Wicked And The Politics of Revolution

Dec 5, 2025

13:02

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Is Glinda a centrist? Is Elphaba a revolutionary leader or did she fail? And how does the story of Elphaba and Glinda working together teach us some lessons for fighting fascism in a very unmagical place: present-day United States.

Francesca unpacks the political allegories in Wicked, beyond Oz’s anti-animal fascism, to look at how the allyship between Glinda and Elphaba mirrors characters within the Democratic Party.

Elphaba is a bit Bernie-esque, while Glinda is quite Kamala-coded.

But Elphaba and Glinda and also kind of remind us of revolutionary duos throughout history like MLK Jr. and Malcolm X, Gandhi and Nehru, or Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Changemakers who worked toward justice both inside and outside of their political systems, to bring change to their people. Who knows if they made change for the better, but they made change … for good ;)

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