Witchcraft from Within: Hippy’s, Murder and Shakespeare

Witchcraft from Within:

Hippies, Murder, and Shakespeare

Predictions of the future do not come from fried-chicken-eating pot-smoking deadbeats out of the ‘70s. Even in the mixed up world of a fast-food adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth conjured up by writer/director Billy Morissette

, every man has free will and chooses his own destiny. Morissette

’s version equates fast food to royalty, imparting the entrepreneurial spirit of assistant manager Joe “Mac” McBeth onto the monarchical ambitions of Lord Macbeth. Mac takes the form of a frustrated fast food clerk, surviving in the lowest class of trailer dwelling trash, aspiring only to be the best clerk he can and hopefully be rewarded for his efforts, eventually commencing a series of small town murders to rise to the top. Paralleling the roles of the weird witches of the original play, the three prophetic hippies of Scotland, PA are manifestations of Mac’s subconscious, propagating his violent actions beyond the capability of his sentient mind but not independent of his subliminal desires and allowing the director to express new and relevant meaning to Mac’s murderous actions. The hippies materialize only to Mac in moments of intoxication and feed on his predispositions to encourage acts of violence from within his own mind. Mac’s actions endow the adaptation with a new significance as a testament to the mind of a murderer beyond the ideas laid forth by Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

While on the surface the hippies instigate the series of gruesome murders within the film, their motives stem only from Mac’s dark inner thoughts of ambition and power. Mac truly longs for the prosperous life and will deny his hesitant and good-willed exterior if necessary to accomplish his goals. After hearing the witches’ prophecy of the original play, Lord Macbeth catches himself entertaining the idea of killing Duncan, reflecting, “If good, why do I yield to that suggestion / Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair” (I,iii,136-137). When Macbeth receives more praise and power than ever before he can do nothing but ponder the possibilities of rising higher and higher. He conquers his good side very quickly, as he moves from humble servant to king-slayer. He initially speculates on waiting for his kingship to come naturally, saying, “chance may / Crown me / Without my stir” (1.3.147-149). Macbeth maintains a level head and control over his temptations, yet obviously his deepest desires compel him to commit murder.

While the witches prompt the delusions of grandeur, Macbeth admits he would never consider murder without their cajolement. According to the document, macguide.pdf found on website www.bullfrogfilms.com, Macbeth’s “tragic error was to allow the predictions of the witches and the prodding of his wife to push him into a crime from which he initially recoiled in horror.” The witches are the primary motivational force behind Macbeth’s murders, although the hippies do not follow suit. The film transfigures the witches from the driving force of the murders to manifestations of Mac’s inner desires. Morissette

employs the hippies of Scotland, PA to fill the same role as Chuck Palahniuk’s Tyler Durden, in the adult novel Fight Club. The lead character in Fight Club constructs Tyler within his mind to fulfill his masculine cravings to fight and sleep with Marla Singer, the mysteriously sexy woman of his dreams. Tyler doesn’t exist in the physical world, but as a representation of the protagonists desires, Tyler allows the character to accomplish all the despicable acts his consciousness will prevent him from doing. The hippies result from the parallel desires Mac holds for success, appearing to him when his willpower subsides to a deluded state of mind.

Ironically and appropriately, the hippies most often appear shortly after Mac downs a bottle of alcohol. Their first significant scene with the hippies occurs with Mac drunk at the bar, effectively dreaming of his future in the form of hippies prophesizing events to come. In reality, the events foretold derive from his fantasies of a possible future. The female hippie speaks profoundly and hypnotically as the camera spins round, disorienting Mac and the audience. Her voice transforms into Mac’s tone as she says her most persuasive and powerful words, “Don’t you think you deserve better? Don’t you think she deserves better?” Hearing these words in his own voice, Mac convinces himself, without outside influence, to succumb to the temptation of ambition. The scene immediately cuts to Mac opening his eyes the next morning, probably with a significant hangover, and Morissette

gives no recollection of how he got back home. Mac may have dreamed or hallucinated the entire series of events. To him, only the lingering feeling