Is it really Hollywood's fault?

Dispelling Myths: from the Iowa State Daily

If people believed in everything they saw in movies, then they would believe in the existence of flying cars and talking monkeys.

[...]

"We live in a day and age where we have the media representation of paganism that is Hollywood-ized. All witches are beautiful; all magic works. I think the most disturbing [representation] is the idea that this is going on behind our backs," says Victor Raymond, vice president of the ISU Pagan Community and graduate student in sociology.

Am I the only one who gets a disconnect here?

The biggest PR problem facing Pagans is Hollywood? Moreso than the Satanic business or the perception that Pagans are just angry kids rebelling against Mom, Dad, and God? That Pagans believe in a lot of wacky, ridiculous, superstitious junk?

Really, these seem to me to be more pressing issues, and probably more intractable ones: From a certain theological perspective, if you ain't followin Jesus, you're worshipping Satan -- no matter what you call it. There are more than a few Pagans who are in it for the transgressive thrill, or are struggling to individuate, while simultaneously seeking a community of like-minded spirits. As for the charges of superstition, yeah, there's plenty of that, too.

"America wants a quick fix, so there is a big market for that kind of crap. [Meaning, "kitchen witchy spell books."] A lot of pagans and witches are kind of amused by that," [ISU professor Nikki Bado-Fralick] says.

"You are going to find your low-level, immature people in all religions; movies just suck that stuff right up. But nobody talks about the hard work it takes to better yourself. That's what magic is really about."

That's really good to see -- one of the best parts of the article, in my opinion. But Bado-Fralick has some interesting views on Pagan magic.

Bado-Fralick says more serious magic is similar to what Christians might know of as prayer or visualization and involves a strong focus and a positive attitude.

Well, yeah, kind of. Except it isn't usually petitionary, it's participatory, and there are plenty of other attitudes cultivated other than positive ones.

This points to another, much more insidious, PR problem: Attempting to make Paganisms safe for general consumption by defanging them. Or, perhaps more accurately, making them like harmless, mainstream Protestantism with different window dressing.

And, of course, there's the continual conflation of Pagan and Wiccan:

There is much diversity among individuals and groups that consider themselves to be pagan, Bado-Fralick says. The practices and beliefs vary depending on the person or the group they may belong to, but some generalities emerge.

Pagan rituals and holidays are generally tied to an agricultural or lunar calendar. Women and men generally have equal roles, and pagan beliefs tend to be about balance between male and female aspects, Bado-Fralick says.

Translation: There are lots of different kind of Pagan, all of whom are Wiccan.

Arg.

This made me giggle, however: "'[Pagans] are just as normal and just as weird as anybody,' Bado-Fralick says."

But this whole, "It's Hollywood's fault!" seems like a shallow attempt to grab the coattails of the Religious Right's crusade against the Evils of Jewish Hollywood. Without the anti-Semitism, of course; Pagans seem more likely to just have a broad disdain of anyone whose religion springs from the Bible.

Or, looked at another way, it's a variation on the "quick fix" problem. It's much faster & easier to blame the problems on someone else -- particularly someone on the outside, over whom you have no power -- than it is to center the responsibility closer to home.

Sure, there are people who, no matter what Pagans do, are going to belittle, delegitimize, or even attack them. There isn't a damn thing that can be done about that. Accept, move along.

But for most everyone else, there's wiggle room, and the most effective thing that anyone can do is to be a reasonable, ethical, responsible individual. It doesn't always work, but it goes a lot farther than whining about the way Hollywood is making it impossible for you to get Samhain off work.