WICKED: Rage at Abuse Isn’t Wicked

John M. Chu‘s 2024 film, Wicked, shows us in spades what happens to an abused child. That’s Elphaba. Abandoned. Shamed. Blamed. Rejected. Bullied. Shunned. Of course, rage fills Elphaba. It’s a terrible injustice to label her Wicked. Elphaba’s no different than many abused children. Hungry for love, she keeps her hurt bottled up. Caters to the wishes of others, “grateful” for scraps of attention. Until her rage explodes, with all the power Elphaba has.

So, what is the wickedness in Wicked?

Is it in Madame Morrible (Horrible?), Galinda (Glinda), the Wizard who isn’t a real wizard at all? Wickedness is using Elphaba for their gains. Preying on her vulnerability? Yes, Elphaba is vulnerable. Because: she hungers for love, feels awful shame, and blames herself for what isn’t her fault. And, she sacrifices herself not to feel this way. Rage builds.

Blame & Shame & Hunger

All children are vulnerable. Babies need love. But that’s not what Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) got. She got her father’s horror at her green skin, his hate, rejection, and exclusion from her family.

And, when her mother became pregnant again, her panicked Governor father (Andy Nyman) made his wife chew milk flowers every single day, most likely in huge quantities. This was to ensure that the new baby came out “normal.”

Terrified it might be another green one, like Elphaba.

Elphaba’s sister, Nessarose (Marissa Bode) came into the world disabled. Her mother never woke up. Elphaba blames herself. That’s because her father does. And, without any doubt at all, she believes it is her fault. That’s what happens to abused children. She “knows” she is unlovable.

So, terrified of losing the least little hint of love, Elphaba does anything anyone wants of her in Wicked. And, she tries to look “happy” about it. Elphaba is kind when no one is kind to her.

Hungry for love, Elphaba shuts down her needs and asks for nothing.

That can give you rage.

Doing Anything for Love

Everyone needs love. You’re starved if you don’t get it. Unless you tell yourself, you need nothing and nothing matters. Then, you just don’t feel it. But that isn’t Elphaba.

Watching from the sidelines as her father adores Nessarose and gets everything Elphaba is denied hurts Elphaba deeply.  But unconditional love isn’t within Elphaba’s reach.

So, she’ll do whatever people want of her to get love. Even a crumb is something.

And, when she goes to Shiz U, to get Nessarose settled (not an opportunity offered to her), she’s shocked to be courted by Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). (Elphaba has accidentally revealed her talents). And, Madame Morrible even convinces Elphaba’s father to let her stay at Schiz.

When he agrees, Elphaba can’t believe her good fortune. And, she’s particularly grateful to Madame Morrible for this barely-hoped-for chance to feel (unexpectedly) special to someone.

That can blind you.

You see, Elphaba lives with the conviction: “I’m not that girl.” She longs for Fiyero’s love (Jonathan Bailey), like Glinda (Ariana Grande). And, how her sister is beloved in her father’s eyes.

She’s so hungry that she can’t tell when she’s getting used.

Being Vulnerable & Used

People starved of love get used. That’s not uncommon. You don’t learn to notice the “red flags” for self-serving, narcissistic, greedy, (“charming”) people. And, you miss or overlook those warnings.

You want this attention to be the real thing. The time that someone finally wants to be with you. And, Madame Morrible is pretty smooth in Wicked. (Until she betrays her motives in the end.)

Glinda is not so simple.

We see her cruelty after she’s forced to share her private room with Elphaba. (Glinda always gets her way. Notice she’s the only student not wearing a uniform, dressed in her usual pink.)

She says mean things to Elphaba and gives her no space in the room, only the size of a closet. She crowds Elphaba out. Excludes her. Flaunts what she has. And, Elphaba is too used to looking on.

Plus, she’s so grateful to be at Shiz, to be chosen and have the chance to study with Madame Morrible – that she looks away, chokes back her feelings of anger, and takes what Glinda “offers.”

But, above all, Glinda needs to be perfect (the best) and she’ll do anything to prove she is. So, she takes Elphaba on as her “project” to make Elphaba “popular” and to show how good Glinda is.

Does that mean she doesn’t grow to like Elphaba? And. become her friend? No. They are friends.

But it’s a friendship colored by Glinda’s jealousy (of Madame Morrible picking Elphaba over her and Fiyero’s obvious interest in Elphaba, too). Jealousy makes her use Elphaba to get in Madame Morrible’s favor, to ride on Elphaba’s ticket to Oz, and get closer to the Wizard, too.

Even though she gives to Elphaba and they are “besties,” Glinda’s needs prevail.

Why does Elphaba let this happen?

Can’t Believe “It’s Not Her Fault”

Most abused children think it’s their fault. Elphaba is one of them.

What else do you think if you’re yelled at, blamed, criticized, and made to feel you’re never good enough? You take those things in. They become your reality. You’re convinced and ashamed.

When Elphaba and Glinda begin confiding their secrets to each other, Elphaba tells her what happened to Nessarose and her mother. Of course, it’s her fault, she tells Glinda.

Glinda says kindly (one of the kindest things she does): “It’s not your fault, Elphaba.”

But Elphaba doesn’t believe her. You can’t just be talked out of something you “know” to be true. Especially if that’s what your father believes, and has said to you, over and over, in so many ways.

Shame can dig itself deep inside you. And, Elphaba lives in shame. When people mistreat and reject her, it’s no surprise. She has a voice inside her head that tells her the same things.

Although she does her best to be helpful and kind, she fights back anger that sometimes flares up.

Elphaba isn’t Wicked. Having to grovel for love and look (mostly) happy about it builds up rage.

What Is Wicked and What Is Not?

The definition of Wicked is: Morally wrong. Intending to or capable of harming someone.

Is that Elphaba? No. So, who is it in Wicked?

Sure, the power of Elphaba’s rage sometimes gets the best of her. It’s easy to understand why.

She was rejected at birth, shamed, blamed for her sister’s disability and her mother’s death, bullied for her green skin, made an outcast, shunned, and constantly hurt. And, Elphaba’s all alone.

Wouldn’t anyone treated that way be filled with rage?

Yet, do we see anything “wicked” in Elphaba? The always helpful, self-denying, and (yes!) kind Elphaba? She knows how it feels to be hurt and never, ever goes so far as hurting anyone else.

But people hurt her – Madame Morrible, Glinda, all the bullies at Schiz University- because they egg each other on and have never been taught kindness. Isn’t that the definition of wicked?

And, we see why. The higher-ups at Schiz are out for themselves. They even go so far as to get rid of the Animal Professors, caging them, to take away their power of speech.

Everyone needs a voice to speak out. To say no. To protest against wrongs. Not to keep quiet.

Especially against people like Madame Morrible and the Sham-Wizard, who try to steal Elphaba’s powers. Towards these abusive (wicked?) people, it’s healthy to feel rage. Rage itself isn’t Wicked.

Rage can help you set boundaries against abuse.

Saying “No More” To Abuse

When Elphaba arrives at Oz and finds she’s been betrayed (again), her rage now knows no bounds. It is one big “No” to believing she must do anything for love. Love that’s not love, it turns out.

But if out-of-bounds rage isn’t the answer to stopping abuse, what is?

1.     Standing your ground.

2.     Speaking out.

3.     Saying your truth.

4.     Protesting against abuse.

5.     Protecting the hurt child inside.

6.     Knowing it isn’t your fault.

7.     Not running away or hiding.

If you do, you’ll find compassion towards yourself and the child inside, for all that’s hurt you. And, you won’t have to live in shame. You can silence that shaming voice in your head.

Don’t forget that the definition of Wicked is:

Cruelty. Disregard for the needs of someone else. Greed and self-interest. Not caring if or how you hurt someone. Finding someone else to blame. That’s not Elphaba, is it?

But isn’t it Madame Morrible and the Wizard?

That’s what’s happened to Elphaba with her green skin in Wicked. Differences should be celebrated. Because difference means being free to be yourself.

Yet, Flying Away Isn’t Freedom

Elphaba escapes Oz with the power of her rage. She’s done being used for her gifts. DONE. She stands up for herself and sings: “Defying Gravity,” “Unlimited,” as she flies off on her broom.

But running away isn’t freedom. Nor does it solve the problems of the past. The past repeats itself, as we see in the “celebratory” scene at the beginning of Wicked. Elphaba ends up hated and “dead.”

She can’t break free from being misunderstood, ostracized, friendless, and alone – labeled the Wicked Witch of the West. It wouldn’t be a surprise if she never trusted anyone again.

Did she go on to have more hurtful experiences? Seal herself off in self-hate? Lose her compassion for her hurt child self? Harden herself with rage? If so, Wicked is the worst-case story of abuse.