Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Premiering in August of 1939, The Wizard of Oz took viewers on a journey with Dorothy and her unlikely companions as they made their way through the ‘Emerald City.’ Nearly a century later in 2025, an extension of the story continues to entertain audiences. Wicked: For Good was released in late November, with the public flocking to movie theaters to see Ariana Grande as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba on the big screen.
Although the original movie innocently follows a young girl with pigtails and bright red slippers, the intended meaning is much darker. Because of how popular the movie was for children and families alike, the real world application got overshadowed. The true reason for producing The Wizard of Oz was to represent the Populist Movement – the 19th century political movement primarily composed of farmers and laborers who felt ignored by the elite and powerful. They formed the People’s Party to advocate for a stronger government role in regulating big businesses in order to accurately support the common people. The creator crafted such a story as a political allegory for this movement. Dorothy represents every American. Swept up into a political whirlwind, American citizens fought for a safer home, eerily similar to Dorothy’s story.
The Scarecrow then represents farmers. Populists believed that farmers were widely underestimated and labeled as uneducated – like the Scarecrow, who thinks he “has no brain.” Throughout the story, the Scarecrow shows intelligence and usefulness reflecting the Populist argument that farmers were vital to the nation. The Tin-Man who takes the place of industrial workers. As in the story, the Tin-Man was once a real human who became “mechanized” and lost his body, symbolizing how the human workers were eventually outworked by inhuman objects. His desire for a heart reflects the belief that industrial capitalism had taken the “heart” out of labor leaving workers without jobs and hope for their futures.
The Cowardly Lion represents movement leader and presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. The symbolism stems from their powerful sounding outer shell but ultimately ineffective nature. Despite his ‘roar’ Bryan was unable to achieve his goal of president even after three nominations, similar to the Lion who should rule the jungle yet is unable due to his perpetual anxiety.
Having this knowledge makes the movie more than a projection on a screen, it reflects the history of the United States in a two hour film. With Wicked: For Good appearing in theaters only a few weeks after I learned this, I needed to watch it myself.
After completing the movie, the green and pink colors that so vibrantly marketed the film instantly became red and blue. The “good” versus “evil” complex purposely mixes the two in order for viewers to continue thinking outside of the cinema: who is the real villain and who is just misunderstood? Yet again, viewers believed that the directors were alluding to the current political frenzy in the United States. Some fans believed that President Donald Trump was channeled through the Wizard. They drew this similarity as the Wizard is simply a man behind the curtain that warps reality in order to gain more power. However, other fans were on the opposite side of this debate believing that the president represents Elphaba and eventually the Wicked Witch of the West. The public accepts their wickedness yet upon closer inspection, they are just misunderstood. Regardless of political belief, we are all shaped by the stories we choose to tell and how we channel both the goodness and wickedness in ourselves. If one thing is certain, this movie changed me – for good.