{"id":905,"date":"2014-04-17T04:54:55","date_gmt":"2014-04-17T04:54:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/themediawitches\/?p=905"},"modified":"2014-04-17T13:42:47","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T13:42:47","slug":"the-only-thing-worse-than-a-witch-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/themediawitches\/2014\/04\/the-only-thing-worse-than-a-witch-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"The only thing worse than a witch hunt…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2026is a television series that tries to capitalize on popular media\u2019s witchy trend by being as over the top as possible.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Still from WGN\u2019s new series SALEM premiering April 20th<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SALEM Premieres this Sunday on WGN: Just how trashy will it be?<\/p>\n

From the looks of things in the latest trailer<\/a>, pretty trashy.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty sure this series was in the works before AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN premiered, but I am inclined to agree with the i09 folks<\/a>: this new show seems to want to give the glossy, envelope-pushing FX drama a run for its money.<\/p>\n

Too bad this show doesn\u2019t quite have the sophistication of its horrific predecessor; being a purely \u201chistorical\u201d drama (instead of one where historical flashbacks were meant to offer insight into character\u2019s behaviors, or give background on their relationships), WGN\u2019s SALEM seems to take itself far too seriously. Its supernatural content will not be tongue-in-cheek like COVEN\u2019s often was, but instead will be the \u201clightning bolts shooting from the palms of their hands\u201d kind of magic we\u2019ve grown to despise in stories about witches.<\/p>\n

I admit I am still looking forward to seeing this, if for no other reason that there are a few good actors in it, and the costumes and overall production design look pretty good. But the central conceit, of the witch hunters being the \u201creal\u201d witches\u2026seems a bit heavy handed to me.<\/p>\n

Then again, maybe there\u2019s an interesting political allegory at play here\u2026if the \u201creal\u201d witches (i.e. those with power) are the ones in charge, and if they hide their own evil doings by pointing the finger at those less fortunate and more vulnerable, well, then the class divide between the accusers and accused is even more apparent. Wow, shit just got kinda real.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m pretty sure the upcoming SALEM series was in the works before AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN premiered, but I am inclined to agree with the i09 folks: this new show seems to want to give the glossy, envelope-pushing FX drama a run for its money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":995,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[42,71,99,72],"class_list":["post-905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-witches-on-tv","tag-salem","tag-television","tag-wgn","tag-witches"],"yoast_head":"\nThe only thing worse than a witch hunt...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I'm pretty sure the upcoming SALEM series was in the works before AMERICAN HORROR STORY: COVEN premiered, but I am inclined to agree with the i09 folks: this new show seems to want to give the glossy, envelope-pushing FX drama a run for its money.\" \/>\n<meta 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