« When you said sea hag, did you mean like old woman hag or evil magic hag?» : Imbrication du conte de fées et du (post)féminisme dans Charmed

Abstract

This article seeks to explore the way fantasy TV series Charmed incorporates and recycles fairy tales within its diegetic universe. Studying a range of episodes, we argue that Charmed maintains a close relationship with fairy tales. From its characters to its imagery and spaces, the series meets the main characteristics of the literary genre to which it pays homage in numerous episodes. True, this undertaking of pastiching and subverting the original tales participates in the overall postmodern dimension of Charmed, still it is coupled with feminist aspirations. In fact, the reversal of traditional gender roles aiming to reinstate the feminine heroine becomes the means through which subverting the literary genre is made possible. Nonetheless, we need to question the very term “feminism”: as far as Charmed is concerned, are we looking at second-wave feminism, the social movement that rose in the 1960s, or rather post-feminism, the contemporary form of feminism?

Keywords

• Charmed
• fairy tales
• second-wave feminism
• post-feminism
• intertextuality
• gender studies