The New Paranormal Pop Culture—”Witch-Lit”
TV pop culture has also changed with the times. In response to current culture trends, television offerings have become more diverse and more realistic (look at all the reality shows now out there). This includes the supernatural venue, where characters are now more believable, more “real” to the viewer than ever. Today’s supernatural heroines may fight ever more fantastic monsters and demons, but in between battles their lives are a lot like their viewers’. The writers of Charmed, headed up by the talented Brad Kern and Constance Burge, were at the forefront of this trend and created hip, sexy, romantic stories that are the witchy equivalent of romantic chick-lit—or, as I like to refer to them, “witchlit.”
The witches in Charmed are strong, determined, smart and ingenious. And they can take care of themselves—with or without a man (or warlock, wizard or Whitelighter)—thank you very much!
The Charming Facts about Romance and “Witch-Lit”
Has everyone laid down their crucifixes and garlic cloves? Hopefully you’re beginning to see how a magical show like Charmed can also be a romance. To complete the spell, let’s look at the elements that are common to virtually every modern romance:
1. Romances are character-driven, with believable and sympathetic characters.
Virtually every romance is character-driven. And while the characters don’t have to be perfect (a common romance myth), they must be believable and real—and unlike other genres, they must be sympathetic. This means the characters must have redeeming qualities (including a code of honor), must have some worthiness and be deserving of love. The reader/viewer must be able to root for them.
Granted, almost every television show and movie focuses heavily on the characters. If the viewer doesn’t identify with the characters, or at least care about what happens to them, then that viewer won’t continue watching the show. Even so, the plot and situations often take center stage, or are at least as strong and compelling as the characters. This is particularly true of most fantasy, SF, action-adventure, mystery, horror and even situational comedy shows. The unfolding of the plot is the main focal point of the show/movie. What’s a mystery without a dead body or a missing valuable and clues for the protagonist to follow? What’s a fantasy without a quest? Or science fiction without galactic social issues or amazing technology and weapons? Those are plot points, not character development.
The main characters of Charmed—in season four, Piper, Phoebe, Paige, Leo and Cole—practically leap out of the television and into our lives. Although they are not perfect, they are believable and sympathetic. They are people with whom we can identify. They were the fourth season of Charmed, essential to its storyline, and could not readily be exchanged for other characters without losing the momentum and power of the episodes.
Piper is the stability and foundation of the group. She’s calm, loving, non-judgmental, the emotional heart of the family. She’s Mother Earth (probable astrological sign Taurus), the Halliwells’ version of the matriarch who grounds families everywhere. We know her—she’s our mother, grandmother, favorite aunt, Cinderella’s fairy godmother.
Phoebe is the adventurer of the group. She’s fiercely independent, needing to blaze her own trails, headstrong and loyal to a fault. She has trouble separating her emotions from situations and reacts impulsively (probable astrological sign Aries). We recognize her as the infant, a baby discovering (sometimes painfully) the world in which she lives. She’s our child, our little sister, an adorable imp tossing her Lucky Charms onto the floor, impossible to resist even as we want to scold her.
Paige is the dreamer of the group. Despite her youth and lack of experience as a witch, she has a spiritual maturity that indicates she is indeed an old soul. She feels deeply, is compassionate and has very strong intuition, in which she is continually learning to trust. We see in her the wise seer, the caring guidance counselor, the peacemaker during strife (probable astrological sign Pisces), even as we see an idealistic young woman who’s somehow untouched by the evil in the world.
Leo is a gentle, patient soul who strives to keep balance and harmony for everyone (probable astrological sign Libra). He’s our calm, patient grandfather, teaching us how to fish or whittle a piece of wood, or our big brother helping us with our homework. Leo is a perfect complement to Piper’s Earth Mother role.
No way can we forget Cole, with his dark, brooding good looks, his deep, secretive nature and his propensity for violence and evil, even as he demonstrates he can overcome the darkness at times, rising like a phoenix from the ashes. He’s the consummate bad boy we love to hate, even as we eagerly await his appearance, anxious to see what he’ll do next. For the female viewers, he’s the boy who took our virginity in the back seat of a car, who broke our hearts and who is a poor marriage bet. He’s probably a Scorpio, not at all a good match for Aries Phoebe, but oh, what fireworks these two created together!
By season four, we’d come to know these people—they were real to us, we cared about what happened to them—and, with the possible exception of Cole (who created ambivalent feelings in most of us), we wanted them to achieve happiness and fulfillment.
2. Romances have conflict and character growth.
With the current emphasis now on realistic and believable people, it’s acceptable, even expected, that characters be flawed. While some genres might allow these imperfect characters to remain static, the romance genre—because it is character-driven—demands they experience personal growth.
The best way to bring about change and growth is through conflict, which is an essential element for creating a good story in every genre. The conflict is what challenges the characters, gives them something to overcome and forces them to realize their strengths and weaknesses.
Charmed is no exception to this pattern. The show’s conflicts are inextricably intertwined with the growth of its characters.
Phoebe’s love for Cole often blinded her to the truth and was responsible for most of her challenges and growth throughout season four. Despite her love, she had her doubts, raised when she came face to face with Cole’s demonic past in “Black As Cole.” But she clung to her love for him . . . until her insecurities rose to the surface, giving her premarital cold feet. She cast a spell to decide if she should marry Cole (with some unsettling results) in “The Three Faces Of Phoebe.” Later, she “fell from grace” when she allowed evil to overtake her and chose to be Queen of the Underworld, with Cole by her side. But ultimately, she made the painful choice of good over evil, when she helped her sisters vanquish Cole in “Long Live the Queen.” (No one said the growth would be painless.)
Cole experienced his own growth as he battled the evil inside him. He faced the Source overtaking his body in “Marry-Go-Round.” The battle continued as he had the opportunity to destroy Paige in “Bite Me,” but resisted. Yet he couldn’t quite overcome the lure of evil, as evidenced when he took Phoebe with him into the underworld and prepared to rule as the Source, then tried to destroy Piper and Paige.
Piper, Paige and Leo also had their own imperfections and challenges. Piper has a tendency toward stubbornness and putting on blinders when she doesn’t want to believe something. She didn’t take Paige’s weird feelings about a creepy house seriously, which landed Phoebe in the clutches of a demon, in “Size Matters.” Then again, Piper downplayed Paige’s conviction that Cole was still evil in several episodes, most notably “The Fifth Halliwell.” She also feels too deeply, her inability to deal with Prue’s death making her vulnerable to the Furies in “Hell Hath No Fury.”
Paige struggled to mature, both as a woman and as a witch. She stole the Book of Shadows and used it to cast spells for her own gain in “Hell Hath No Fury.” She made a serious blunder while mixing potions and ended up switching bodies with Phoebe in “Enter the Demon.” But she stepped up to the plate as season four progressed, admitting to her mistakes and taking her rightful place beside Piper and Phoebe in the fight against evil.
&nbs
p; Even Leo had his insecurities. He experienced guilt for his actions on the battlefield in WWII, but learned there are two sides to every situation, in “Saving Private Leo.”
3. Romances focus on relationships.
Going one step further, in the romantic venue the main focus is not just on the characters, but on relationships between those characters, most particularly the hero and heroine. While many romances contain sensual or sexual scenes, the focus is on the development of the relationship, not the sex (another common romance myth).
Charmed has multiple heroes and heroines, but the relationship between Phoebe and Cole was at the center of the fourth season.
Their off-and-on relationship had been ongoing since Cole’s appearance as a district attorney in “The Honeymoon’s Over,” but it crystallized in the fourth season. In “Black As Cole” Cole asked her to marry him. Phoebe rebuffed his proposal even as she assured him that she loved him, but by “Marry-Go-Round” Phoebe had changed her mind and, although she still had doubts, she and Cole were married.
Their roller-coaster relationship continued, with love and passion and blind optimism lifting it to the high points and Cole’s gradual succumbing to the darkness of the Source creating the lows. Yet even after Phoebe was forced to accept the truth and help vanquish him in “Long Live The Queen,” the relationship continued, as it was discovered that Cole still existed in “Witch Way Now?”
There was also the relationship between the sisters themselves, with all the ups and downs any family experiences. Piper, Phoebe and Paige are intensely supportive of one another. Theirs is a true sisterhood, bound by love and respect.
4. Romances are about emotion.
I can just hear some of you groaning. Oh no! Not that, not . . . emotion! Yes—emotion. Remember that most romances are character-driven. If the reader or viewer doesn’t bond emotionally with the characters, there’s no desire to remain in the story world (or, in the case of Charmed, no reason not to pick up the remote and channel surf for something more gripping). The emotional involvement keeps us watching, makes us care about these characters. We identify with them, even inhabit them as we participate in their reality.
Charmed is layered with intricate levels of emotion, especially in season four. Foremost were Phoebe’s myriad emotions about Cole. She loved him deeply, and once she put aside her doubts and decided to take a leap of faith, her love became unconditional, her belief in him unshakable. She defended him fiercely, refusing to consider the possibility that her husband could harbor evil. But then—when the Source had completely overtaken Cole, when he was on the verge of killing her sisters—Phoebe was forced to face the wrenching pain of the truth.
One of the most emotional scenes in the fourth season was in “Long Live The Queen” when Piper and Paige were helpless and Cole was about to annihilate them. With tears streaming down her face, Phoebe approached him, picking up the last crystal needed to complete a containing circle around him. She stepped inside the circle, and Cole, thinking she had come to join forces with him against her sisters, welcomed her. We (the viewers) already knew that Phoebe couldn’t stand by while Cole destroyed her sisters, no matter how much she loved him, and we were wrung into emotional knots right along with her. She kissed Cole lovingly—an obvious, painful goodbye that he hadn’t yet recognized—and then stepped back to place the final crystal in the circle’s perimeter, trapping Cole there.
There was another emotional wrench, as Cole finally realized what was going on and cried out to Phoebe. The shock on his face—and his pain at her betrayal—tore at us. The tears still streaming, Phoebe joined her sisters. As they recited the spell to vanquish Cole, she wept even harder, barely able to say the words that would destroy her husband, her love, forever. But then we saw her resolve, her commitment to good over evil, her moral integrity, as she did what she had to do, finishing the spell. She watched as Cole was destroyed, screaming out his anguish. It was an amazing, powerful scene.
As if that wasn’t enough, there was a final heartfelt scene in the same episode. Phoebe, inconsolable in her grief over losing Cole, lay in bed, sobbing. Piper and Paige, uncertain how to comfort her but knowing she needed their love and support, climbed into the bed with her. Piper cuddled behind Phoebe, while Paige curled up in front of her, wrapping Phoebe in the love of her sisters both physically and spiritually. The scene was so vivid; we could actually feel the love and the caring. Phoebe continued to cry, her sisters sharing her pain, as the scene faded out . . . ending an unforgettable episode. Pass the tissues, please!
This was only one of many episodes brimming with emotion. There were the ones that dealt with Prue’s death, “Charmed Again I & II,” where Piper’s overwhelming grief put her at the mercy of the Furies. We saw continuing evidence of Piper’s deeply emotional nature as she tried to become pregnant and learned she may never be able to have children in “We’re Off To See The Wizard.”
“Saving Private Leo” gave us rare insight into Leo as he struggled with horrendous guilt over the choices he faced as a young medic in WWII, choices that resulted in the death of his two best friends. He didn’t want to attend an event honoring war veterans, but Piper convinced him to go. Once there, the veterans crowded around him, thinking he was his own grandson, and told him what a hero his grandfather (Leo) was. A lady passing by saw Leo surrounded by the older men and asked Piper, “Who is that?” Piper, with tears in her eyes, lovingly answered, “My hero.” (Where did I put those tissues?)
Through the episodes, we shared Paige’s guilt about her parents’ deaths in “A Paige of the Past” as well as her frustrations as she tried to learn the magic craft in “Hell Hath No Fury” and fought to be taken seriously in “The Fifth Halliwell.” We couldn’t help but identify with her struggles to find her place in the world.
And of course the love the sisters shared for one another, their commitment to protecting innocents and honoring good over evil were the overriding ties that wove all the episodes together.
5. Romances are about empowerment.
Empowerment is the one defining element of every current-day romance. It is the universal theme that runs through these stories, their heart and soul. Romances go beyond the physical love between a man and a woman, beyond the spiritual love of that relationship, to the empowerment of love. Think of the love of a mother for her child, of God for His/Her creations, of a soldier for his or her country, of the love between a man and a woman. What could be more powerful? While the focus in a romance is generally on female empowerment, men aren’t excluded from the transformation.
In Charmed’s fourth season, this empowerment was vividly illustrated by Phoebe’s love of Cole, by her absolute belief in him, her determination to stand by him and later by becoming his queen of darkness. She was willing to lay everything on the line for the man she loved, and her love stretched like a golden safety net around Cole, helping him to resist the Evil Source, which claimed him in “The Three Faces of Phoebe.” Even as the Source’s hold on Cole strengthened, Phoebe’s love for him (and his love for her) kept alive that faint spark of humanity still within him. For her, he held on, even sparing her meddling sisters.
Even in a romance, empowerment doesn’t come solely from romantic love. The modern heroine is strong, self-sufficient and powerful in her own right. Piper, Phoebe and Paige have strong magical abilities that empower them. Piper can freeze people and objects and blow things up. Phoebe is empathic and proficient in martial arts. Paige can move things with her mind and orb to other places. Yet true feminine power doesn’t lie in physical abilities, but in the magic of the heart. Piper, Phoebe and Paige embrace the motto of “harm none,” and their love for each other, along with their dedication to protecting innocents, gives rise to the Power of Three. When they draw on this power, they are virtually invincible. For where there is love, how can evil truly exist?
In the fourth season of Charmed, it was ultimately Phoebe’s love for her sisters, and her love for doing what is right (her higher callin
g), that led her to help vanquish Cole. And Piper and Paige’s nurturing love gave Phoebe the will to keep going, despite the devastation of losing Cole.
6. Romances have a positive ending.
Another common romance myth is that the hero and heroine always end up together and live happily ever after. Since today’s heroine no longer needs a man to define her happiness, this simply isn’t so. Granted, while an upbeat ending is a requirement for today’s romances, not all end in marriage, or even with the hero and heroine together—especially not in chick-lit, where the heroine is her own woman and may or may not choose to share her life with someone else. The same applies for witch-lit and our independent, self-empowered witches.
At the close of the fourth season of Charmed, not only was Phoebe beginning to heal from the loss of Cole, but Cole had resurfaced, lurking in the Wastelands. While Phoebe and Cole did not end up together as the fifth season got underway, we knew they still loved each other, and there was a possibility they would work things out.
At the end of the fourth season, Piper learned she was pregnant and would finally have the baby she’d been longing for. And Paige found she had proven herself and accepted her rightful place with her sisters.
The season finished with us believing everything was going to work out for Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo—offering satisfying closure and fulfilling the final requirement of a romance.
The Magic of Love
Now that our spell is concluded, I think you’ll agree that the fourth season of Charmed definitely embraced all the tenets of a romance. The characters—sympathetic and realistic people—drove the story, as the episodes explored the relationships between these characters while encompassing conflict, personal growth, emotion and empowerment.
Totally Charmed Page 21