Burning the Wicker Man

(warning: possible spoilers and some serious ranting)

My circle and I attended a midnight showing of 'The Wicker Man' last night. We were not impressed and I would even go so far as to say we were offended.

I'll admit that I have not seen the original, though I've heard from other Pagans that it's one of their all time favorite films with Pagan themes. I would be interested to hear what those individuals feel about this more recent version.

Let me begin with the bones of the movie itself. It is being billed as a horror film which it is not. There was nothing scary about this movie at all. If anything it was a bit humorous with Nicholas Cage's character screaming obscenities at every turn and trying to kung-fu his way out of a group of people. The script, the acting, the pace, etc. were not what I would have expected from a major motion picture featuring actors such as Nick Cage and Ellen Burstyn. This left me wondering if director, Neil LeBute, was trying to create a more B-movie feel. If so, he was successful. I have seen better acting from the no-names in the Saturday night flicks on the Sci-Fi Channel. Mansquito anyone?

Now, for the Paganism aspect. Let's start with a quote from the director.

"I said, 'I like the idea of honey and I want to make this a matriarchy.' So it all fit with the idea of honey because of the colony and the queen bee. I just shifted the entire gender and kind of central hierarchy to be this world of women. I thought that would be a really interesting place. In the original there was this clash of religions, of basically paganism and Christianity, and then this kind of look at fanaticism. I thought, 'Well, they did it very well and that's not something I necessarily (want to do).' While I'd been interested in religions, myself, I've always been interested in this loose clash between men and women."

- Neil LaBute, director of the 2006 remake of 'The Wicker Man'

Yes, LeBute shifted the power to the females. In doing so he created a group of women who were portrayed as nothing more than crazed fanatics who use little children to help them commit murder. Their reason for murder - The Goddess needs a sacrifice.

At this point in the film I thought my head was going to explode. All I could think was "Oh great. Now we'll be seen as crazy, man-hating murderers who cut the tongues out of our men to keep them from rebelling." That's right. Not one word was uttered by a man living in the town of Summersisle during the entire film. I may have heard a random grunt, but only once.

Bees and honey are sacred to the people of the island. At one point Sister Summersilse, played by Ellen Burstyn, mentions that her Celtic ancestors settled on the island. The only Celtic Goddess I can think of associated with bees is Brigid. How do you suppose Brigantian's would feel about this warped portrayal?

So, sweet Sister Summersilse is the Queen Bee in a colony full of crazy women and drone-like males. She claims that they love their men but evidently they are to be seen, sexed up, and never heard. I'm not even sure about the sexed up part since the women left the island to find mates and returned when they were pregnant. There is even a hint of infanticide cleverly injected by the writer. In one scene Sister Summersilse is asked what is done if one of the women on the island gives birth to a boy. Her reply; "That depends." In another scene we see aborted fetuses, presumably male, in jars of formaldehyde.

With all of the gender issues already flooding our Pagan communities did we really need this portrayal of Goddess women? The only reason to see this film is to be prepared when asked about its contents and to be ready to set people straight about what it means to follow the Goddess. While individual answers to that question vary, there are actually some things we can agree upon. This film, in my opinion, is a slap in the face to most (if not all) of them.

According to the earlier article I posted on this topic, Fiona Horne was an unofficial consultant to the director. If I was Fiona I would denounce the film as soon as possible as a dramatized portrayal of an ancient MYTH and its ANCIENT (as opposed to modern) practice. Hopefully it will help to simply tell folks that this is only a movie and nothing more.