Training Attended
Central States Communication Association
Training Date
Spring 4-2022
Training Location
Madison, WI
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Abstract
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is set in a narrative atemporality that functions outside the bounds of time, hinting at all of the feminist protests that used the term witch as a way to empower women, and using the genre of horror to aid in the feminist protests. As Sabrina becomes a champion for other students in her patriarchal schools (one witch and one mortal) she becomes a transgenerational feminist in the show.
Recommended Citation
Turner Ledgerwood, Kathleen, "Central States Communication Association" (2022). Title III Professional Development Reports. 36.
https://bluetigercommons.lincolnu.edu/training-report/36
COinS
Comments
Empowering Witches to Fight the Patriarchical, Homophobic, Ableist System in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
The Netflix show The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2014-2020) embraces the term witch as a term for women who thwart the patriarchal system and stand up for others. The character of Sabrina adapts real feminist protests and groups to create powerful coalitions among those who are otherwise oppressed within the narrative by the patriarchal, hegemonic system, including transgender, homosexual, and disabled characters in the show. In The Feminist Fourth Wave, Prudence Chamberlain insists on analyzing feminist waves through a use of “affective temporality,” wherein each past generation feeds into the new generations and some of the fights do not change, while others evolve given the historical specificity of the moment. A show set purposely in atemporality calls upon the sense of affective temporality, making the characters appear to be transgenerational. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is set in a narrative atemporality that functions outside the bounds of time, hinting at all of the feminist protests that used the term witch as a way to empower women, and using the genre of horror to aid in the feminist protests. As Sabrina becomes a champion for other students in her patriarchal schools (one witch and one mortal) she becomes a transgenerational feminist in the show.
References
Prudence Chamberlain, The Feminist Fourth Wave: Affective Temporality (New York: Palgrave Macmillon, 2017).