By Bliss Magdalena Qadesh*
Paganism is emerging in the United Kingdom as a rapidly growing faith community, with 74,000 self-identified individuals listing this as their religious belief in the most recent British census (UK Pagan Federation, 2021). Embodied shared experiences of meditative flow states, and rituals involving the acknowledgement of natural forces and aspects of the seasonal cycles, are a common thread which underpins the diverse ways in which contemporary Pagans celebrate and relate to belief and faith (Sonnex et. al, 2022). Representations of Paganism, together with its practitioners and practices, within popular culture have been linked to the Folk Horror genre, in films such as The Wicker Man (1973), and, more recently The Witch (2015) and Midsommar (2019).
Nature-based spirituality predominates amongst Pagans, rather than a reverence for specific scriptures or deities, which can vary widely across sub-sects of Pagans, such as Eclectics, Wiccans or Druids (Rountree, 2012). Both The Wicker Man and Midsommar portray Pagan communities as promiscuous, gender essentialist and collectively protective of the perpetrators of sexual assaults and violent acts, including human sacrifice. The female characters are depicted as perpetrators, enablers or complicit in the harm enacted by the male or gender-nonconforming characters against men. Agency data pertaining to abusive violence shows that the majority of perpetrators are male (Hester, 2013), but the debate on gender symmetry within violence is complex (Peretz and Vidmar, 2021). These film characterisations form the context of the storytelling to create sinister, frightening stereotypes and othering, directed at a currently stigmatised faith population (Reece, 2016). The portrayal of female or gender-nonconforming characters as the perpetrators in horror films, as a reversal of the natural order, serves to underline the normalcy of cis-male-perpetrated violence in the real world. The collectivised enablement of perpetrated violence enacted in these films links in with the themes around community justice and spiritual abuse found in other faith communities (Oakley and Kinmond, 2016).
This negative cultural trope of Pagans echoes the justifications for historic femicide enacted through the witch-trials of the Early Modern period (Hester, 1992), where similar stereotypical characteristics and crimes were recorded in texts such as the Malleus Maleficarum. This tract legitimised the torture and interrogation of those suspected of witchcraft, majorly women living on the fringes of society at that time. Excerpts from this text were portrayed in the Folk Horror film The Witch (2015), which also features domestic abuse and sexual violence enacted by the father, and retaliatory murder of the entire family by the daughter played by Anya Taylor-Joy, who is accused of witchcraft. Popular film portrayals of negatively stereotyped Pagans are often seen as comedic by their fans (Hutton, 2023), despite the skewed depictions and potential for further discrimination by non-Pagans. Some tropes around Paganism noted by Don Aufderbruck-Londres (2017) as being commonly included in Folk Horror films include the idea of cultures lost in time, groups who live apart from society, and some aspect of other-ness or otherworldliness.
The Wicker Man (1973) enforces normative female gender roles and overt sexualisation through the character of the landlord’s daughter in particular, played by Britt Ekland as a seductress and sexual initiatrix, as well as an embodiment of a Goddess during Beltane, which can be interpreted as meaning ‘lucky fire’ (Hutton, 1996). The history of temple prostitutes was referenced as early as Herodotus, writing on Babylon circa 425BC, with later Roman scholars applying denigratory interpretations of this, upon which further shame was piled by the Victorian colonialist classicists, who sensationalised an already racist discourse (Anagnostou‑Laoutides and Charles, 2018).
May Day traditions, such as May Pole dancing, are exploited as phallic imagery in The Wicker Man, despite historian Ronald Hutton’s argument that the pole probably symbolised no more than a joyously garlanded focal point. Jumping the fire, however, is a Celtic tradition of the British Isles, which the film depicts being performed by nude teenage girls (Hutton, 1996). The iconic climax of the film, where the effigy and police officer are burnt, is inspired by what is debatably a misrepresentation of Druidic human sacrifice by ancient authors, including Strabo and possibly Julius Ceasar (Hutton, 2023). Midsommar offers a modern slant on feminist relational themes, with the character Dani (played by Florence Pugh) discovering her identity and emancipation from an emotionally abusive relationship within the community over the course of the film, which sees her ex-partner eventually sacrificed (Derr, 2022), echoing The Wicker Man.
Contemporary Pagans tend to hold progressive views around gender equality, sex positivity and the inclusion of diverse orientations and gender identities within organisations, although some vocal outliers populate the fringes of the broad spectrum of beliefs and practices with more radically gender essentialist or conservative perspectives (Strmiska, 2018). Modern Pagans are frequently influenced by pop-culture representations and trends relating to Pagan stereotypes in their own spiritual practices (Vann, 2015), and also introduce into Pagan relationships the counter-cultural influence of the Kink/BDSM scene and its overlap with LGBTQA+ activism (Mueller, 2017), as well as sex magic within Tantric and Occultist practices (Kraemer, 2016).
Certain Pagan sects require absolute secrecy amongst their members, and may enact ceremonies involving nudity or ritualised sexual interactions as part of their initiatory rites, based on a hierarchical initiation (Arburrow and Kraemer, 2016). The power over the dynamics and secrecy imposed regarding their events and membership amongst certain Pagan groups, along with the requirement to participate in scenarios including potential nudity or sexual coercion in order to progress, are concerning in the context of Spiritual Abuse. Predatory perpetrators are able to enter and progress within, or even establish their own Pagan communities in the loosely-regulated network of Pagan faith members (Arburrow and Kraemer, 2016). Victim-survivors may be drawn to Paganism through its emancipatory language, focus on personal development and healing, and reverence for the natural world.
Despite the gender inclusive egalitarian stance of many modern Pagan groups, many of the ancient myths around which the modern reconstructions of ritual and practice are based include stories of rape and intimate partner violence. Certain feminist scholars have attempted to re-write some these stories in ways that omit rape and violence, but may also leave the ancient text devoid of its proper context (Mueller, 2005). The portrayal of Paganism within popular culture presents a skewed slant on Pagans which portrays fetishised violence and coercive sexuality as commonplace which, aside from vilifying contemporary Paganism in the eyes of those outside the faith, might serve to justify acts of spiritual, relational or sexual abuse and harm perpetrated by Pagans against others in their community.
*Blog by Bliss Magdalena Qadesh — University of Bristol, a doctoral student in Social Policy at the Centre for Gender and Violence Research, School for Policy Studies. Their research focuses on Intimate partner violence in pagan faith communities.
**The Centre for Gender and Violence Research is running a series of blogs produced by staff and postgraduate researchers to spotlight cutting-edge feminist research on gender-based violence at the University of Bristol. Editor: Professor Aisha K. Gill, School for Policy Studies.
***Midsomar image: Disclaimer: 1. All screencaps and images on this site are the copyright of their respective movie studio and are reproduced here under the Fair Use doctrine. Any usage from here forth, should be restricted to non-comercial purposes. 2. The stills contained in this gallery have been cropped and had compression applied and are not a truly accurate representation of the video quality inherent in the DVD or Blu-ray transfer.
