I was age 6, and I thought she was so beautiful. But I was completely baffled by Samantha's willingness to marry dorky Darren, and to try to please him all the time.
My first feminist thought was: Why would a woman with that kind of power give it up for a man?
I also adored Samantha's mother, Endora, mostly because she constantly made fun of Darren. I can clearly remember thinking Samantha should keep her sweetness, but be powerful and exotic like Endora.
I didn't know what gay meant then, I just knew I loved Samantha. And if I married her, I'd let her be herself and use her magic.
I knew I could make her happy!
Yes, a witch pretending to be mortal just to please someone was a perfect metaphor for a lesbian growing up in the early 70's. I didn't figure that out until many years later.
By then, I understood how society worked, and would disguise my crushes by saying I wanted to be like a female character. Or that I "admired" a certain female actress. I disguised them even from myself.
But at age 6, I didn't have to lie to myself. It seemed perfectly normal wanting to marry Samantha.
Karen - Minnesota
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Inspired by the "Born This Way Blog" - www.BornThisWayBlog.com
3 comments:
As a young queer boy growing up I had the same questions about Samantha staying with Darren. There was this magical world filled with fabulous people like Endora and Uncle Arthur. I couldn't figure out why Darren was BEGGING her to take him into her world instead of trying to make her small enough to fit in his.
If I'm not mistaken almost the entire cast of BEWITCHED, except for the second Darrin, was gay or lesbian - certainly "Uncle Arthur, Dr. Bombay, Endora" and the 1st Darrin - all which was rather ironic considering Elizabeth Montgomery's father, stage and screen actor, Robert Montgomery, was a heinous right winger who detested gays and reported a lot of them as being "communist" during the McCarthy witchhunts - Liz clearly eschewed her father's odious politics....
I've always been in absolute love (insane girl crush) with Elizabeth Montgomery. In my 30 years of being alive, she's one of the women who reign supreme in my world. Oh how I wish I could go back in time and meet her!! My Elizabeth, u r sorely missed! :'(
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