Cristian Balan Real vs. Reel Elements

Real vs. Reel Elements

By: Cristian Balan

If you watch the movie, The Crucible, without ever knowing the true history behind the village of Salem, you would think you would have seen it all, understanding what happened during the time period of the Salem witch trials and feeling like a historian, going around referencing the film to people on where you got your facts from. Well sadly, although The Crucible does have some factual information from the events of the trials, it has also created its own story by adding or taking away from the truth behind Salem either for audience attracting purposes or to better incorporate and easily understand what happened through the silver screen.

One way of how the movie, The Crucible, used fictitious elements in the movie to bring more attention to it was incorporating sexual themes throughout the film. An example of this is in the opening scene with the group of girls practicing witchcraft and dancing naked with Tituba. In the film adaptation of The Crucible, which is based off the play written by Arthur Miller, which is based off of the events that occurred during the Salem witch trials, the girls along with Tituba sneak out in the middle of the night and gather items to be thrown into the cauldron they prepared so they can create a spell to make the man they lust for fall in love with them. The whole time they were either screaming from excitement or dancing with the occasional nudity, and at one point the antagonist of the movie, Abigail Williams, strips all her clothes off and proceeds to kill a chicken and drink its blood in hopes that John Proctor’s wife will die. Now clearly this never actually happened in Salem, the worst that happened in real time was Tituba doing palm readings with the girls in her kitchen. This scene was also never included in the play version, so it was mostly added for shock value that they could easily implement with film to attract more viewers.

Another example of how the movie, The Crucible, used sexual elements to “reel in” rather than to provide real information on the events that occurred during the Salem witch trials was that Abigail Williams has never proven to work for John Proctor or his wife, Elizabeth Proctor; or the fact that her and John Proctor had an affair in real life. This relationship was added in so the plot line of the movie could revolve around these two characters as the witch trials were taking place, allowing for better story development and to create a relationship people could easily follow. The real Abigail Williams was only eleven and had no romantic connection with the real John Proctor, who was believed to be around the age of sixty.  However, Abigail did accuse John of witchcraft. No historical evidence suggests Abigail even knew John Proctor before she accused him of witchcraft.  On the one hand, we might assume that everyone knows everyone in a village, especially in Salem; therefore we might conclude that John Proctor and Abby knew each other.  On the other hand, the age difference between the real Abigail and the real John Proctor is vast, so the two might have never spoken to each other before.

Another way of how the movie, The Crucible, uses fictitious elements in the film to make watching it more enjoyable for the viewer by making the accusers sinister and children only. One example of this is  throughout the film, Abigail Williams and the other teenage girls from Salem pretend to be harassed by the devil and manage to get all nineteen “witches” and Giles Corey, killed, just so they wouldn’t be punished for being caught preforming witchcraft. During the Salem witch trials children might have done the same as represented in the movie, but they also might have been actually sick from illness, food poisoning, etc. causing them to think that the side effects they experience are the works of the devil, and since science and medicine was barely as advanced as it is today, the townsfolk would take the children’s word.

The accusers also weren’t all children like they are in the movie. Those who accused people of witchcraft were mostly wealthy adults looking to obtain more land for themselves. When the new pastor, Rev. Samuel Parris came into power, he and his family were one of the first to cry witchcraft, which mostly had to do with his neighbors and the changing economic and social world. Looking at a map from Salem in 1689 would show supporters for and against Reverend Parris fall almost exactly along geographical lines; those living in Salem Village vigorously supported Parris and his ideas, and those closer to town just as vigorously wanted him gone. This would soon turn into a childish game from push to shove as adults would go around accusing people whom they disagreed with. Whether the children overheard or were prodded by the adults, the accusations in most cases emanated from the village and landed at the feet of the people living closer to the town of Salem.

In conclusion, the film’s interpretation of the actual events that occurred in Salem during the late seventeenth century was not one hundred percent accurate. What they’ve included into the film was just to be able to tell a more engaging story that would attract more viewers into theatres. Although they did a good job being mostly historically precise with the amount of victims and their names, the people involved, the setting and many other details. So even if the film isn’t a documentary on the Salem witch trials, it’s a good movie if you know that what you are watching is a movie, and are educated about the witch trials that occurred in Salem.