Watching the witching world: The role of superstition in contemporary Malawian film

Abstract

As controversial and mysterious as it may be, witchcraft is considered very much part of the Malawian world view. Despite their invisibility, witches are believed by many to exist. This paper aims to articulate an analysis of the common portrayal of such superstition in the contemporary Malawian film. It argues that the portrayal of witchcraft reflects an attempt by filmmakers to display a local ontology, and that this worldview enables the filmmaker to best articulate a number of issues, culminating in the archetypal struggle between good and evil, in a language that their potential viewers are bound to understand. This paper examines the depiction of witchcraft in a number of Malawian films - Magwiragwira, Chigulumwah, Black Angel, Dangerous, and Mapatidwe – with the objective of illustrating how this daring representation by the filmmakers potentially holds the key to opening a conversation on various superstitious practices, and could help to reveal, and correct, harmful ignorance and superstition within local societies. This examination is made by drawing on current scholarship on African film and on the phenomenon of witchcraft, from theological and philosophical perspectives.

Keywords: Witchcraft, African cinema, superstition, Malawi, magic