Galinda changing her name to "Glinda" in the most performative manner possible was the most Nancy Pelosi wearing kente cloth thing ever.

I'm about halfway through this but there's a video I saw earlier where the creator was saying the reason Glinda wasn't as shocked and taken aback by the discovery of the wizard was that it made sense to her "Did they have brains or knowledge? [...] they were popular!" It wasn't a huge stretch in her mind that he was just a charismatic opportunist

"Let's over-analyze some shit"

Love it when you speak my love language 😂

Just want to mention:

Brandi Chavonne Massey
Saycon Sengbloh
Dan’yelle Williamson
Alexia Khadime

All are Black women that portrayed Elphaba on Broadway before Cynthia Erivo did (no shade to her ability). They all have sound bite clips on YouTube. I mention them here because these women deserve the recognition Broadway wouldn’t give them.

unc is wise pulling in any fandom's most dedicated thinkers, the AMV makers

Speaking as a white person, I think Glinda's visible conflict serves a purpose for the white audience. Her words, actions, and endorsement remain a crucial part of the wizard's propaganda machine, and she remains complacent in it for her own benefit and protection. She stays on the side she picked, and her impact reflects that. But as the audience, we are shown that this is not an unadulterated good for her either-- that her betrayal of Elphaba has given her power and influence, but it still leaves her beholden to a cruel machine that does not care about her happiness or wellbeing. It acknowledges both the real material benefits of being a class traitor as well as undercutting any arguments that Glinda made the "right" choice in any capacity. A real life person would not have that kind of regret and remorse, would not ever show any doubt they might experience, but Glinda-the-character must show that disquiet so that the white audience feels the negative consequences of sucking up to power for personal gain.

It's also worth noting Glinda's most transparent scenes of doubt (at least as far as I recall) exclusively occur when Elphaba is not present. Elphaba's experience of Glinda does not include Glinda's doubt. Glinda never apologizes to Elphaba or expresses remorse or regret. Glinda's unhappiness and doubt are a private thing she never admits to anyone, and refuses to act on.

I live in Salem and you wouldn’t (but for real probably would) believe how many people come here for the kitsch without realizing one of the main accused was Tituba, a slave woman who confessed to practicing witchcraft after being beaten during questioning. That doesn’t sell felt witch hats tho so it doesn’t get as much airplay as Hocus Pocus around here.

the animals being pushed to lose their speech especially by being taken as children immediately made me think of the genocide and forced assimilation of indigenous people in north america and australia

Funnily enough, years before this movie I read a Wicked fanfic where when Elphaba gets transported to Kansas, her appearance outside the magic of Oz is that of a black woman.

I like that Elphaba has a line in Defying Gravity in which she basically announces that she's now "woke" in the way that the word used to be used in previous decades. (the line "I can't go back to sleep" referring to the fact that she now has her eyes open to the systemic injustices of society).

Didn't want to be "that guy" but Nick Fury was interpreted as a black man in the Ultimate Spider-Man series which began publishing in 2000. It's an alternate universe and the Nick Fury in that series was clearly inspired by Samuel L Jackson so his casting had precedence within the comics.

It's also worth noting that black Africans, especially enslaved people in the Caribbean, were also accused of using witchcraft and "voodoo" when they practiced their African religions. In the Haitian Revolution, black women were accused of using "voodoo" against white slavers. This is not to deny that Jewish people and other religious minorities were also called "witches," but black revolutionaries were also accused of witchcraft too.

Lol "overly tanned history"

I just want to add to the conversation that Elphaba in the original book was written to be a commentary on antisemitism (since the whole concept of a “wicked witch” is steeped in antisemitism) and so having Jewish actresses play her it’s important and why Jewish actresses tend to be cast in the role on broadway. That said, as a Jewish person myself, I am thrilled to see her being portrayed as visibly black in the movie as she as a symbol has always meant so much to so many minority groups, including and especially black people. One of my best friends is over the moon to have an elphaba that speaks to her, and Cynthia Erivo killed it in this role, and I really hope this opens up casting directors eyes and this leads to more diverse casting going forward on broadway!

4:05 "I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards"

One of your Jewish listeners here. I loved the time put aside to address that the notions of witchcraft in America include the remnants of antisemitic tropes.

Medieval and early modern stories also commonly included Jewish women in the role of a seductress, tempting the pious Christian character away from their duties and to a life of sin and witchcraft.

Just as commonly as them being rebuked was them being "fixed" by the christian protagonist, usually by accepting Jesus and rejecting their Jewish identity. See Ivanhoe and the Merchant of Venice.

"don't google that" * proceeds to show some heinous shit anyways *

I love how overt the movie was with glinda's white feminist failures. when I went to the theater with my best friend, every misguided glinda quote had us looking over to each other. every liberal arts college student class memory hit us like a ton of bricks

One of the most important lines in the entire movie, to me, comes at the end when Elphaba sings (of wanting to be with the Wizard): "I don't want it. No, I CAN'T want it, anymore"...that "Can't" was everything to me.

I really appreciated you guys taking some time to discuss the centuries of violent antisemitism that underlie the “witch” archetype. Like Princess Weekes said, this is something that is overlooked nearly 100% of the time in modern discourse (at least, modern American discourse) on witches in popular media, including with Wicked. It’s important for people to know this history, not only so we can be an educated and compassionate society with an understanding of the oppression faced by minority groups, but also because that foundation is needed so we can fully understand how the movie is using “the Witch” as a symbol of anti-Black racism. Without that background we can’t get a full picture of what the symbol means — a symbol of the oppression faced by minority groups in countless forms across countless cultures and time periods, a history of (primarily) societally disadvantaged women being targeted and persecuted.