“Wicked: Part 1,” Jon M. Chu’s 160-minute film adaptation of the 2003 Broadway musical, arrived in theaters on Nov. 22, 2024. Starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, the movie reimagines the beloved stage production first led by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth, who make brief cameo appearances in the new version.
At first, I was hesitant to watch the film. I have never particularly been an Ariana Grande fan, but I was pleasantly surprised. Grande and Erivo sang beautifully and had wonderful onscreen chemistry. It was also hard not to be amused by Glinda’s constant hair flips.
The movie tells the story tells the story of a young woman named Elphaba, who is misunderstood because of her green skin. She forms a friendship with Glinda, her roommate. The two are an unlikely duo: Glinda is popular whereas Elphaba is introverted.
The creators stated that the themes resonate with the experience of being an “outsider.” Gregory Maguire, the author of the novel, and Holzman have commented that Wicked has long been used as an allegory to critique propaganda, discrimination and the scapegoating of minorities.
The central theme of Elphaba being ridiculed for the color of her skin is a clear indication of racism. This discrimination extends to the mistreatment of the talking animals in Oz, who represent oppressed minorities being stripped of—quite literally—their voice. I also noticed instances of ableism through Nessarose’s character, who is in a wheelchair. Able-bodied characters often treated her in a disrespectful and patronizing manner.
I was surprised to learn about an apparent controversy surrounding the film. According to an article from NBC’s TODAY, the movie poster received backlash because “it wasn’t a recreation of the theatrical poster.” Personally, I found these responses to be very childish and immature.
“Wicked: Part 1” (2024) is an adaptation, which means not every detail will resemble the original. One fan went as far as to edit the poster in the same manner as the illustration, which angered Erivo.
“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting … None of this is funny. None of this is cute. It degrades us. It degrades me … I am a real-life human being who chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer … because, without words we communicate with our eyes. Our poster is a homage, not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful,” said Erivo via Instagram stories.
Erivo has since said that she probably should have called her friends instead of venting online but I disagree. I believe fans were extremely rude to her and she had every right to retaliate.
Grande also spoke out in support of her co-star, stating that she finds AI to be conflicting and troublesome sometimes but that the fans will have their fun and make their edits.
Overall, the film was excellent and I encourage music lovers to watch it. The film is available on streaming services such as Amazon Prime Video with the purchase of a subscription. “Wicked: For Good” is also set to release Nov. 21 of this year.