‘Wicked:’ A story about bullying and the color of one’s skin
By Wendell Gaa
The year 2024 will surely go down as yet another banner year for cinema, and one of the best films to come out is undoubtedly “Wicked.”
Even before its very release, it was surrounded by much hype and talk around how it is one of the best movies in the musical genre in recent memory. After watching it for myself, I’m very happy to say that all the hoopla is certifiably true!
One of my biggest regrets during my time living and working in New York City was never having taken the opportunity to watch “Wicked” on Broadway. Now that I’ve gotten to see the film version, my eyes have finally opened to what it is all about.
“Wicked” is a prequel story to the classic 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz” from Hollywood’s Golden Age, focusing on the young future Wicked Witch of the West named Elphaba. She is played by multi-awarded British actress Cynthia Erivo, who will eventually grow up to be the main villain in “The Wizard of Oz.” Glinda, the future Good Witch of the North is played by pop superstar Ariana Grande.
The film chronicles the youth years of both Elphaba and Glinda as they are students at the Shiz University in the fantasy world of Oz. It is here where the university’s Dean Madame Morrible (played by Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh) takes a huge liking to Elphaba due to her innate magical abilities, despite Elphaba’s difference in looks and “attractiveness,” especially compared to Glinda, who fits the bill perfectly as the school’s all-around pretty popular girl.
This film adds so much more depth and layer to the two lead characters of Elphaba and Glinda which will make you think twice of viewing the morals and values of people living in the land of Oz in purely black and white lens, hence this is no mere musical fantasy where everything is as it appears to be on the surface.
It is particularly with Elphaba whom we come to learn more about how she is born with a color deformity which is the cause of her green skin, and she does not grow up a necessarily normal and happy life compared to how Glinda is raised. We come to see how as a child she is misunderstood and emotionally bullied with many of her own peers casting judgement upon her as an outsider. Seeing what she goes through in an attempt to merely live out the same way as everyone else will make you empathize more with the reasons why Elphaba thinks and acts the way she does.
In an interesting twist, despite the fact that they are from two polar opposites of social cliques, Elphaba and Glinda soon form a close friendship to such a degree that one would be hard-pressed to imagine how the two would later become rivals in the classic “The Wizard of Oz.” And their ensuing bond comes at a moment when we already see how so different the two are in terms of their looks and personalities, Elphaba being the often shunned and unappreciated while Glinda is the more easily socially acceptable one with her good looks and charm.
The friendship and bond between the two forms the central crux of “Wicked,” and the relationships which they form with their peers and mentors is a poignant allegory of how many societies around the world still behave towards people who are different. The music soundtrack and songs so excellently complement the film’s plot moving forward, and Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are, simply put, the only two actress-singers who could have made such onscreen chemistry work so perfectly.
Hence this is the ideal holiday movie for the whole family to watch, and I’d rank this right up alongside the greatest musicals in cinematic history. As this film only constitutes the first Act of the Broadway musical, I eagerly anticipate “Wicked Pt. II” should be out next year.
