Magick In Pop Culture Options

Let's face it.

the existence of magick isn't exactly reguarded with open arms.

yet neither is it very secret.

It's referenced everywhere in pop culture.

books, movies, comics, games...

but, what do YOU think has the most accurate representation of the occult?

In terms of realism, "Charmed" would probably be the most accurate, IMO.



Then again, nothing beats "I Dream of Jeannie" for pure entertainment value. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Wow, I wouldn't have picked charmed, personally, although they have precious few moments, Supernatural is a show that has far more of those moments where you can tell they really did their research.

I'm drawing a blank now, but other examples of occult themed television are The Nightstalker, Buffy/Angel, Blood Ties, Dresden Files... can't think of any more off the top of my head.

I haven't seen any show though which actually consistently represents the occult with any kind of accuracy - either as an antogonistic element or in it's application by the protagonists, although many popular and sometimes less known elements of folklore and mythology do crop up here and there, usually with a slightly more exciting (it is TV) twist.

White wolf's games are, I believe, some of the most well researched elements of sub-pop-culture (that is, popular, but mostly in specific and select demographics) that reflect the most comprehensive collection of occult elements such that if you know what you're looking for you'll find a lot of provocative elements in their games - more importantly, the information is there in such a way that with a little tweaking their representation of the occult can be very accurate. I used a Mage: The Awakening game to illustrate several basic principles to my little group of friends very effectively - to the degree that they recognized the same principles in operation in their daily lives for some time afterwards (and then subsequently stopped paying attention... ah well)

But of course, when any element of culture is broken down into it's archetypal elements, popular or not (and sometimes what is popular is telling about the spiritual undercurrent of the demographic it most relates to), everything is rife with occult knowledge waiting to be grasped in the form of principles at work in demonstration in the human psyche and projected into a drama, which whether reality or fiction nonetheless is a reflection of the inner workings of the human psyche, where all magic really takes place.

peace

My favourite one is the japanese anime 'Rental Magica'. It's over the top and fantastical, unrealistic mostly and very flashy, but it had the most comprehensive collection of occult trivia I've found lately. Well, for the west in any case... I'm sure they have more than I could possibly count shows about their own branches of magic.

Summary: Itsuki Iba is the cowardly president of a 'for hire' magic company called Astral. Always in need of money, Itsuki's company rents out magicians to perform misc jobs. His company features many magic schools such as Solomon (Demon Magic), Shinto (Prayer Magic), Onmyodou (Spirit Magic) and Celtic (Ritual/Paper Magic).

Supernatural is extremely well done, I could give numerous examples, and I’m not just saying that because the star brothers are amazingly SEXY. Ohhh the things I could do to them. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/girl_devil.gif)

I would not have picked charmed as my first guess either. But I have seen enough episodes to know that sometimes they do actually toss in some real folk lore or terminology. Same with Buffy or Angel. Now that I have two nieces and a nephew I watch enough disney movies and they actually through in quite a bit of mythology, mysticism and magick in some of their movies. Albiet they've dumbed it down a knotch so kids actually enjoy it. When I think of magick in pop culture I think of Rob Zombie and like minded bands.

I would not have picked charmed as my first guess either. But I have seen enough episodes to know that sometimes they do actually toss in some real folk lore or terminology..

It's Hollywood.


Sometimes, you have to amp things up for the sake of telling an entertaining story. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wizard.gif)