Although much of the buzz around ‘Wicked’ has focused on ‘queering,’ it is the concepts of propaganda and tyranny that drive the film.
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“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” said Dorothy when the great tornado brought her to the wonderful land of Oz. Since L. Frank Baum’s first published novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), and Victor Fleming’s 1939 film adaptation, the land of Oz has been part of the American consciousness. Dreams are made and shattered on the metaphorical Yellow Brick Road that leads to the Emerald City.
The new film “Wicked” (2024) takes the story we are all familiar with and asks what happened in Oz before Dorothy arrived. It’s directed by Jon M. Chu and based on the eponymous stage musical, which is based on the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. Although much of the buzz around “Wicked” has focused on “queering,” it is the concepts of propaganda and tyranny that drive the film.