The Witches of Eastwick

The 1987 comedy The Witches of Eastwick stars Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer. It is based on a novel of the same name by John Updike. It was adapted into a stage musical in 2000, and ran for approximately one year in London's West End.

Differences with the Book

While the movie portrays a very romantic view of the witches: the way they act and the things they make happen in Eastwick during the plot, and charges most of the guilt on Darryl; the book shows a more cruel and evil set of witches, mostly oriented to having affairs with the men in town and hurting their women with their spells. The book is also overly charged with sexual content, compared to the movie. And yet, although the weight of guilt is also dispersed between the witches, Darryl still kept enough of it to end the book being even more villainous and evil than its movie counterpart.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some have expressed concern that the book is misogynistic, as it reinforces the patriarchal conception of women as witches, and of women requiring a man for personal growth. The antagonist is also an archetypical shrewish woman.

Related Topics:
Misogynistic - Patriarchal - Antagonist

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~