by Saturday night, and I’m recovering from today’s publishing of my Hocus Pocus piece. Turns out suggesting that suburban moms treat Disney movies as religious experiences is controversial. Who knew?
The hate mail started before lunch. “Hocus Pocus IS sacred,” one email proclaimed, unironically proving my entire point. Americans have replaced community, tradition, and actual spiritual practice with consumer products. Can’t go to church? Watch Hocus Pocus. Can’t build meaningful relationships? Rewatch Hocus Pocus with your “tribe” of other suburban women who own too many throw pillows.
I spent Wednesday researching the Hocus Pocus phenomenon. It’s fascinating from an anthropological perspective. Disney released a mediocre children’s movie in 1993. It flopped. Then streaming culture discovered it, and suddenly it’s a “fall tradition.” Women my agewomen who were children when it releasedhave built entire identities around annual rewatches. It’s not nostalgia; it’s commodified spirituality.
The piece wrote itself once I realized: these women aren’t watching a movie. They’re performing a ritual. The Pumpkin Spice Latte is communion wine. The matching pajamas are ceremonial garments. The annual rewatch is attending services. Disney accidentally created a religion, and suburban America worships faithfully every October.
Someone accused me of “mocking women for enjoying things.” No. I’m mocking a culture that sells spiritual fulfillment through streaming subscriptions. You can enjoy Hocus Pocus without making it a personality trait. You can watch movies without building your identity around corporate products. But that requires introspection Americans aren’t ready for.
My favorite response came from a woman who insisted Hocus Pocus gatherings are “no different than church.” YES. EXACTLY. That’s the problem. You’ve replaced actual community and spiritual practice with branded content consumption. You’re proving my point while thinking you’re refuting it.
Being West African means I grew up with actual communal traditionsweddings lasting days, festivals involving entire villages, spiritual practices connecting generations. Then I came to America where “community” means watching the same Netflix show as strangers on the internet. It’s lonely masked as connection. It’s consumption masked as spirituality.
The piece performed wellshares, comments, the usual outrage-engagement cycle. Bohiney loves controversy, and I love paychecks, so everyone wins. Except maybe the suburban moms, but they’ll recover. Probably with a Hocus Pocus rewatch and a large PSL. Circle of life.
Tomorrow: Halloween economics or zombie metaphors? Depends on whether I want to tackle capitalism or American politics. Both involve the undead, so really it’s thematic consistency.
# 742
MY HOME PAGE: Bohiney Magazine (Aisha Muharrar)
