WITCH BOOK TO READ…
Book Review – Hocus Pocus in Focus: The Thinking Fan’s Guide to Disney’s Halloween Classic
Review by Lindsay Brooks
Let’s get this out of the way – I am hands down, 100% the target audience for this book. I was twelve years old when the movie was released (please don’t do that math) and coming off a HUGE Eerie, Indiana run (my favorite episode is when the girl Marshall likes gets a heart transplant and takes on the characteristics of the boy whose heart is now inside her body…not important).
The book.
I recommend re-watching the movie before you read it – not because the book isn’t easy to follow, but the takeaway will be much greater. If the lines and characters and jokes and charm of the film are fresh in your mind, you will dive much deeper into the text of the book. It’s kind of like how I watch The Mighty Ducks 1 & 2 (3 is garbage) before I go to a hockey game. It just means more.
Author Aaron Wallace starts strong with a foreword by Thora Birch and a succinct introduction. The chapters are all cleverly titled (my favorite is “The Home Alone of Halloween”) and with his colloquial tone, fresh perspective and well thought-out ideas, Wallace makes this an interesting and easy read. What surprised me and made this book more than just a fun insider opinion on a movie from my childhood with that girl from Ladybugs was Chapter Nine, “Of All the Witches Working…”. In this chapter, Wallace touches on the roles women play in the film:
But it is possible, I think, to read the female characters in this film as progressive and, in many ways, even feminist.
The film passes The Bechtel Test and “in fact, women comprise the majority of the characters and deliver the bulk of the dialogue“. This chapter drove home the “thinking fan” nod in the title for me.
I recommend Hocus Pocus in Focus… to anyone and everyone who enjoys the film. From super fan to new viewer, there is something interesting to be found here for all!
