The musical fantasy film Wicked has been a massive hit with fans and critics, who have praised the performances of its lead stars. However, the hosts of Newsmax morning show Wake Up America don’t seem to agree with the sentiment.
While discussing the latest trends in entertainment, the conservative panel slammed the movie’s cast for pushing an LGBTQ+ narrative, saying that this “woke” ideology would destroy the film’s success. “As we know, when you go woke, you go broke,” Krysia Lenzo said.
The panel was referring to recent comments from Ariana Grande, who told The Gay Times that her character Glinda the Good Witch “might be a little in the closet,” among other things that the anti-woke crowd might find offensive. But, to be fair, the interviewer preempted the sit-down chat, which also included Cynthia Erivo, by saying that his questions would be about the queer allegories in Wicked and how it affected their performances.
“I mean, Oz is just a celebration of uniqueness,” Grande said in response. “Everyone in Oz is so beautiful. I don’t think it’s even a conscious discussion or decision. Everyone is just so beautifully queer. That goes all the way back to the L. Frank Baum books, where the word ‘queer’ is literally one of the most commonly used words. I don’t know… it’s just a celebration.” Erivo shared the sentiment, saying, “Yeah, I feel the same. I think when you step into it, you’re an ‘other.’ You are ‘other.'”
“I haven’t said this before… but I do think that both Glinda and Elphaba are just different,” Erivo said about her and Grande’s characters. “Both of them are slightly ‘other,’ you know? And I think what we’ve done with this film, through the costuming, the makeup, and the styling, is really celebrate that and bring it into the frame. I love that.” The statements are hardly pushing a ‘woke’ narrative. The actresses were simply answering the questions posed to them.
When taken out of context, the comments from the Wicked stars can be seen as problematic — but only if you want them to be. If someone interprets a story differently from the norm, it doesn’t make it wrong. What is concerning is a morning show using the differing takes as a tool to create division. A movie is something to be enjoyed. And if an allegory in a fictional story makes you want to throw around homophobic slurs, you have a much bigger problem that needs to be addressed.
“Set in the Land of Oz, mostly before Dorothy Gale’s arrival from Kansas, Wicked follows the story of Elphaba as she embarks on her path to becoming the Wicked Witch of the West and chronicles her unlikely friendship with her classmate Galinda, who later becomes Glinda the Good,” the official synopsis reads. Wicked has earned $178.7 million at the global box office since its Nov. 22 release. According to Variety, the musical is expected to bring in between $60 and $80 million in the coming days.