Say What, Reader? Not Everyone is Out to Get Us? – Bewitched

Bewitched is a popular sitcom from the 60ies about a witch who falls in love with a mortal man. She leaves her magic land and tries to lead a typical nuclear family lifestyle with him as her husband. Being a witch, she retains her magic powers in the mortal world, but keeps them a secret. The Reader argues that this double image she creates for herself is a gay metaphor for a lesbian who didn’t come out of the closet. Personally, I’ve never seen the show, but from what I know about it, it makes perfect sense to me. Stories of people with a rebellious/alternative past who settled down dismissed their yesteryear, are quite common. In one of the more recent examples, doing exactly this was Beatrix Kiddo’s intent when she ran away to Pasadena in Kill Bill. Of course in her case, the rebellious youth she was escaping from involved murdering people, while Samantha from Bewitched never hurt a fly. She was just different. This can be seen as another element of the tolerant message spread by Bewitched. Looking at the society of the 60ies, one might see many “normal” and “pleasant” families leading typical lifestyles, contrasting with a fringe group of early hippies and rebels (which include gays and lesbians). Taking another look through the “Bewitched glasses”, though, we can see that the “normal people” are not necessarily what they seem, and may have more in common with the rebels than the first glance would suggest. Adventuring, partying, sexual experimentation and overall acting wild constitutes healthy behaviour for young people. Older generations try to fight it in their offspring, but they used to act exactly the same in their past. The fact that they put that part of their life aside is what’s really sad, especially for gays and lesbians who not only feel pressured to put the rebel life aside, but their sexuality too.

Beatrix Kiddo from Kill Bill 2, as she tries to settle down and lead a normal life

Much like Bewitched, I find that the Addams Family provides a similar positive message. I personally interpret it as a message of multiculturalism. As much as this family’s habits and hobbies may seem odd, sometimes even unsettling, they still remain good-natured and friendly. In other words, judging a people by their looks and cultural differences is misleading, since inside they are just the same as everybody else. I remember this being something that I learned by watching the show as a child. As an interesting side note, the Addams Family is a little bit like Bewitched turned inside-out: Alternative on the surface, but very socially acceptable at its core.

The Addams Family may seem weird and quirky, but everyone there is so nice!

It’s great that the makers of Bewitched and the Addams Family were able to spread their message of tolerance in such a subtle and non-invasive way. I am also very happy to see that The Reader contains some positive examples and not just negative ones. The constant criticism and antagonization were among my main gripes with the book. It does seem to find signs atrocious crimes among even the most harmless shows, which significantly hurts its credibility. When I started reading the article about Bewitched, I was half expecting to see more of the same, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Here’s the intro theme from the original Addams Family show:

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