Film
5 lessons from ‘Wicked’ that remind you of the message about the 2024 election – and America in general
I’ll be honest — I have not desired to talk much about politics since November 6. It’s not that she doesn’t have lots to say, but like many black women who’re sounding the alarm about the state of the country, I now lean on Tricia Hersey’s philosophy that “the rest is resistance” and decided to prioritize my local communities and issues near home.
So imagine my surprise once I went to look at the movie “Wicked” to loosen up – as a complete novice who had no experience with the movie, book or Broadway show (apart from seeing the popular green face poster plastered in every single place when there was no I can afford a ticket) — and I discovered that the film had a political message embedded in two hours and 40 minutes of spectacular singing, dancing and acting by Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande and the entire forged.
It seems Gregory Maguire, writer of “Wicked” relies on, was inspired by political events from the late Nineteen Nineties and early Nineteen Nineties – including the Gulf War between Bush and Saddam Hussein, asking questions about how people characterize “good” and “evil” and how “others” are treated. Maguire wrote his adaptation based on Frank L. Baum’s famous film “The Wizard of Oz,” which also had political undertones. The political apple didn’t fall far from the tree.
McGuire did what the great Toni Morrison did he advised artists to accomplish that in difficult moments, saying: “There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no place for fear. We speak, we write, we use language” because “this is how civilizations heal.” It was a timely message that made sense in 2004, when Morrison had his epiphany following George W. Bush’s re-election victory, and it makes just as much sense in 2024, when the former president was re-elected, threatening to usher in a brand new level of “retribution.” ”, confusion and unrest in America.
Perhaps that is one of the key lessons we must always draw from the election: that history predictably repeats itself. In fact, the story is so predictable that a Broadway show like Wicked, which has been running for over 20 years, discusses the details of this 2024 political moment in such detail that you’d think the writers involved were individuals with the ability paranormal, not only the authors. .
That said, listed below are five of the many lessons from “Wicked” that felt like a political sermon as I sat in the theater and watched Elphaba and Glinda fly over our screens, warning us that “something bad” was happening in Oz… but in addition here on the home front .
(*5*)1. Just as certain books and knowledge were banned in Oz, Black history and other stories are banned or censored in order to rewrite our understanding of ourselves and our country
Wicked is all fun and games until things begin to get real in Oz, specifically when some of the professors, who’re real animals, are told they will now not teach certain classes. Dr. Dillamond, the goat, strives against all odds to teach his students, but even Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) discovers that she must meet in secret with other animals to freely discuss the truth.
“We, the animals, are now blamed for everything that goes wrong, forced to miss work and told to be silent,” he told the other animals.
Americans are observing in real time the ban on publishing books in libraries and schools, threatening librarians with dismissals and even arrests for allowing access to certain works. While some media outlets have labeled these examples “culture wars,” they’re proven signs of threats to democracy.
When AP African American History closes in Florida and classes on slavery portray enslaved Africans as benefiting from the skills they’re learning, it’s an actual try and keep people in the dark about what got here before so that they cannot connect with the present .
2. When individuals are offended, they appear for a scapegoat (no pun intended)
Throughout Wicked, we see Elphaba being feared because of the color of her skin – an ideal analogy for what Black people around the world undergo each day.
But Elphaba wasn’t the just one who faced ostracism because of her appearance. The animals and the top goat, Dr. Dillamond, got here to be seen as other individuals who didn’t need to be taught, let alone listened to, because they were of a distinct species.
This election cycle, now we have been bombarded with news of “invasions” and attacks on America attributable to illegal “aliens.” While experts agree that the U.S. immigration system is definitely broken, the dehumanization of immigrants and false claims that legal Haitian immigrants “eat pets” were intended to create a scapegoat for voters to get offended at.
Immigration has gone from being a lower-priority issue in public polls to a top-priority issue for a decade, and that didn’t occur by accident. The news and social media were used to create even greater concern about the border, making immigrants of color seem like our country’s biggest problem. Meanwhile, little was said about immigrants from European countries.
The “wicked” movie would have been much more on point if not less than one of the animals had been characterised as not smelling like these – because those other animals must have been sent back to the forest from which they got here!
3. True allies might be there for you; others all the time resort to privilege
Watching Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship transform throughout the film felt like watching a real friendship blossom. The once self-centered, wealthy and socially acceptable Glinda appeared to have developed an actual relationship with the green-skinned, micro-braided Elphaba – once she got over her own selfish motives, of course. Glinda even went up to now as to be seen with Elphaba in places where they might normally keep their distance – performative alliance where?!
But in the end (again, spoiler alert) the need for acceptance and the established order ultimately won out, and Glinda simply couldn’t rebel alongside Elphaba.
Similarly, at the height of the 2024 election, Black women voters appeared to have a tough time getting a powerful enough show of allyship from women with different tastes and beliefs, although all women were in the same boat on the post-Roe rollback of reproductive rights.
Much ado was made about the coalition of Black, (non-Black) Latino, Asian, and white progressive voters who had the power to place a Black woman in the White House in the event that they stuck together. Despite Harris’ efforts to win over white voters and her success in persuading college-educated white voters to support her, 53% of white voters still supported the other candidate.
For Harris, the percentage of non-Black Latina women was 58%, but still not a game-changing majority
Meanwhile, 92% of Black women who voted for Harris were left alone on the shelf with our capes, while many of our allies said they understood our common fight, but the price of eggs was the most significant thing and Trump’s racism and sexism just…t that’s it, to defy gravity.
4. The authorities want society to be distracted and preoccupied with trivial matters, so that there is no such thing as a room or energy for fighting
There is a scene in “Wicked” where the Wizard explains that he knows learn how to make people blissful and do what’s best for them: by simplifying their decisions and keeping them busy.
For the 2024 elections, now we have seen a serious break with the tradition of relying totally on traditional media to deliver fact-checked and accurate political news. Instead, partisan voices further dominated the conversation, with many individuals mindlessly consuming propaganda, memes, and podcasts produced by almost anyone (mostly unverified sources) based on whatever the algorithms presented to them.
One man even paid billions to own a literal algorithm, burying the platform often called Twitter and resurrecting it as “X”, then allowing it to be flooded with false information and radical hate speech.
At times, the political news was so controversial, ridiculous, and silly (did we actually need to read headlines about Arnold Palmer’s genitals and Vice President Harris’ race?) that many individuals ended up checking it out.
You would think this was by design.
5. As soon as the “other” demands his rights, he becomes public enemy primary.
One of the most striking scenes in Wicked comes when Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh) jumps on the speaker and condemns Elphaba – the very young woman she promised to mentor and look after – when Elphaba had something she wanted.
You can see the pain and look of betrayal on Elphaba’s face as regardless of what she does or says, she is portrayed as the enemy.
At this point, he has no alternative but to flee or accept his fate.
This sense of betrayal is something that black Americans, especially descendants of slavery in the United States, experience time and time again.
We felt it during the continued enslavement after the Emancipation Proclamation, the oppression during Reconstruction or during the civil rights movement, and now as we see DEI initiatives being rolled back, affirmative motion being overturned, and all the guarantees of the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter era evaporating into thin air. As politicians use the word “woke” against communities that have merely challenged America to maintain its guarantees, we’re greater than used to it.
Black Americans currently look as much as the Madam Morribles of America who call us “woke” and unpatriotic, and those that may look down on us or make us the butt of jokes – very like Elphaba did when she listened to her former mentor “sic the Flying ” monkeys at her, calling her an enemy.
Symbolism is what makes a personality like Elphaba and a story like “Wicked” so powerfully moving decade after decade, regardless of who dons the green face paint.
As I used to be leaving the cinema, the last lesson stuck with me the most.
Elphaba’s calmness, coupled with the public’s commitment to not understanding her and her decision to defy expectations of assimilation or conformity – moderately than standing up for higher principles – are reminders of the price of courage.
The cost is real, especially as 2025 approaches the inauguration of a president who has promised to punish those that stand in his way.
So many Black individuals who showed up in the 2024 elections, giving their all for the cause of freedom and democracy, know the cost of courage.
They now prioritize safety, survival and self-care, while others decide to stay and fight a distinct fight in the coming era.
Each alternative might be seen as defying gravity – an idea the legendary writer wrote about long before the characters in Wicked sang about it.
To quote Toni Morrison again:
“If you want to fly, you have to give up the shit that weighs you down.”
Of all of the film heroes you possibly can see this yr, none is like Pansy Marianne Jean-Baptiste “The hard truths of Mike Leigh.”
Pansy, a middle -aged woman in contemporary London, is disgusting from starting to finish. She spends days on visible pain, which releases all of the people round her, including her husband Curley (David Webber), her 20-year-old son Moses (Tuwaine Barrett) and most of the others he meets. Her venom can fall on a cashier in a supermarket or just a few with furniture that dare to place their feet on Osman. Heaven help a person who wants her automobile parking space.
For all Pansy is a test. He tests the patience and empathy of his family, identical to the viewer. She shouldn’t be an antihero, she is anti-all.
“The world is full of Pansys. People live in other people, “says Jean-Baptiste. “I often met people who were just enraged because you didn’t see them in the parking lot getting into space. Go: It can’t be just about me. How did you get angry at something so stupid? You don’t know what they are going or when they got there. “
“Hard Truths”, which can open throughout the country in cinemas on January 10, never provides any answers. Instead, it develops as a needed test examination, conducted by convincingly prickly Pansy Jean-Baptiste.
The performance was provided by Jean-Baptiste her best reviews since her last film with Leigh: “Secrets & Lies”, almost 30 years ago. For this film, Jean-Baptiste became the primary Black British actress nominated for an Oscar. Her performance in “Hard Truths” was just as well-known, winning one of the best actress from each New York film critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Three many years later, Jean-Baptiste could return to Oscars.
“You sat with Marianne a hundred years later before” secrets and lies “, in which she played a very intelligent young woman, and Marianne was moving in her life,” says Leigh. “We love each other because it’s very, very funny. So sitting with your ability to be real and deep, but also grotesque, the same shows me in the direction of possibilities. “
Creating a movie from Leigh, an 81-year-old humanistic master “Naked”, “Vera Drake” and “Mr. Tokarz,” It shouldn’t be a typical process. At the start there isn’t any script, only an invite.
“It was usually: let’s make a movie,” says Jean-Baptiste. “I don’t know anything, but let’s do it.”
Leigh pulls his characters and history from the months of rehearsals. In the case of “hard truths” they practiced for 3 months – a bit short for Leigh (six months have passed for “Secrets & Lies”), but extremely long for today’s film industry.
“You usually get on a set, it is:” UH, that is Ralph. He will play your husband. You will stand there, “says Jean-Baptiste.
In a way of trying, Leigh starts with the primary memory of the characters, after which develop their lives until the film. But there are parallel stories for other characters that require constant return and recontextalization. Meanwhile, costume designers and production designers are waiting for the brightness of what clothes and houses they need to create.
“All decisions regarding the character you can make, the actor makes them,” says Jean-Baptiste. “Each of the decisions that God makes someone’s life, makes it. So it’s like: he wants this job, so she submitted a request. The letter appears by post: unfortunately you do not understand it. “
Jean-Baptiste was a recent graduate of the Drama School, a classically trained and theater oriented when she starred in “Secret & Lies” from 1996. It was her breakthrough. Just a few years after this film, she moved to Los Angeles, where she had been acting in many various projects since then, including the tv series “Without a trace”, “Blindspot” and “Homecoming”. Asked if her cooperation with Leigh modified from “secrets and lies”, Jean-Baptiste said that many are the identical.
“Of course we’re much older,” he says with a smile. “I think we just slipped into him. He was milder. “
Part of what makes Jean-Baptiste’s performance so amazing is the way it is different than Pansy. Jean-Baptiste is charismatic, he often laughs and likes to throw himself into uncertain circumstances (similar to “hard truths”). Asked if she had anything to do with Pansy, she answers with amusing: “I hope not.”
“I have a sense of humor that not, although he is really fun,” says Jean-Baptiste. “I think I recognize this part of myself to the extent that I am in: I don’t want to live like that. I don’t want to be like that. “
But in Pansy, Jean-Baptiste recognized the people he knows, and a form of character that rarely does on film screens. “A difficult black woman, you don’t see it,” he says. “I don’t think I ever have.”
In “hard truths” the source of depression Pansa is uncertain, however the sense of oil from the past is tangible. When he speaks to the doctor, he sums up: “The heart of the case is my head.” Later, asked why she will be able to’t enjoy life, she replies: “I don’t know.” Jean-Baptiste, mapping the story of Pansa, has several theories about what has done her.
“She had many problems that remained dissatisfied and found mechanisms to deal with life,” says Jean-Baptiste. “I think that many people are unrecognized with things and just do it. Maybe he is one of them. “
“Fear” – he adds. “It was the fear I focused on the most. He attacks before anyone can attack her and thinks that everyone is attacking her. “
But the precise diagnosis of Pansy shouldn’t be the goal of “hard truths.” It’s about how her family and the surface world react to her. He may move everyone away, however it is obvious that he urgently needs something.
“I want someone so desperate to help Pansy,” says Jean-Baptiste. “I think it would be very convenient:” She has this mental illness or it’s incorrect with it. ” But it is more interesting that we do not really know, and she just hurts. “
“Hard Truths” eventually ends like a cliff, and Pansy and her family are stagnant. If Pansy is testing the boundaries of empathy that the audience can feel the figure, then then the moment of truth: does Pansy go to her husband or doesn’t wish to move? Jean-Baptiste desires to imagine her.
“I would like to think that she is going because I like her,” says Jean-Baptiste. “I like Pansy. I have to watch her. “
(Tagstotransate) @Ap
If you’re thinking that that over the past few years there was no noticeable difference in the variety of black directors, it’s not just your imagination. According to the brand new study by Annenberg USC inclusive initiativeThe needle barely moved for women and non-white directors in 2024.
Examination by examination Hollywood reporterHe stated that 13.4 percent of 112 directors in 2024 were by women, just one unit higher than 12.1 percent 2023.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Stacy L. Smith, the founding father of the initiative, said: “The film industry showed that he can increase the percentage of women’s directors and maintain this progress.”
She continued: “But there is a lot more space to improve. Directors still exceed the number much and rarely receive many possibilities behind the camera. Hollywood cannot be satisfied with the change that took place when it is still to be done. “
The study also showed that 5.3 percent of directors were women in color, in comparison with last yr’s 3.4 percent, as soon as 4 women in color directed projects.
What’s more, the study also showed that 24.1 percent of directors in 2024 were colourful people, only two units over 22.4 percent in 2023.
What increases the growing concerns about these statistics is that they continue to be drastically lower than in 2021, when the most important variety of coloured directors, 28.6 percent, was projects. According to the report, not one of the foremost studies released greater than ten films in line with Women of Color in almost twenty years. Thanks to seven films, Universal stays a studio that has released probably the most Women of Color films since 2007. Walt Disney is the second, with six movies of directors.
The next record used in the study was the reviews of critics. Looking on the criticism of the last twenty years, apart from last yr, the study showed that there was no significant difference in the outcomes of films directed by women and men. In addition, women in color often had a result higher than other demographic data.
“These discoveries clearly indicate that women in color bring skills and talents to movable crafts that cause high quality production,” said Smith, adding: “However, they still have the least opportunities to work behind the camera in the best films. It can only be said that talent and qualifications are not the basic basis for employing a decision. “
The report of the chairman of the director was issued when Hollywood is preparing to 82 Golden Globes, which might be broadcast live on Sunday, January 5, on CBS with Beverly Hills Hilton.
(Tagstotransate) Entertainment
New York (AP) – Apple TV+ He hopes that individuals will dents within the strategic Popcorn Reserve, revealing themselves to stream TV and films for free this weekend in what experts call a clever promotion.
The two -day offer this Saturday and Sunday goals to supply viewers with taste, which is behind Apple Paywall and get them, able to recover from USD 9.99 monthly within the USA
Michael D. Smith, professor of knowledge technology and public policy on the Carnegie Mellon University, said that the 2 -day window will not be too short to disregard it and will not be too long to satisfy all demand.
“This is not” I’ll allow you to watch it inside three or 4 days, week or several weeks, and perhaps you won’t subscribe next month, “he said. “This is:” I give you two days to discover my catalog. I hope you find something that you may get drunk. Maybe you’ll have time to get the first six episodes, but it’s so cool that you have to come back and you’ll be ready to subscribe to come back. “
While entertainment corporations often use promotion and discounts to lure recent customers, the Apple TV+pitch has no fishing, similar to entering personal data or bank card numbers. All you wish is Apple ID, which is free and which many individuals have had 99-percentage of songs from 99-percent.
What do you see for Paywall? Emmy’s victory “Ted Lasso” and “The Morning Show” and other faces similar to “Silo,” “Shrinking”, “briefing”, “bad sisters”, “Slow horses” “Reservation” and “presumably innocent”.
The movies include “Fly me to the moon”, “The Instigators”, “Spirited”, “Ghosted”, “Argy” Palmer, “Napoleon” and “Killers of the Flower Moon”.
Smith suspects that by the tip of the weekend Apple could have a lot of knowledge to sharpen his approach to recent customers and returning, like him. Apple will find, for instance, what species are hot, what shows how they attract viewers and the way long people spend watching.
Smith logs in to watch “Ted Lasso” along with his son, but in addition wants to envision “Severance” along with his daughter. Two days are probably not enough to watch each to the tip.
“It’s a bit like a shopping center, right? I have an anchor tenant. For me it’s “Ted Lasso”. This leads me to a shopping center. And when I am in the shopping center, I will wander and discover other things there. And they hope that these two days are not long enough to shop – he said. “I suppose (yes), it should repay.”
There is a few evidence that long eating windows don’t help streamers construct customers. Study 2020 Miguel Godinho de Matos and Pedro Ferreira Entertainment evaluation initiative In Carnegie, Mellon discovered that observing the overeating for several weeks reduces the likelihood after trying paid subscriptions.
The Apple weekend offer is clearly an try to shock the number. From October 2024, he had about 25 million subscribers, which makes him the eighth hottest streaming service by subscribers. Netflix, in No. 1, has 282.7 million.
“Apple TV+ has never really started, even though they have a series of really high quality television programs,” says “Bobby” Zhou, a business professor on the University of Maryland. “They try to offer a promotional period to allow a wider viewers base to try their content in the hope that some of them will be converted.”
Other streamers also offer offers, similar to a free 30-day hulu process, a 2-month-old Star plan or a three-month Peacock process for Samsung Galaxy owners. If viewers miss the Apple TV+ weekend offer, the streamer already has a free 7-day test promotion. It has many other offers, although the goal, Best Buy, Samsung and for buyers of Apple devices.
Jared NewmanTechnology journalist who publishes the newsletter Corder cutter every week, He said that the promotion appears to be a a part of a large Apple pressure to boost subscribers. Streamer has recently agreed to distribute through Amazon and there are signals that will want to experiment with the extent supported by promoting.
“They really have to raise their numbers and need more people on board regardless of the possible way,” he said. “It can only be another way to test water, who would gain access to their service if they did not have to pay for it.”
Zhou noticed that the industry has modified from individual paid downloads to unlimited access to subscribers and predicts the longer term with different levels of subscribers-let’s say, one free episode for individuals who aren’t subscribers and a full season for die-hard fans. Everything to get some noise.
“I think the battle between technological giants is about differentiation of content,” he said. “” How can I draw the eye of consumers? “Because attention is the most valuable resource of everyone. “
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