Wicked, the highly anticipated adaptation of the popular Broadway musical, is just about everywhere. The first half of the saga, released on November 22, made $114 million in its opening weekend domestically, and it has already generated some early Oscars buzz. Wicked: Part Two is set to premiere in November 2025. Directed by Jon M. Chu, who also directed Crazy Rich Asians, the movies plot dives into the true story of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good Witch, reimagined from the classic book series and film The Wizard of Oz. It stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, respectively, along with Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum as other residents of the Land of Oz.From its backstory to its politics to understanding why fans are holding space for it, follow along here for everything you need to know about the film.

Wicked, the movie musical based on the beloved Broadway show of the same name, is one of the biggest hits of the year, opening at No. 1 in North America over the weekend and already generating some early Oscars buzz. Audiences came in prepared to love Wickeds famous power ballads and girl power core, but one aspect of the story seems to have caught people by surprise: its somewhat clunky yet remarkably durable political allegory.I noticed that Elphaba is like Kamala Harris and the Wizard is like Donald Trump, one fan posted on Reddit. A charismatic leader who gaslights a community that this woman is wicked just because shes standing up for a marginalized group of people in the society, how could that be [political]? director John M. Chu joked.For a silly, spectacular show about friendship and talking animals, Wicked actually does invite political interpretations. Its allegory can both elicit eye rolls and still feel eerily prescient more than 20 years after its stage debut. Wicked the musical is based on a 1995 novel of the same title by Gregory Maguire, an anti-fascist treatise in which the Wizard becomes a Hitler-like despot. The musical wouldnt go quite so far when it debuted on Broadway in 2003, but it did get in a number of hits at the George W. Bush administration, which had ordered the invasion of Iraq only months earlier. In Wicked, the Wizard is revealed to be disenfranchising the talking animals of Oz, on the grounds that to unify the rest of the country, he has to give them a common enemy. Yet the Wizards persecution of animals and, later, of Elphaba is rooted in a lie, in the same way that Bush falsely claimed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction before invading. Some of the references are glaringly obvious: When Dorothys house falls on the Wicked Witch of the East, Glinda echoes the Bush administrations favorite Iraq War euphemism in describing it as a regime change. Is one a crusader or ruthless invader? sings the Wizard, referencing Bushs infamous description of the invasion of Iraq as a crusade. Its all in which label is able to persist! Critics responses were mixed. As a parable of fascism and freedom, Wicked so overplays its hand that it seriously dilutes its power to disturb, Ben Brantley declared in 2003 at the New York Times, adding that the show wears its political heart as if it were a slogan button.Meanwhile, author Daniel Handler, though taken aback by such a dark interpretation of sunny and magical Oz, found himself drawn to the idea. It is hard not to wonder if the witch, a difficult figure transformed by difficult times, isnt precisely what our stage needs, Handler also wrote in the New York Times that same year. And perhaps, the show suggests, wicked is what the W stands for in George W. Bush.Singing the same lyrics today, the Wizard suggests not Bush but Trump: a leader consolidating his power by scapegoating marginalized groups and slowly but surely denying them their rights. Meanwhile, the difference in strategy between rabble-rousing progressive Elphaba and conciliatory liberal Glinda might hit home particularly hard for Democrats in the midst of their post-election recrimination. Both Elphaba and Glinda idolize the Wizard and dream of working at his right hand. When Elphaba learns of the plight of Ozs animals, she heads straight to the Emerald City to seek his help, certain that if he learns that the animals are being targeted, hell rush to their aid. The Wizard suggests he might do so if Elphaba uses her magic as part of his administration, but when she learns that its the Wizard behind the attacks, she disowns him, much to the dismay of practical-minded Glinda.Wicked was born to be an allegory of American politics. It cant quite be anything else.I hope youre happy how youve hurt your cause forever, Glinda sings. Elphaba, after all, is alienating a potential powerful ally. I hope youre proud, how you would grovel in submission to feed your own ambition, replies Elphaba, who has decided she will not work with anyone who is using his power to hurt Ozs talking animal citizens. Could you read this moment as an allegory over how Democrats should handle trans issues going forward? Sure, it sounds like a stretch, but its not as far-fetched as you might imagine. In a way its odd to think that Wickeds political messaging feels so prescient, since most Wicked fans would agree that the political subplot is the weakest part of the musical. Wicked lives and breathes by the fraught friendship between its two leads, not by its duelling visions of activism.Still, in another sense, Wicked was born to be an allegory of American politics. It cant quite be anything else. Thats what Oz stories are for.Most of the most childrens fantasy classics of the Anglophone world are English: think of Peter Pan, Narnia, The Sword in the Stone, and Harry Potter. They tend to think about what it means to be a good king, about wild magical beasts lurking in the forest, about being an island nation.The Wizard of Oz, though, is an American fantasy. A map of Oz, which is shaped like a rectangle with its long side horizontal, is a simplified map of America, as though drawn by a child: unimaginably vast, spanning the inhabitable entirety of a continent from east to west. (Oz is bordered by poisonous deserts rather than oceans.) It is a country where farmers cultivate fields of corn and wheat and orchards of apples; where industrialists build vast, glittering cities; where the west is full of rough and unsettled land. And it is a country governed by a con man who is lying to the people he rules.A map of Oz as it first appeared in L. Frank Baums 2014 novel Tik-Tok of Oz. Baum accidentally put Munchkinland on the West of Oz, causing endless trouble for future Oz cartographers.When L. Frank Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1900, he imagined the Wizard of Oz as someone who was well-meaning if ineffectual and a touch dishonest. Im a very good man just a bad wizard, the Wizard explains to Dorothy in the 1939 film. Still, the Wizard can work as a remarkably cynical metaphor for all the broken promises of the American dream. The Wizard is a man who will promise you everything but give you nothing, and then he will tell you the answer was inside of yourself all along. Its this metaphor that gives The Wiz, the all-Black reimagining of The Wizard of Oz from the 1970s, its surprisingly sharp bite. In The Wiz, Dorothy and her friends are Black people who are promised certain fundamental rights by a government that never plans to pay up. (Wicked gestures at a similar critique by casting the Black actress Cynthia Erivo as the racially othered green-skinned Elphaba.)Public office is the last refuge of the incompetent, the Scarecrow scoffs in The Wiz, after learning that the Wizard is a washed-up politician from Atlantic City. Incompetent! the Wiz crows. Thats me! Wicked, meanwhile, is not a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz so much as it is a revisionist history. As such, it is fundamentally skeptical of figures in authority much more so than Baum, who eventually replaced the Wizard with the virtuous and nearly infallible fairy queen Ozma. The premise of any story that tells you that the villains of your childhood are misunderstood is that the storytellers were lying to you. In Wicked, the Wizard isnt just a very bad wizard, but a very bad man, too. He lies maliciously and with strategic purpose. The Wizard can work as a remarkably cynical metaphor for all the broken promises of the American dream.Elphaba and Glinda, here, become just two more dreamers who travel to the Emerald City like Dorothy and her friends, because they want the Wizard to give them their hearts desire: protection for the talking animals of Oz as they become steadily more persecuted. Yet the Wizard they encounter is not only incapable of granting them such a request, but in fact plans to pervert it, using their innocent wishes to enact more violence. He plans to take Elphaba under his wing and have her do magic on his behalf so he can more thoroughly persecute the sentient animals he plans to round up and more efficiently spy on the rest of his citizens. In the end, the Wizard names Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch of the North because he can trust Glinda to maintain friendly relations with his administration, while Elphaba refuses. He is America governed not by a con man but by a strong man an authoritarian dictator.This is the kind of metaphor a revisionist history can offer you, and part of why Wicked feels so bizarrely urgent at this moment. In a subversion of a childhood classic, no authority figure can be trusted which is what makes these stories so attractive when people you dont trust have found their way into positions of power. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

A report from Bloomberg this week suggests that Sony is working on a new portable PlayStation device. As someone who still has a PlayStation Vita languishing in my desk drawer because I cant quite bear to put it in the attic, this is an exciting prospect. It has been almost 13 years since Sony released the Vita, its last portable console, and its such a wonder of a thing, with its big crisp screen and dinky little sticks. I wish more people had made games for it paper-craft adventure Tearaway and topsy-turvy platform-puzzler Gravity Rush remain underrated.Actually, apart from the lovely and extremely niche Playdate, nobody has bothered to release a dedicated handheld games console in over a decade. Both the Nintendo Switch and Valves Steam Deck are hybrids that can be played handheld and connected to a big screen.Theres a reason for this: firstly, smartphones have snapped up almost the entire market for portable games, offering endless free or cheap games on a device that everybody already has. And secondly: having handheld and home consoles on the market once would split development resources. Only Nintendo was successful enough at selling handhelds to weather several generations of splitting its talent between creating games for the DS and the Wii, or the 3DS and Wii U, which has led to the Switch being a contender for the cleverest business decision of its history.Sony, meanwhile, always struggled to make enough games for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) or Vita alongside its home PlayStations to make those handhelds an irresistible buy. The 75m-selling PSP was a profitable console despite competing directly with the 150m-selling Nintendo DS (partly thanks to Capcoms Monster Hunter series, which sold more than 12m copies on the PSP before making the jump to rival platforms). But when the Vita launched in 2011, it was very much into a smartphone world, and it only sold an estimated 15m.Underrated . platform puzzler Gravity Rush. Photograph: SonyThe difference this time is that the machine Sony is working on would reportedly play existing PlayStation 5 games. It seems the idea would be to have portable and home versions of the same console, which can play the same games. Bloomberg suggests that Microsoft has also been working on portable console prototypes, though none of these things may ever make it to market.Another difference now is that cloud gaming is a thing. I know a lot of people who chiefly used the Vita as a not-very-legal emulator for reams of retro games, because the console was tragically easy to crack. But now, with PlayStation Plus subscriptions offering perfectly legal access to Sonys treasure trove of a back catalogue, how many people would happily pay for a handheld console that could play most of PlayStation history without having to buy the games? I bet its a lot.Sony has done some handheld hardware experimentation since the Vita was discontinued. At the end of last year it released a strange little device called the PlayStation Portal essentially a screen spliced into the middle of a PlayStation 5 controller, which lets you stream games from your PS5 to play in your hands. This is of limited utility but its a neat thing, and I loveAs the Steam Deck has proven, though, handhelds can be a gamechanger for busy people even if they have no exclusive games, because they simply give you more time and opportunity to play. For instance, the only way I managed to finish Persona 4 was by playing it on my vita on the train. With the next portable PlayStation, maybe I might finally manage those last 10 hours of Persona 5.What to playMemories LocoRoco.Thinking about the old portable PlayStation history has brought several games to mind. Theres LocoRoco, a game about singing blobs, which was revived for a bonus level in this years Astro Bot. And I spent more than 100 hours with my index finger curled weirdly over the PSPs directional buttons, my hand forming a shape that has become known as the Monster Hunter claw.And theres Tearaway, Media Molecules intimate and brilliant Vita platformer set in a world made of paper. This is the easiest one to try, as theres a slightly less brilliant PS4 version called Tearway Unfolded available from the PlayStation Store. Its included with PlayStation Plus, and Ive just downloaded it to play with the kids this afternoon.Available on: PS4/5 Estimated playtime: What to readA new one on the way? Bloodborne: The Old Hunters. Photograph: PRSticking with Sony news, its the PlayStations 30th anniversary next month. To celebrate, Sony has released a bunch of game soundtracks, a timeline, a quiz and, of course, some stuff you can buy.Shuhei Yoshida, the former head of PlayStation Studios and current head of the companys indie developer initiative, is leaving the company in January after 31 years. I most recently interviewed him last year he remains one of the friendliest faces in the entire games industry, and one of its most accomplished advocates.And Sony apparently intends to buy Kadokawa, the parent company of FromSoftware, makers of Elden Ring, Dark Souls and Armored Core. Is this how well finally get a new Bloodborne?Microsofts new iteration of Flight Simulator has launched in a bit of a state. If youve been considering picking it up, it might be best to give it a few months.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionWhat to clickQuestion BlockIn contention. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree. Photograph: undefined/Bandai Namco EuropeReader Benjamin asks this weeks question:In your latest Pushing Buttons you mention your money is on Shadow of the Erdtree for the game of the year award, but Im curious to hear your thoughts on its inclusion in the first place, being a downloadable expansion and not actually a game unto itself. Does it not set an odd precedent if something that cannot be played standalone can be the best game of the year?Gaming award categories have trouble keeping up with how fast video games evolve, whether its the Baftas, the Game Awards or the Golden Joysticks. A few years ago, most of them introduced some version of an ongoing game category to account for the likes of Fortnite and No Mans Sky and Minecraft games that run for years and change frequently. But now thats become difficult in itself: how muchdid change and improve massively after release? What about remasters? Should downloadable expansions count? And where should games that could fit into two or more genres sit? Every year, there are plenty of releases that challenge the definitions of the categories.You could spend forever nitpicking over this stuff. My feeling is that anything released in a given year should be eligible for an award if its good enough, whether its an add-on or expansion to a previous game or not. Shadow of the Erdtree is 30+ hours long and could easily have been a standalone sequel its 10 times as long as some of the indie games nominated in other categories. I would personally find it hard to justify disqualifying it on a technicality, though obviously I would judge it on its own merits rather than those of the base game.If youve got a question for Question Block or anything else to say about the newsletter hit reply or email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com.

Diablo 4 fans can enjoy the Player Test Realm (PTR) next week, and we've got the full patch notes to help you plan your character builds ahead of a return to Sanctuary.

PC gamers, your time has come - the Steam Autumn Sale is here, and it's packed with huge Black Friday deals across AAA and indie titles. Here are some of our favorites

Sorry Were Closed its not like other survival horrors (Akupara Games)One of the years strangest indie games is both a homage to Resident Evil 4 and Silent Hill, and a surprisingly insightful piece of romantic fiction.We miss Suda51. Although Goichi Suda has been making games since the early 90s it was in the mid-2000s, with games like killer7 and No More Heroes, that he made a name for himself in the West, with his engaging mixture of surrealism, pop culture references, and philosophical musings.Hes one of the few game creators whose work you can immediately identify from its tone and visuals, but hes released increasingly few games in recent years (his new title, Hotel Barcelona has been delayed into 2025) and the raw energy of his early titles now seems but a distant memory. That is, until you play Sorry Were Closed by British studio la mode games.We say studio, theyre really just two people in Bournemouth, but from the second you turn on Sorry Were Closed its obvious theyre big fans of Suda51. But rather than just copying his style theyre able to absorb his influence and create something equally striking of their own.Despite what it may look like, Sorry Were Closed is a survival horror game. Theres lots of weird elements you wouldnt normally expect to see from such a game, but the root of the gameplay is heavily inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill, as well as killer7.You play the role of Michelle, a seemingly ordinary young woman working a dead end job in a London corner shop, and pining over her ex-girlfriend who is now a famous soap opera star. Thats the least of her problems though when her mundane existence is impinged upon by an eight-foot-tall demon called The Duchess, who demands that Michelle love her.As a demon, The Duchess regrets her fall from Heaven, or at least the absence of love in her life, and so curses Michelle with a third eye, in an attempt to make her seem more appealing. This doesnt work as intended though, once Michelle realises she can now see other demons and angels, as well as other cursed people and hellish versions of ordinary locations.The latter doesnt work exactly like Silent Hill, as you can only see the alternate world in a small sphere around you, which creates some interesting problems when youre simply trying to beat a hasty retreat. In combat, you have to use your third eye to show the weak spots of enemies, when fighting them in first person combat, but if they move outside your field of vision thats not possible, so you have to get perilously close to make an effective attack.The switch from third person exploration to first person shooting is very reminiscent of the original Resident Evil 4 not allowing you to both move and shoot and, just like Capcoms classic, its a gamble as you commit yourself to the attack and struggle to get away if things get hairy. Although if you switch to first person when an enemy is already in third eye range theyll be briefly stunned, which is a clever bit of risk and reward, and very helpful when dealing with groups. Sorry Were Closed aim for the heart! (Akupara Games)Theres also some simple puzzle-solving, often involving light/dark world style exploration where you remove an obstacle in one reality to clear a path in the other. This couldve maybe done with being expanded on, because the foundations are there for something more complex and testing, but as it is the puzzles are just a minor, palette-cleansing distraction.The combat system is great at increasing the tension in a game that is already far creepier and disturbing than the neon-coloured screenshots are probably making it seem right now. Most indie games have low-tech visuals because they cant afford anything else but the vaguely PlayStation 2 era graphics in Sorry Were Closed work perfectly at setting the off-kilter mood and are surprisingly emotive during dialogue sequence.More TrendingApart from being a fun survival horror, Sorry Were Closed also benefits from a sharp script, with both cutting humour and bouts of seriousness; especially when youre contemplating which of the games many characters you should choose to help and how the moral decisions youre forced to make will affect their future and/or love life. The games characters are all demons and angels but their problems and flaws, especially when it comes to romance, are very human.Theres a confidence and punkish energy to Sorry Were Closed that is immediately engaging and all the more impressive because this seems to be the developers first game. Its a little rough around the edges (one constant bugbear is that its often not clear when youre taking damage from distant enemies) but the games greatest crime is that its all over too soon, at an all too brief six hours.Thats a good problem to have because it leaves you wanting more, not necessarily from Michelle and The Duchess but certainly la mode games. Indie games have always been a welcome respite from the soulless competence of bigger budget games but Sorry Were Closed feels like nothing else being made today and were very much open to seeing more from the same team.Sorry Were Closed review summaryIn Short: A brilliantly strange, neon-lit survival horror that mixes 90s style visuals and gameplay with a very modern take on love in the 21st century.Pros: Fantastic visual design and atmosphere, with a great script that is more serious than it first appears. Fun combat with inventive mechanics and a neat take on the light/dark world formula.Cons: The switch from first to third person can be jarring and its hard to tell when youre being hit sometimes. Perfunctory puzzles and disappointingly short at just six hours.Score: 8/10Formats: PCPrice: 20.99Publisher: Akupara GamesDeveloper: la mode gamesRelease Date: 14th November 2024Age Rating: N/A Sorry Were Closed The Duchess doesnt take no for an answer (Akupara Games)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Trump tariffs could accelerate death of physical games claim expertsAdam StarkeyAdam StarkeyPublished November 27, 2024 6:25pmUpdated November 27, 2024 6:25pm Make gaming worse again (Getty/Microsoft/Sony/Metro)Donald Trumps second presidency could impact the way we consume games along with console prices, as potential tariffs threaten to affect costs across the US.While Donald Trump isnt technically US president again until his inauguration on January 20, his policies have already sparked concern across the games industry.Trump previously said he will impose a baseline 60% tariff on all Chinese exports, in an attempt to encourage American-made goods. A report by The Consumer Technology Association has already suggested this could lead to a 40% price hike for video game consoles in the US, as the majority of the hardware components are made in China.Although in recent days that baseline tariff seems to have been revised down to 35%, its still unclear if any tariff will go ahead (Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo successfully argued for an exemption during Trumps first presidency) but business experts have suggested that if they do, they could fast-track the shift towards digital games and streaming.In a newsletter by Joost van Dreunen, business professor at the NYU Stern School Of Business, he proposes the worst case scenario from Trumps 60% tariff could present a dramatic restructuring of the US console market and reduce sales to levels last seen in the early 2000s. This is despite two decades of market expansion and a substantially larger gaming population.As for the long term effects, he suggests the increase in consumer costs for consoles will accelerate the current push into new distribution channels and monetisation strategies, citing cloud gaming and streaming services specifically.By potentially raising console prices, Trumps trade policies create immediate pressure to find hardware-independent delivery methods, Dreunen states.Just as the 1983 crash and 2008 recession catalysed new distribution models, these tariffs could fast-track the industrys shift toward cloud gaming, streaming services, and transmedia distribution, marking a classic transition from content innovation to distribution innovation in the pendulum cycle.While its unclear if the price of physical games could be impacted by these tariffs, video game industry analyst Mat Piscatella recently speculated that if it does, the price of digital games could go up as well as a result.If new physical video games are hit with an import tax which prompts an increase in their price to consumers, the most likely scenario would be the price of digital games would be raised to be at parity, Piscatella wrote on Blue Sky. Or the alternative would be to abandon physical. Either way, not great.If this does happen, Microsoft might be in the best situation to deal with this transition, as the company is already trying to separate the Xbox brand away from a single console and push its Game Pass subscription service on other platforms.Although that ignores the inconvenient fact that streaming is all but impossible for people in rural areas, where internet services are slower and less reliable, and even at the fastest speeds inferior to playing on a console or PC.The big question is whether this will have a significant impact on the next generation of consoles, which are expected to be announced over the next couple of years. A bump in console prices might lead more people to buy the cheaper all-digital model, or convince companies to ditch making consoles with physical hard drives entirely.All this depends on whether Trumps proposed tariff plans actually go ahead without exemptions. While its very likely the major video game companies will try to protest any additional charges, Trumps sweeping win across all three branches of the US government (the Republicans didnt have control of the Supreme Court during Trumps first term) will likely mean his policies face less resistance.More TrendingWhile this will mostly impact the US market, these potential tariffs could cause companies to bump up prices around the world to make up the difference and to ensure US customers dont feel theyre paying more. Could Trump tariffs bring about the rise of an all-digital future? (YouTube)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralExclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy

Without trees to circulate moisture, the land is getting hotter and drier

They could soon show their moves in settings from car factories to care homes

With Wickedreigning at the box office this week, fans are losing their Shiz over which villain is most responsible for the fallout between Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Glinda (Ariana Grande). Blame is being squarely placed on the sister with the bejeweled shoes. But with other big bads revealed by the end of the two-part musical epics first installment, are the claims that Nessarose (Marissa Bode) has it coming (it being Dorothys house landing on her) valid? The Wicked Witch of the EastNessaroses destined identitybeing squashed by Dorothys farmhouse is the canon event thats been the main fixture of every adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. The Kansas tornado carries the house over the rainbow; it falls on the witch with only her feet peeking out, enabling Dorothy to claim her famed slippers. That sets off the chain of events which leads to the Wicked Witch of the Wests death by water melting.Now we know that truly evil Madam Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) has power over the weather (Tornadoes) and that the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) is a fraud, but how does Wicked set up the notion that Wicked Witch of the East is Nessaroseand that her shoes are mostly power-less for now? The hints are in how Nessarose treats Elphaba throughout the film. As TikTok commentator (like @aspoonfulofchae below) have comedically pointed out, Im on the side of the house, the house did nothing wrong, reading Nessa for filth in her hot take. @aspoonfulofchae #greenscreen That house can drop again and again for all I care. #nessarose #wickedmovie #wicked #elphaba #aspoonfulofchae #foryoupage original sound Chae Jones The points have been made. Nessa treated Elphaba as poorly as their dad didand can we also point out she couldnt wait to get away from her at Shiz for a fresh start without her help, until Morrible overruled their fathers very odd decision to only let Nessa go to college? I mean, what was he having Elphie do in Munchkinland while he lorded over things as Mayor? Was he just actively hiding her? She clearly had talent and Nessa was pissed when it jumped out in order to protect her and gained her special admission to Shiz with Morrible as her mentor. She wasnt happy for her sister at all, and thats weird!Then theres Nessas thirst for Boq and giving Glinda credit for setting them up at the Ozdust ballroom; even though she knew the whole time its because Im in this chair and you felt sorry for me, she proceeds to let him settle for her, knowingly. To add on to her showing her hand as the more Wicked Witch from the jump, when Elphaba shows up and interrupts her date with Boq she does nothing to stand up for her when the whole club ostracizes her sister. HER SISTER! The pettiness runs deep here and its no wonder their mothers shoes become the sticking point in Wicked Part Two when Dorothy takes them. To not go too much into spoilers for Wicked Part Two, Nessaroses shoes do become enchanted in a way that contributes to her rise as the Wicked Witch of the East before Dorothys arrival, thats a given. The musicals second act jumps into the future a bit and will pick up on Nessa as she presumably takes over leadership from her father in Munchkinlandand based on how the happy they were in The Wizard of Oz at her demise, sets up a bigger villain turn. They really dont like the Thropp family and maybe their happiness at being freed from it stems from their horrid father, too. @popcultureari Even spongebob wasnt interested #wickedmovie #elphaba #nessarose original sound Pop Culture Ari Theres a lot to be said about Nessarose and Elphaba catching the smoke from their people when not even their mother liked their father enough to be faithful. Theyre both othered their whole lives. Nessas role in the story goes beyond ableist tropes allowing her to be a fully realized character defined beyond her disability, and her narrative plays with that self-deprecation about her disability in the way that Elphabas ostracization plays with themes of racism. Each womans relationship with society, stemming from those roles, is what ultimately transforms them through magic in Part Two. Thats where the story reveals how true wickedness can come from all too human flaws anyone is allowed to have. And, we need to give space to see that Nessarose fell into line with her fathers narrative about Elphaba and how hes the true bad guy here too. Were glad he dropped dead when he saw Elphaba rise to her power during Defying Gravity; Nessa, meanwhile, looked pissed their familys reputation was ruined. Despite Wicked not being an official prequel to The Wizard of Oz film, these character variants really feel dimensional and give you so much to root for (and against) in its interpretation of what really happened leading up to Dorothy killing the Wicked Witch of the West. Elphaba is most definitely not the dog-hating Mrs. Gulch/Wicked Witch of the West from the 1939 Oz film (as portrayed by the iconic Margaret Hamilton). Rather, shes much like a Marvel-style variant whose story unfolds as a hero with certain fixed points, including her desire for her sisters shoes once Nessarose is deservedly pancaked by Dorothys house.Truly, though, major props to Marissa Bode for an amazing job acting and sowing those Wicked Witch of the East seedsbecause even after her inescapable fate, her presence lingers, causing all the drama between Elphaba and Glinda over those sparkly heels when a child snatches them. @11pmdaydreams even spongebob didnt want you #wicked original sound shiny pikachu Wickedis now in theaters and Wicked Part Two opens Thanksgiving 2025. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.