I'll cast a spell for you: a critical rhetorical analysis of witch's resistance on the public screen

Abstract

This thesis seeks to examine how Witches on the social media platform, TikTok, utilize their witchcraft for resistance during the summer of 2020. In order to do so, I turn to the most followed Witch on the platform, @chaoticwitchaunt. Through a critical rhetorical analysis framed through the lens of the public screen, I find that @chaoticwitchaunt utilizes the elements and rituals of the platform to create revolutionary rhetorical rituals that enact consciousness-raising and coalition building among users on TikTok rather than performing their own magic online. Revolutionary rhetorical rituals utilize polysemic rhetoric in an aesthetic, formalized, and repetitive manner. Through this strategy, @chaoticwitchaunt is able to create a new form of magic that lies in the realm of the rhetorical and is adapted to the needs of the twenty-first century. I call this new form of rhetorical magic: resistive feminist rhetorical rituals. These rituals draw upon the features of feminist rituals—feminine ways of knowing, personal and social transformation, and community—while leaning into the rhetorical and privileging resistance. However, TikTok’s content is organized through an algorithm which functions as a reflection of larger societal norms. If @chaoticwitchaunt and other users break too far from the mold of what is trending, their resistance may go unobserved. The algorithm, among other components of TikTok, contributes to my ultimate retheorizing of the public screen, updating it for the contemporary landscape of social media. At the same time, @chaoticwitchaunt’s reworking of traditional notions of magic alludes to the changing face of witchcraft, thus, highlighting the need for further exploration into this field of inquiry.