Toward the Threshold: Eroticism and Abjection in Witch Films

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of how the male hegemony in the “Global North” has conceptualized the witch as an image of female alterity. My approach is informed by studies by Julia Kristeva, Teresa de Lauretis, Hélène Cixous, and Barbara Creed. Drawing on these works, I explore how the witch actively desires and uses the power of her desire to draw the male subject toward the “place where meaning collapses” (Agamben 2007). The study is supported by a prior analysis of the concepts of witchcraft, perversion, and abjection. After establishing the conceptual framework, the study sample is divided into three filmic categories: the witch in society; the witch in the socialization process; and the witch as perverse resistance. My argument is that the witch, as a female figure inherently associated with sexuality, crosses the thresholds of eroticism and perversion, and possesses the power to challenge binary structures from within.