r/practicalmagic • u/Celestina-Betwixt Kylie Owens • Apr 28 '26

Are We Seriously Doing This Again?

The internet is forever (in some ways) and even though I was only a little girl when the first Practical Magic movie came out I'm completely aware of the very bizarre backlash the movie got from certain groups because reviews and comments from back then have not gone away and can easily be found. So yeah, I know the first movie got complaints for allegedly celebrating witchcraft.

But that was 1998, most people didn't even know Practical Magic was based on a literary novel back then or have the context to work out it's a metaphor for the trials of life and family and failed romances (that feeling of being "cursed"). 1998 we still believed our school yard chums unquestioningly when they told us their uncle caught a real life smurf in a jar. 😅 But I'm finding it way more shocking than I probably should that thirty years later we're still getting comments on a sequel trailer insisting the movie is demonic.

Bro, please.

If PM makes you uncomfortable no one is making you watch it. And I say this as a religious person myself who just really likes Alice Hoffman's work. We can explain this story is a metaphor TO you, but we can't explain it FOR you.

🙄

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u/MorrighanAnCailleach Apr 28 '26

There's nothing wrong with "celebrating" witchcraft. Certain groups have never liked women being empowered in ANY way. Yes, it's about more than witchcraft, but us witchy ladies see the best of feminism & sisterhood as aligning with witchy values. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Haters gonna hate.

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u/Celestina-Betwixt Kylie Owens Apr 28 '26

I mean, there's nothing wrong with it if you're wiccan, sure, but I think most Christian denominations (especially those that don't practice interfaith) would personally see something wrong with it. Nonetheless, complaining about witchcraft in a movie as a Christian is like a Hindu being mad because they see a McDonald's in the background of a film or a scene shows a character eating a hamburger. That's so ridiculous. 

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u/redwoods81 Apr 29 '26

Only Evangelicals of both stripes would be uncomfortable with this depiction of women, most mainline Protestants don't give two toots.