{"id":1950,"date":"2014-02-02T11:07:14","date_gmt":"2014-02-02T17:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=1950"},"modified":"2014-02-02T11:07:14","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T17:07:14","slug":"american-horror-story-and-the-currents-of-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2014\/02\/american-horror-story-and-the-currents-of-magic.html","title":{"rendered":"American Horror Story and the Currents of Magic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>This post contains spoilers.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t seen the finale of <\/em>American Horror Story: Coven you may want to come back and read it later.<\/em><\/p>\n

After 13 episodes featuring plot twists, turns and train wrecks, the biggest shocker of all came in the final scene of American Horror Story: Coven<\/em> \u2013 a happy ending.<\/p>\n

The Pagan community has had a very mixed response to Coven<\/em>.\u00a0 I have Facebook friends who rave about it, who wear black on Wednesdays and who claim they should be the next Supreme.\u00a0 My fellow Patheos Pagan bloggers pretty much despise the show:\u00a0 Jason Mankey\u2019s recap<\/a> and Lilith Dorsey\u2019s farewell<\/a> cover their complaints.<\/p>\n

Those complaints are valid.\u00a0 Coven<\/em> portrayed witches and other magic users in a rather bleak light \u2013 neither as we are nor as we wish we were.\u00a0 The witches were shallow and vindictive, Marie Laveau sold her soul and sacrificed infants, and the Voodoo loa Papa Legba was turned into a slight variation on the Christian devil.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s TV fiction and not an anthropological documentary.\u00a0 No, nobody ever mentioned Wicca or Paganism \u2013 the only religion that ever came up was Christianity.\u00a0 Yes, the title is American Horror<\/span> Story<\/em>, not American Inspirational Story<\/em> \u2013 you expected it to be disturbing.\u00a0 But even given the nature of this particular beast, I was hoping for better storytelling:\u00a0 tighter plots, fewer subplots, and fewer inexplicable acts by main characters.<\/p>\n

I had high expectations for American Horror Story: Coven<\/em> and most of those expectations were not met.\u00a0 But I still watched it to the end, which is rare for me \u2013 I watch very few TV series.<\/p>\n

I think I enjoyed the finale\u2019s opening scene more than anything else all season:\u00a0 Stevie Nicks twirling through the house singing \u201cSeven Wonders\u201d while the witches practiced for their tests.\u00a0 I immediately kicked myself for not connecting that song with the Seven Wonders of the Supreme, but while I liked Fleetwood Mac way back when, I wasn\u2019t obsessed with them.\u00a0 That scene was what I was hoping for when I first heard about Miss Robichaux\u2019s Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies \u2013 a school where young witches would work to grow into their powers.\u00a0 As Jason Mankey complained, Miss Robichaux\u2019s wasn\u2019t a school, it was a hotel.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The first of the Seven Wonders were simple enough, but it was clear the swamp witch Misty Day was out of her element.\u00a0 When it came time to journey to the Underworld (did anyone else hear Captain Barbossa saying \u201cIt\u2019s not gettin\u2019 to the Land of the Dead that\u2019s the problem. It\u2019s gettin\u2019 back!\u201d?), Queenie (who had been there before) made it back quickly, but Misty got stuck in an infinite loop of her worst day, resurrecting and then killing a frog in high school biology lab, over and over and over again.<\/p>\n

From a story progression standpoint, that served to eliminate one of the candidates, but while the list of Coven<\/em> characters who deserved to end up in Hell is long, Misty wasn\u2019t on it.\u00a0 She was the kindest and most innocent of all the witches, including Nan.\u00a0 But journeying to the Underworld is a hazardous ordeal, and when you deal with hazardous things either you can do them or you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

A universalist point of order: nobody deserves to end up in Hell, even Delphine LaLaurie\u2026 not that I wouldn\u2019t be very tempted to send her there if I could.\u00a0 I do wonder how many times the historical Delphine LaLaurie has been reborn as a slave or a refugee or other person in horrible circumstances.\u00a0 Hopefully she\u2019s learned something by now.<\/p>\n

If there was a key theme running through American Horror Story: Coven<\/em> \u2013 and that\u2019s a big \u201cif\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s the ambiguous nature of power, and the effects of power on those who have it and on those who seek it.<\/p>\n

On one hand, those who have power tend to abuse it:\u00a0 LaLaurie\u2019s power over her slaves and her daughters, Madison flipping the bus and killing innocent guys along with those who raped her, the witch hunters, and pretty much Fiona\u2019s whole life.\u00a0 On the other hand, those who shy away from power get walked over, or worse:\u00a0 Misty, Kyle, and up till the end, Cordelia.<\/p>\n

Coven<\/em> had a happy ending because Cordelia finally agreed to pursue and claim the power of the Supreme \u2013 but not for herself.\u00a0 Her goal wasn\u2019t make herself rich and powerful and young forever \u2013 her goal was to protect the coven, rebuild the school, and empower the dozens (hundreds?) of young witches who were hiding in the shadows.<\/p>\n

But trying to read moral lessons into American Horror Story: Coven<\/em> misses the point.\u00a0 It\u2019s cool.\u00a0 It\u2019s sexy.\u00a0 It\u2019s fun even though it\u2019s frustrating.\u00a0 It\u2019s dark fantasy about a type of witchcraft that has long been feared even though it doesn\u2019t exist, at least not exactly like this.\u00a0 It\u2019s what we wish we could do, even though we wouldn\u2019t\u2026 probably\u2026 maybe\u2026<\/p>\n

Several observers of pop culture and the entertainment world have said \u201cwitches are the new vampires.\u201d\u00a0 Witches and witchcraft are popping up on television to an extent we haven\u2019t seen in 15 years, if ever.\u00a0 Most of the shows appear to be targeted to teenage girls, which means there\u2019s not a chance in the Hell that doesn\u2019t exist that I\u2019ll be watching them.<\/p>\n

Most of their viewers will see witchcraft as a pleasant fantasy.\u00a0 Most will see magic as \u201coh, if only I could\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Most will watch a season or two and then move on to some other entertainment.<\/p>\n

But for a few, a new curiosity will be kindled.\u00a0 Or perhaps a vague desire will be given a name.\u00a0 Or a life-long interest will become urgent enough to finally pursue.\u00a0 And because some of us have done like Cordelia at the end of Coven<\/em> and gone public with our magic, those people will have resources to turn to.<\/p>\n

The currents of magic are rising in the mainstream world.\u00a0 Let\u2019s ride them while we can.<\/p>\n