Between the Powers:
Luna Nera (2020) and Equality
By İpek Kır and Melike Hayran
Luna Nera is a Netflix series that is directed by Francesca Comancini in 2020. The series takes place in the 17th century in Italy where many women burned as witches. The story starts with Ade who is the main character in the film, helps the pregnant woman whose name is Agnese with her grandmother who is called Natalia. However, Ade says that the baby will die through a dark prophecy that comes to her. Then, the prophecy comes true and the baby dies in the womb. Because of this prophecy, Ade is lynched among the people and her grandmother Natalia is burned to death by the church because she is accused of being a witch and witchcraft. As it is reflected in the series, we can mention an inequality between the power because the people who are lower class is deprived of education and the under influence of religion and the church manipulates easily them by using it’s own power religion.
After joining Tebe and other witches’ team, Ade tries to stay safe in the Lost Cities and she saves the young girls who are accused as a witch with the team. However, when the Book of the Kingdoms falls into the hands of Marzio Oreggi who is the old member of Tebe’s team and half father of Ade, wants the power of this book for himself to be powerful since his youth and so a war begins between the witches in leadership of Tebe towards the Benandanties who are the witch hunters and Marzio. During the war, Marzio helps the Benandanties in exchange for bringing Sante’s dead wife back to life with his magical powers in case Sante brings Ade alive to him in his secret agreement with Sante. This shows that the power existing in inequality serves discrimination and people’s interests and hypocrisy because Marzio’s being an upper-class cardinal leads to inequality and discrimination between classes. In the series where magic results in death, it is seen that this situation is privileged for the upper classes and the cost is ignored for them. In the series, at the same time, while Marzio collaborates with the Benandanties, his casting spells on weapons and make them win against Tebe and the witches. That’s why, this reveals the inequality of power in terms of the both contractual and privileged helping and destroying completely the power of women.
On the other hand, while male domination is intense in the midst of this war, the leadership and power of women in the male community is clearly seen in the series. Cesaria who is both close friend of Pietro and loyal to the Benandanties, leaving the usual domestic rules of the women and developing a warrior and ambitious personality to herself in the male domination of the Benandanties and fighting against the witches with the Benandanties emphasizes that the importance of equality of power between the genders aspects of the both physically and instinctively ways.
In the series, in addition to medical and surgical training, this training is given only to men and they benefit from the right to education and women are deprived of this right and restricted to only being a housewife. Therefore, this reveals that an inequality between genders in education in terms of keeping male dominance at the top of education inequality again this time, preventing women’s educational empowerment against male domination and isolating them from knowledge and learning.
