The Spell's on You

Krysten Sanders
WST 3015
Jeannina Perez
02-17-10



Teen Witch is a movie from 1989 that follows the life of a teenager around age sixteen when she mysteriously develops magical powers and becomes a witch. In the opening scene the main character, Louise, is strutting around in a tiny red dress to attract the attention of a boy she likes from her school. The first thing I noticed was Louise backing away from the boy whenever he came too close, yet she was doing everything she could to draw him closer. This is an example what the authors of Women’s Lives meant when writing about simultaneously luring men and fending them off (150). After a few minutes this whole scene turns out to be a dream. Almost all of the characters in the movie are thin and pretty, even the “nerdy” or unattractive ones. The only character I noticed to not be either of those was Louise’s little brother. The movie sent out the message that style or appearance is what makes a person. All Louise had to do was change her hair and clothes (not to mention have magical powers) and she was one of the “popular” girls. Thinking one’s appearance is more important than personality is what is meant by “self-objectification” (233). Louise thinks the only way to be popular is to look like a famous musician.
The disturbing part of the movie is that Louise is desperate to have Brad – the boy from her dream – fall in love with her. She totally ignores that there is more to life than boys. The cheerleaders also have a cheer in their locker room about boys. (I found it interesting that every high school student is a professional dancer or singer.) Whenever Louise becomes popular, she loses her best friend. This is a very common occurrence in most movies geared toward teenage audiences. This is also similar to the idea that in maturation, women need to become enemies or distance themselves from one another in order to win over men. The girls in this movie do whatever they can to attract the boys, but the boys do not have to do anything. The movie ended in a more positive way, showing that a person should not try hard to become something he or she is not in order to win others over. Near the end of the movie Louise’s father said “…it doesn't really matter how other people see you, what matters is how you see yourself.” I thought this was good for encouraging young women; however I noticed it was the father who had all of the good advice and the mother was a very flat character. I was unsure of what the mother actually did. In one scene she cooked breakfast for the family, but was wearing what appeared to be a business suit.

Work Cited

Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. Women's Lives. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
Teen Witch. Dir. Dorian Walker. Perf. Robyn Lively, Dan Gauthier, Joshua John Miller. Trans World Entertainment, 1989. DVD.