For today’s post, I have decided to share my thoughts about how Charmed is related to both The Craft and Practical Magic. I have heard that many fans of The Craft feel a need to disparage Charmed as a series due to the similarities in content.
In truth, while I see the connections that they make, even having the theme song being one that was used in The Craft, the actual setup of the series is very much more rooted in familial relations and sisterhood. This is where my comparison to Practical Magic comes in. Now, I have to clarify that I do not mean the film, which premiered after Charmed, but instead, I am referring to the novel by Alice Hoffman which was published a few years earlier.
In my personal opinion, I love all of these witchy stories. We should not angrily judge creators of other content just because it is similar to other series or films. It is a truth that must be acknowledged by artistic and creative people, that there are no new ideas. We are simply creative because we find a new way to re-imagine ideas that already have been used. It is about re-invention not the creation of brand new ideas! Charmed is, at the end of the day, more of a love child of Practical Magic and The Craft than it is purely a rip-off of The Craft as many fans of the film seem to want to state.
Charmed beautifully takes elements from both of these franchises to create a new series. There is the family-centric nature of Practical Magic. There is a focus on sisterhood and the family lineage, both even having a specific ancestor that is often referred to in the course of each series. The television show also has the classic 90s witchy aesthetic that made The Craft a popular film in the first place. That aesthetic is something that really makes people feel that it may just be a rip-off. However, that aesthetic 90s witchy feel was something that was quite popular in that era, so I do not think calling Charmed a rip-off is fair!
I hope that you have enjoyed this short analysis of Charmed and its relation to other 90s witchy media. Do you consider it to be a The Craft rip-off? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the promo poster for season one of Charmed. I found the image on https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0158552/.
Further Reading/Watching
- Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
- Practical Magic (1998)
- The Craft (1996)
- Charmed (1998)
White Rose of Avalon 