Wicked is a story about the fascist takeover of a society by single dictatorial figure, the Wizard. He unites his citizens against a group minorities he's stripping rights away from. The con man keeps people focused on these minorities to distract them from the fact that he's actually quite incompetent.
The friendship
Glinda, a white woman from an upper class background, befriends Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman born with green skin. Elphaba is a woman who has spent her life being racially othered for being green. Glinda is everything that Elphaba is not. She's beautiful, charming and popular. She needs constant approval, and seems superficial.
Wicked parodies the way people's outward appearance affects how we view their moral goodness. Glinda, "the Good", is white and blonde, while Elphaba "the Wicked" is green.
But at its heart, Wicked is a story of friendship: two woman forming an unlikely bond. Even though throughout the story Glinda has a lot of personal growth, there remains this tension between performative allyship and genuine advocacy.
Gaining power
Elphaba is unwilling to negotiate with the Wizard, who wants to use her powers to aid his fascist project. This makes
me think of Harry Potter getting persuaded by the Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, to publicly support the Ministry
in times of public distress over Voldemort's return.
Because Elphaba won't cooperate, the Wizard declares her a terrorist: the "Wicked Witch of the West".
Glinda is more trusting of power and aspires to it herself. By not joining her best friend's protest, she is rewarded with a position in the wizard's corrupt cabinet.
Wicked inclines the public to not make sweeping generalizations about people being good or bad, but instead acknowledge that we are all capable of making good and bad decisions with implications bigger than ourselves.
Wicked challenges the public to not make generalizations about people being good or bad, but instead acknowledge that we are all capable of making good and bad decisions with implications bigger than ourselves. By exposing the societal structures that demonize difference and increase equality, we all have biases.
Glinda makes bad decisions that hurt people, but she's motivated by things we can all relate to: fear of being ostracized, professional ambition, fear of admitting she was wrong. If we label her as fundamentally "bad", we're overlooking the capacity every well-intentioned person has to make bad decisions. Because everyone thinks of themselves as Good, we never introspect about our own behavior. It's why people can do so much harm while thinking they're "good".
In the end, Glinda is punished too. In her pursuit of power, she is robbed of her truth: that Elphaba was the best friend she ever had. She can't even mourn Elphaba's death, because it would mean acknowledging she loved the person she is participating in the public demonization of. It would reveal the lie which is fundamental to her having power.
Animals
Elphaba''s history professor is Dr. Dillamond, a talking goat who faces discrimination as one of Shiz's last Animal professors. In Oz, animals are intelligent beings, capable of speech and reasoning, and once held an equal place in society. Not anymore now that the Wizard has all the power. The animals in Wicked represent the scapegoats in a fascist society - note that Dr. Dillamond is a literal goat. The Wizard blames animals for all societal problems, then uses that as justification to persecute them. Similar to Jews in Nazi Germany, Japanse Americans during World War 2, and gay people / trans people / immigrations under Trump. The Wizard says: "The best way to bring folks together is to give them a real good enemy."
Dr. Dillamond's classroom is being vandalized with this quote painted in red ink: "Animals should be seen, not heard." Elphaba stays behind to help him clean up the mess, which leads to a friendship bond. But maybe even deeper symbolizes the unspoken solidarity where a marginalized figure helps another. It also stands out how brave Elphaba is for standing up for the oppressed, even at great personal cost.
As things get harder and harder for Dr. Dillamond, with more propaganda, he gets removed from his position. This illustrates how quickly fear and division can overrule reason and justice.
"I've heard of an Ox, a professor from Quox, No longer permitted to teach, Who has lost all powers of speech" (from the song: Something Bad)
References
- Reddit thread of The Politics of Wicked⤴ and specifically Matt Bernstein's Instagram⤴ post about this
- Essay Defying Empire: On the Perennially Relevant Political Message of Wicked⤴ by Aaaron Boehmer
- Wicked: a political commentary⤴