Witches to Watch: A Pop Culture Primer

It’s no surprise we have an interest in witches, really. As it’s known, The Attic on Eighth was born from a self-titled coven of aesthetes, interested in the witchy characters on our screens, in our books, in our histories. We grew up on them. As children we read about them in fairy tales or saw them in movies, saw them villainized, they the bad women looking to hurt; but knew they were the interesting ones deep down. Characters like Hermione Granger, Sabrina Spellman, and Marnie Piper showed us witches could be more real than we were led to believe – everyday people like us who were also young, bookish, and treated like outsiders, just for being different or having different interests. As early aspirations they encouraged us to embrace our own quirky styles.

Coming of age, we met even more witches; Willow Rosenberg, the Halliwell sisters, Morgana Pendragon, learning that most often a witch is just a powerful being ready to fight, stand up for herself, or overthrow a kingdom if necessary. There have always been popular heroes and anti-heroes in culture, and perhaps before the “strong” female characters of the world finally started appearing on our screens the only way a woman could evoke strength or save the day in Hollywood was indeed if she possessed some sort of supernatural trait. Perhaps witches were all we had, but we were more than happy to have them. They taught us our own strength, encouraged our fearlessness. If they happened to be well-dressed, all the more reason to watch them with raptured eyes.

Witches as they exist today in our sphere are just as interesting and dynamic as ever, the media depicting them ranging everywhere from soapy to quirky to dramatic or historical, ready to cater whatever inspiration or entertainment we need, from the achievable aesthetic to the frightfully sublime. Ranging film and television, vintage and current, here are some of our favorite witches to watch.

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The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018 - present)

The witchy show of the decade. Not based on the 1990s Sabrina the Teenage Witch – a common misconception – but based instead on a different comic book series from Archie Comics by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is a much darker take on the life and adventures of the half-human, half-witch teenager than many expected before the launch of the show. The series follows Sabrina around the time of her sixteenth birthday as she comes of age in the magical world and is faced with whether or not she will pledge her soul to the Dark Lord. Sabrina struggles with embracing her dual nature and goes back and forth between the human world she knows in small town America and the Academy of the Unseen Arts, where she develops her abilities as a witch. Soapy, dramatic, funny, the show has it all – including Sabrina’s Aunts Hilda and Zelda, who are both the epitome of goals in different ways – and is the show to watch if you want something deliciously spooky at this time of year. Bonus: aesthetic galore. 

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A Discovery of Witches (2018 - present)

A guilty pleasure. Based on the All Souls book trilogy by Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches is everyone’s academic witch fantasy. The series revolves around Diana Bishop, a historian who visits Oxford and is forced to come to terms with her witchy heritage as she uncovers a lost manuscript at the Bodleian. With the discovery, she is thrown into a circle of magical beings, including a vampire played by Matthew Goode (the true star of the show, as far as several of us are concerned). Soapy, romantic, aesthetic, the show takes us everywhere from Oxford to Venice to France and even to New England in the autumn. What more can you ask for when you want some dramatic fun? 

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American Horror Story: Coven (2013-2014)

An edgier, yet still completely camp iteration of the genre, the witches of the stunning home that is Miss Robichaux's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies make up the third season of this horror stories anthology series, as well as reappearing to save the world in later season Apocalypse. Descended from Salem and learning the range of their powers in modern day New Orleans, the witches of the coven possess as much power as they do drama, all led by their fiercely mean Supreme as played by the inimitable Jessica Lange. Interspersed with searches for fellow sisters, fights for survival against rival witches, witch hunters, other supernatural creatures, and even their own, the coven of nascent witches learn just as much in witchcraft as they do in history, backstabbing, and style. In its heyday this was the season that spawned a thousand fashion mood boards and memes, including the straightforward, “Wear something black.”

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Bewitched (1964-1972)

No witchy list is complete without it. Bewitched is the sitcom we grew up watching that helped revolutionize the view of witchcraft in pop culture. While The Wizard of Oz gave us Glinda the Good Witch and bewitched (sorry) us as children with the idea that you can do all the cool things witches do and be seen as a power for good instead of an immediate source of evil, Bewitched put that notion front and center by giving us Samantha and her family. The daughter of a magical family, Samantha marries a mortal man, Darrin, and settles down to live the life of an upper-middle class housewife in 1960s Connecticut. The drama of the show comes from the adventures Samantha lives through balancing her witchy lifestyle with human suburbia as her family intervenes with spells and mishaps. Most notably, Samantha’s mother, Endora, disapproves of Samantha’s marriage and often appears to cast spells on her husband. The highlight of the show, Endora is mischievous and brings loads of extra 1960s aesthetics to the screen.

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The Craft (1996)

Have you ever wanted to hang out with the bad girls? Far beyond smoking cigarettes in the bathroom, The Craft acted as a gateway for many Gen Xers and Millennials into real-life witchcraft and the occult writ large. With a Wiccan high priestess on set to consult with the writers and actresses, the narrative is reasonably authentic even though many have taken issue with the introduction of a central male deity. The influence of its 1990s Look can be found in almost any witch-related program today. Combined with everyday teenage problems, new generations of younger viewers continue to enjoy and learn from this movie. Its central lesson, in my opinion, is that weirdness does not authorize malignance.

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Practical Magic (1998)

A dramatic 90s rom-com that has earned a spot as pop culture cult favorite. Based on a novel by Alice Hoffman (now, a series of novels), the story revolves around two sisters who grow up with their witchy aunts following the deaths of their parents. Coming from a long line of witches who descend from Maria Owens – a woman who was abandoned by her lover while she was pregnant and cast a spell to ensure that any man who falls in love with her or future Owens women will die a tragic death, the girls know that love is not easily in their future. Yet, they still welcome it into their lives and deal with the repercussions. A story of sisterhood, friendship, and family before all else, Practical Magic is a dark rom-com that somehow hits every note.

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The VVitch (2015)

Recently mentioned by the Attic’s Culture Editor Eliza Campbell in Actually Scary Books and Films for Halloween, The VVitch is a must-watch for horror and history enthusiasts alike. Painstakingly researched by writer and director Robert Eggers, the accuracy in his depiction of Puritan family life and culture made my glasses fog up. Drawing on silent film and European art house silent motifs, as well as a roster of visual signifiers traditionally associated with witches in art history, the film resembles a Baroque painting in motion. Its cultural relevance paved the way for a wide release of Eggers’s second film (The Lighthouse, out this month), brought us a feminist icon in the form of a black He-goat, and taught us the self-care mantra of living deliciously. [CW/TW:] With intense thematic elements and character death, even I found this film disturbing as Hell. Literally.

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The Love Witch (2016)

Embodying the romantic melodrama of classic movies like I Married a Witch (1942) and Bell, Book, and Candle (1958) along with the extreme camp of 1970s occult shockers, The Love Witch is a dreamlike horror comedy with the color palette of rancid candy. Written, edited, directed, designed, produced, and scored by filmmaker Anna Biller, it was an independent release that is now making waves in cult cinema circles for its devotion to celebrating femininity and prioritizing the female gaze. The Love Witch has also gained attention in the pagan community for its stylized yet gritty depictions of witchcraft practices, and I recommend checking out an interview with Biller on Pam Grossman’s The Witch Wave podcast.

Happy watching!

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Olivia Gündüz-Willemin is Editor-in-Chief of The Attic on Eighth. She is dedicated to reading her way through the world and trying to stay as calm as possible.

Raquel Reyes is Creative Director at The Attic on Eighth. She enjoys styling photo shoots, dramatic hair accessories, and old fashioned cocktails.

Zoë G. Burnett is a writer, menswear stylist, and film enthusiast based in Boston, Massachusetts. A born and raised New England Yankee, she feels equally at home in the 7th arrondissement. She is currently editing her first novel. You can read her personal blog here.