*SPOILER ALERT: Some scenes are talked about in order to describe the political match*
Wicked has been breaking the movie industry with “Wicked: Part I” making around $750 million in the global box office and “Wicked: For Good” being one of the most anticipated movies of all time. “Wicked: For Good”, released on Nov. 21, 2025, follows the young Wicked Witch of the West, also known as Elphaba, on her story of truly becoming wicked, written by Stephen Schwartz, Winnie Holzman, and Dana Fox. There has been a common commotion about the movie: its political views.
In both part one and part two of Wicked, they lean heavily into issues like discrimination, bias, and government control, expanding on the racial and social themes introduced in the original “Wicked”. “Wicked: Part I” introduces racism in the story as Glinda (Ariana Grande) is astonished at Elphaba’s (Cythia Erivo), green skin color before warming up to her. Their friendship soon is tested after Elphaba’s dream to meet the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum), becomes a reality. The two soon find out that the ‘wonderful’ Wizard Of Oz is a manipulative, lying, fraud who plans to use Elphaba’s powers to silence all animals in the Land Of Oz. Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), works with the Wizard and convinces the people that Elphaba is a “wicked witch”.
In the concluding movie, a hot topic enters: government control.
A particular scene features Boq (Ethan Slater), who tries to ride a train out of Muckinland to the Emerald City in order to confess his love to Glinda before she gets married. Before he could make it, he was stopped and told that munchkins and animals were prohibited to travel. The policy was newly constructed by governor Nessarose Thropp (Marissa Bode), who wants Boq to be hers.
This scene describes the power of the government. Nessarose forces Boq to stay with her by abusing her power and forcing munchkins and animals to not be able to leave Munchkinland.
The power of the media and government/popularity is severely abused in the movie. As stated before, Madame Morrible and the Wizard use their power to convince the people that Elphaba is ‘wicked’. They use megaphones, posters, and gossip to change the minds of the community. The corruption that Madame Morrible and the Wizard started led to posters and advertisements of safety for Ozians such as “Beware of the Wicked Witch” and “Protect yourself. Water will melt her!” as shown in “No One Mourns the Wicked”.
Another thought mentioned in Wicked is partisan. Partisan is the act of being biased, or favoriting, towards a person or group. A scene in the first movie mentions this is the “Dancing Through Life” dance. After Elphaba walks into the ballroom, she finds her way to the middle of the floor and starts dancing. Everyone around her laughs and mocks her due to her flimsy and uncoordinated moves. Soon, Glinda feels upset and joins her roommate. Doing the same dance, everyone starts praising Glinda. The popularity power really went into frame as Glinda, the popular rich girl, overshadows Elphaba, the poor green-skinned girl, and convinces everyone to dance the same way as her. Since everyone loves Glinda they join her and Elphaba.
There are even more political messages shared throughout Wicked such as gaslighting, alliances, and war, just to name a few. Though Wicked is political, it’s a movie that also truly captures the essence of friendship, love, and perseverance.
