Wicked Witches from the Wizard of Oz to Bewitched and Wanda Vision

Over the course of the semester, I’ve been working on a rhetorical analysis of WandaVision and its dichotomization of women. My goal was to determine how the characters of Wanda and Agatha portrayed our societal understanding of female virtue versus immorality. I hadn’t watched the show until this semester, but as I listened to the popular media presentation over WandaVision, I wondered why audiences saw Agatha as the bad witch when Wanda’s actions harmed so many people. I then proposed this question as a topic for research and started watching.

One of the first things I noticed as I watched the show from start to finish (already knowing Agatha’s true identity from the beginning and looking out for “Easter eggs” that would hint at her witch powers) was the connection made between Agatha and the Wicked Witch of the West. For instance, Agatha rides a bike, an ode to the Wicked Witch, who rides her bike through the tornado. Then, once her identity is revealed and her “Agatha All Along” jingle plays, she exclaims “And I killed Sparky too,” paying homage to the witch’s classic “I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog too.” Additionally, when Wanda throws a car onto Agatha, only her feet can be seen sticking out, reminding viewers of the house that fell on the evil witch. Wanda has no such ties, meaning Agatha must be that only true wicked witch and leaving Wanda to be the good witch. 

As I continued with my analysis, looking at the primary character traits of both women, it became clear that a primary difference between the witches was their domesticity. Where Wanda is a housewife and mother who uses her powers to clean dishes, make dinners and keep her family together, Agatha has rejected this lifestyle. Not even married to the man she claims is her husband (because she’s actually controlling and using him), Agatha knows all the “seduction techniques" and flirts with other men. By doing this, she fits the role of the non-domestic “whore” of the dichotomy. Wanda, on the other hand, serves as the Madonna and domestic wife. 

With this conclusion, I decided to compare my findings to a couple of other depictions of contrasting witch pairs. First I looked at the Wizard of Oz. I noticed that, like Wanda, Glinda the Good Witch of the North had maternal characteristics, as she looked after the munchkins and protected Dorothy. I also found it interesting that some of the most iconic moments in the movie carry domestic undertones, especially the evil witch getting killed by a house and Dorothy saying “There’s no place like home.”

I also looked at the Bewitched television series, another show I hadn’t watched before this class. I noticed that Samantha, like Wanda, was a “good housewife,” and she even offered to give up her use of magic to give her husband a “nice normal life.” This effort and care for her husband make her a “good” witch, especially in comparison to her mother. Similar to Agatha, Endora rejects domestic life, and she tries to convince her daughter to do the same. By constantly trying to break up the marriage, Endora becomes the "bad" witch. Overall, I noticed this trend: good witches were non-sexual (or minimally sexual) wives and mothers, while wicked witches were sexual or flirtatious and remained unmarried. 

I wanted to share this analysis on my blog for this class because I find it interesting how the figure of the witch is used to determine who makes a good woman. Before embarking on this paper, I had thought they were sometimes used to condemn rebellious women but other times used as a role models for women and girls. I had thought they could do both, but never at the same time. This analysis allowed me to realize a deeper complexity of the figure of the witch, as she can also serve to uplift the “virtuous,” domestic woman while simultaneously chastising anyone who deviates from such a lifestyle.