A Genre Approach to Hocus Pocus (1993)
Hocus Pocus (1993) – Genre
Listen, pumpkins. Happy Spooky Season to all those celebrating, but the clock struck midnight on October 1st and the spookiest of spells bathed our house in evil little germies. So, while I fight the ghouls and goblins wreaking havoc on my lungs and the cobwebs in my chest and head, we’re gonna have another quick go of it.
This week, in my Witches and Witch-Hunts class, we watched the first 13ish minutes of Hocus Pocus (1993) to analyze how Salem is remembered in modern pop culture. That 13 minutes ends with the Sanderson Sisters being hanged and one of my students was like “that’s dark as hell for a kid’s movie” and I was like “yeah but it’s the 90s, so it’s okay” and then I thought about it the whole drive home so I watched the rest of the film, and I gotta say, that movie’s dark as hell for a kid’s movie. So, this week we’re doing Hocus Pocus but just pointing out all the things that I was like “woooof” or “yowch” or “pfffffooooooo yikes” about.
And yeah, maybe you’re like, “how dare you? I love this movie, it’s a classic” and I’m like, “I never said it wasn’t, I’m just saying society is in a different place 33 years after its release,” and you’re like, “Thirty-thr… what the fuck? Excuse me?” and I’m like, “yeah, buddy, I’m sorry to break it to you like this,” and you’re like, “but I was just a pre-teen watching it in my friend’s basement on Halloween night like a few years ago,” and I’m like, “no, man, that was 20 years ago in 2006,” and you’re like, “don’t say this, man, don’t do it, don’t be like that, man,” and I’m like, “it’s okay, I got you, I can make you feel better,” and you’re like, “I don’t know, man, this hurts,” and I’m like, “what would you do-oo-oo…” and you sob, “for a Klondike bar?” and I’m like “yeah, man. Would you maybe smile for one?” and you wipe your tears on your sleeve, and you’re like “yeah, sure, thanks, man,” as you smile weakly, and I give you a Klondike bar, and we all feel better about the cruel march of that cunt Time. At least until we finish our Klondike bars.
Anyway, 1993 was a long time ago and things are different now and we are allowed to look at things we watched in our youth and be like “yowza” and still enjoy them because we and art are complicated. So, let’s talk about how Hocus Pocus is a thing that makes you go hmmm.
Number 1 – Casual sexism and sexualization of teens
Yeah. YEAH. Starting with the big guns. The whole premise of Hocus Pocus is that the Sanderson Sisters (Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker) who were hanged in Salem in 1693 are brought back to life for one night with the task of stealing the souls of children before sunrise in order to remain alive. But the way they are brought back is that a virgin has to light a candle, and at first you’re like “yeah, spooky stuff always has a virgin, that’s from like the Greeks and shit, we know that” but then the movie is like hell bent on reminding you that this kid is a virgin at 16 and you’re like “yeah, okay, that’s enough” and then an adult is like “bro, for real? You’re really a virgin?” and you’re like “jesus, we get it, stop.” And another teen is trying to cheer his friend up and he’s like “wanna go look in girls’ windows and watch ‘em undress?” My brother in Christ, no.
Also, Sarah Sanderson (Parker) is the “pretty, boy-crazed one” because of course there has to be one, it’s the 90s, and she repeatedly says “let me play with him” about the teenage boys, and it’s like, hmmm, no thank you.
There’s also a bus driver who picks up the witches and flirts with them in a way that, like, sir, do you do this to every patron? They say they want children, which we understand as them looking for souls to eat and which the bus driver, just fully on board, interprets as them wanting him to get each of them pregnant. Hmmm. HMMMMMM. SIR. This is a public bus, what menace on society are you?
Number 2 – Serious violence
There’s like a lot of violence in this movie that I also chalked up to it just being a 90s movie, which I think deserves a bit of examination. For one, the lead witch Winnie Sanderson (Midler) is constantly hitting Sarah and Mary (Najimy) but not just like a little slap on the shoulder. Winnie is straight up karate chopping them in the stomach. You might not remember this because I didn’t but she’s like winding up and just full forearm straight to the gut. Sarah doubles over in pain like fully from one of these wallops, and it’s just, like, excessive, you know? But it was funny for us then because 90s.
The kids also have this great idea to trap the witches in the walk-in incinerator that just happens to be in the high school. And like, for a sec, I was like, “yeah, okay, burning witches, this is a way to do it, I hear that,” and I was willing to be okay with it. But then they watch.
They stand at the door that conveniently has a large enough window for the two teens and young child to see into the incinerator and watch as the witches are burned alive. They just watch. For like, too long. And that feels like something a little much.
Number 3 – Binx dying twice
I know it’s part of the point of the movie that Binx the cat, who is a 1693 Salem kid the witches turned into an immortal cat, is freed from his curse, but they show that cat flattened by the bus that the sex-menace is driving. Like genuinely flattened. He balloons back up and is like, “bingo bango, I told you I can’t die” after the little girl is in full-on tears because she just watched a cat get hit by a literal bus. And then he dies a second time. It’s like bittersweet and beautiful I guess, but also, ouch, man. Rough. The little girl was making plans for generations of her family to take care of the cat forever and ever and the cat fake dying the first time makes it really sting when he real dies the second time.
Number 4 – Unfortunate aging of something entirely unrelated
This one is not their fault and isn’t even something we can just call 90s. There are two classic teenage bullies in the movie who take the protagonist’s shoes and rough him up stop-and-frisk style. They’re real assholes, just thugs who think they’re real badass until they are also caught by the witches and left to die by their fellow teens. But the one who’s the dirty muscle assaulting other kids for fun is insistent on everyone calling him “ICE” and it is just unfortunate that that teenage asshole is exactly who we call ICE now.
Anyway, it’s still fun, it’s still a classic, we can still enjoy it while also acknowledging that society is in a different place. And some of these places I’m glad for. I’m glad that society is in a place where we can criticize the sexualization of teens and the film’s violence for cheap laughs. I like that for us as much as I like revisiting old comforts and enjoying the warmth of nostalgia. We can hold both things at the same time in one hand while the other holds our sweet, sweet Klondike bar.
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