Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is full of ghosts, demons and the literal devil, but they are far from the scariest parts of the show – not by a long shot.
The most ~chilling~ aspect is actually the toxic masculinity of so many of the male characters. And the true villain?
Well, that’s the patriarchy.
Season 1 sets up this theme by following Sabrina’s struggle with her decision to join the Church of Night. If she does, she gets incredible powers, but she also signs away her freedom, forced to do the bidding of the Dark Lord whenever he demands it. When Sabrina questions why she can’t have both freedom and power, fellow witch Prudence explains that the Dark Lord would never allow it – because the thought terrifies him.
“He’s a man, isn’t he?” Prudence explains.
This idea of men feeling threatened by powerful women is built on in the character of Father Blackwood, the high priest of the Church of Night. In one of the most gut-churning scenes of Season 1, we see him gathering the men of his coven and presenting them with his newborn son, Judas, declaring that it’s their time to rise.
Yep, it turns out that, with a few exceptions, the warlocks of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are, in fact, men’s rights activists.
They perceive persecution where there is none, and see equality as oppression. And when they don’t get their own way in the show, as in life, they become violent.
The second season takes this theme and runs with it. Father Blackwood creates a manifesto to reform the Church of Night, which would see all witches subjugated and subservient to warlocks.
He marries Sabrina’s aunt Zelda, one of the show’s most powerful women, and casts a spell on her that that turns her into a Stepford wife. Meanwhile, as Sabrina resists the devil’s bidding at every turn and tries to reinstate her own agency, she’s punished for it time and again.
Then there’s Madame Satan, who fled the garden of Eden because she refused to be less than equal to Adam but was then essentially enslaved by Lucifer, willingly placing herself in chains on the promise of equality that never actually eventuates.
As for Lucifer himself, he’s a man alright, whose true evil is in the way he wants to possess, dominate and control the women in his life. In his grab for power, Father Blackwood is a truer disciple of the Dark Lord than either of them perhaps realise.
All of this occurs within the context of a world where the witches are, repeatedly, the ones with the strongest magic. But, of course, they have to navigate the patriarchal confines they find themselves in, which work to pit them against each other and minimise their power.
It’s only when they come together to cast off these confines that the full force of their power can be unleashed and – without giving too much away – they can overcome the men who would seek to bring them down.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is by no means a perfect feminist text. The first season in particular at times feels like nothing more than lip service to the modern intersectional movement. But Season 2 does a better job of exploring these themes in greater depth, while cleverly subverting the traditional hero’s journey Sabrina goes on.
Above all else, it shows that toxic masculinity is the true horror story of our generation – and that real magic happens when girls are able to fully embrace their own power.
