Saving This For Myself As A Reblog Because This Beautifully Sums Up Why I Resonate With Elphaba And Wicked

Saving this for myself as a reblog because this beautifully sums up why I resonate with Elphaba and Wicked so much! 💚🖤

Florida, politics, and why I cried watching Wicked today

So, I just got back from a performance of the musical Wicked today in Orlando. This was a show I was already quite familiar with, having seen it once before as a kid and having listened to the soundtrack dozens of times over the years. I have fond memories of belting "Defying Gravity" with my friends at sleepovers, or even acting out the entire script twice with one of them; I'd always be Elphaba, and my friend would always be Glinda. (My mom bought my sister and I the special-edition "Grimmerie" book, which included the full play script, interviews, and behind-the-scenes details.) Needless to say, Wicked is and has always been a nostalgic show for me, and that's what I expected when I went to see it today- familiar songs and characters, a heartwarming and oft-praised story about female friendship, and dazzling musical numbers that have since become iconic, almost to the point of cliche among theatre fans. If I was going to cry during Wicked, I thought, it would be solely because of this nostalgia. It turns out, I cried twice. Not just a teary eye or two, but full-on, ugly sobbing.

It turns out, Wicked is a very political show.

For as loud as Wicked is about its politics, surprisingly, that's not an element I see talked about much. Often times, when I see people talking about Wicked, it's usually the spectacle of "Defying Gravity" or the themes of friendship (and maybe even queer romance) between the two leads, or whether or not people who like this show are "real musical theatre fans" on account of how popular it is. And if you want to talk about those aspects of Wicked, go ahead; I'm not stopping you. But the themes of politics and activism motivate the entire plot, fuel the fluidity of "good" and "wicked" that is such a central theme of the show, and are responsible for all of the major character arcs. By the logic of Wicked, to be truly good is to be an activist, an advocate for the marginalized and to encourage others to do the same.

Whenever my sister and I would listen to Wicked's soundtrack as kids, we would usually skip over "Something Bad," a short but plot-important number that serves a number of functions. It wasn't as fun to sing along to as "Popular" or as energetic as "One Short Day," so we usually ended up not listening to it at all. "Something Bad" is sung by Doctor Dillamond, the history teacher at Shiz, a high-class academy in Oz which the main characters attend. Dillamond, an anthropomorphic goat, is the only animal teacher at Shiz, and while he cares for his students and his job, he is threatened with losing his position, both because he's physically losing his ability to speak, and because animals are being persecuted by Oz's human residents. "Something Bad" gives us this exposition, and demonstrates a show of solidarity between Dillamond and Elphaba, who is shunned and ridiculed by the other students due to her green skin. Dillamond also explains in a monologue that animal persecution has been going on for a long time in Oz (to which Glinda ignorantly states something along the lines of "why keep talking about the past instead of teaching us history?"), and that animals who lose their ability to speak do so because they have been made so afraid to that they forget how altogether.

Despite being a clear advocate for animal equality in Oz, Dillamond himself sometimes lapses into goat noises instead of speech, implying that this fear is getting to him as well. After all, his job is in a precarious position (he is later fired and forcibly removed from the classroom), he's the only animal teacher at the school, and the only person who takes him seriously is Elphaba, who herself is also a subject of ridicule. Even Dillamond's own classroom is no longer safe for him, as it has been vandalized with a message reading, "animals should be seen and not heard." And when Elphaba is made aware of what is happening to the animals, she sings the last line of "Something Bad"- "It couldn't happen here in Oz." And why should it happen in Oz? After all, Oz is a colorful, quirky place full of magic and silly expressions, and different kinds of people and creatures who seem to coexist. But it is happening in Oz, and Elphaba, as a victim of baseless discrimination, already knows that Oz is not the free-spirited, fantasy utopia it appears to be.

So, in case I haven't made it excruciatingly obvious, "Something Bad" took on an entirely new significance when I watched it performed today. Dillamond is an educator, specifically a history teacher, who attempts to teach his students about the injustices against people (or in his case, animals) like him that have persisted for a long time, and he recognizes that these problems are only building and getting worse. In short, animal discrimination in Wicked's Oz is systemic, and didn't come out of nowhere. Animals are not just being forced from respected and influential positions in society, but also being limited from speaking altogether, specifically through the usage of fear and suppression. After Dillamond is fired, a man in a stark outfit bringing to mind the aesthetics of Nazi Germany enters the classroom, holding a cage with a young Cowardly Lion inside. He's also there to teach about animal speech in Oz, except this time, he shows off the caged lion cub and explains that animals should be silenced from birth, because the ability to speak against their own oppression makes them a threat.

Living in Florida, this scene, along with "Something Bad," hit me like a ton of bricks. Over the past few years, in my own state, I have been seeing the rise in discrimination against POC and LGBT+ people, specifically by the state government to target schools and educators, particularly history teachers like Dillamond. Teaching history and its systemic injustices is seen as a threat to right-wing power, and as education is targeted, people grow afraid to advocate for their own rights and grow disillusioned with the prospect of fighting for them, similar to how the animals in Wicked forget how to speak altogether after keeping silent to survive for so long. Like the lion cub, young people especially are targeted, with the school system and trans healthcare for minors being restricted, as to discourage those who are young and societally marginalized from advocating for themselves. Even after Elphaba and Fiyero free the lion, he remains "cowardly," because he has likely been traumatized from a young age.

"It couldn't happen here in Oz" chillingly mirrored the sentiments I had been feeling when I saw footage of a neo-Nazi rally in 2022 about five minutes away from where I went to university, the list of banned books from schools, a governor who has been endangering lives and acting like a dictator, and yet won re-election by a large margin... it couldn't happen here in Florida, where I've lived all my life, and yet it has been happening for a long time, or else how would we get to this point in the first place? And for those who live outside of Florida and disdainfully act like what's happening here could never happen in their state or country, it could happen there too. It could happen anywhere, and the only way to resist it is to confront it.

The number that follows "Something Bad" is "Dancing Through Life," where Fiyero is introduced as a happy-go-lucky himbo prince, easily seducing the entire school (sans Elphaba) by sharing his philosophy with them- that "life is painless/for the brainless/why think so hard/when it's so soothing/dancing through life." The student body all goes along with this, but Elphaba can't "dance through life;" she's shunned and bullied by her peers for something she can't change. She studies magic as a means to escape her social situation, hoping to become exceptional and work with the Wizard to gain respect and admiration. Doctor Dillamond and the animals, as we saw from the previous scene, can't "dance through life;" their rights are being taken away and they struggle to survive. Nessa and Boq want to "dance through life" in their own ways, but are taken advantage of by Glinda and Fieyero. "Dancing through life" is a privilege that only those who don't have to think can afford, and of course, Glinda is swept into the idea immediately. Everyone else must work and think tirelessly to survive, and it's not until both Glinda and Fiyero recognize this that Elphaba softens towards them. The idea of "dancing through life" is indirectly brought up later, when the Wizard tries to persuade Elphaba to work with him, and suggests that after taking care of her sister all her life and being discriminated against, she deserves someone to take care of her, giving her this opportunity to "dance through life" if she assists him in oppressing the animals with her magic. Elphaba refuses, but the Wizard knows this idea appeals to her; after all, her striving to "make good" and be a powerful sorcerer stems from a need to be accepted.

After Elphaba and Glinda become friends, they go to the Emerald City, where Elphaba hopes to speak to the Wizard about the animals losing their ability to speak, still trusting this mysterious authority figure to have his citizens' best interests at heart ("if something bad is happening to the animals, we need to tell the Wizard; that's why we have a Wizard!"). However, when the Wizard tricks her into giving a monkey, Chistery, wings through a painful spell, Elphaba realizes that the Wizard and Madame Morrible (the Shiz headmistress and the Wizard's press secretary) have enslaved multiple monkeys. After Elphaba's spell gave them all wings, the Wizard and Morrible are planning to use them as spies to further oppress the animals. When she tries to protest, resulting in a magic outburst, the guards chase her and Glinda down, where they barricade themselves into a room and the sequence of "Defying Gravity" occurs. "Defying Gravity" is Wicked's showstopping central piece. It's spectacular, the number is climactic and beautiful, and it's a great ending to the first act. But at the beginning of the number, we see an interesting conflict between Glinda and Elphaba that highlights their political positions, shaped by their differing access to privilege. Glinda accuses Elphaba of "flying off the handle" (broomstick pun?) for becoming enraged at seeing the enslaved flying monkeys and how she was tricked into casting a spell that hurt them, and advises her to just apologize to the Wizard, as she does not have the empathy for the animals and understanding that Elphaba has. However, Elphaba no longer wants to work with him after seeing the injustices he and Morrible are responsible for- and it's not just that, she "can't want it anymore." It's "too late for second guesses, too late to go back to sleep," as she's now aware of what the Wizard is up to.

Her decision to "defy gravity" is not just literally to fly away on a broom and escape, but to become an activist. She's endured discrimination all her life, and previously, the only way to escape that was to work with the Wizard. But now, she can't work with the Wizard, so instead she must do something else. She has an immense magical power and a desire to do good, so in order to truly do good, she must accept herself and her own morals. However, because she is considered an outsider and a threat by the Wizard (who has no real power of his own), in order to do good, she must become the "witch"- unaccepted by society, but in control of her power and motivated to use it. This is further symbolized by the costume and props she accumulates during this scene; she finds a broom, which she uses to escape, and Glinda gives her a shawl in addition to the pointy hat she gave her earlier as a cruel joke at the school dance. Even after finding out why Glinda gave it to her, Elphaba still wears the hat, reclaiming it as part of her iconic Witch outfit. She is now recognizably the Wicked Witch of the West, and this is how she "defies gravity"- by deciding not to sacrifice her morals, accept herself, and embrace her power- which the Wizard and Morrible do not have. Glinda decides to join her, and although both characters' moral alignments seem to fluctuate throughout the show as "good" and "evil" are shown to not be binary concepts in Wicked, it's this solidarity that gives them power.

This is why I was crying during "Defying Gravity"- not because of the vocals and visuals, or even my nostalgia, but because of its political relevancy and statement on solidarity and activism. In this scene, Elphaba is shown to be more powerful than her oppressors, and attains this power through unapologetically embracing herself. She is hunted and feared, but she refuses to take part in the Wizard's regime. And because of this refusal and desire to advocate for the oppressed, she is good. These days, here in Florida, "defying gravity" seems impossible. I constantly hear people, both my peers and left-leaning state officials in the news, say that things are hopeless, the political situation will only get worse, and more people will inevitably be harmed by consequence. And yet, "Defying Gravity" offers hope, showing that there's always a way to fight back, even if it seems impossible. As a consequence for her resistance and acceptance of herself, Elphaba is scapegoated as the "wicked witch," but she isn't backing down or, as Glinda suggested, apologizing to the Wizard for standing by her morals. She's no longer seeking respect from the people who discriminated against her, but rather to ally herself with a worthier cause- helping others who are oppressed. She has a power all her own, and she intends to use it.

Following "Defying Gravity," the way Morrible spreads rumours about Elphaba really reminds me of how right-wing conspiracies and fearmongering spread today. Such rumours are baseless (for instance, the idea that Elphaba would melt if doused with water), but as the general population are afraid of her, they latch onto them because it gives them hope that she could be defeated. Despite tricking Elphaba into giving the monkeys wings, Morrible claims (in a scene that also relies on fascism-related imagery with her screaming at a podium) that Elphaba "mutilated the innocent monkeys," instantly bringing to mind for me how modern anti-trans rhetoric is spread. While obviously, the scenario differs in that trans people who seek healthcare do so willingly, trans healthcare, especially for minors, is often similarly mischaracterized by the right as "mutilation of innocent children," with children commonly used as a talking point since it is much more difficult for them to advocate for themselves in the adult world of politics, similarly to how the animals in Wicked are forced to forget how to speak. Furthermore, Morrible spreads rumours in the same way that real-life conspiracies are spread, by taking a small bit of believable truth (Elphaba gave the monkeys wings) and distorting it into something widely seen as morally wrong (Elphaba intended to cause harm to the monkeys).

A mob against Elphaba grows, fueled by morality-related concerns- "Wickedness must be punished/for good." Here, "for good" takes on a double meaning- both to mean "permanently," and that the mob believes themselves to be fighting for the concept of "good." (We see expressions using the word "good" in multiple ways used throughout the show- "goodness knows the wicked's lives are lonely," "I have been changed for good," etc.) The parallels to conservative morality crises are obvious; the mob has been misinformed about something they don't understand, fear has been spread among them because they feel that "goodness" is under attack, and due to this fear, they want to fight anything that's different. During the mob scene, we see the Tin Man (formerly Boq) and the Cowardly Lion, two characters Elphaba tried to save, but have turned against her due to receiving this misinformation, as all of Elphaba's attempts to "make good" have only seemed to backfire.

Glinda, now officially "Glinda the Good," is in a complex position where she wants to help Elphaba, but plays the role of a public figure in order to console the people of Oz. Like when she was at school, she is addicted to their admiration, even at the expense of her friend's safety. Despite her moral struggles, Glinda ultimately wants to stay in a position of privilege instead of resisting the system oppressing Elphaba and the animals- she becomes "Glinda the Good" for the same reason she suggests Elphaba apologize to the Wizard before "Defying Gravity"- to maintain her position within the status quo, even though she now knows how damaging it is. Fiyero, however, is now aware of the system he's been contributing to, and dedicates himself to helping Elphaba, and its because he cares that she falls in love with him.

I want to talk a lot about the Wizard, because he and his song "Wonderful" are the largest and most obvious critique of using oppression to maintain the status quo. He even says something along the lines of (paraphrased) "where I'm from, people are only able to unite if it's against a common enemy." Where is the Wizard from? Kansas. In America. "Wonderful" is all about how he maintains power, and is positively dripping with political satire, specifically in how manipulating the historical narrative is used to control people. ("Where I'm from, people believe all sorts of things that aren't true! We call it history.") According to the Wizard, "A man's called a traitor/or liberator/a rich man's a thief/or philanthropist/is one a crusader, or ruthless invader?/it's all in which the label that is able to persist./Then there's precious few at ease/with moral ambiguities/so we act as though they don't exist!" He tells Elphaba that "the most celebrated/are the rehabilitated," suggesting that if she becomes complicit, she will win fame and admiration. Elphaba initially agrees on the condition that the Wizard frees the monkeys, but discovers Doctor Dillamond has been captured for protesting for animal rights and is now unable to speak, causing her to free the monkeys herself and putting herself further at odds with the Wizard.

For the Wizard, history is presented as strictly black and white, "good" and "evil," in order to create an easily-digestible narrative that influences people's morality and image of historical figures and systems. The complications and humanity of history are ignored, in favor of telling a narrative that benefits the "wonderful" Wizard, which is why Dillamond, who challenges this narrative and is, once again, a history teacher, is targeted. The Wizard says that he aims to make people happy and give them what they want to hear, but not people like Elphaba, the animals, or other oppressed groups in Oz like the Munchkins. People, to the Wizard, are those at the top of the social hierarchy, who conform to his standard of acceptability. It's these people who he wants to comfort, by suppressing the narratives of others. Similarly, in Florida, "Critical Race Theory" has been mischaracterized and painted as a threat to white comfort. While CRT is not taught in grade school and is only taught in certain college classes, the Florida government portrays anything that teaches about systemic racism and injustice to be a threat to white security. Controlling the historical narrative, particularly in schools, is an attempt to secure power and prevent people from being educated on historical nuance, especially as this nuance becomes more and more publicly relevant. By presenting an uncomplicated narrative in which he is the hero and people don't have to confront their complicity, Wicked's Wizard is "wonderful," deified and respected by those whose ignorance leads them to want to persecute anyone different.

"No Good Deed" is an interesting number, because it's here that we see Elphaba's morality challenged. She has been trying to be "good" all her life, but every instance of her trying to help people leads her further and further into persecution. It's here that she begins to conform to society's view of her as the "wicked witch," and in a way, we see parallels to her and Doctor Dillamond being silenced. By becoming "wicked," Elphaba becomes what society expects from her, because "wicked witch" is the only role acceptable for her in Oz. She has an interesting line in this song- "was I really seeking good/or just seeking attention?/if that's all good deeds are when looked at with an ice-cold eye(...)/maybe that's the reason why/no good deed goes unpunished." This line shatters whatever illusion Elphaba had as to the binary of "good" and "evil," as she doubts the motivations behind her attempts at goodness. She confronts an uncomfortable dilemma about her activism, the possibility that it could have all been to raise her image in the eyes of the public and uplift only herself, making her complicit in the system she has been trying to fight against by looking for the appeasement of Oz's society, now attempting to satisfy their expectations by becoming the Witch. Personally, I think that while Elphaba's activism and desire to "do good" may have stemmed from a desire to uplift herself, much of the time, it put her at odds with society, especially when it comes to helping the animals. Elphaba is seeking good, but her idea of "good" challenges the social hierarchy, leading her to be antagonized.

The second time I cried watching Wicked was during "For Good." Elphaba is being hunted down by a mob, and Glinda, feeling truly guilty for her actions, comes to apologize. Elphaba feels that all her attempts of "making good" have been fruitless, but Glinda, remorseful and now wiser, is committed to helping realize Elphaba's visions. As Elphaba, in a demonized position, cannot realize the social change she seeks to accomplish, she gives the Grimmerie to Glinda, saying she'll have to learn to read it. Both friends confess that they have been "changed for good" due to the other's influence, "for good" having another double meaning here.

Everything Elphaba has strived for has seemed fruitless, but now with Glinda's help, she can finally accomplish her goals. Her activism may not have been able to sway the public's opinion, but it has been able to influence Glinda, a powerful public figure adored by Oz. Despite everything, being a friend to Glinda was enough to make a difference. Elphaba will never receive recognition for what she did, but her actions still made a positive change.

This is what got to me- the idea that being compassionate and a supportive friend still has the ability to influence people "for good." When I saw this being sung on stage, I was reminded of how, like Elphaba, I often felt "limited" in what I want to see accomplished, and can't do on my own. But also like Elphaba, I recognized that just by being a friend and committed to my morals, I have done my best to be encouraging to people who need it, provided a safe space for people seeking acceptance, challenged harmful systems through confronting them and having conversations, and ultimately have been changed myself for the better. What you do matters, even if it seems insignificant. You may never know how many lives you'll touch in your lifetime, how many people who you'll change by being compassionate, to what lengths your efforts will go. Just by being kind and accepting, you have power to challenge ignorance and hatred, and to improve people's lives. When Elphaba and Fiyero flee Oz at the end of Wicked, they'll never get to see Glinda's committal to truly "making good," and Elphaba is still considered a villain, but now with Glinda's help, her actions weren't in vain. And through learning to read the Grimmerie, Glinda rejects "dancing through life" and must take on self-education in order to be a true force for good. And when she does, Chistery, the flying monkey Elphaba saved, speaks to her. He doesn't say much, but this moment is still significant- with Glinda's committal to Elphaba's causes, animals no longer have to be afraid to speak in Oz.

The powerlessness I have felt, and still often feel, as everything gets worse and worse in Florida is discouraging. Making a positive social change in a place where, like in Wicked, education, historical truth, and marginalized people are all under attack feels impossible, and yet Wicked shows us that whatever you do, whatever I have done, to "make good" still matters. I may not be able to undo everything that's happening on my own, and even though I may be "limited," I'm not powerless.

While we might not be magical witches, none of us are powerless. We all have the ability to change for good, and to change others for good, even if we may not recognize it happening. Your actions do matter, and "making good" will always be worth it.