The Messy Magic of Frenemies: Wicked's Take on Female Connections
If you’ve been waiting for theatre’s favorite witches to hit the big screen, Wicked doesn’t tiptoe around its most powerful magic: the stubborn, complicated chemistry between women tossed into rivalry. From the moment Elphaba, played by Cynthia Erivo, steps into Shiz University, the lines are drawn—she's the odd one out, skin the color of envy and a heart wired for rebellion. Enter Glinda (Ariana Grande), the girl whose popularity is a shield and a prison, all smiles and ambition. Their instant clash isn’t about broomsticks and spells—it's about expectations, labels, and all the ways girls are told where they belong.
The movie pulls you right into this rivalry, but it’s not as simple as mean-girl antics. The real villain here is pressure: the silent kind that nudges women to measure up, to outshine, or to label each other. The teacher Madame Morrible doesn't help, playing favorites and fanning the flames. You see it in the way other students react—laughing at Elphaba's alienness, lifting Glinda up or pulling her down. The competition is fierce, but it’s not really theirs. It’s served up by tradition and insecurity, and some adults in the room who really should know better.
From Rivalry to Real Connection: Breaking the Cycle
But Wicked isn’t interested in one-note antagonism. As Elphaba and Glinda butt heads, little cracks appear in their armor. The moments when Glinda recognizes Elphaba’s pain, or Elphaba spots the loneliness behind Glinda’s perfect hair, feel honest in a way that’s rare in blockbuster musicals. Their friendship doesn’t bloom overnight—it’s messy and sometimes painful, but it’s rooted in understanding the pressures women face from all sides.
When the story pivots—just as fans hope it will—Elphaba and Glinda discover strength not in tearing each other down, but in lifting each other up. The big turning point comes when Glinda helps Elphaba see her own power, instead of telling her to fit in. The mutual support is shaky at first, but it’s fierce. This isn’t just about surviving sorcery school anymore; it’s about fighting the scripts handed to them.
And then there’s Defying Gravity, a scene you feel in your gut even if you’ve never hummed the tune in your life. Elphaba steps away from what everyone else wants and decides to choose herself, with Glinda right there—conflicted but supportive. The idea here grabs hold: sometimes loving someone means letting them go their own way, especially when the world wants you to stay in line. Their paths split, but the thread between them holds.
What makes it work isn’t just the big set pieces or the CGI broom rides. Erivo brings a raw impatience and heartbreak to Elphaba, showing the vulnerability under that iconic green skin. Grande surprises as Glinda, whose journey from obliviously privileged to genuinely empathetic feels real—not a total personality switch, but growing pains you’d recognize from your own friend group.
With part one of the story ending on a moment that's both triumphant and incomplete, Wicked keeps its audience eager for the sequel in 2025. But what you remember walking out is that friendship—even in its ugliest, most competitive forms—can be a wild, glorious thing when you step outside the rules.
Write a comment