My eleven-year-old whispered to me during “Popular” as we watched Wicked: “Now I know what to expect from college.”
I’m not sure a better decision has ever been made than splitting Wicked into two movies:
—They couldn’t have cut a single thing
—Defying Gravity absolutely is the end, period
—It’d just be too heartbreaking if it were actually over, instead of looking forward to a second one
For what it’s worth, since I’ve been seeing a lot of worries about spoilers: so far as I can tell, Wicked is absolutely completely enjoyable and overwhelmingly wonderful even if you’ve had all the things spoiled, ’cause it doesn’t really hinge on surprises; it’s just amazing.
Fun fact: the original novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, along with 28 more books in the series are in the public domain, so if you want to write your own books set in Oz, you absolutely can.
I love how in the end of Wicked (Part 1) everything comes down to hinging on the absolute importance of a book and being able to read it. That’s such a good thing to see up there on the big screen.
Books are powerful. Books are important.
Having the Wizard in Wicked exclaim “Gloriosky” — like from the song “Gee, Officer Krupke” in West Side Story — was delightful. Just a perfect, subtle connection between two fascistic, racist power figures in musicals.
What surprised me most in Wicked was the animal characters having feral body shapes. It made absolute sense and was better than them being anthro, but I hadn’t really thought about it, and of course, in the stage play (which I saw once, nearly 20 years ago) they had to be anthro.
I identified so strongly with Elphaba when I saw the stage play nearly twenty years ago, and yet, the things in my life that have most closely paralleled her experiences all happened since then.
I guess if you have a way of being that stands out and you won’t compromise on your principles, it draws those kinds of experiences to you. I wouldn’t have chosen that… and yet, I did.
In a weird way, watching Wicked now, the whole thing feels like a rebuke… like I already knew I identified with Elphaba years ago, so what did I think would happen? Of course I was going to end up pursuing causes all on my own while people celebrate my alleged downfall.
Wicked coming out this weekend is severely interfering with my ability to concentrate on the novel I’m trying to finish this week.
Listening to the Wicked (Part 1) movie soundtrack on loop today.