The hero Oz deserves, but not the one it needs right now
The WICKED truth about the cost of doing the right thing
“Oh my gosh, are you crying?”
“What? Uh… No? No.”
My friend’s video call caught me in the middle of the Wicked finale. Since I’d been exploring The Himalayas when the movie hit cinemas, I’d missed it, but cranking up the volume on an old home theatre system still let “Defying Gravity” work its magic.
…As evidenced by the fact that yes, okay, fine, maybe there were a few tears.
What can I say? When it comes to musicals, I’m completely defenseless.
There’s just something about their sincerity… The big emotions, the extravagant production design, the physicality of the performances.
I can’t help but surrender to their spell.
Director Jon M. Chu’s Wicked is no exception!
Based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel - with a screenplay cowritten by Winnie Holzman, who also wrote the book for the 2003 Broadway musical - the film serves as a prequel to the 1939 Hollywood classic, The Wizard of Oz.
Part I has been honored with 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, with Part II due out in November. (Incidentally, 10 nominations ties Wicked with The Brutalist, my pick for Best Picture this year! We go deep into that film’s art and craft here).
When we first meet Elphaba, played by a soulful Cynthia Erivo, she’s not “wicked” at all. She’s a talented young sorceress in training who’s been bullied and ostracized for her green skin. As a result, she’s learned both self-reliance and empathy - especially for those who, like her, have found themselves on the outside of society.
Elphaba has a natural sense of heart and justice, in contrast to the future Good Witch of the North, Glinda, played by Ariana Grande. Glinda starts off as a pretty, status-obsessed “mean girl” who tends to do the right thing for the wrong reasons.
The two begin as roommates at Shiz University and become unlikely friends.
It’s a fun and touching evolution that lays the groundwork for the story’s emotionally charged climax, [spoiler alert] in which Elphaba takes a public stand for her convictions at the cost of her reputation.
Of all things, I was reminded of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.
Oz sees Elphaba as wicked, just as Gotham sees Batman as a criminal. Elphaba is the hero Oz deserves, but not the one it needs right now:
Heroism isn’t about being celebrated.
It’s about doing what’s right, even if it means being condemned for it.
For her part, Glinda cares for her friend and wants to go with her, but she must walk a different path because of who she is. “She’s strong enough to know that she’d never choose [rebellion], because she can’t,” Ariana Grande reflects in a moving interview:
She doesn’t have the tools… She’s not a person who’s gonna do that.
And it feels how it feels in real life when you really love someone but the paths that you need to take for your own truth and life and who you are, it's like you can't actually… continue growing together, you're growing apart, and you can still love that person so much and acknowledge that that's going to be best for them. But it's not going to be best for me. So I do have to not self abandon in this moment, and I have to stay where I am. And I want you to go there, but I can't join you.
Confession: I was that theatre kid in high school who played the original Broadway cast recording of Wicked on repeat, but I’ve never actually seen the show. Which means I have no idea what happens in Part II. I don’t know how the story resolves.
If I had to make an educated guess, I’d say that Elphaba works to change the system from the outside while Glinda uses her newfound leverage to transform it from the inside. Do you burn everything to the ground, or do you shrewdly play the game?
Which approach is more effective, and what will history remember?
Such thematic considerations feel eerily relevant to our times. A friend of mine who works for the government is asking herself these questions in a very real way. What is her moral responsibility? Where’s the line between fighting to transform the system and inadvertently becoming complicit in it? All of this while her livelihood’s at stake.
So far, Chu’s Wicked brings beauty, levity, and hope to its bigger picture questions.
I mean, heck, just look at these lyrics!
They speak to the swing-for-the-fences creative in me, too:
I'm through accepting limits
'Cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change, but 'til I try, I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love, I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love, it comes at much too high a cost
They’re also a powerful expression of Elphaba’s life path as it diverges from Glinda’s.
“I hope you’re happy now,” Glinda sings, frustrated. “I hope you’re happy how you’ve hurt your cause forever.” While Elphaba snaps back, “I hope you’re happy too/I hope you’re proud how you would/grovel in submission to feed your own ambition.”
Then together: “So though I can’t imagine how/I hope you’re happy right now”, which over the course of the song, grows from a conflict of differing perspectives into an understanding of how they’re actually complementary:
“I hope you're happy in the end/I hope you’re happy, my friend.”
It’s profoundly moving to witness Elphaba come into her own in the film’s final moments. Check out this behind-the-scenes interview, where Chu discusses the risky decision to interrupt the song with Elphaba’s dramatic fall:
There’s something perfectly poetic about Elphaba literally falling during “Defying Gravity” - and how she pulls up in the end. It’s enough to make you misty-eyed.
PS: Just a quick reminder about our Movie Club event TOMORROW, in honor of David Lynch’s legacy. We’ll hang out, network, trade stories, and break down Lynch’s film The Straight Story together in real-time.
WHEN: Saturday, February 08, starting at 10:30am EST. We’ll catch up for half an hour, then begin watching together promptly at 11:00am EST.
WHAT: A virtual “watch party” of David Lynch’s THE STRAIGHT STORY.
Join us for lively discussion and camaraderie with kindred spirits, whether we wind up with an intimate gathering or a full house!
(Please note that you’ll need your own copy of the film if you want to watch along with us, but you’re welcome to tune in regardless).
This event is exclusively for paid subscribers. If you’ve already upgraded, then you’re all set - simply follow the instructions here at the appointed time.
Hope to see you there!
Much better movie than I expected! (But still too long -- should've been one movie)
I too had never see the stage play and don't know how it ends. But I'm asking: Do the events of the actual Wizard of Oz not happen? Is that supposed to be anti-Elphaba propaganda? Cuz I'm with here at this point, but I don't see how -- no matter how unfair she's treated -- she can end up terrorizing Dorothy and all the rest and not be, well, wicked.