I’ve seen Wicked: For Good recently–and Wicked last year–and, like no doubt so many others, I have some thoughts.

In the original Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch of the West was just a straight-up villain–but that was in the days in which society at large saw only in terms of black and white when it comes to good and evil, and believed whatever the powers that be said. But in Wicked (inspired by the novel by Gregory Maguire), the Wicked Witch of the West, named Elphaba Thropp, has a sense of justice, evidenced chiefly through how she helps the speaking Animals (in one instance, she frees a lion cub from a cage), which contravenes the rule of the Wizard of Oz and those who enable him; the Wizard is a power-hungry ruler who has no problem harming or suppressing the innocent–case in point, the Animals–or lying to the people of Oz if it means he can keep his position, and Glinda (whose birth name is Galinda Upland), becomes the Wizard’s main propaganda tool, under the direct authority of (in Wicked: for Good) Press Secretary Madame Morrible–who, in one memorable scene from Wicked: For Good, tells Glinda to “Do what you do best–smile, wave, and shut up”; Glinda desires popularity, and actually has no innate magical power (it turns out the bubble she travels in–which the Wizard created–is a feat of engineering rather than magic), but ultimately she does actually have some good in her, as she welcomes the Animals back to Oz after the Wizard leaves with Dorothy and Toto (after she tells him to).

Given what I’ve seen in both Wicked movies, I’ve started thinking that the original Wizard of Oz story is, in and of itself–where Elphaba/the Wicked Witch of the West is concerned–a bit of propaganda (even if author L. Frank Baum didn’t intend for it to be so). And that’s the major message I’ve taken away from both Wicked movies–the dangers of buying into government or any other propaganda, especially if it’s invective against vulnerable populations, and that those in power will demonize anyone who goes against them if they can’t get them on their side. Elphaba tries to expose the Wizard of Oz as a fraud, but Madame Morrible, on behalf of the Wizard of Oz, thwarts her, while official propaganda slams her; when Elphaba goes into hiding, Madame Morrible tries to smoke her out by creating the cyclone that brings Dorothy and Toto to Oz and results in Nessarose’s death, then convinces the Wizard to see Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, telling him that they are “visitors we can use.” In the first movie, Elphaba discovers the Wizard of Oz actually has no power and wants to use her and her magic to solidify his position; the Wizard himself admits it, and exposes his own modus operandi to both Elphaba and Glinda, and, in the second movie, tells Elphaba that people believe his and other lies because they want to, and that’s why Elphaba can never really expose him. Glinda tells her that the best way to get her message out is to get on the Wizard’s side, but Elphaba objects.

Then there’s the matter of Nessarose’s shoes. Nessarose receives them from her father, who has always adored her, and favoured her over Elphaba–I believe that’s because Nessa is actually his daughter, whereas Elphaba is the product of an extramarital affair on her mother’s part; regardless of the different ways Nessa’s father treats them, Elphaba is protective of Nessarose, even if she no doubt resents having to put Nessa’s needs and desires before her own, and at her own expense. When Dorothy’s house lands on Nessarose, killing her, Elphaba wants Nessa’s shoes because–in her words–they’re all she has of her. Glinda reveals her own tendency towards pettiness and spite when she responds to Elphaba calling her out for giving Nessa’s shoes to Dorothy, referring to Fiyero running away with Elphaba when he was going to marry Glinda; Glinda also reveals, in the first movie, that she can be obnoxious in certain situations, such as when she repeated corrects Dr. Dillamond’s pronunciation of her name (Dr. Dillamond is the one who first pronounced her name as ‘Glinda’).

Despite the fact that they’re supposed to be on opposite sides of the ledger–and they clash more often than not–Elphaba and Glinda still care about each other, even though Glinda still obfuscates when a Munchkin asks her if she and the Wicked Witch of the West were friends. Glinda, in both movies, is self-righteous, especially in her role as the Wizard of Oz’s propaganda tool, while Elphaba actually tries to bring justice to Oz, even as Oz’s mainstream press demonizes her and Madame Morrible proactively acts against her. Even so, Glinda achieves Elphaba’s aim of making Oz a place where all creatures can feel safe.

Ariana Grande-Butera perfectly portrays Glinda’s girlishness, self-righteousness, sweetness, and momentary pettiness and situational sweet obnoxiousness, and Cynthia Erivo effectively channels Elphaba’s sense of justice and feelings that come from being misunderstood and misrepresented (how appropriate that a black actress has been cast as Elphaba/The Wicked Witch of the West in this context). Jeff Goldblum is more than convincing as the Wizard of Oz–the carny and the politician, thus demonstrating the overlap between the two–and Michelle Yeoh is chilling as propagandist and witch Madame Morrible. The minor actors and extras are no less effective in displaying the outrage against Elphaba and demand for her life, and thus what they’ve been convinced is justice–and demonstrating how frightening a populace can be when it fully believes the lies those in power (especially when the people have no other source(s) of information at their disposal), and descends into mob mentality.

Wicked and Wicked: For Good demonstrate that it is possible to bring politics into a creative work and still tell a good story and be entertaining as well as informative–though I doubt the people who cry “leave politics out of it” will enjoy it very much, if at all. Writers Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox (first movie) Stephen Schwartz (second movie), and Gregory Maguire show, through their writing, their ability to simultaneously tell a compelling story and deliver an impactful message–and one relevant for our times.