Aunt Maria vs. Kiki's Delivery Service

Witches are very similar to vampires in the sense that, they are both portrayed as either good or evil. In Aunt Maria we have the very cliché witch story happening, two kids go visit their relative who they haven’t visited very much before. They hear things like, she is a different kind of person, the town is super odd, the Aunt has this certain effect on everyone around her that comes off a little strange. Then later throughout the book they find out she is a witch that is obsessed with power, she controls all of the men and women in the town and keeps the children locked up in an orphanage. Aunt Maria is a very typical evil powerful witch story, where in the end the two main characters have to put an end to her evil ways. If we compare Aunt Maria to Kiki’s delivery service we have a very different idea of how witches are perceived. In Kiki’s delivery service witches are perceived as good people but with special talents. In this story Kiki doesn’t run a town like Aunt Maria she moves in and tries to be accepted by the townspeople. Kiki is trying to discover herself throughout the movie, In a way it’s a typical hero’s journey but a witch version. Kiki is this innocent young teen girl, she is trying to discover what her talent is and how she can use it to help people. That talent ends up being a delivery service, that a baker helps her build. Throughout the rest of the story Kiki grows to be a better young girl and witch.

Even though Kiki’s delivery service and Aunt Maria are different because in one story we have a good witch and the other we have an evil witch. They both portray this similar idea that witches are this powerful woman figure that shouldn’t be messed with. I personally enjoyed Kiki’s delivery service better than Aunt Maria because I enjoyed seeing her grow throughout the movie into a powerful witch. I feel like a common theme with females in horror movies is they are always witches or vampires and they always have so much power and it’s portrayed in a very cliché evil way. Kiki’s delivery service is a very different portrayal.