Recently the movie “Wicked” hit theaters and brought the magic of a famous musical to the screen.
The movie came out as an adaptation of the popular stage musical. The musical was adapted from a book called “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” by Gregory Maguire. That book took inspiration from the 1939 “Wizard of Oz” movie which was based on a book by the same name. Complicated lore aside I couldn’t help but think about the deeper message “Wicked” was trying to establish as I watched it. Now I’ve never seen the full stage musical so I can’t say I have the full story as the movie is split into two parts but I can see the narrative the first part of “Wicked” is trying to establish which is tearing down the system vs working within the system.
We start the movie many years in the future as the munchkins celebrate the death of the wicked witch, Elphaba, our main character. We also see Glinda, who was Elpaha’s best friend and former roommate, at this celebration. The movie starts with a song called ‘No one mourns the wicked’. This song is very heavy, especially Glinda’s parts where she sings “The wicked dies alone”. Many have theorized that Glinda is singing about herself rather than Elphaba.
But what exactly makes Glinda wicked? Well, to know that we’ll need to go back to Glinda’s backstory and her friendship with Elphaba. The backstory between these two, which spoiler alert is what 90 percent of this movie is about, shows the upbringing of Elphaba who surprisingly was born naturally green making her much different from everyone else around her. Elphaba’s father is the governor of Munchkin land and hated this about Elphaba. He was embarrassed by her. Elphaba’s sister Nessarose also seems to be embarrassed by Elphaba. But it wasn’t just Elphaba’s green skin that made her an outcast, it was also her powerful magic which seems to flare up when she’s angry.
Though we don’t see much of Glinda’s upbringing in the story we can infer certain things. Glinda seems to have a good relationship with her parents as she has an affectionate nickname for both of them. Glinda also seems spoiled as she seems used to getting her way. When Elphaba and Glinda arrive at Shiz University, Glinda expects to be in Madame Morrible’s exclusive lecture even though she doesn’t have great powers. While Elphaba seems more concerned with being there for her sister. But when something happens to Nessarose, Elphba’s powers begin to flare up, catching the attention of Madame Morrible. As a result, Madame Morrible takes Elphaba under her wing which causes Glinda to become jealous of Elphaba.
The two begin rooming together and loathing one another. As the story progresses Elphaba and Glinda become friends because Glinda does something nice for Nessarose. Afterward, Elphaba urges Madame Morrible to include Glinda in their lectures. Glinda gives Elphaba a makeover while singing her catchy song ‘Popular’. While this song is catchy it also gives us the audience insight into how exactly Glinda views the world. In Glinda’s world popularity and social capital is everything as they can help you elevate in society.
This now brings us to how Glinda and Elphaba have two very different ways of doing things. In the land of Oz, Animals are being discriminated against with anti-animal sentiment on the rise. Elphaba is rightfully angry about the injustice towards animals and takes matters into her own hands one day in the class by casting a spell to set a lion cub free. Glinda goes about voicing her dismay differently. Earlier in the story, Glinda had a goat professor, Dr. Dillamond who pronounced her name as Glinda when it is Galinda pronounced with a Ga however he was unable to say Galinda due to being a goat. To show her solidarity with the animals Galinda calls attention to everyone in class and tells them all she is changing her name to Glinda.
While the reason for Glinda doing this can be debated we can see how the two have very different ways of going about while Elphaba tries to run off to do her own thing hoping that change can arise, Glinda prefers to work with others hoping bringing them together will bring change.
This all brings us to the end where Elphaba has upset the Wizard of Oz by refusing the opportunity to work with him after she finds out he was the one behind the recent anti-animal sentiment in the land of Oz. During the last musical number “Defying Gravity,” Elphaba and Glinda both raise valid criticisms regarding the other’s way of going about things. Glinda tells Elphaba she has hurt her cause forever by flying off the handle while Elphaba says Glina has groveled in submission for her ambition. Both characters at this point are valid as we can see how Elphaba has made the issue of animal rights harder to achieve by her angry outburst but we can also see how Glinda has submitted by deciding to stay in Oz and work alongside the Wizard and Madame Morrible.
By the end of the movie, the two have gone off on different paths. Glinda stays put in Oz to be a part of the system while Elphba runs off to tear down the system. Glinda has become ‘Glinda the good’ while Elphaba has become the ‘Wicked Witch’, a good villain for the people of Oz to hate.
