Rollins College Hamilton Holt School ENG 245 Selected Studies in Popular Culture: “Beyond Privet Drive: Harry Potter and the Witch-Craze” Summer Session I May 19-June 30, 2008 Section H1 CRN # 60029 6:00-9:25 pm Monday and Wednesday in Orlando 105 (4 credit hours) Dr. Jennifer Ailles Department of English Office Hours: Monday 4:00-5:30 pm (and by appointment) Office: Orlando Hall 111 Email:
[email protected] Everyone knows witchcraft from J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series where good and evil witches have battled in a world parallel to the Muggles’ realm, but how many know the history of witchcraft in the western world before Harry went to Hogwarts? Starting about the time Nearly Headless Nick became nearly headless, witches were identified as heretics who were vilified, discriminated against, and hunted down because they represented the mystical borders of a society and the malevolent (un)known. More recently, some witches have also been celebrated as benevolent figures whose magic is an extension of the untainted natural world. What makes a person a witch or makes a society label someone as a “witch” as opposed to a “squib” or a “Muggle”? How are witches different from other marginalized figures? In this course we will examine how witches have been represented in literature and film over time and in different milieus. Besides Harry Potter, some of the works we will discuss will be Haxan, The Craft, Disney cartoons, The Crucible, and The Blair Witch Project. We will also look at classical antecedents such as the goddess Diana and Hecate along with cultural documents including the Malleus Maleficarum, Newes From Scotland, and transcripts from witch trials that have been highly influential in how witches and their persecution have been understood and represented historically in texts.