Bewitched as Feminist Media

Halloween Gate, Lummi Island, WA. Photo by Scarlett Messenger
Halloween Gate, Lummi Island, WA. Photo by Scarlett Messenger

Bewitched tweaked ’60s gender roles and became one of the first feminist sitcoms

A moment late in the episode—when Darrin commands Samantha to stop using witchcraft, even though that’s central to who she is—is surprisingly powerful stuff, even if the chuckling laugh track and overbearing score work as hard as they can to keep things light and pleasant. And as the episode digs deeper into that idea, the show’s true power becomes evident: This is a show, no matter how goofy, about the growing power of women in both the home and society at large in the 1960s. It’s a show about how men weren’t sure how to deal with that, and about how couples where the husband and wife truly loved each other could find solutions to even the most difficult of conflicts by showing each other courtesy and respect.