How’s everyone holding up? I know the world has become something unrecognizable to me. The song from Wicked that opens up the Broadway Show and the movie is “No One Mourns the Wicked” by the remarkable Stephen Schwartz keep playing in my mind. What causes someone to become wicked? Or be perceived as wicked?
Gregory Maguire who wrote the Wicked series of books which inspired the musical said in an interview how he was watching The Wizard of Oz and it seemed as if Glinda the Good Witch and The Wicked Witch of the West had a history. He got to thinking that maybe they could have gone to college together? What if they were roommates? If I recall the interview correctly, he said he was inspired to write the 1995 book, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” during the time of the Gulf War. I was about 10 or 11 years old when this happened. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on TV. One reason I remember it so vividly is my parents and I were decorating our basement for my birthday party.
In the movie, Wicked: Part 1, animals are being persecuted and being silenced. When in Dr. Dillamond’s class, there is a gasp when the chalkboard is flipped and the words “Animals should be seen and not heard” is written in red handwriting. When I first saw this at the movie theater, I found it quite jarring. I felt how many people in this world are marginalized and made to feel less then. Right now in 2025, we are experiencing groups like people of color, women, LGBTQ+, low-income individuals, prisoners, the disabled, senior citizens, naturalized citizens, etc being treated as if they do not matter.
Seeing people being treated as less than and made to feel bad about themselves really hurts my heart. All my life I have felt different from others and I never knew why. In Wicked, Elphaba is a social outcast due to her green skin. She has a heart of gold and is good to her core. She cares about others and cares about saving the animals. That’s her heart’s desire when she goes to see The Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City. As you remember from The Wizard of Oz, the Wizard is just smoke and mirrors. He has no real power. Elphaba discovers this and figures out he wants to use her powers to accomplish his wish to silence the animals. One line specifically stuck out in my mind when I first saw the movie is “The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy” spoken by the Wizard of OZ (played by the very handsome Jeff Goldblum). He is creating a false narrative about the animals of Oz. This is something he starts out as a small thing but when the animals start to speak out, they are captured and silenced. Elphaba has a vision of Dr. Dillamond in a cage being silenced earlier in the film.
The Wizard of Oz and Madame Morrible turn Elphaba into an enemy among her people and is seen as wicked through the false lies and propaganda that comes out from the Emerald City.
Glinda, who is Elphaba’s best friend and roommate at Shiz University, is scared and stays behind. From the previews of Wicked: For Good, she becomes a puppet in the Wizard’s propaganda machine. Glinda is a complex character. She is someone who always wants to be popular, a people pleaser, and finally gets the approval of Madame Morrible who Glinda sucks up to the moment she sees her at Shiz University. It’s not understood at this point what Glinda’s intentions are. Is she there to work for Elphaba’s cause from the inside? What is the reason she doesn’t fly with Elphaba when Elphaba takes her broom and flies during “Defying Gravity”.
The director of Wicked: Part 1, the amazing Jon M. Chu, said the first movie is about choices and the second movie is about consequences. What are these consequences? Are the decisions made the right decisions?
Let me tell you, I have never been so excited about movies before. My mom saw Wicked the Musical a few times when it was on tour. I never was interested because I was scared of the movie as a child (you know, those flying monkeys) but Wicked gives you a whole different perspective on the characters in the original movie. The book written by the genius L. Frank Baum in 1900 is still a book loved by adults and children. The movie from 1939 is quite different than the book and I never read the book written by L. Frank Baum until this year. If you are interested in learning more of the backstory of The Wizard of Oz, please listen to Episode 37: The Wizard of OZ from the podcast, The History Chicks. They can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible and wherever you may get your podcasts. You will not be disappointed. I’ll link it below. The 1900 book, The Wonderful Wizard of OZ, wasn’t written with a moral in mind. However, throughout the years, a teacher used it for a lesson as an allegory for politics which was a smart way to describe the political climate at the time.
I don’t have answers. I just have questions. As stated in the beginning of this blog post, “Are people born wicked or is wickedness thrust upon them?” This question I keep pondering. I can see how trauma, life experiences, etc can cause a person to change. In Wicked: Part 1, sweet Elphaba who only cares about the animals is made out to be an evil witch when in fact, she only wants to do good and is forced into exile.
What do you think? Do you have any opinions on what causes someone to be wicked or are they born wicked? What types of things make a person change?
This is probably my deepest and raw post I’ve made to date. I have been really stressed out lately at what is happening in the world and I guess I’ve always been a little Glinda-like. I’ve definitely lived my life out as a people pleaser and always wanted to appear to be perfect in every way. On the other hand, I identify with Elphaba too. I have felt like an outcast in my life even though I have been popular, very social, a sorority girl, well liked and respected in jobs I had, etc but I always felt like an outcast. Why?
As Meg Ryan says in “You’ve Got Mail”, “I don’t really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void.”
Here is the link to the History Chicks Podcast website for Episode 37: The Wizard of Oz. Susan and Beckett do a great job describing how the Wizard of Oz was written and how the movie was made. There is a special mini cast about the Women of OZ. That’s a great episode too. If you aren’t listening to the History Chicks, please start. They are one of the best podcasts out there and I have learned so much about history and women’s history. So many great women came before us who had the courage to stand up for what is right.