How 'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' gives us a teenage witch for the #TimesUp era
With its irresistible combination of tongue-in-cheek camp, earnest conviction, and the occasional dash of social commentary, the hit CW series Riverdale has successfully brought Archie Andrews and his peppy Riverdale High pals out of the comic books and into the present day. Now the 10-episode Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina seeks to do the same for a certain teenage witch.
Premiering on the streaming service on Friday, the show brews a rich potion from familiar genre ingredients: young-adult high school soap opera, Italian giallo thriller cinema, and family squabbles. At its heart, though, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is the story of a young woman discovering her own power — both metaphorically and literally — and using it to decide what she wants from her life rather than what others, most notably the high priest of her bewitching church, want for her.
In that way, the new Sabrina Spellman, played by Mad Men star Kiernan Shipka, is ideally suited to the current #TimesUp era, when women are being encouraged and supported in speaking their truth to male power. But Shipka also tells Yahoo Entertainment that one of her favorite things about the show is that its setting and message are timeless. “It’s very analogous to a lot of what’s happening now,” she says. “It doesn’t really make any direct references to what’s going on culturewise, but at the same time it maintains its integrity and feminist roots.” (Watch our interview above.)
Several of Shipka’s co-stars, meanwhile, absolutely see Sabrina as a #TimesUp role model that viewers of all ages can learn from. “She’s not a damsel in distress by any means,” notes Chance Perdomo, who plays Sabrina’s trouble-prone cousin, Ambrose. “She’s the hero to her own story and her own life.”
And Michelle Gomez, who tangles with Sabrina as the villainous Madam Satan, praises her onscreen nemesis as “a real force of nature. I think she is an amazing inspiration and example to young women today, who can feel liberated and empowered by what they have to offer.”
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is currently streaming on Netflix.
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