Quien no es bruja?*

_quién no es bruja?

Lo brujesco en las creaciones audiovisuales del s.XXI

_ subject matter

Contemporary art

_ field speciality

Audiovisual, video art, films and series

Quien no es bruja?

Lo brujesco en las representaciones audiovisuales del siglo XXI. If they can recover the Witch for their perverse ends, why can't we use her to empower ourselves and generate positive discourses? Based on this question, the book deepens in the polysemy of the concept of the witch, defining it from literary, anthropological, social and feminist perspectives. This is followed by a brief journey through different manifestations of the audiovisual witch, from her appearance in certain films and television series to her prominence in video art.

_ the origin

This book is an adaptation of the doctoral thesis defended at the University of Vigo in February 2022 by Dr. Rebeca López Villar and directed by Dr. Susana Cendán. Entitled Representaciones de la Bruja en la creación audiovisual contemporánea (2000-2019): videoarte, cine y televisión, the work obtained the qualification of an outstanding cum laude, as well as the Extraordinary Doctorate Award.
In 2022 the book is published with the support of the research group dx5 and DARDO.
Funding body: Xunta de Galicia. Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Universidade, Axudas do Programa de Consolidación e Estruturación de Unidades de Investigación Competitivas.
Modality: Competitive Reference Groups.

"The Witch is a lone wolf. A female, separated by her nature from the pack. A witch is a strong woman, with powers. In her, sex is a constant, insatiable craving. She renders men impotent. She meets at night with others of her kind. She is able to control weather conditions. It can become a cat. Or a bird. It flies. It steals and corrupts. It talks to the wind. It talks alone. It is a dream and a nightmare. She is a healer and a midwife. As a woman, she represents the proximity of all women to the devil. She is sacrificed as an offering to the murderous instincts of the collective -she is a point in a blurred universe of lost souls-. She is a figure whose contours we can barely remember. She dies by lynching".
Xabier Arakistain, KISS, KISS, BANG, BANG, BANG

The term witch is linked to a single meaning, which is a literary witch. However, it is a concept that is very close to ambiguity and polysemy. Talking about witches means going beyond - not forgetting - the stereotypical fictional character and tackling new implications, which identify the witch, in feminine form, with multiple ideas.

Tremble, the witches are back

Film stories propose, through stereotypes such as the Witch, models of behavior and ideals that are difficult to assume in real life (...) While the visual arts, in general, recover the Witch to transmit feminist political messages, cinema and television tend to use the Witch character for less committed purposes.

"If it is women's eyes that look at history, it does not resemble the official one (...) If women are the main characters, the world, our world, the world we think we know, is different (...) If women were allowed to speak, we would be wiser today, we would be wiser. We would have learnt the knowledge of the women burnt at the stake, because they were so intelligent that they looked like witches".
Nuria Varela, Feminismo para principiantes.

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