Really interesting piece, Thank you. I have been fascinated by how stories told through books and films really embed ideas in cultures. I was very impressed by Sarah Churchwell's "The Wrath to Come" about "Gone with the Wind" and the massive influence that it had on how people thought about the Confederate South. It is important that we recognise the impact that myths can have. It is too easy to say "It is just a movie"or "just a story". As Daniel Willingham talks about stories as "psychologically privileged" and their reach is much wider than any academic texts. Your challenge to think a bit more deeply and to look more widely is timely. And well done for not being overly sanctimonious about it. We can still enjoy the movie. Happy New Year
David, Thank you. The idea of stories as 'psychological privileged' (to quote Willingham) is really important, I think. Great quote. Someone else today used the phrase 'the glamourisation of children's trauma'. That raises the questions of what we choose to tell stories about [which raises the question of who the 'we' is]. Harari's latest book Nexus is all about this, in a way -- about how our capacity for sharing minds and thus sharing stories literally changes the world. The trouble is we often don't see the stories we tell ourselves as stories. We see them as reality. Fierce Curiosity tries to get behind that. Thanks again. Suzanne
This is really interesting Suzanne. If you’ve seen the musical you’ll know that the character of Glinda is far more ambiguous- you’re never quite sure if she escapes the grooming, so perhaps not such a feel good story after all. Certainly the wider cast of the Wicked universe collude with the abusive dynamic. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Part 2!!
Ah, Ruth. You raise such a fascinating point about Glinda. I think she is not straightforward even in the movie. Her character is duplicitous from the outset, speaking to the Munchkins -- either intentionally so or unconsciously so. That then raises questions about narcissism, which are massively relevant in today's society. And your question points to the idea that Glinda is herself subject to grooming. Great points. I do wonder how much thinking is going on out there, underneath the surface of the storyline, or if that level of thinking is getting lost. Thank you so much for commenting. Suzannne
In Zeedyk's analysis of Wicked, I encounter and experience her argument as "the collaboration between denial and enchantment" - how cultural narratives transform trauma into entertainment through collective wishful thinking. The boarding school, masquerading as Shiz University, becomes what Žižek (2008) terms "fetishistic disavowal" - acknowledging the institutional trauma while pretending not to see it. The trunk emerges as a potent symbol of childhood severance, exemplifying Phillips' (2012) "objects we use to make bearable what we cannot bear." Bear Grylls' (2022)question - "What part of nature thinks this is a good idea?" - echoes Kierkegaard's concept of anxiety as premature freedom's dizziness. This anxiety finds its deepest expression in Fraser Harrison's (1990)confession: "I was frightened of losing their love by telling them how much I needed it" - capturing the perverse double-bind where authentic emotion must be sacrificed for parental love's fantasy. Wicked's narrative reveals deeper resonances. Elphaba's journey maps onto the hero's monomyth - from the call to adventure at Shiz, through supernatural aid (problematically via Madame Morrible), to crossing the threshold of magical awakening. The "belly of the whale" stage occurs within the boarding school structure itself, where Elphaba must metaphorically die to her old self through institutional initiation. When Elphaba sings "Defying Gravity," for me represents "the refusal of return" - simultaneously rejecting and embodying the institutional order's transformative promise. Yet Žižek (2008)would likely view this "girl power" ending as an ideology at its purest - the system recuperates criticism through empowerment while leaving fundamental structures of abuse untouched. The genius of Wicked lies in its use of archetypal patterns to make institutional trauma culturally legible while maintaining critical distance. It demonstrates how myth can serve both as balm and revelation - comforting while illuminating uncomfortable truths about power and childhood. Yet I strongly believe that at times, entertainment becomes "our most sophisticated form of self-deception" - through song and spectacle, we excuse ourselves from confronting trauma's ongoing reality in thousands of young lives…perhaps until we arrive at a juncture where the narratives that shape our cultural consciousness are met with transformative introspection, we remain ensnared in the fictions we have so skillfully constructed. These are the stories we are loath to relinquish, yet desperately in need of renegotiation. In this delicate interplay between awareness and myth, emerges a possibility—a seduction, if you will—of a reimagined perception steeped in both irony and necessity. So is the cultural myth the very fabric of ideology, demanding both critique and embrace? It is the ethereal veil through which institutional processes are not only encountered but performed—each interaction is an ethnographic encounter and thread, a part of the fabric of the absurdities and rituals that bind us. My own Substack and writing and research endeavours become wee acts of subversion, dialoguing with the very institutional structures they seek to understand, not as objective analyses but as subjective interventions. In this sense, until our awareness pierces through the persistent illusions—these myths that tell us who we are and who we must be—our encounters with institutional processes remain in a state of nascent becoming, forever negotiating the space between what is known and what is only just beginning to reveal itself. It’s a paradox of presence and distance, both a symptom and a solace in the perpetual drama of understanding that which undoes itself as it unfolds…I think for me Zeedykk’s article has somehow (made conscious)started the much-needed conversation on how and why we seek connectedness in a disconnected world…
Thank you for those links to the world of theory. The overlap with more general discussions doesn't happen enough. I might quote you on some of this. :). The absurdities that bind us are indeed sometimes really absurd. Thank you much. S
This article appears to be an attempt to marry the two worlds of boarding school trauma and Wicked by inference and coincidence rather than direct narrative or thematic parallels.
The real damage, as cited by Duffell, Schiaveren and everyone else you mention is caused by sending away pre-pubescent children to boarding school environments – not adults and not anyone of university age. Leaving home to go to university is a very different coming-of-age narrative.
Saying “we are witnessing the pressures faced by teenagers adjusting to boarding school” doesn’t actually make it so. The university element is made clear at several points, and at no point in any of the Wicked productions is it suggested we are in the real world.
You raise a lot of important points and touchstones about BSS but trying to marry this into the Wicked narrative doesn’t quite work – especially with Galinda. Many of her lines you cite are clearly supposed to be throwaway jokes.
The ‘four dynamics’ section is desperately thin. The section about parental separation you have literally illustrates the differences between a fantasy Oz continuation world and the reality of boarding school existence (as it was 30+ years ago - things have changed at least a little these days). Yet the next section wants to look at the similarities. You could make these random comparisons and inferences about any story where young people leave home.
I don’t want to minimise anything you’ve said here about the damage caused by boarding school, but Wicked existed as a minor book and then a successful stage production for more than a quarter of a century before this adaptation into a movie.
The book may be pre-Harry Potter, but the film is a production in a post-Potter film world (with all the panoply of trunks and Victorian boarding etc.) as the book and stage show were not. These are mostly surface decisions made by the producers and director – not the original author. (Also like Harry Potter, the characters also get magical assistance with their issues, which continually disrupts motivations and cause and effect).
The film story is also not the hugely successful and much loved stage story that is the reason the movie got made in the first place – it is massively padded out and chopped in half in order to please Hollywood money makers and squeeze another movie out of it. What is presented on the screen in this movie is not the full story of Wicked. Not sure why you skip over all of this.
Outcasting, bullying, trying to please parents et al are part of countless other coming-of-age narratives. You could make most of the same parallels with Mean Girls.
Wicked ultimately works because of its universality; we can all empathise and project onto Elphaba (at least), whereas real and painful boarding school narratives are almost by definition obtuse and hard to understand without being in that environment.
In short, I’m not sure this article ultimately does the subject many favours.
Lovely to see you online again after the holidays Suzanne.
This is great another example of you flipping the generalised narrative and creating #fiercrcuriosity where others only see the entertainment or façade.
I will go back to it and watch it again with a new lense. Happy New Year to you.
I am glad you think it brings such useful insights. I think it takes courage to see the 'flip' side you helpfully put it. The more people who find the courage to look closer, the better we take care of our children. Thanks for commenting. S
Really interesting piece, Thank you. I have been fascinated by how stories told through books and films really embed ideas in cultures. I was very impressed by Sarah Churchwell's "The Wrath to Come" about "Gone with the Wind" and the massive influence that it had on how people thought about the Confederate South. It is important that we recognise the impact that myths can have. It is too easy to say "It is just a movie"or "just a story". As Daniel Willingham talks about stories as "psychologically privileged" and their reach is much wider than any academic texts. Your challenge to think a bit more deeply and to look more widely is timely. And well done for not being overly sanctimonious about it. We can still enjoy the movie. Happy New Year
David, Thank you. The idea of stories as 'psychological privileged' (to quote Willingham) is really important, I think. Great quote. Someone else today used the phrase 'the glamourisation of children's trauma'. That raises the questions of what we choose to tell stories about [which raises the question of who the 'we' is]. Harari's latest book Nexus is all about this, in a way -- about how our capacity for sharing minds and thus sharing stories literally changes the world. The trouble is we often don't see the stories we tell ourselves as stories. We see them as reality. Fierce Curiosity tries to get behind that. Thanks again. Suzanne
This is really interesting Suzanne. If you’ve seen the musical you’ll know that the character of Glinda is far more ambiguous- you’re never quite sure if she escapes the grooming, so perhaps not such a feel good story after all. Certainly the wider cast of the Wicked universe collude with the abusive dynamic. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Part 2!!
Ah, Ruth. You raise such a fascinating point about Glinda. I think she is not straightforward even in the movie. Her character is duplicitous from the outset, speaking to the Munchkins -- either intentionally so or unconsciously so. That then raises questions about narcissism, which are massively relevant in today's society. And your question points to the idea that Glinda is herself subject to grooming. Great points. I do wonder how much thinking is going on out there, underneath the surface of the storyline, or if that level of thinking is getting lost. Thank you so much for commenting. Suzannne
In Zeedyk's analysis of Wicked, I encounter and experience her argument as "the collaboration between denial and enchantment" - how cultural narratives transform trauma into entertainment through collective wishful thinking. The boarding school, masquerading as Shiz University, becomes what Žižek (2008) terms "fetishistic disavowal" - acknowledging the institutional trauma while pretending not to see it. The trunk emerges as a potent symbol of childhood severance, exemplifying Phillips' (2012) "objects we use to make bearable what we cannot bear." Bear Grylls' (2022)question - "What part of nature thinks this is a good idea?" - echoes Kierkegaard's concept of anxiety as premature freedom's dizziness. This anxiety finds its deepest expression in Fraser Harrison's (1990)confession: "I was frightened of losing their love by telling them how much I needed it" - capturing the perverse double-bind where authentic emotion must be sacrificed for parental love's fantasy. Wicked's narrative reveals deeper resonances. Elphaba's journey maps onto the hero's monomyth - from the call to adventure at Shiz, through supernatural aid (problematically via Madame Morrible), to crossing the threshold of magical awakening. The "belly of the whale" stage occurs within the boarding school structure itself, where Elphaba must metaphorically die to her old self through institutional initiation. When Elphaba sings "Defying Gravity," for me represents "the refusal of return" - simultaneously rejecting and embodying the institutional order's transformative promise. Yet Žižek (2008)would likely view this "girl power" ending as an ideology at its purest - the system recuperates criticism through empowerment while leaving fundamental structures of abuse untouched. The genius of Wicked lies in its use of archetypal patterns to make institutional trauma culturally legible while maintaining critical distance. It demonstrates how myth can serve both as balm and revelation - comforting while illuminating uncomfortable truths about power and childhood. Yet I strongly believe that at times, entertainment becomes "our most sophisticated form of self-deception" - through song and spectacle, we excuse ourselves from confronting trauma's ongoing reality in thousands of young lives…perhaps until we arrive at a juncture where the narratives that shape our cultural consciousness are met with transformative introspection, we remain ensnared in the fictions we have so skillfully constructed. These are the stories we are loath to relinquish, yet desperately in need of renegotiation. In this delicate interplay between awareness and myth, emerges a possibility—a seduction, if you will—of a reimagined perception steeped in both irony and necessity. So is the cultural myth the very fabric of ideology, demanding both critique and embrace? It is the ethereal veil through which institutional processes are not only encountered but performed—each interaction is an ethnographic encounter and thread, a part of the fabric of the absurdities and rituals that bind us. My own Substack and writing and research endeavours become wee acts of subversion, dialoguing with the very institutional structures they seek to understand, not as objective analyses but as subjective interventions. In this sense, until our awareness pierces through the persistent illusions—these myths that tell us who we are and who we must be—our encounters with institutional processes remain in a state of nascent becoming, forever negotiating the space between what is known and what is only just beginning to reveal itself. It’s a paradox of presence and distance, both a symptom and a solace in the perpetual drama of understanding that which undoes itself as it unfolds…I think for me Zeedykk’s article has somehow (made conscious)started the much-needed conversation on how and why we seek connectedness in a disconnected world…
Thank you for those links to the world of theory. The overlap with more general discussions doesn't happen enough. I might quote you on some of this. :). The absurdities that bind us are indeed sometimes really absurd. Thank you much. S
This article appears to be an attempt to marry the two worlds of boarding school trauma and Wicked by inference and coincidence rather than direct narrative or thematic parallels.
The real damage, as cited by Duffell, Schiaveren and everyone else you mention is caused by sending away pre-pubescent children to boarding school environments – not adults and not anyone of university age. Leaving home to go to university is a very different coming-of-age narrative.
Saying “we are witnessing the pressures faced by teenagers adjusting to boarding school” doesn’t actually make it so. The university element is made clear at several points, and at no point in any of the Wicked productions is it suggested we are in the real world.
You raise a lot of important points and touchstones about BSS but trying to marry this into the Wicked narrative doesn’t quite work – especially with Galinda. Many of her lines you cite are clearly supposed to be throwaway jokes.
The ‘four dynamics’ section is desperately thin. The section about parental separation you have literally illustrates the differences between a fantasy Oz continuation world and the reality of boarding school existence (as it was 30+ years ago - things have changed at least a little these days). Yet the next section wants to look at the similarities. You could make these random comparisons and inferences about any story where young people leave home.
I don’t want to minimise anything you’ve said here about the damage caused by boarding school, but Wicked existed as a minor book and then a successful stage production for more than a quarter of a century before this adaptation into a movie.
The book may be pre-Harry Potter, but the film is a production in a post-Potter film world (with all the panoply of trunks and Victorian boarding etc.) as the book and stage show were not. These are mostly surface decisions made by the producers and director – not the original author. (Also like Harry Potter, the characters also get magical assistance with their issues, which continually disrupts motivations and cause and effect).
The film story is also not the hugely successful and much loved stage story that is the reason the movie got made in the first place – it is massively padded out and chopped in half in order to please Hollywood money makers and squeeze another movie out of it. What is presented on the screen in this movie is not the full story of Wicked. Not sure why you skip over all of this.
Outcasting, bullying, trying to please parents et al are part of countless other coming-of-age narratives. You could make most of the same parallels with Mean Girls.
Wicked ultimately works because of its universality; we can all empathise and project onto Elphaba (at least), whereas real and painful boarding school narratives are almost by definition obtuse and hard to understand without being in that environment.
In short, I’m not sure this article ultimately does the subject many favours.
Lovely to see you online again after the holidays Suzanne.
This is great another example of you flipping the generalised narrative and creating #fiercrcuriosity where others only see the entertainment or façade.
I will go back to it and watch it again with a new lense. Happy New Year to you.
I am glad you think it brings such useful insights. I think it takes courage to see the 'flip' side you helpfully put it. The more people who find the courage to look closer, the better we take care of our children. Thanks for commenting. S