How Magic Works In The Craft: Legacy (Can Men Be Witches?) - Screen Rant

Warning: Spoilers Ahead for The Craft: Legacy

How does magic work in Blumhouse’s The Craft: Legacy? Writer-director Zoe Lister-Jones’s long-awaited sequel to the 1996 cult classic, The Craft, highlights the importance of embracing intersectional female power while navigating the issues of bullying, stigmatization, and toxic masculinity. Like its predecessor, The Craft: Legacy also focuses on a coven of four witches, namely Lily (Cailee Spaeny), Frankie (Gideon Adlon), Lourdes (Zoey Luna), and Tabby (Lovie Simon), and stars The X-Files’ David Duchovny as Adam, whose motives turn out to be much more sinister as the film progresses.

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The Craft: Legacy’s first shot mirrors The Craft’s opening scene, in which three women sit at the altar while chanting and summoning their respective corners, realizing that they need a fourth witch, specifically West, (who can channel the element of water) to be able to complete their circle. The trio finds their fourth in Lily, who is initially unaware of her latent powers, but they are naturally unleashed during an emotionally-charged situation involving bullying. While navigating her newly-realized magick, Lily learns that one must hail from an ancestry of one or more witches in order to directly inherit these abilities, which can be further amplified with the aid of a close-knit coven.

Magic in The Craft Legacy, as performed by the all-female coven, involves levitation, glamor, and a force spell, which is used to transform school-bully Timmy (Nicholas Galitzine) into a more respectful, authentic version of himself. In order to ensure the film’s portrayal of witchcraft was authentic, Lister-Jones enlisted the help of actual witchcraft practitioners, while making sure that these rituals reflect the flexibility and multi-faceted representation that is an integral part of the community. The Craft: Legacy also reveals that men can be witches too, as exemplified in the character of Adam, who displays the ability to shapeshift and repel magic, indicating that he comes from a lineage of powerful witches, as hinted by his family crest in the film. This is in sync with real-world practices, wherein anyone can a practitioner of the craft, including men.

Apart from this, The Craft: Legacy echoes sentiments regarding the nature of magic similar to the one in the original, in which Lirio says:

“True magic is neither black nor white - it's both because nature is both. Loving and cruel, all at the same time. The only good or bad is in the heart of the witch. Life keeps a balance on its own.”

If dissected, it is apparent from this that the only thing that influences the nature of magic is the witch’s intention, which is an integral part of almost all spellcasting or ritual ceremonies. This is backed by the actions of the film’s titular characters - while the coven performs a force spell on Timmy, which is, in a way, a violation of free will and consent, it is important to note that their intentions towards his transformation were inherently good, as they wished him to “achieve his higher self.” The exact opposite can be witnessed in Adam’s practice of magic, as he uses it to justify his outdated beliefs about power and trick others in order to gain more power for himself, going as far as to commit murder. While Adam typifies how immense power holds the ability to corrupt us all, as a whole The Craft: Legacy lacks real stakes, as there is an absence of a true sense of danger as the girls navigate their craft - be it emotional, physical, or spiritual.

Having said that, The Craft: Legacy portrays magic as a wellspring that can be dipped into to battle socio-political inequities that pervade our society, as, after all, the term ‘witch’ has historically always been a politically-charged label. To be a witch is to subvert gender norms, and choose a brand of empowerment that accommodate diverse models of personhood. The intricacies of magic in The Craft sequel can be summed up in the words of Tabby: “If we are not using our powers responsibly, then we shouldn’t be using it at all.”

NEXT: The Craft: Legacy: [SPOILER]'s Return & Cameo Role Explained

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Debopriyaa Dutta (23 Articles Published)

Debopriyaa Dutta is a content curator, poet, and film critic based in India and a frequent contributor for High On Films. Apart from being a published author, Debopriyaa has been writing professionally since 2014, and holds a Master's degree in English Literature and Theory from the University of Delhi. An ardent fan of cosmic horror and poetic cinema, she enjoys painting, along with reading literary works steeped in morbid nihilism.

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How Magic Works In The Craft: Legacy (Can Men Be Witches?) - Screen Rant

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