‘Everyone deserves a chance to fly’… but at what cost?

Wicked was the first West End musical I saw after moving to the United Kingdom a decade ago. Since then, I regularly revisit the Broadway soundtrack and I've lost count of how many times I have watched Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel's performance of For Good on YouTube. Wicked is not a fleeting pop culture novelty for me. But when I saw the new film adaptation, it felt different. To quote the lyrics of Defying Gravity: 'Something has changed within me, something's not the same.'

Before watching the film, I understood that the premise of Wicked was about how colourism and appearance-based othering shaped Elphaba's life and choices. We know, from research including my own, that colourism and/or appearance-related ethnic discrimination can contribute to lower skin colour satisfaction, body satisfaction, body esteem and reduced overall wellbeing (Chan & Hurst, 2022; Craddock et al., 2023; Spratt, 2024). However, the casting of Cynthia Erivo – a Black Woman – as Elphaba adds a different layer of authenticity and resonance to the film's message. 

Representation of People of Colour in the media plays an important role in fostering positive body image and reducing negative body image amongst People of Colour. However, it is important that these representations are authentic, rather than tokenistic or whitewashed (see Mishra et al., 2023). Erivo has spoken about the intentional curation of Elphaba's look including her microbraided wig, as a way to infuse her cultural identity into the character and as a nod to Black women. This choice is particularly important given the significance of hair in shaping beauty concepts within Black communities (Awad et al., 2015). Yet, despite Elphaba's humanity in Part 1 (i.e., the 2024 film), she is ultimately the Wicked Witch of the West. This raises questions about whether this cultural alignment could inadvertently uphold negative stereotypes about People of Colour (McWorther, 2019) and reinforce white supremacy in defining who is beautiful and by extension, who is deemed good.

In recent years, body image research has increasingly recognised the influence of white supremacy within existing literature (Landor et al., 2024). Similarly, media outputs – including films, television programmes and animations – have historically and contemporarily contributed to perpetuating white supremacy by dictating what is beautiful, what is acceptable, and what makes one popular. The film's musical number Popular and its corresponding scene reflects this dynamic, as it suggests the need for Elphaba to engage in a makeover to transform her old (unacceptable) self into an 'improved', more 'popular' self, guided by Glinda, whose expertise relies on her (white) identity and privilege.

Research in the early 2000s on social class and reality television makeover programmes (e.g., Wood & Skeggs, 2008) highlights the way ideals are conveyed to audiences through legitimising discourses perpetuated by the media; the Popular scene does exactly that. It suggests that Elphaba's lack of cultural capital (i.e., cultural knowledge derived based on one's socialisation; Bourdieu, 1984) can only be addressed through Glinda's superior (racialised) cultural capital. 

Bourdieu also suggests that symbolic capital is cultural capital that is legitimised; in this case, Glinda (the Good Witch) holds symbolic capital that is legitimised through her white-ness (or rather, good-ness). Glinda's symbolic capital again can be seen in the OzDust dance scene, where Elphaba's authentic self-expression is mocked. However, Glinda's performance of the exact same dance moves 'legitimised' Elphaba's dance; eventually, it is celebrated, with others imitating it and joining in. This inequality in power between Elphaba and Glinda, rooted in skin colour (and in 'race' in real life) is again seen at the end of the Popular scene where Glinda's superiority is reinforced, as she belted out the final line of the song Popular that Elphaba will not be 'quite as popular as me'. 

The Popular number also reinforces the 'transformation imperative' prevalent in our current postfeminist, neoliberal society, which frames appearance as a form of labour that women should want to engage in as a transformative growth process to live a good life and achieve their goals (Riley et al., 2022). One of the main ways to do this work is through consumerism, as portrayed by Glinda's extravagant suitcase-turn-wardrobe and dressing table. The film's wardrobe choices further perpetuate unattainable thin ideals for women –which are rooted in white-ness – given the need to fit (or cage) both of the main characters in corsets, possibly to create the visually ideal waist to hip ratio. Cynthia Erivo's impressive live-singing and acrobatics amplify this message, suggesting that women can achieve the most impossible feat, even in a corset. This perpetuates the illusion that relentless 'appearance work' toward achieving the thin ideal need not hinder women from reaching their goals, as long as they are willing to put in the work, thus shifting the responsibility to the individual. 

Since the release of the film, social media platforms have been flooded with videos of the cast's press tour. Whilst some individuals have voiced similar critiques on the films' portrayal of unrealistic appearance-related expectations for women, others have shared feelings of being represented and seen. As a researcher, I find it easy to empathise the critiques, as I, too, have analysed the film's complicity in perpetuating systemic inequalities; but as a Woman of Colour, I cannot deny the profound sense of empowerment I felt watching Elphaba's journey unfold on screen.

• Reviewed by Dr Jamie Chan, Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Brighton

References

Awad, G.H., Norwood, C., Taylor, D.S. et al. (2015). Beauty and body image concerns among African American college women. Journal of Black Psychology, 41(6), 540-564. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984145508

Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Harvard University Press.

Chan, J. & Hurst, M. (2022). South Asian women in the United Kingdom: The role of skin colour dissatisfaction in acculturation experiences and body dissatisfaction. Body Image, 42, 413-418. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.07.007

Craddock, N., Gentili, C., Phoenix, A. et al. (2023). Investigating the role of perceived ingroup and outgroup colourism on body image and wellbeing among Black, Asian, and other racialised/ethnic minority groups living in the UK. Body Image, 46, 246-255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.06.010

Landor, A.M., Winter, V.L.R., Thurston, I.B. et al. (2024). The Sociostructural-Intersectional Body Image (SIBI) framework: Understanding the impact of white supremacy in body image research and practice. Body Image, 48, 101674. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.101674

McWhorter, C. (2021). Black hair in the media: Racial portrayals are more than skin deep. Communication Teacher, 35(1), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1080/17404622.2020.1807033

Mishra, A., Craddock, N., Chan, J. et al. (2023). " You Can't Be Too Skinny. You Can't Be Too Fat. I Don't Know What You Are Supposed To Be.": A qualitative focus group study exploring body image experiences of South Asian women in the UK. Body Image, 46, 123-138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2023.05.005

Riley, S., Evans, A. & Robson, M. (2022). Postfeminism and body image. Taylor & Francis.

Spratt, T.J.R. (2024). Understanding light-skin privilege in relation to anti-Black racism: colourism, racism-induced stress and poor health outcomes amongst Black British women. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 47(10), 1941-1963. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2023.2252880

Wood, H. & Skeggs, B. (2008). Spectacular morality: 'Reality' television, individualisation and the remaking of the working class. In The media and social theory (pp. 191–207). Routledge.