History Professor Exorcises "The Witch" - Reel History Halloween Special

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 พ.ย. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 104

  • @archygirl1750
    @archygirl1750 ปีที่แล้ว +78

    I'm an archaeologist and historian, and this film blew me away, both as an extremely well done period piece, but also a great story. I wonder how many people became more interested in New England's early colonial history because of this film? Great commentary!

    • @lordcrayzar
      @lordcrayzar ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I certainly did! At least some of the more spooky aspects ha

    • @cophater298
      @cophater298 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      i did

  • @inthecouchproductions8103
    @inthecouchproductions8103 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +24

    Can’t imagine how terrifying it would be to go from the open and populated farmlands of England to the heavily forested wilderness of a strange new continent. The setting is 50% of what makes this movie so incredibly effective.

    • @BarryHart-xo1oy
      @BarryHart-xo1oy 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

      I know what you mean-it must have been terrifying for the Puritans of that time to be confronted by the thick forests of North America.

  • @Moompl
    @Moompl 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

    What I love about this movie is that it basically says what if all those things people feared were actually real and how it shows that it didn’t necessarily matter because the family unit fell apart regardless.

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  10 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      That's a great assessment. Man, this movie is SO underrated.

  • @SK-ut6tw
    @SK-ut6tw 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    I watched this and was blown away by the historic accuracy displayed.

    • @cleverusername9369
      @cleverusername9369 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Especially the talking goat

    • @SK-ut6tw
      @SK-ut6tw ปีที่แล้ว

      @@cleverusername9369 Exactly

    • @thomasalden6263
      @thomasalden6263 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      U loved how the characters spoke in the English dialect of the time

  • @valhallaxx
    @valhallaxx 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    The Witch is one of my favourite films of the last decade (along with Egger's sophomore film The Lighthouse, which you should definitely do a commentary on), so thank you very much for providing a broader perspective on the setting and this specific era. The devil is in the details!

  • @rollomaughfling380
    @rollomaughfling380 2 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    31:25 That's absolutely a raven. And 32:02 Let's not forget how much time William has spent on splitting firewood throughout the film (cutting bait, rather than acting with purpose), piling up a ridiculously massive stack that eventually literally does his head in. Glad you covered the 1976 "ergot" possibility, as fraught as it is with deniers since. (Hallucinogens have been strongly linked in European and American Mythology with both "scorned women, adolescent girls and reindeer "flying," and also, more recently, paranoia, as you point out.) Not to mention the latent puritan suspicion of a young girl coming of age (bleeding) on her own, without the "guidance of husbandry." I think you may have touched on that, but-yeah-Gawd..
    But what the film gets right is in boiling down the writings of early American colonial horror fiction. The location of the source of terror (the woods, the frontier, the unknown, incivility, separation from God/the fold, savagery, perdition),
    I feel there's still more to this wonderful film to be discovered, which makes it a perennial favorite of mine.

    • @TRaWi
      @TRaWi ปีที่แล้ว +3

      I've read somewhere that ergotism was not really a possible explanation because European mankind knew about ergotism since Ancient Rome times and peasants generally knew how to recognize the symptoms. And the same goes for lead poisoning induced dementia.

  • @lewisbreland
    @lewisbreland ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Yes. Back then, your whole family was an entire body: father as the head and wife and children as limbs of the body. The family WAS the basic unit, not the individual. Glad you mentioned that. Extremely different times and concepts. 😊

  • @mayorofbagtown9097
    @mayorofbagtown9097 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Wasn't expecting this! I love this movie and your show is awesome!

  • @caseyrogers573
    @caseyrogers573 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I also remember hearing that the “old woman” (ie crone) as the prototypical witch could have also been due to older, possibly widowed women being in a prime position to really expose the sins of the society and its authorities if she chose to abandon her role as a woman by speaking out, which was a risk given that she had nothing to lose

  • @chaddubois8164
    @chaddubois8164 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    I was blown away by this movie. Wish I'd seen it in the theater. I was surprised by the supernatural ending because I thought the movie had worked so well just as a psychological thriller and I wasn't sure if they were going to go for it. Proof that you don't need a massive budget to make a compelling movie, just great dialogue and acting. It felt very small like a play. It does a very good job of putting you into the time period. You are in a new land, and you don't know what is out there. A million things can go wrong and if anything does you're in a life or death situation. I don't remember what happened to the family for them to be ostracized but it would have been close to a death sentence back then. Really glad you added the ergot theory section. Who knows what really happened in history but it's still fascinating.

  • @EvelyntMild
    @EvelyntMild 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    My dad's side were Welsh Quakers, arriving in North Carolina a generation or so before the revolution. I've read minutes from their weekly meetings and it ridiculous. They assigned members to observe other members and report all their transgressions at the next public meeting. It included such a report assigned the week before.

    • @daylinlott5723
      @daylinlott5723 ปีที่แล้ว

      Some if not many individual meetings retain to this day an exclusive nature, and suggest an historical holdout from the colonial period. Today, we think of 'exclusivity' as a set of aspirational (and often unattainable) luxury goods & services. Things we can get, it is promised, by working hard or solving problems in the marketplace. The county club and residential cooperatives that exclude hopeful buyers who may be overqualified financially but 'turn-off' a membership committee with some habit or aspect of their public image are closer to Quaker membership practices. Discrimination preserves the hushed innuendo of the distant past.
      Other protestant denominations have open membership--and often an evangelical recruitment. A democratic approach makes membership in the religious community an individual choice. (How individual faithful accumulate influence is another story and study.) *Quaker membership is still a corporate decision*, and there are as many sets of hoops to leap through as there are meeting clerks and membership committees. Discrimination is costly for most institutions, but meetings (and their practices) are of course protected. The convinced individual conscience must face a flank of very human opposition, armed only with ideas.

    • @chaddubois8164
      @chaddubois8164 ปีที่แล้ว

      Ezekiel ate my sandwich! When it was clearly marked with my name! Banishment!

    • @BarryHart-xo1oy
      @BarryHart-xo1oy 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Wow-talk about a repressive,censorious society.

    • @mchobbit2951
      @mchobbit2951 6 วันที่ผ่านมา

      And some people will swear that people were so free in those "good old days". It sounds more like North Korea or China.

  • @faeembrugh
    @faeembrugh 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    If you are not familiar with it, I would strongly recommend the 1970s UK horror film 'The Blood on Satan's Claw', which despite its somewhat sensationalist title is a fantastic look at devil worship, possession and mass hysteria in 18th century England.

  • @PatrickCrawfordVideo
    @PatrickCrawfordVideo ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Thank you so much for reviewing this. As a lover of both history and clever horror, the Witch has been one of my favorite films for years…

  • @TheAmazingSnarf
    @TheAmazingSnarf 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    thanks for the analysis, Professor! Happy Halloween! i found this film to be truly unsettling, both with the content, and the production methodology, i.e: the director's mandate to use natural lighting and accurate design.

  • @dbach1025
    @dbach1025 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    Great review of a creepy as all get out movie. Really creeped my wife and myself out big time. Kids wanted a goat few years after we saw this and we both said heck no. Lol

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      😄

    • @titangirl161
      @titangirl161 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      If you look closely at the close up scenes with Black Phillip, you'll see he has round pupils. Since goats are supposed to have rectangular pupils, this is a subtle foreshadowing that he's more than just a goat.
      So if you ever do go looking for a pet goat, just make sure it has the right shaped pupils

    • @dbach1025
      @dbach1025 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @@titangirl161 I'll remember that for sure. Lol

    • @BarryHart-xo1oy
      @BarryHart-xo1oy 23 วันที่ผ่านมา

      I don’t blame you.

  • @NESninja1982
    @NESninja1982 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    It was recently announced that in 2022 Eggers will be directing a movie titled "The Northman" about a viking price seeking revenge for his murdered father. It looks epic and amazing. I can't wait to see it and I also can't wait for you to do a video on it!!!

  • @curtf9813
    @curtf9813 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I just want to say that the baby, Samuel, disappearing right before Thomasin’s eyes is completely possible. Human baby noises sound very much like animal babies crying, or like a rabbit in distress. If you take an electronic call and play the sound of a deer fawn/rabbit in distress hawks, owls, and eagles will be drawn to it. Owls for example aren’t scavengers, they hunt 100% of their food, and are completely soundless when they fly. Samuel and the silver cup disappearing is what pitted the mom against her daughter and led to the downfall of the whole family. Neither of which were Thomasin’s fault

  • @jojojojo-bt6sd
    @jojojojo-bt6sd ปีที่แล้ว +2

    The devil's human form was taken from a painting, not as you have described it to be, so was the witches' covenant in the woods. The devil is always portrayed as a goat, rarely in any other animal form.

  • @jamiemoody4962
    @jamiemoody4962 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Robert Eggers is really big on historical accuracy. I really hope you do an episode on his version of Nosferatu when it comes out

  • @wepooted
    @wepooted 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

    This is one of my favourite movies and directors! Thanks for reviewing this Dr. Frederick. As an historian in training, indeed it is wonderful when a director pays attention to detail and historical documents. That's what makes his films so compelling. Would you review his other movie, The Lighthouse? I'm a grad student in Scandinavian Studies so I would like to hear your take on his newest movie coming out, The North Man, if you know anything about Scandinavia.

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      We shall indeed eventually navigate those waters to The Lighthouse!

  • @davidcbr0wn
    @davidcbr0wn 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Professor, I’m certain you’ll agree that a fabulous book is “What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815 - 1848” by Daniel Walker Howe. I’ve read and listened to 5 times and still go back to it to visit that time period.

  • @Papillon234
    @Papillon234 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Superb film, well explained 👏 always on my top ten. Such a great, authentic horror.

  • @charlie729
    @charlie729 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    fantastic video, thank you! i loved learning about that fungus.

  • @jeffballforprez
    @jeffballforprez 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Love this movie and love your breakdowns, as always

  • @sartanawillpay7977
    @sartanawillpay7977 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Belief in witches and sorcery was almost universal in Europe in the early 17th century not unique to Puritans as popular culture usually portrays. The association of Puritans with witch trials, I think, is largely because the 1692 Salem witch trials occurred when the practice was fading elsewhere and happened in the future USA.

  • @Unpainted_Huffhines
    @Unpainted_Huffhines 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Actually, it was the body fat of an unbaptised child that granted a witch flight

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      Indeed! We forgot to mention that one!

  • @localhistoria
    @localhistoria 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    Great stuff! And looking good!

  • @Vort317545
    @Vort317545 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    As a modern day Witch (Wiccan) 35 plus years. All I have to say is Hail Black Phillip. 🤪 As a Cultural Anthropology degree holder who centered on Spiritual , Magical and Ritual belief systems practices and origins. The Witch masterfully weaves it all together, the beliefs, the times and psychology. As well as hell of good film making .

  • @holly7869
    @holly7869 ปีที่แล้ว

    A genuinely spooky story.

  • @tonyguerra1273
    @tonyguerra1273 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I think the father in the opening scenes, Ralph Ineson -- a great actor -- had a recurring role as one of the Ironborn in the Game of Thrones TV series. So did the mother, Kate Dickie, who took a one-way flight out the famous Moon Door, proving yet again the truth of Isaac Newton's observations about gravity. ;-) Eh, everywhere one looked back then in early settler America, was the unknown frontier, full of dark, dank, scary, and sometimes terrifying, places. It was a hard life and required a certain hardness on the part of the settler contingents scattered throughout New England. Indeed, the supernatural -- and Satan -- was as mother's milk to them, and any misfortune that would befall and that could reasonably be ascribed to malign spirits often was. This is a great Halloween movie for sure. The whole bathe-in-blood thing reminds one of Elizabeth Báthory. The film's color palette was also spot-on perfect for a whacking good Spookfest film. Great explication yet again, Dottore. :-)

  • @cleverusername9369
    @cleverusername9369 ปีที่แล้ว

    Drink when Jared says "as such"

  • @AmberPearcy
    @AmberPearcy 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Not only have I never seen this movie, I haven’t even heard of it. And it’s right up my alley. Guess I’ll have to add it to my list, now. Haha. Thanks for another interesting and informative “class”, professor. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

  • @SatoriK3
    @SatoriK3 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Yay! a new video! And happy Halloween

  • @XLegiitBadassX
    @XLegiitBadassX 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    VVITCH actually means very very itch

  • @michaelevans6599
    @michaelevans6599 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Actually, in order create a salve to make one fly requires the rendered fat of an unbaptized child.

  • @galidroo
    @galidroo 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Love your videos dude. Keep up the good work!

  • @zackallen7781
    @zackallen7781 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Hey Mr. Fredricks. I hope this channel blows up and you become a TH-cam millionaire.

  • @TheFreshTrumpet
    @TheFreshTrumpet 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    I've watched a lot of your videos, big fan, and I can't not comment it anymore: the way you sound like Bradley whitford, just blows my mind every vid lol I'll never get over it, it's unreal like jesus h

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      I could do a lot worse! Big fan of "The West Wing."

    • @dbach1025
      @dbach1025 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ReelHistory One of my favorites too, Mr. Josh Lyman. Lol

    • @TheFreshTrumpet
      @TheFreshTrumpet 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ReelHistory Josh is literally my fav character so I am very happy to have found your channel haha would love some west wing analysis if you ever run out of ideas for a vid, regardless keep up the fun work!

  • @seanlarson1990
    @seanlarson1990 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

    Please consider doing John Adams from HBO, I really enjoy your insight....

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It is on our list!

  • @KremitLeFroge
    @KremitLeFroge 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

  • @GrimmsPendulum
    @GrimmsPendulum หลายเดือนก่อน

    A storm of witchcraft by Baker Emerson was also a very good book about the witch trials.

  • @HumanHamCube
    @HumanHamCube 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Good video! Liking your content!

  • @thisinhumanplace2037
    @thisinhumanplace2037 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Wow thats great thanks!

  • @oldfrend
    @oldfrend ปีที่แล้ว +1

    i hope you take a crack at The Northman! robert eggers' newest classic, based on a viking legend that was the basis for macbeth. phenomenal film about not just an individual's journey, but viking life and culture in general.

    • @AW-uv3cb
      @AW-uv3cb ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I loved it, saw it twice!

  • @mustardbiscuits9750
    @mustardbiscuits9750 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I'd be interested to know how that family could even construct that farmstead themselves after being exiled, without help from the community and before dying of exposure.

  • @Otokichi786
    @Otokichi786 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    I watched "Inheritance" (2020) and "The Witch." (2015) a while back, before Halloween. The former got more and more boring as the tale unfolded; I almost bailed out when the "naked witches" appeared. The latter captured the feel of isolation, the spoken language, the mysterious events and was much scarier than the former. Marius Constant would be amused that his music has become tied to Horror/Supernatural themes.;)

  • @Stand_By_For_Mind_Control
    @Stand_By_For_Mind_Control 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

    Good stuff. I like to look at this movie as not so much a depictions of events that actually happened, but a collection of cautionary tales as if told by the puritans who held the tribunal at the beginning. Sort of a 'this is what will happen to you and your family if you stray from our true path' tale.
    Would also love to see your thoughts on Eggers's other film, 'The Lighthouse'.

  • @jamesearly8518
    @jamesearly8518 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    This is another great video. But what happened to your beard, Professor?

  • @Serpentigenae
    @Serpentigenae 2 ปีที่แล้ว

    One theory I've read is that the family was poisoned by ergot from the bad crops which made them experience all that we see in the movie, as ergotism can lead to mania and psychosis.

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      You didn't watch to the end did you? Lol

    • @Serpentigenae
      @Serpentigenae 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ReelHistory Haha! I'm at the 30 minute mark atm :p I just suddenly remembered it so I felt I should note it down before I forgot ^^ In any case great review of a great movie!

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Thanks for watching!

  • @nikoguarro
    @nikoguarro ปีที่แล้ว +2

    6:28 it's actually Baby's purée

    • @70mustang302
      @70mustang302 ปีที่แล้ว

      Like in Warlock, starring Julian Sands

  • @greenman6141
    @greenman6141 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    More than just banished, you could be killed.
    The Puritans weren't interested in religious fascism. (a point of view still very much around in the US, but not, fortunately in New England anymore.)
    My family comes from Nantucket.
    The first Europeans who settled there were fleeing the settlements of mainland Massachusetts. Why? Because several of their friends and neighbors had just been killed by the other settlers. Why? Because some Quakers has been travelling through the area, and the now dead people had given the Quakers places to spend the night - ie they were being good, even Christian, people.
    The other Puritans decided this was not acceptable, so had these people "tried" and then killed. The friends of the now dead people, who regarded this is barbaric, understood that they'd soon be a list. So they fled, and fled to the furthest off shore island, hoping that this would be enough disincentive for the Puritans to follow.
    There were Native Americans on Nantucket. The received the incomers kindly - thus being far more "christian" in their behaviour than the so called Christians of the colony. The thought of what toll the European diseases then took on them is horrible to contemplate.
    People are able to behave horribly without being religious, but religion sure does help, like most ideologies which label questioning as heresy,

  • @Dvldog22
    @Dvldog22 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I don’t know if you will see this Jared but a recent subscriber under a few months and a big fan of your work but also I’d like to see you do some comedy’s doing with history I know it’s more of a niche topic but I’d like to some night at the museum or stuff like that like bill and Ted appreciate the videos excuse the punctuation since it’s TH-cam

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Great idea Wyatt. Thanks!

  • @georgemartin1436
    @georgemartin1436 3 ปีที่แล้ว

    Makes sense that they were trippin

  • @seth_erroth249
    @seth_erroth249 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    I'm rusty with this time period, was there any troubles, peace, or dealings/trading with Native Americans?

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      In an early scene as the family is leaving the plantation you can see Native Americans heading into it, supposedly for trading.

    • @celston51
      @celston51 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      This time period is replete with conflict and dealings between Native-Americans and the European colonists. The Pequot War and King Philip's War are arguably the most bloody of these but Puritan colonists had an underlying fear of the 'Other' which is played out in this movie. We have the first 'captivity narrative' accounts of Europeans who were captured and adopted into these tribes, some of whom did not want to return to their European kin. It's a very complicated time.

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Chris gave you the long (better) answer

    • @seth_erroth249
      @seth_erroth249 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@ReelHistory Ahh, sorry I must have missed that part. It's been a while since I've seen this. It was hard to follow for me.

  • @Demolitiondude
    @Demolitiondude 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

    This and apocalypse now are films I like and watch the least.

    • @spins321
      @spins321 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      There Will be Blood falls into that category for me. It's one of the greatest films I've ever seen that I fell asleep on in the theater. I think I've only watched it 3 times.

  • @Tamlinearthly
    @Tamlinearthly ปีที่แล้ว +1

    Colonizers.
    The characters are not immigrants. They're colonizers.

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  ปีที่แล้ว

      Did we not mention that elsewhere?

  • @RGlinick
    @RGlinick 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Never trust a so called professor who’s only in their 20’s. 🤦‍♂️.

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      It's OK, though, because Jared has a PhD and is in his mid-30s. Is there anything else to add?

    • @RGlinick
      @RGlinick 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Blah blah blah. In his thirties and still posting with no clue about the context of the movie
      Guess his still paying of paper degree that means nothing in today. Shame

    • @ReelHistory
      @ReelHistory  7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@RGlinick, I'm just glad people think I am still in my twenties!
      -Jared

    • @NationalHooeyLeague
      @NationalHooeyLeague 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Oh well I guess people are gonna hand back their PhDs until they turn the age you'll accept good teaching from 😂. Who cares about age? I've had old gray lectures who were terrible teachers. If you have a disagreement with the content, a better comment would be pointing out legitimate sources that you think are relevant.