Weapons (2025) and the Symbolisms Represented by the Elements of Witchcraft

     Contemporary films have been increasingly building a thematic focus on current societal issues which are represented all throughout the films’ plot, may it be embedded as objects, words, actions, events, or even characters. Well, symbolism is indeed one of the great literary and cinematic devices that help give depth and a sense of mystery in a story. It gives us hints, layers of meanings, connects us to plot points, and engages audience in this art of discovery. But it’s sometimes really easy to miss out these miniscule details.

    Let’s talk about the 2025 film “Weapons” by Director Zach Cregger. First, I thought it’s going to be one of those films that look like a class project. I mean, I don’t usually judge movies by their posters, but with my prior experience, this is not my kind of movie. But for someone with doubts, I had a lot of hope, and even got myself a date to the cinema.

 

   Weapons is a horror film which is centered in the mysterious and simultaneous disappearance of 17 over 18 high school students who belong in the same classroom. Alex, being the only one to arrive in their class was questioned by authorities but the highschooler claimed that he didn’t know anything, or even if there was any plan or some sort - clearly, he wasn’t informed.

    The teacher of that particular class is Justine, a short-haired blonde who’s probably in her early 30s. She was one of the most attacked personnel in the story. This is due to several of the parents believing that she may be involved in those disappearances. They just don’t know how. But having no evidence or any clear connection, the authorities just see no reason to suspect her.

    Throughout the detective type approach of the film, besides Alex and Teacher Justine, there were also four more main characters in the film namely, Archer, Paul, James, and Marcus. Each of which had their own experiences in the lurking danger that the antagonist, Alex’s Aunt Gladys, continuously deals.

    Director Zach Cregger mentioned that while this film is fictional, it has its inspirations from his real-life experiences with loss and grief. In interviews, the casts even shared meanings and symbolisms they worked on while doing the film. However, of course the Linguistics Magazine would love to provide a different lens in analyzing the contents of the film.

The Symbolisms and Elements of Witchcraft

    Aunt Gladys is a parasitic witch, depicted as an old sickly woman wearing a curly ginger wig to hide her bald head. Pretty much like those bald witches in the 2020 movie “The Witches” featuring Anne Hathaway, but older and lacks skills doing her make-up properly.

First of the symbolisms to discuss is THE BELL.

    In witchcraft, bells represent the ELEMENT of AIR, and are typically used for cleansing and warding-off evil spirits, and in the film, the bell was used to initiate command, probably invoking a deity or a phase in her ritual. The meaning? Well, it reflects “agency”. The very power to initiate and take action, and how it influences control and direct one’s actions.

Second is the THORNY TWIG from her MYSTICAL PLANT.

    It is a bit expected that as a witch, we would be seeing elements of nature in her practice. Particularly the use of plants or wood, which also serves as one of the life-giving forces of nature. In Aunt Glady’s witchcraft, however, the THORNY TWIG serves as a means to channel her intentions towards another person or to multiple people. All she needs are smears of her own blood, and a piece of the unsuspecting person’s ownership. And with a snap of that twig, her bidding happens. So what does that show us? That the THORNY TWIG… was never actually meant to give life. Instead, it was a tool for corruption, and corruption is never good.

Third one is the MYSTICAL PLANT.

    The MYSTICAL PLANT represents greed and the entirety of its influences and its roots. We can observe how Aunt Gladys have spent her years living for more than our lifetime when she mentioned that Alex’s father had a “consumption”, a quite old term for “tuberculosis”. This exhibits that the mystical plant may have been her way to channel life from her captives to be able to live so long. But until when? Surely, it’s an unending dissatisfaction to feed.

Fourth is the SMEAR of BLOOD.

    Blood is definitely a key component in blood magic. But what is with blood that it’ll drive the spell to work, aside to of course make the ritual visually appealing to horror and gore fans… The surface meaning is definitely to create a link between the caster and who it controls, but there must be something else. Until Alex was able to repurpose the spell, and we all thought that maybe, the twig answers to anyone linked to their bloodline. But it still is unsure. There still exists a possibility that the twig might answer to whoever’s blood was smeared to it and whoever knew of the practice. But clearly… the spell was powered by the twig, but was blood just a simple component of the spell or was it as powerful as the twig that it requires it? And what else would be as powerful as blood that it could ask another to succumb to its control?

    In blood magic, there is nothing more powerful than blood, but the quality and manner that it was given. The willingness of its source. In this film, BLOOD represents “determination and willingness”.

How willing were you to be an instrument of corruption?

How willing were you to take part of this greed?

How determined were you to do such actions even it means pain to others?

So I ask you now, did you also smear your own blood on a thorny twig?

Fifth is the BOWL of water.

    Aunt Gladys has a very peculiar choice for her ritual. A bowl of water. She even mentioned that she hadn’t question her own preference anymore. We’re not sure whether she said that out of her casual remarks with Marcus to maintain the persona she plays, but we could also assume that she means it. The bowl of water obviously represents a “favored fail-safe system”. It was no ordinary preventive measure. It was what she requires.

    The thorny twig, the mystical plant, the smear of blood, and the bowl represents the ELEMENT OF EARTH, which represents the foundation of Gladys' spell. 

Sixth is WATER.

    The ELEMENT OF WATER is frequently seen in the film. In Gladys’ witchcraft, in the students’ classroom, and even on Alex’s bag featuring a shark design. The water element represents cleansing, inner wisdom, adaptability, and rebirth.

    Most likely why water is used as a means of washing away or disrupting an ongoing spell. It also shown fluidity as water was also used as a component of the spell that controlled the sixteen students. Water is also used when Alex spilled a glass of water on his Dad’s face and showing no effect. This is a clear demonstration that solving the problem would really require dealing with what caused it. In this case, the thorny twig.

    Alex’ closeness to the water element also explains his intuition and characteristics being a highly curious, adaptive, and a resilient kid. Not to mention his capability of maintaining his inner peace and his transformation from being a simple kid to getting involved in the practice of witchcraft.

Seventh is FIRE.

    It was easy to miss the use of fire in Gladys’ rituals. I almost thought that among all elements of witchcraft present, fire was missing. I remember her using a lampshade though. Then I rewatched the film and saw her using fire. First, aside from her lampshade, she’s been using candles during her rituals. This supports that fire is actually an element necessary to support her spell and not just to illuminate the place. But we’ve seen her in Marcus’ place doing her ritual without candles, right? Well, I guess since the sun is a huge ball of fire, maybe it takes the role of the candle light, right?

    Second, I saw her igniting the leaves and pieces of the students’ papers soaking in a bowl of water, which is a spell meant to simultaneously control the kids. This solidifies my theory that fire in the film is an element with spell enhancing capabilities. Fire that could be gained from any source.

    So what does fire represent? It’s none other than “motivating factors”. It could be because of personal motives, influences of colleagues, parents, peers, or the society. I mean, what enhances our actions in life but a huge motivation, right?

    Not talking about the Weapons (2025) movie and the symbolisms represented by the elements of witchcraft is definitely a direct miss of another way of analyzing the film and its meanings. Despite its director dismissed that the movie was not politically intentioned, the movie does resonate to its viewers politically, psychologically, and socially.