I’ve discussed three major popular series that heavily portray magic in their universes, and I’ve given a brief overview of magic in history. It’s time to finally finish out this series (I do apologize for taking so long with it) and do a sort of compare & contrast and discuss the evolution magic has undertaken throughout the centuries. I promise, it’ll be interesting!
So, in case any of you missed the first few posts, or, want to go through them again, here are some handy dandy links for you to use.
Intro
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
To recap a bit, in case you don’t want to go through my links again: there are two pretty popular depictions of magic in modern pop culture: more of a religion, or more of a science. Coincidentally enough, magic use in history started as more of a religious activity, then shifted to a more scientific one (though even after it became scientific, it still had heavily religious undertones). So, in some ways, pop culture depictions of magic do reflect some of the ways magic was actually used in history.
The other unfortunate similarity between history and fiction is the concept of the ‘evil’ or ‘wicked’ witch. The idea of magic being evil, particularly in a universe where magic use is less common, is one that is familiar to pretty much all of us. I’m pretty sure this is one of the quintessential examples of a “Wicked Witch.” But, the Wizard of Oz aside, even universes with more streamlined magic use have evil witches or wizards or warlocks.
A key distinction should be made, however, between the portrayal of the evil witch in less magical or more magical universes. Take, for example, Voldemort. We’d all agree that he’s pretty evil, right? Well, compare him to someone like Circe, who is also portrayed very negatively. There’s a key difference here. In Circe’s case (the less magical universe), her magic is what makes her evil, whereas Voldemort (the more magical universe) is described as being evil and using dark magic because he’s evil. In other words, in the universes where magic use is not the most popular or prevalent past time, there’s a lot of skepticism and mistrust of those who do use it. And if someone happens to be evil, it tends to be because they’re a magic user. (I will admit in a lot of those stories, the witch does happen to be using some sort of evil magic, like the movie Hocus Pocus, where they’re sucking the lives out of children, but even then, there is still a lot of prejudice against magic users.)Though in the sake of fairness, I should mention that this is is not always the case, and there are some universes with the distinction made between good magic users and evil magic users (Lord of the Rings and Gandalf and Saruman comes to mind).
Two major differences between pop culture and history do need to be pointed out, and I’ll go ahead and discuss them in detail here. It should be noted that neither of these differences are universal: each pop culture universe with magic treats magic differently. I’m pointing out two differences that commonly occur in fictional portrayals of magic.
The first is the introduction of magic use as a genetic trait. We’ve seen this in universes such as Harry Potter or Harry Dresden’s world, but there are others as well. This concept is pretty much unique to the world of fiction. Historically, being able to use magic was difficult, yes, originally. It took much study and years of learning. But that was actually the case more in the earlier days, when magic was more of a religious role. As time evolved, people used little spells and charms more frequently. And those were your everyday, average peasant. Because around the time of the Middle Ages, magic use shifted from an activity of the elite (the magi) to an activity of the commoners.
The dichotomy between magic as an elite ability and a common ability is portrayed in fiction two different ways. When magic is more of an elite ability, there are significantly fewer magic users, and they’re generally well respected, again, Gandalf comes to mind. When magic is a more common ability, pretty much anyone can do it, even to a small degree.
That second portrayal of magic in fiction leads me to the second major difference: taking magic for granted. Historically, even when magic was used by commoners, it was still done relatively infrequently, at least, in comparison to some of the fictional universes. People in the Middle Ages used magic when they really needed help-when they had a problem and had no other way to solve it. Popular charms included spells to help crops grow, or to end a drought–things that were incredibly important to their livelihood. In fictional universes with very heavy magic, they use spells to do anything and everything. Molly Weasley uses spells to help do the dishes. While that does make her life more convenient, its use pales in comparison.
Granted, the idea of having magic to solve anything and everything is a pretty cool notion, and I can see why it would be a popular one in fictional universes. But at the same time, in my personal opinion, having magic for the more mundane tasks kind of lessens the coolness factor when it’s used for something awesome. But that could just be me.
Well….I think I’ve covered pretty much everything I wanted to. I could always talk about more, but at the risk of dragging this post on and on forever, I think I’ll just call it a day for now. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts and comments on magic, and magic uses, and your favorite series that involve magic. I admit to not being as well versed with magical literature as much as I could be (it’s something that I’m working on), and I’d love to hear about things that I haven’t otherwise.
Thanks again for sticking with me, and reading my posts.
Until next time,
Angel out!
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