Abstract
In The Witch: A New England Folktale, writer-director Robert Eggers draws heavily from the fairy-tale tradition, particularly the abandoned children narrative and its most famous representative, “Hansel and Gretel.” This tale has been criticized by Jack Zipes for the ways it rationalizes “child abuse in the name of the symbolic order of the father.” Rather than perpetuating the power imbalances that sustain social institutions, the film brings to them light through the characterization of family members, their relationships with one another, and the representation of methods by which such abuse often occurs.
Recommended Citation
Olivetti, Kerry A.. "Lost without Breadcrumbs: Family, Scapegoating, and the Rationalization of Abuse in Robert Eggers’s The Witch." Marvels & Tales 34.2 (2021). Web. <https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol34/iss2/6>.
