Wicked Wisdom: Do You Need to Know the Classics to Enjoy the Movie?

Wicked has had many variations, but I never got the chance to unwrap myself in its world of wickedness, so when the opportunity to see the movie came, I was a little nervous that I was too ignorant to see it. I asked around and many other people I spoke with had the same mindset as me. So, I decided to take the opportunity to watch the movies and give my opinion as someone who had never even heard of Wicked until this year. Now some questions that crossed my mind before seeing this movie were: “What is Wicked and what is it about? Why are people sobbing in the interviews? Is it sad or heavy on heart? Is there anything that you need to see before the movie… Like watching the Wizard of Oz?”

Wicked, the classic Wizard of Oz tale, is told in the perspective of the movie’s two main witches: Glinda, the Good Witch, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. This musical takes place both before and during the Wizard of Oz‘s timeline. Wicked came out in 1995 as a book series. In 2003, it became a musical. Throughout the years, this musical has had many forms and now there is a feature film added to the pile, Wicked, which debuted in November 2024, starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

Wicked is the story of the Wizard of Oz that dives into the backstories of the witches of Oz. I will say that there really isn’t anything you need to know prior to watching the movie. People wondered why Ariana and Cynthia were very emotional and tended to cry during the interviews for the film. Many who were unfamiliar with the movie wondered if that meant Wicked is a sad or heartwarming movie. As someone who went into the movie believing this too, I noticed that while it’s a generally heartwarming movie, it’s not a super sad movie. What makes the movie sad is the background of one of the actors starring in the movie. Ariana has expressed many times that she loves Wicked and always wanted to play Glinda. During a panel at the film’s November 10th premiere party, Ariana was asked how badly she wanted the role, and she responded, “If it hadn’t happened, I might have ended up in an insane asylum.” While she said this in a clearly joking manner, it really shows how badly she wanted this part. This is what is overall pushing these interviews to be emotional for Ariana: her dream is finally coming true. So for her to be playing the role makes her emotional knowing that she’s lucky enough to have this amazing role.

To see Wicked, there is generally no background information needed to enjoy the movie. But watching the Wizard of Oz beforehand will help you understand Wicked: For Good, the movie’s part two coming in 2025. In general, the movie is good and helps further explore the world of Oz. When watching the movie I noticed that it’s simple and explanatory. While I only saw the first part of Wicked, I can say full heartedly that the movie was overall great and easy for me to understand. I think that if any of you were to watch the movie, you would most definitely understand me and my newfound love for Wicked.