I. Flores​

The first part of “Wicked” has gained widespread attention as “Wicked: For Good” is soon to be released. If you like musicals with a deep story and meaning, Wicked is the right movie for you. A story that has been told from many different perspectives, the movie “Wicked” released in 2024 and directed by John M. Chu is an adaptation of the musical “Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz” written by Winnie Holzman, which is based on the book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West” written by Gregory Maguire, which is based on the book of L. Frank Baum and the movie adaptation of 1939 “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. As I said, this story has been told over and over again and we love it every time, but the version of “Wicked” shows a world where your skin tone determines your destiny. 

 

The movie follows the story of the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North before they gained these titles and simply went by Elphaba and Glinda during their college years, when flying monkeys and bubble entrances weren’t a thing. It begins with Glinda the Good and the citizens of Munchkinland celebrating the death of the Wicked Witch of the West. During “No One Mourns the Wicked” a girls asks Glinda why does wickedness happen and she goes on to tell the story of the Wicked Witch, explaining that her whole life she had been excluded because of her green skin color and her telekinetic powers, which were due to a green elixir that the Witch’s mother drank once. Further, Glinda gets asked if it was true that she and the Wicked Witch used to be friends, Glinda answers that their paths did cross and the movie goes on to show the life of Elphaba and Glinda while studying in the Shiz University.

 

In the movie, Elphaba isn’t born wicked, she’s turned into a “villain” because the people around her fear what they don’t understand, she represents an "inconvenience" and "threat" to the system. Her green skin is a constant reminder of how she awkwardly stands out and it is used as a justification for the discrimination against her. Throughout her life, Elphaba has been discriminated, and the idea that there is something wrong with her skin tone is ingrained in her mind, as it shows during “The Wizard and I”, where she is imagining her future life once she works hand in hand with the Wizard of Oz and he asks her that if it’s alright if he can use his magic to make her no longer be green, as she is so good inside, she should have a matching exterior so the people around her don’t seem so fixated on her color. 

 

This shows that Elphaba is not comfortable in her own skin and what it represents. I feel like this specific moment can be seen in our world when non-white people are told that their physique (skin, hair, eye shape, etc.) and culture somehow represent an inconvenience in the lives of white people. This is more common with black people, who are told that they must adapt to certain things about white people (their way of speaking, dressing, hairstyling, etc.) in order to be respected and praised, as if they did not deserve that from the moment they were born.

 

Glinda is the complete opposite of Elphaba, she is a white woman whose popularity and charm is her power. Glinda is less qualified but more celebrated because she fits in the mold she was born into. Even when they first met they couldn’t stand each other, they became best friends because what they wanted was to be seen and loved for what they truly are and they are the only ones who saw that in each other. 

 

When Elphaba discovers that the animals are losing their ability to speak and the right to teach, and that the person behind it is doing so for greedy interests, she knows she cannot remain silent and must find a way to help. Elphaba refuses to contribute to a system where the same oppression that she has lived her whole life is been passed through different races, but Glinda refuses to break the system that she is familiar and comfortable with. 

 

During “Defying Gravity”, one of the most emotional moments in the movie, Elphaba says that she is tired of accepting the limits that the world has put to her, and that if she has to live alone she will do it because at least she’s free. This can be seen in our world when non-white people are done with accepting the limits and stereotypes of the most powerful people, so they go against them and an entire world that seeks to stop them.

 

Now, racism takes the form of propaganda. The authorities use Elphaba's difference from everyone else to maintain order in Oz. Elphaba's story is manipulated to contribute to the idea that the system did nothing wrong, that it's all the fault of the one different person. They spread the message that Elphaba's skin represents how horrible she is inside. Here, “Wicked” proves that racism can be more than just individual, going to institutional and narrative levels where discrimination and inequalities are justified. 

 

The whole point of “Wicked” is to show that we can’t say that a person is completely good or bad, because every story is told from power. Nor Elphaba or Glinda are wicked, they both make decisions according to what they think could be the right solution to the problem, but Elphaba is made a villain not for what she is, but for what she exposes. She is a political threat in a world where differences are not tolerated.

 

At the end of the day, Elphaba is a representation of the people who have been oppressed before being understood, while Glinda is the representation of privilege, but their friendship is proof that our perspective of a person can change when we show empathy and compassion. “Wicked” invites us to reflect on the stories that we are told and to realize that racism, discrimination, and oppression are not fought only with speeches, but with willingness to listen to the ones who have been affected. To this day, Elphaba’s story is relevant in our world because we see racism in public, media, and every other possible form.

In a story painted green by evil, “Wicked” manages to show the gray nuances of a system and society that does not tolerate difference, demonstrating that prejudice, lies, and ignorance will always be our main villains.