Known for its distinct pink-and-green marketing, the new “Wicked” film adaptation based on the hit musical has captured the hearts of the general public.
Headlined by artists such as American actress-pop singer Ariana Grande, British Broadway singer Cynthia Erivo, “Bridgerton” star Jonathan Bailey, and Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh, the musical is a feast for the eyes and ears while staying true to its theatrical counterpart.
But more than just candy for the senses, “Wicked” at its core is a political story.
The musical is based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 revisionist novel titled, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which is a political retelling of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” books. It aims to tackle darker themes such as how nature or nurture can be the root cause of evil.
To break it all down, here are the top five political themes that new viewers might have missed from the musical film. Warning, spoilers ahead!
READ: ‘Wicked’ film is a spectacular transformation from stage to screen
“You’re green!”: Racism and discriminationThe musical and the film adaptation center on its green-skinned protagonist Elphaba, serving as a backstory to how she became the Wicked Witch of the West. Though the original “Wizard of Oz” books portray the witch as a caricature villain, “Wicked” sheds light on Elphaba’s humanity and how she is unjustly treated for the color of her skin. Sound familiar?
Though racism isn’t as prevalent as before—when even bathrooms were segregated to separate white people and colored people—it is still an issue that minorities unfortunately face today.
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba
Elphaba, in the same way, has a memorized dialogue she recites every time she meets a new person: “No, I’m not seasick; no, I didn’t eat grass as a child; and yes, I’ve always been green.”
An example of this is the racism that child actresses Leah Jeffries and Nico Parker are currently facing.
Jeffries, who has been cast to play the demigod Annabeth Chase in the Disneyplus adaptation of “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” and Parker, who has been cast to play the viking Astrid Hofferson in the new film adaptation of “How to Train Your Dragon,” have both been vilified online for their skin color and inappropriateness to play fictional characters that have been portrayed as white.
In the Philippines, children who grow up as moreno or morena (brown-skinned) have also faced bullying in school, brought by the country’s bias toward Western and white beauty standards.
All these experiences by minority groups and colored people are echoed by Elphaba, pushing the struggles of discrimination into the center of the story.
“No one mourns the wicked”: PropagandaBecause of the prejudice that befalls Elphaba and real-life minority groups, it becomes easy for society to point out and accuse these marginalized communities as villains. This is because there is enough judgment and preconceived notions from members of society toward these groups, even though these preconceptions aren’t necessarily true.
An example is how the Black community is always depicted as “scary” or “easily angry”—as shown in how films and novels portray Black characters. It has become a trope embedded in our pop culture that makes it difficult to erase or stray away from.
As such, these groups can easily be painted as wicked by propaganda, a type of advertisement that aims to influence and persuade large groups of people to a certain belief or agenda that may not be objective.
This is exactly the fate of Elphaba further in the story of “Wicked.”
Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Yeoh
When Elphaba refuses the wizard’s wish to use her magic to strip away the rights of Ozian animals and use them as servants, she is immediately subjected to propaganda.
Madame Morrible, a crony of the wizard, uses her influence to make a public service announcement: Elphaba is a powerful, evil witch—the reason why her skin is green in the first place—that must be apprehended for the safety of Ozians.
This propaganda painting Elphaba as a terrorist or enemy of the state is quickly spread throughout Oz, with the majority believing the biased message simply because Elphaba is different. It teaches the audience how this type of rhetoric instills hatred and fear toward minorities based on appearance.
In fact, both the musical and film start off with Ozians celebrating Elphaba’s death by burning down her effigy and singing the opening track, “No One Mourns the Wicked.” The song immediately sets the tone for the story, detailing how easily self-righteous people scorn vilified personas.
“It’s all about popular”: PrivilegeOf course, “Wicked” wouldn’t be complete without its deuteragonist, Glinda, the Good Witch of the South—and the epitome of privilege.
Unlike Elphaba and the discrimination she faces, Glinda serves as her foil. Throughout the film, the blonde girl is depicted as someone used to getting the things she wants, aiding in her main character syndrome or the narcissistic tendency of believing that she is destined for greater things, such as being a powerful witch or being tutored by Madame Morrible.
Much of this privilege comes from her physical attributes, as Glinda depicts the standard of beauty: fair-skinned, blonde, and petite. She is always looking her best, which Elphaba details her insecurity of in the song, “I’m Not That Girl.”
Ariana Grande as Glinda
In the track, she sings that Glinda has “gold hair with a gentle curl,” and will always be the girl that the guy romantically chooses.
It doesn’t help that Glinda also comes from a financially well-off background that allows her to be materialistic and sustain her high-maintenance lifestyle.
As such, this privilege that comes from a combination of wealth and physical beauty earns Glinda her popularity, one of which she details in the “Popular” track, one of the more well-known songs of the musical.
In this song, the blonde girl sings to Elphaba that “it’s all about popular, it’s not about aptitude, it’s the way you’re viewed,” therefore recognizing that she knows the power of her popularity and privilege as a means of getting her way in society.
“Gah-linda to Glinda”: Performative activismWhile those in the minority, such as Elphaba, face racism and discrimination due to their background, privileged persons such as Glinda mostly end up doing some sort of performative activism.
This is either because they do not understand what it truly feels like to struggle and be in the minority, or because doing these bare minimum protests can help increase their popularity and social capital.
One very prominent scene in the film that portrays Glinda’s performative activism is when Elphaba is about to board the train to see the Wizard of Oz. Glinda feels out of place as Fiyero, her lover, shares a meaningful goodbye with Elphaba. So to catch his attention, Glinda announces to the crowd of students that from now on, she will be changing her name from Galinda to Glinda in honor of Professor Dillamond, their last animal teacher who was abducted by authorities.
There’s nothing scarier than someone who’s always used to getting their way
The crowd is touched by Galinda—now Glinda’s—profound action, applauding and even moved to tears. Fiyero and Elphaba, however, watch in the background with disappointed expressions, knowing that the act was simply performative and self-serving in order for her to look more empathetic to society.
An example of this in real life is this ongoing trend of stickers in Instagram Stories that have captions, such as “Tap in if you’re against sexual abuse. I can see who skips my stories.”
The act itself is performative, pressuring Instagram users to add a story to the sticker just to prove they are against certain issues or to prove their moral values to their online circles.
Unfortunately, this does nothing significant to resolve these issues, and only becomes an echo chamber or another trend checked off on someone’s bucket list.
“It’s time to try defying gravity”: Anti-fascismStraying away from the two main characters of the story, let us delve into the political themes brought by the musical’s antagonist: the Wizard of Oz.
In all depictions of the wizard, he is revealed to be a regular human being who accidentally entered Oz through his hot air balloon. The land had no governance at that time, so the wizard, who was a circus magician from Omaha, Nebraska, used his talent for elaborate party tricks to fool Ozians of his “great power.”
Through this facade, he becomes revered as the land’s head of the state, ruling Oz with centralized autocracy and dictatorial leadership that becomes an allegory for fascism—a far-right, authoritarian political ideology that suppresses people who oppose the government.
Later in the story, it is revealed that the wizard chose to make the animals in Oz the literal “scapegoat,” or the ones blamed for wrongdoings, in order to dissolve political tensions in the land and unite the Ozians against one public enemy.
Elphaba, though essentially offered the keys to the kingdom, chooses to be its number-one enemy
All of this makes the wizard a caricature for the fascist politician, one who uses all talk and charisma to manipulate its citizens—something that we recognize in reality.
Elphaba, however, represents the minority who protest against the authoritarian rule of a fascist leader. This is very much highlighted through her “Defying Gravity” performance, which is arguably the very soul of “Wicked.”
Throughout the song, Elphaba sings about how she’s “through with playing by the rules of someone else’s game,” willing to defy or stand up against something that seems formidable, such as gravity or the wizard’s fascist regime.
Though various articles have compared the politics in “Wicked” with the politics of the United States, especially now that the state enters another Donald Trump administrationmafabet, the popular musical also reflects the various political situations around the world—whether it amplifies the voices of marginalized communities, calls out the privilege, or teaches the importance of questioning fascist leaders.