The pretty and popular college queen, ‘Glinda’ (Ariana Grande), runs around humming a song. She is excited about decorating Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo), an outcast who has no friends because her skin is green.
Actually, my roommates Glinda and Elphaba are They were ‘enemies’ who did not get along well. However, after experiencing a certain incident, understanding each other and building friendship, they become ’best friends’. Afterwards, Glinda smooths Elphaba’s hair and teaches her how to apply makeup. He also presents pink clothes, which are like his symbol. Glinda praises you, saying, “If you change everything, including your fashion and the way you decorate your hair, you will become more popular in the future,” and “Pink and green go well together.”
![Bullies are good, queens are bad?… Movie ‘Wicked’ – Comparison of the original novel[선넘는 콘텐츠]](https://dimg.donga.com/wps/NEWS/IMAGE/2024/11/27/130515819.1.jpeg "Bullies are good, queens are bad?… Movie ‘Wicked’ – Comparison of the original novel[선넘는 콘텐츠]")
● ““There is no fight you can’t win”… like a musical A film about ‘female friendship’
Released domestically for the first time worldwide on the 20th The movie ‘Wicked’ focuses on the friendship between Glinda and Elphaba. It delicately depicts the process by which two young women, who initially hated each other for being different, become closer. For this reason, most of the 2 hours and 40 minutes of running time is devoted to Elphaba and Glinda’s college life.
The friendship between the two especially stands out later in the film when Glinda sets out against the ‘Wizard of Oz’. Although Glinda does not follow Elphaba, she respects the other person’s wishes and says, “You can do anything. “There are no limits,” he cheers. Glinda, who is white and has blonde hair, embraces Elphaba, who suffered from social prejudice just because her skin is green. It delivers the message that friendship can
In particular, the song ‘Defying Gravity’, which the two sing while looking at each other at the end of the movie, symbolizes their relationship. Ariana Grande’s singing and acting, which reaches up to three octaves, expresses the friendship between the two people. “There’s no fight we can’t win/If you and I escape gravity/If we escape gravity together”
The directing is similar to the musical ‘Wicked’. It follows the success formula of the box office hit, which is the second most successful musical in American Broadway history, following ‘The Lion King’. Thanks to this, the movie earned approximately $164.2 million worldwide in opening profits in its first week of release. It is the highest opening gross among original Broadway movies, surpassing ‘Les Miserables’ (2012).
However, the difference between movies and musicals is that they show more spectacular visual beauty. For example, in the movie, 9 million tulips were planted to show the colorful flower fields in the eastern country ‘Munchkin Land’. Additionally, the gorgeous train heading to the Emerald City is also an element that pleases the eyes of moviegoers. In particular, the sight of Glinda gliding through the sky on a broomstick while singing a song at the end of the movie evokes a sense of majesty worthy of an action movie.
● “Was I born evil?”… A novel that explores the ‘essence of evil’
On the other hand, American novelist Gregory Maguire has been publishing since 1995. The full-length novel ‘Wicked’ (total 6 volumes, Minumsa) is notable for its exploration of the ‘essence of evil’. The ‘Witch of the West’, who appears as a villain in the classic fairy tale ‘The Wizard of Oz’, is actually good, and Oz, who played a good role in the fairy tale, is evil, going beyond a simple parody to deal with human psychology in depth.
In particular, the novel describes in detail how Elphaba was hated by her parents in the early part of the novel. In the novel, after Elphaba is born, her father prepares a ritual to ward off evil. While singing a hymn, she prays to make Elphaba’s skin white. Moreover, my father’s occupation is a pastor. When the father is“How dare you make such a foolish move! In this house! This green kid alone is insult enough (to my life). Magic is a refuge that only the unscrupulous turn to. If it’s not a scam, it’s a dangerous evil! “It’s a contract with the devil!”
Moreover, after Elphaba was born, her mother Melena takes strange medicine. This is to avoid giving birth to green children. Because of this, it happens that younger siblings are born without both arms. In the movie, the younger brother appears to be confined to a wheelchair, but in the novel, a terrible tragedy occurs where he loses his arms.
The author became obsessed with the nature of evil because of the ‘James Bulger murder case.’ In 1993, James Patrick Bulger, then 2 years old, was kidnapped and brutally killed in Liverpool, England by two boys who were 10 years old at the time. The incident, where both the victim and the perpetrator were children, became an opportunity to think about what evil really is. The author reflected this in an interview with the British Guardian in 2021.
“It turned out that a terrible murder had occurred and that children had killed the child. Everyone asked this. How could those boys be so evil? Were they born evil, or were there circumstances that led them to act that way? “It brought me back to the question of the evil that afflicts everyone.”
● “Elphaba doesn’t know how to give love”… Is he a good hero?
The novel further questions whether Elphaba is truly a good hero. For example, Elphaba is furious at the persecution and discrimination inflicted on animals. However, he also has the appearance of not showing affection to the people around him. It shows that Elphaba has not received love properly and does not portray Elphaba as just a hero.
Translator Song Eun-joo, who translated the original novel, said,“Elphaba wanted to be her father’s beloved daughter, but was frustrated and unable to fill that void, so she suffers and lives a distorted life for the rest of her life,” he said. “Because she has never received love properly, she does not know how to give love, even to others. “That is Elphaba’s tragedy.”
In this way, Elphaba may not be acting differently solely out of good intentions. The reason he helps animals is because he was treated like an animal in the past just because he had green skin, and the reason he clashes with Queen Glinda at every turn may be because he has an inferiority complex.
But because of this We empathize with Elphaba. Because this work shows that a human being cannot be simplified into good and evil. This point may be the point that transformed a classic fairy tale (‘The Wizard of Oz’) into a modern novel (‘Wicked’).
“The witch will appear again. It was always like that before. Knocked down and thrown around by the harsh political currents of Oz, she became a withered sapling that could not take root and wandered around aimlessly. But the curse did not fall on her, but on the land of Oz. “Oz may have twisted her life, but didn’t it also make her a powerful being?”
How does Elphaba’s character in ‘Wicked’ challenge traditional notions of good and evil?
En to the people she wants to protect.” This exploration of Elphaba’s character adds depth to the narrative, positioning her not purely as a villain, but as a tragic figure shaped by her circumstances and experiences.
The contrast between the musical and the novel highlights the complexity of human emotions and moral ambiguity. While the musical may lean into the spectacle and musicality, the novel invites readers to engage with profound philosophical questions about identity, love, and the nature of evil. Maguire’s work suggests that our understanding of good and evil is often clouded by societal perceptions and personal experiences.
‘Wicked’ serves as both a fantastical tale and a deep exploration of human psychology, raising critical questions about the factors that shape who we are and challenging the black-and-white definitions of good and evil. As audiences engage with both the musical and the novel, they are encouraged to reflect on their own perceptions of morality and empathy in a world that often tries to categorize individuals into simplistic roles.