Killing Spells, Underage Covens, and Bad Stereotypes

January 14, 2009 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 24 Comments

Yesterday I alerted my readership to a special Witch-themed episode of the crime procedural The Mentalist, and it looks like most of you shared my own negative reactions to the show. I suppose it’s inevitable when you have the star of The Craft on your show that you’ll eventually have to do something “witchy”. Too bad that “something” perpetuated so many bad stereotypes.

The “Witch” in the show, Tamzin Dove (played by Azura Skye), is portrayed as a smart but somewhat delusional woman caught up in a murder investigation. When a local football star is found dead, surrounded by ritualistic trappings, the investigation immediately turns to the “only Witch in town” (In California, really?). What’s frustrating is that the show’s writers obviously read a book on Wicca, they just didn’t read it hard enough. Tamzin believes in the “horned god and the goddess”, and calls non-Wiccans “cowans”, but she also admits to using a secret Wiccan “killing spell” on the victim because he killed her cat (I obviously haven’t risen high enough in the ranks to learn this secret spell of death). Dove also seems to have no problem secretly gathering a coven of underage kids, and is revealed to have had a “history of minor psychiatric problems” while in custody.

The take-home message is that Wicca is a balm for wounded psyches, and that magic is simply a (sometimes comforting) delusion. Indeed, the show’s star Patrick Jane (played by Simon Baker) seems to have sympathy for Dove (saying that she’s been “hurt enough”) while going out of his way to prove that a belief in magic is nothing but superstition. He proves this by casting his own “spell” to reveal the killer (and by making fun of a superstitious co-worker). The real killer is caught, and Wiccans are proven to be little more than the “nerds in cloaks” a cop in the show describes them as.

What’s dangerous about the inaccuracies here isn’t that it might hurt the feelings of a few Wiccans, but the messages it sends to parents and non-Pagans watching the show. Beliefs that many of us have been trying to debunk for ages. That we recruit children without the knowledge of the parents, that we work malicious magic (and work it capriciously), and that we came to Wicca because we’re damaged or troubled. Luckily we aren’t also murderers, but aside from that this show only confirms what many people already believe about modern Pagans. I was prepared for cheesy inaccuracies, but this went a bit too far in my opinion. If you want to give CBS a (polite) piece of your mind, you can contact them through this form.

Filed Under: Paganism Tagged With: , , , , , , 24 Comments
  • Incensed

    Well said.

    • Incensed

      My last comment was directed at the letter of complaint Holli wrote to CBS. I must have hit the wrong button because it didn't nest properly.

  • http://focasfl.org Morgan Greywolf

    As a fellow Wiccan, although I agree with your sentiment, I also think that perhaps you’re being a bit harsh. The thing to bear in mind is that The Mentalist is a fictional television drama. As with any fictional drama, TV or otherwise, a willing suspension of disbelief is required.

    Writers often take creative license with facts. Along with most of the rest of CBS’ drivel that’s supposed to pass as watchable television, I don’t watch The Mentalist, but if you watch CSI, for example, and know anything about police forensics or computers, you can see how the writers take horrible license with things such as taking a grainy, poor quality security video and ‘digitally enhancing’ it instaneously turning the video into a pretty good picture of the killer’s face. Yeah, right. Anyone who knows anything about image and video processing on a computer can tell you that computers can’t do this. Anybody who knows anything about police forensics can tell you that the vast majority of security camera videos are absolutely worthless to the police, but they check them anyway just in case.

    Sure, spreading stereotypes isn’t good, but chances are good that these writers, though well-meaning, probably know next to nothing about Wicca or modern Paganism. They probably even thought they were doing us a favor by increasing awareness of Wicca and showing everyone that Wicca is harmless.

    A few minor points:

    1. While as a general rule most groups at least require parental consent before teaching or taking in minors, there are a few unfortunate cases that make the rest of us look bad. Continuing education both for the general public and for the pagan community is required to clear up misconceptions on both sides of the issue.

    2. In regards to your comments about coming to Wicca ‘because we’re damaged or troubled’ — Actually, people do often turn to religion when things go wrong. That’s just human nature. We have to accept the fact that some people do come to Wicca because they have problems. And, fortunately for them, it is an opportunity for these people to improve that situation because Wicca stresses self-improvement in a way no other religion on the planet does. People who find spiritual balance while on this path are actually some of Wicca’s best success stories.

    3. There a murders in any religion. Any religion can be misused and twisted to justify or even to commit horrific crimes. Just like virtually all other religions on the planet, we believe that harming others is wrong and that includes killing. Any other viewpoint represents a perversion of the religion. And such pervisions are far more pervasive in the Abrahamic religions — killing ‘in the name of God’ is reported in the news every day.

    So, yeah, give CBS a piece of your mind, but realize that, at least IMHO, you shouldn’t really take this too seriously. It’s just a show.

  • Pingback: Getting My Ire Up: The Mentalist - cybercoven.org

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/AmericanTrikstr AmericanTrikstr

    Witch girl on the show to the cops: "I find your lack of faith…disturbing." *Chokes cop*

  • jaundicedeye

    The solution would seem to be for Pagans who can write well to start submitting teleplays to shows like CSI that at least try to get their facts straight.

  • Peg A.

    One can't just "submit teleplays" for consideration on network television shows. You have to be an experienced writer and be represented by an agent.

  • Pingback: The Witch on the Mentalist « Tiny Cat Pants

  • jaundicedeye

    Even so there are quite a few professional Pagan fiction writers out there you know. Some of them probably read this blog. I offer the suggestion in case they are among the readers.

  • Lasher

    Perfectly correct, Carter – perfectly correct!

  • Pingback: The Wild Hunt » What’s Up With CBS Lately?

  • Pingback: The Wild Hunt » What Do People Know About Wicca?

  • Pingback: The Wild Hunt » The Importance of Subcultural Signifiers in Popular Media, or, I Watched NCIS Last Night

  • peg

    It still looks like you replied to it; it's farther out towards the margin than later comments.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/thewildhunt thewildhunt

    Did you actually watch the show?

  • Marc Mielke

    Really, the entire remit of the show is debunking the supernatural. It's sort of the main character's thing.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/thewildhunt thewildhunt

    Yes, the problem here must be that you're more perceptive than most.

  • Pingback: The Wild Hunt » It’s called Wicca and it’s empowering!

  • Pingback: The Wild Hunt » The Simpsons and Wiccans

  • Pingback: The Wild Hunt » A Bit About Bones

  • Pingback: The Wild Hunt » True Blood’s “Year of the Witch”

  • Anonymous

    I could take this seriously if wicca wasn’t a made-up religion with no roots and no basis. It’s about as believable as scientology but without the money.

    • Loafer_98

      actually, it’s not. I’m not wiccan, but I study the history of religions and ‘witchcraft’ dates back to pre-Christianity

      • Gneissguy Ncsu

        Loafer, Sure there have been “Witches” in the form of folk healers and people doing homemade spells for the crops, but Wicca is an artificial religion just like Scientology and the Unification Church. I study the history religions too, I know a put up job when I see it.