The not-so chilling adventures of Sabrina

In the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, social issues like feminism, and gender discrimination are present in an aesthetic form. In the show, an old-time favorite character named Sabrina Spellman, who is a half witch, and half human on the brink of turning 16 is brought back to life in a show that depicts Sabrina, the teenage witch in a different light. The show is depicted more of a supernatural revenge fantasy towards the male figures in the story like the devil, the principal, and bullies., Sabrina is a  half witch, half human, her mother was a human and her dad was a witch. She lives with her two aunts, Hilda, and Zelda Spellman, who are both witches themselves in Greendale. Throughout the show, she struggles to decide whether she wants to become a full witch and leave her human life behind. During her struggling periods of time, she is faced with issues both in the human and witch world, that reflect on issues such as male patriarchy and exemplifies radical feminism to a certain extent. In Sabrina’s school, her principal is depicted as very patriarchal in how he handles different situations and how he treats the female figures in the school. In the witch world, there is a level of respect held to the high priest and the devil himself, that women have to “give themselves into. Many times in the show, women are treated as subordinate to men, but it is seen to be fought with feminism that to some can be extreme.

Episode 1 features a form of radical feminism is also shown. When Sabrina is denied her access by the principal to open a club that helps support women, she decided she is tired of him using his power to stop them because of his views on women and how subordinate they are to men. She decides to use her power as a witch and scare him by filling his house with spiders, his biggest fears. This traumatic experience led for the principal to be absent from school which made it easier for Sabrina and her two friends, Susie, and Rosalind to get their club approved. Even though the intention of trying to fight patriarchy and trying to portray feminism is present, in a way it is shown in an extreme way that can lead make others think that radical feminism is the best way to fight off patriarchy.

In episode 2, another form of radical feminism is shown. In the previous episode, it is shown that Sabrina’s friend Susie is bullied by football players because of her appearance and sexual orientation. She is beaten and ridiculed because of he sexual orientation and when Sabrina finds out about the incident she takes the problem to the principal, the principal decides to not take any action against the football players because Sabrina did not give him specific names because Susie did not want to say. When she realizes that the principle is using patriarchy because he wants to defend the guys in his school and believes what they did is no big deal, Sabrina decides to take the problem into her own hands. She gathers other witches and decides to take matters into her own hands. This can be described as the first scene where radical feminism is shown due to the fact it is a witch show and problems are expected to be solved in extreme ways with magic. She takes the boys into a cave and begins to play mind tricks and starts to seduce them up to the point where the boys end up making out with each other. Even though, Sabrina had good intentions in trying to solve Susie’s problems and trying to show them that they are not superior to them and cannot be protected by their masculinity, the way she solved the problem was radical. This form of issues is solved in this way because many tv shows about witches portrayed extreme solutions and in a way, the chilling adventures of Sabrina romanticized radical feminism.

Many articles have described the show as a show that has actually shown feminism in a good way and has talked about social issues like feminism and gender identity positively. A lot of articles describe the show as the feminist show we didn’t know we needed.  The article “ Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is the feminist show we need right now
begins to describe the show as “The girl power isn’t forced or overdone; it just comes naturally in the dialogue, storylines, and character development. Sabrina uses her words, and they’re incredibly powerful.”( Entenman, 1), even though Sabrina does use her words to convey some power, after further analyzing the show, I am able to see that there are more times was physical violence or mind tricks are being used to get what she wants instead of using more of a peaceful way. While watching the show I started to see how for some people Sabrina creating a club can be seen as a peaceful way to solve problems but there are more instances where she is violent and thinks in more of a dark way to solve these issues. This has an impact in the way that people may think radical feminism can be the best way to solve issues like gender discrimination especially when its hard to get their point across. If radical feminism keeps on being romanticized and shown as not being a serious issue, then it could impact the way people approach problems that involve gender discrimination later on.

In the article, “ the ‘F’ word: how the media frame feminism” by Debra Baker Beck, the way feminism is portrayed in the media is analyzed. The way radical feminism is shown in Sabrina makes it seem as though radical feminism should be romanticized and it should be something that everyone should be doing, it also makes it seem like its a joke and something that should not be taken seriously, Beck states” Certainly, it is not unreasonable to expect the mass media – particularly the news sector- to present women’s issues in a fair light, without marginalizing them” , (Beck,152), the way that the show is percieving feminism is making it look as though it is not a serious topic therefore in a way it’s making it seem like an aesthetic, when it should be taken more of as a serious issue. A lot of fans of the show ha similar opinions in how instead of portraying good examples of how feminism can be great to solved issues when it is done in a way that gets the point across but isn’t too violent. It was also compared to how other shows like 13 reasons why romanticizes mental illness and in a way doesn’t make it seem like a serious topic. Another article by Lauren Rabinovitz called “ Sitcoms and single moms: representation of feminism on American tv”, Rabinovitz talks about the ways that feminism is portrayed in American tv, now in this era with shows like the chilling adventures of Sabrina, are using these social issues in order to target a specific audience,” television executives expected to accomplish their ends by programming shows that featured liberal politics and values as well as younger, urban characters. They hoped that the new marks of racial or gender specific and topics of social relevancy would appeal to the target audiences”, ( Rabinovitz, 7), the chilling adventures of Sabrina is using radical feminism in order to appeal to a specific audience, the audience that likes the genre of revenge fantasy or the supernatural. Since they are trying to appeal to this audience, they use this serious issue, which is radical feminism, in order to be relevant in the media and appeal to more people.

Social issues being portrayed in tv shows can be a very hard topic to showcase especially when it is not done correctly. The way that the show romanticizes and portrays radical feminism so easily and in a jokingly matter just to capture the attention of an audience that likes revenge fantasy, shows how social matters will continue to be used for attention in the media even if its in a bad way, it will continue to not be taken seriously in the real world as long as its played down in tv shows.

Works Cited

1. Rabinovitz, Lauren. “Sitcoms and Single Moms: Representations of Feminism on American TV.” Cinema Journal, vol. 29, no. 1, 1989, pp. 3–19. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1225298.
2. Debra Baker Beck. “The ‘F’ Word: How the Media Frame Feminism.” NWSA Journal, vol. 10, no. 1, 1998, pp. 139–153. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4316558.
3. “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Is the Feminist Show We Need Right Now.” HelloGiggles, HelloGiggles, hellogiggles.com/reviews-coverage/chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-kiernan-shipka-feminism/.

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