Over the past twenty years, the portrayal of occultism in popular culture has become increasingly fashionable. Sorcery and witchcraft have gained popularity in the mainstream culture through shows like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Supernatural, as well as the Harry Potters series of movies and books. Through the popularization of the beliefs and practices of witchcraft, consumers have developed a fantastical view of what the occult truly is. In this paper I will illustrate how popular culture has normalized the occult and witchcraft and has been successful — through the use of television, books, and games — in painting a picture that witchcraft is fun and innocent.
Merriam-Webster defines the occult as “matters regarded as involving the action
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One of the major contributors to this notion is the Harry Potter series of books and movies.
Harry Potter is an award winning series of books written by author J. K. Rowling. The series chronicle the adventures of a young wizard — Harry Potter — and his friends, all of whom are students at “Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.” The primary story arc chronicles Harry's quest to defeat the Dark wizard “Lord Voldemort,” whose primary goal in the series is to conquer the wizard, thereby becoming immortal.
While many insist that children see Harry Potter as mere fun and fiction, others argue that the younger viewers do not see the books as fictitious, and instead see Harry Potter as real life, accepting the lessons of witchcraft found in the books as an open door to an occult reality. This is — at least in part — true, as confirmed by the books author J.K. Rowling. In an interview with Newsweek's Malcolm Jones, she said, "I get letters from children addressed to Professor Dumbledore [headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the books’ setting], and it’s not a joke, begging to be let into Hogwarts, and some of them are really sad. Because they want it to be true so badly they’ve convinced themselves it’s true." (The Return of Harry