are listed on http://www.blairwitch.com/legacy.html, and contain some
obvious references to what seems to be Garderian-variety Wicca.

        Interesting that Hollywood's finally accepted a Wiccan character who
isn't an "evil witch" or a variation on Bewitched's Samantha.

47 responses total.

OK, I actually went and looked at a web site- yes, Rob, really...<g>
You know what?  It looks like fun!  Like a creative approach to movie making,
like a fun movie, like a fairly believable snapshot of a college student and
young Wiccan.  From "Heather's Journal", yeah- she's an unusually well 
educated Wiccan; not Gardnerian, perhaps Alexandrian-- they use more
ceremonial magic/alchemy.  The stuff on the meaning of number, on the planet
Saturn, etc. is sort of medieval alchemy.  Neat!

And yeah, it's a really reasonable, non-sensationalist view of a Wiccan
character.  She has no particular ability to fly, charm men, or wiggle her
nose, beyond what's reasonable.  Yay!

Since Kami doesn't see many movies, she probably doesn't have much of a sense
of "spoilers":

It's poor etiquette to talk about certain details of movies until they're out
of the first run, or they've been out a month and a half, whichever comes
first... even if you got these details through some other source. (Certain
movies, I should say.) The current movies with "spoiler" status are, probably,
Eyes Wide Shut, Blair Witch, and Sixth Sense.

In other words, don't tell me what's in Heather's Journal! I'm avoiding the
website for a reason!
=}

In fairness to Kami, I've read the journals from the Web site,
and the stuff she mentioned isn't discussed in the movie.
The word "Wicca" isn't even uttered once in the movie - or is
that a spoiler too?  >8)  The filmmakers are going for a multimedia
approach, and using the Web site to add material to the whole
Blair Witch "mythology".

oh, ok then...
the problem with spoilers in this day of Websites for every movie, is you need
someone who's seen the movie to know whether something's a spoiler or not

=}

Maybe we could set up a new Web site?  www.iknowwhicharespoilers.com ?

        Hollywood's already taken care of all of the spoilers for us. :)

        Anne and I did notice the pengagram ring on the character Heather, and
both of us were impressed that Hollywood - well, in this case independent film
Hollywood - had a realistic human portraral of a Wiccan.  I won't say it was
a positive one - read the website for some of the character's flaws which make
her about the same as a Christian-offshoot fundamentalist in terms of her
beliefs and their affects on those around her.  This wasn't explored in the
film, and I believe it was spun out of whole cloth after the movie became
popular. 

        Nonetheless, the ring was there before all of the hype.

I didn't notice the ring. Thanks. I'll look for it the next time I see the
movie.

Those character flaws didn't particularly jump out at me, except as being
fairly typical of a young person of her apparent age and degree of experience;
the wide eyed optimistic belief, perhaps to the degree of unrealistic
optimism, or the black and white demands for perfect virtue or justice, are
pretty common.  Been there... <sigh>

        In your observation, when does that normally stop? :)

the first time you're kicked out of your own coven

        Those savage skyclad fuckers!

Varies.  Some folks go away before they'll take the risk of having to shrink
their poor little egos.  Some "get it" within a matter of months or years.
Especially if they end up in responsible- as opposed to prestige- positions
such as organizing a student group.  And for others, some time in the first
ten years or so, they mature and settle into a maintainable and dynamic
process of growing, learning and eventually leading.

        That sounds more like a reaction to something that's happened recently
than to what you were originally saying in #8, Kami ...

Actually, few people ever seem to get beyond the black-and-white demands for
justice, in or out of the neopagan commuity.

Pardon me if I've drifted or encouraged drift.  The progression seems to
have been -"is Blair Witch a reasonable portrayal?" "Yes, of a young pagan"
"When does one stop being that young?" "Depends..."  Which, as the characters
in that movie die or disappear or something before they get to grow up and
settle, is less than relevant to this item.  Sorry.
Jazz, nothing recent, except perhaps my own ongoing efforts to get beyond
whiny puppiehood, just a few years' observation.

Having seen the Blair Witch Project now, I can say that it doesn't portray
much of anything enough to say whether it's an accurate portrayal of anything.
*is thoroughly disappointed by the movie*

        Re #15:

        It's the kind of drift that I'd hoped for when writing the item - if
the item author's views count for anything once the item itself has gotten

rolling. :)

        I'm not sure youthful optimism is necessarily a product of youth, or
is as bad as it seems to be portrayed here.  "The trutful are loveless / like
oysters their eyes", no? 

        Although the classic error of paganism in the Ann Arbor area is to
place too little emphasis on formal heirarchy - leading to the high priestess
without a coven in ever dorm room - the systems of formal heirarchy tend to
make concrete and rationalize the same irrational reasons informal heirarchy

follows - charisma, confidence, and the ability to play the social games.
One who is wise is wise whether they are an independent with no heirarchy at
all, or whether they are a leader, or a student, are they not?

        Re #16:

        Whether you enjoyed the movie or not, it's significant that a 
character was portrayed (primarily in the web site, though the web site in
this
case was designed along with the movie and before it was originally released
in independent circles, and is not a marketing after-thought) as Wiccan
without
any sensationalism or Christian "heathen-bashing".

        It's good to see - it's something closeted practitioners might notice
and feel comfort in.

What portrayal? I haven't been to the website, so from a perspective of
someone who has only seen the movie, it's not obvious that she has any
religion at al. Gratned, I missed the first twenty minutes or so, but all I
saw were three whiny college students lost in the woods. (I saw it at the
drive-in, and we'd gone to see The Haunting, so we passed on the opportunity
to see the beginning of Blair Witch.) Her reaction to seeing clearly witch-y
charms was to get scared and cry. More. And then some more.

There wasn't a shred of Wicca, good or bad, in the hour-plus that I saw.

Actually, I rather like the (fairly normal, in most paganism I come into
contact with) utter lack of heirarchy, causing the only measure of respect
being what you've done and who you are, not what a single person (or a small
group) thought of you.  This is a feature, not a bug.
        Haven't seen Blair Witch (though I'd like to; it raises all my amateur
critic instincts), but I like that there's something on the verge of the
popular media which treats paganism as just a mundane -thing-, not something
unusual (as much as many of us may wish it to be, if only in our case).

But there isn't something like tat, Joshua, at least, no the film "The Blair
Witch Project." That's my point. 

Actually, I think te TV series Buffy tVS does about the best job currently
of depicting witchcraft as "no big thing."

        Re #19:

        I don't think I've ever seen a system where one is really judged on
merit;  there're always abbreviated tests for merit (as scholastic performance
is judged on test scores), combined to one degree or another with social
ritual and personal charisma.  I'm skeptical that such a thing could exist.

        Just pointing out that informal rankings and formal heirarchies often
judge on exactly the same critera;  the latter simply take longer and are more
resistant to change and to the odd exceptionally charismatic fellow.

Brighn, I'm given to understand that the cinematography- if it can be called
that- on Blair Witch is sufficiently wobbly and vertigo provoking that I would
do well to avoid it.  Was that your impression?

If you are at all prone to motion sickness, I'd advise you
to stay away.

Yeah, thought so.  Actuall, I don't get "sea sick" except at movies. <sigh>

Imagine if you will three college students running around the woods during
the day and night with handycams. That's precisely what it is... wobbly,
poorly lit (if at all... sometimes all you get is the sound, because it's
night and they haven't turned the light on), confusing.

More amusing to be there than to watch it, I suspect.  I often have trouble
with swooping shots, or a sense that the camera is changing angle/position
as it films.  Some flying scenes are really rough, yet Koyanisqatsi and
Empire Stikes Back are among my favorite (visual) movies.

So were the "students" filming one another filming one another?

Actually, a few times, but not very much. there were two handycams with them.

I preferred to watch the Sci Fi special called Curse of the Blair Witch. It
was like watching an episode of In Search Of... I found some of the stuff in
that more creepy and disturbing than the actual film.

BWP is definitely a movie you need to take Dramamine to see. Unfortunately,
people are going to copy that style since it's the latest fad. Maybe someone
will do it better.

NYPD Blue does that a lot.  Even if the camera is on two people talking, it
acts like the person holding it is jittery.  Plus, there are times it will
do that "focus/unfocus" thing, as if it's cool to show that you know how to
adjust the camera.  <sigh>  They either need a tripod, a cameraman, or a new
way of filming.  ;-)

Kami, doyou know of a video of "Koyaanisquatsi"? I saw it twice at the Mich.
Theatre and loved it, but haven't seen anything of it since. I do have a tape
of the music but the pictures are what was impressive ... 

        There's a version out in video stores (though it's hard to find), and
there's a sequel as well.  I wish I could remember the name.

The sequal is "Powanisqutsi" or something like that. Both should be available
at Liberty St. Video.

        Yeah, I thought it was something along those lines, but that little
voice that calls "bullshit!" when I remember something inaccurate was mouthing
off.  I've since bought it some Battle Creek Special Reserve and it's much
happier and more complacent.

Not to be picky, but it's Koyaanisqatsi...no "u".  =)  (I worked for
Koyaanisqatsi Press, so that was drilled into my head for two years).
Heh...  I know it's a hard word to spell.  Just picking' on ya.

The sequel was "Powaqqatsi" or "Powwaqatsi: Life in Transformation", depending
on which country you search in.  The latter is the American poster title. 
It came out in 1988.

Thanks for the correction ... I realized I'd included the "u" out of sheer
habit, but it was too late to change it ... Is the press still in business,
and is it publishing interesting stuff?  

Out of business because the owner was a psycho rat bastard.  =)  Although,
it's a spiffy entry on my resume...heh heh heh.

The pronunciation leads a lot of people to think there is a "u" in there, as
if it's "squat-si" instead of "scott-si".

OK, since they're out of business, what kind of stuff did Koyaanisqatsi Press
used to publish? I'm curious too.

A poetry and prose magazine called "The Dirty Word".  It was available in
southwestern Michigan.  I tried really hard to get distribution in a2 and
Lansing, but the psycho rat bastard had horrible marketing skills.  He
wouldn't let me go sell it alone, and he always screwed it up.  =}

(Does #36 mean that the last syllables of Koyaanisqatsi _are_ pronounced
"squat-si", or that they _aren't_?)

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss