Wicked Times
Earlier this week, I saw Wicked (2024) directed by Jon M. Chu. Ariana Grande, who played Glinda, and Cynthia Erivo, who played Elphaba, starred in the musical adapted film.
Contains spoilers
I saw Wicked performed at Playhouse Square in 2018, I think it was. My then girlfriend and I sat in the nosebleed balcony section in the State Theatre. I enjoyed the music from up high in the balcony, but had a hard time actually seeing the show. That was alright. The experience of the date night out on the town is what I remember most from that night. We were a young couple (18 and 19) feeling grown up, getting dressed up and going to a show- that’s the impression of that night that I carry with me more than my thoughts on the show itself.
I saw Wicked alone this time. The movie theater was packed to the brim. As I waited for the film to begin, I thought about the box office and all the money rolling in. The idea of the Wicked movie saturated media every where I turned for months leading up to the release. From commercials advertizing cell phones starring pink and green cased phones singing Defying Gravity to Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo holding hands at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Ariana and Cynthia were seen holding hands in just about every promotional event they attended leading up to the release of Wicked. Seeing these women hand in hand and the comfort between them in their interactions piqued my interest in this film. What happened during the making of this production that these women became so obviously close to one another? It didn’t read as a romantic closeness in my opinion, but a closeness of friends. They demonstrated a sense of natural ease and comfort with one another outside of the production that made me want to see the film. It didn’t just make me want to see the film, it made me look forward to the film. I felt impatient waiting for the release date. I felt disappointed when I had to wait a week after the release until I could see it. I felt anticipation building within me for this film that I don’t experience very often. After seeing the film, the story and how it was told explained the chemistry between Ariana and Cynthia apparent in the promotion. I certainly believe the hype surrounding the movie was worth it.
Comparing the philosophies of Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked
At the bare bones of the story, Wicked is about two women in school learning sorcery. Glinda demonstrates her life’s philosophy that popularity is the best route to success through the song “Popular”. She says, look at those who have been successful who have come before us. Did they have brains or knowledge? No, they were popular! Glinda assumes that being popular equates to being well liked.
Toward the beginning of the film, Elphaba assists her sister with adjusting to her new school. Elphaba is not enrolled at this school (at least not yet), she is just there to see her sister off. Elphaba’s green colored skin draws unwanted attention. Elphaba responds in a defensive and guarded manner providing common answers to questions about her skin color before anyone has the chance to ask. In this scene, the sister makes a comment to the effect of how Elphaba manages to always draw so much attention and for once she just wants to have her own experience separate from the reputation of her sister. How tragic her sister feels the desire to separate herself from her family this way. Elphaba’s sister reveals that Elphaba does not actually lack popularity.
Elphaba’s reputation proceeds her as not just a wicked witch, but the Wicked Witch. Everyone remembers the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz and the role she played in that story and her classic lines “I’m melting! I’m melting!” and “I’ll get you my pretty! And your little dog too!” Prior to this resurgence of the franchise, how many people could say they could remember any of the good witch Glinda’s specific lines from the Wizard of Oz? Elphaba the Wicked Witch does not lack popularity. What she lacks is positive regard. Elphaba does not have positive regard because she is different. Her skin is green and no one else looks like her. She stands out from the crowd. When she is with her peers, it’s impossible for her to blend in and disappear because she looks so much different from them. I imagine she may want to hide and disappear from the world because I have felt that way when I have been mocked and scrutinized by my peers. Naturally, people mock and treat with scorn that which is different and that they do not understand. As previously discussed, even her family doesn’t even want to associate with her. At one point later in the movie, Elphaba is releasing an animal into the wild that had been in captivity. The forest around her is lush, vibrant and most importantly, green. Elphaba finally found somewhere that she blends in. A space like that could potentially be useful should she need to hide, especially as a persecuted character as she is. I appreciated that at some point in the story, we saw an environment in which Elphaba could feel that she fit in.
Elphaba copes with her status as an outcast by leaning into her talent. She demonstrates early on in her life an affinity for making objects defy gravity. As soon as she is born, she cries and objects in the room shoot up and hover in the air all around. After having given birth moments ago, the parent’s attention is drawn to the flying objects than with the child they have created. Not only are they not amazed with their creation like most new parents tend to be, they are horrified by Elphaba, her power and, most devastatingly, they are horrified by the color of their daughter’s skin.
As Elphaba grows older and matures. With the help from Madame Morrible at school, Elphaba learns to gain control over her talent. She studies hard and puts the dedicated hours into honing her craft. While Elphaba may not be well liked, she has the talent, brains and knowledge to rise to success and meet the Wizard. Glinda sees Elphaba’s talent and the attention for that talent and becomes filled with jealousy to the extent of loathing. Glinda makes life at school harder for Elphaba than it already is by not being gracious and welcoming Elphaba. Glinda feels insecure because she knows that she doesn’t have the skill or talent that Elphaba has and that is why she is not getting the attention that she wants from the professors. Rather than investing her time in her studies like Elphaba, Glinda spends her time gaining popularity and the approval of her classmates.
How the story comes to life
The choice to have Ariana Grande play Glinda speaks to the broader story the director coveys beyond the screen that we carry into real life. Ariana plays the untalented but popular Glinda the Good Witch whose character directly contrasts Cynthia’s studious and ostracized Elphaba as the Wicked Witch. Ariana’s reputation in broader culture is what adds another layer of appreciation to this story especially in contrast to who we come to discover Cynthia Erivo to be if we were not already familiar with her work prior to this movie. Ariana the world renowned popstar known for her fancy vocals, however formerly lacking in the precision and articulation of a classically trained vocalist, has held her stance firm as an icon of the music industry.
In contrast, Cynthia has appeared in a number of television programs, films and stage productions throughout her career. It’s clear from her the progression of her career over time that her focus has been to perfect the art of singing as opposed to the goal that seems apparent from Ariana’s career which is garnering the most attention and popularity. Her vocal performance in Wicked is clear, effortless and refined. So effortless, in fact, that it may appear to come as naturally to her as magic. But it is not magic, Cynthia has worked hard to hone her craft of singing just has Elphaba hones her witchcraft through dedicated hours of studying.
The hard work that happens behind the scenes to be able to perform at such an exceptional level is unfamiliar to those who want to skate by doing the minimum in life. The people who want to skate by without examining life or honing a craft delusionally disbelieve the talent before their eyes. They would rather believe that they are being deceived than to believe that it takes effort to be good. The true deception happens right before their eyes when Glinda and characters like her take credit for being a sorcerer that she is not. Deception takes place when people accept praise and accolade for work they did not complete. When they attribute their success to natural born talent, as if there is really such a thing, rather than talent that evolves through focused work. Perhaps Glinda feels disonance for accepting praise for being a powerful sorcerer that she is not. Maybe that disonance makes her good, or at the least it makes her not a monster bereft of empathy and emotion.
Women so often compare ourselves to one another. Wicked is a story written about two women who are constantly compared throughout the story, after all. The casting choice and how Ariana and Cynthia were portrayed publicly leading up to the release of the film provide evidence that we are meant to compare not only the characters, but the women behind the characters as well. I would imagine that Ariana and Cynthia may have felt the comparison between their characters in the script bleed into their relationship with one another as they worked on this production. I hope there wasn’t any phase of the relationship where they experienced loathing like their characters experienced loathing for one another. It’s clear from how Ariana and Cynthia behave in public with one another that they have a strong relationship on and off screen. In Wicked, Ariana and Cynthia’s characters work through their similarities and differences and are changed for good just as it seems the women behind the characters have been changed for good as well.
