Hollywood Taps Wicca as Fad...Again

Rob Reiner is directing a new adventure film called Book of Shadows. The story "follows a young man facing the perils of first love and growing up" as he quests for a magic book he must close in order to "restore balance to the world." It has nothing at all to do with the religion of Wicca, whose followers commonly call a book of rituals a Book of Shadows. In fact, the term exists in no other context in western culture.

Certainly, movie makers should not be expected to keep everything true to life. We call their work fiction for a reason. But taking a distinctly religious term out of context and radically redefining it strikes me as exploitive. I think everyone would find it decidedly weird if Reiner's movie was entitled, for example, The Holy Bible. Wicca is fashionable at the moment, particularly among the demographic this movie is presumably targeting. They've grabbed a popular buzzword without concern for its meaning.

Full article: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2008/10/21/the-princess-bride-director-rob-reiner-to-helm-zoe-greens-action-adventure-book-of-shadows/