“Bewitched:” Between Housewifery and Emancipation

Authors

  • Alex McCann Département de littérature, théâtre et cinéma, Université Laval, Canada

Keywords:

bewitched, witch, feminism, feminine mistique, emancipation, housewives

Abstract

It is not inconsequential that the first broadcast of Bewitched coincides almost perfectly with the publication of Betty Friedan’s preeminent work The Feminine Mystique, often considered the starting point of Second-wave feminism. The book and the series have a common goal: enabling housewives to become aware of their alienation and gradually bring them towards emancipation. It is therefore by using the portrait of the American housewife of the 1950s discussed by Betty Friedan as a framework for analysis that we propose to show how Bewitched, through Samantha’s character as a housewife, renews the portrait of the typical housewife, but by being a witch, allows a whole generation of women to become aware of the bonds which imprison them and thus to tend towards a release.

Author Biography

Alex McCann, Département de littérature, théâtre et cinéma, Université Laval, Canada

Alex McCann is a master’s student at Université Laval (Canada). His research focuses on the relationship between poetry and political movements in Québec’s society from 1960 to today and is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) as well as by Québec’s Fund for Culture and Society (FRSQC). He is also the author of various short stories and poems published in different literary magazines in Canada.

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Published

2021-02-02

How to Cite

McCann, A. (2021). “Bewitched:” Between Housewifery and Emancipation. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai - Dramatica, 65(1), 245–259. Retrieved from https://dramatica.ro/index.php/j/article/view/42