FMS Colloquium Lecture Series: Lisa Mumme “‘Art Thou a Witch or a Woman?’: Gender, Queerness, Sound, and Music in Witch Films "

'Art Thou A Witch or A Woman?': Gender, Queerness, Sound, and Music in Witch Films

The witch is an unruly archetype, troubling boundaries and power. However, people also harness the witch to embody their anxieties, identities, and political projects, emphasizing her incredible flexibility as a signifier. Based on my musicological study of more than 140 films between 1927-2024, I argue that the witch is a profoundly musical and sonic creature, particularly in terms of her identity and power. Witch films, as a subgenre of Carol Clover's possession films, offer a range of reactionary, feminist, and queer potentialities, specifically in terms of the witch's voice. Examples include Hocus Pocus (Kenny Ortega, 1993), I Married A Witch (René Clair, 1942), and The Witch (Robert Eggers, 2015).