Fr. Mike Schmitz, of Ascension’s Bible in a Year and Catechism in a Year podcasts, gave a review of Wicked, part one of the film adaptation of the Broadway production by the same name. Fr. Schmitz is becoming quite the film reviewer, with Fr. Stu and Cabrini under his belt, but this is the first time he is reviewing a purely fictional movie.
He begins by noting that many may find his opinions on Wicked to be a “hot take,” but this is due to his appreciation for the original book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum in 1900. He notes that the book expands the world farther than the movie did, even explaining the origins of the Tin Woodsman:
“He actually was, originally, a normal man … a woodcutter and he was in love with a munchkin maiden and this witch cursed his axe and it’s just this whole story…” Schmitz frantically tried to explain.
Before diving into his problems with Wicked, Fr. Schmitz makes a point of remarking on the many things he enjoyed about the movie. These included: the cleverly written dialogue and lyrics, the talent of the singers and actors, and the exceptional visuals of the movie. He even notes that there are plot elements that he can appreciate, like the understanding that everyone is at a certain point in their own journey, and the virtue of standing up for justice.
Fr. Mike’s problem lies in that “there is a difference between explaining and explaining away,” our own flaws:
“We all have a story, we all have our journey, and there are reasons for the things we do. There’s something powerful and wise about trying to understand our story like ‘these are the reasons,’ but there’s also things like ‘these are my excuses.’”
He notes, in example, that if one were to say they had a short temper and legitimately examine the reasons why their temper was short on that day, this is a means of reflection that can lead to growth. On the other hand, if the reasons listed are more formative – like “I was bullied when I was younger,” or “I’m Irish,” – these are explanations that “explain away” the flaw.
The former is an attempt at understanding and growing, while the latter is an excuse that is not meant to lead to change, but rather to be used to prevent the necessity of change.
Just perspective?
Another, possibly greater, problem Fr. Schmitz has is that the story presents the distinction between good and evil as a matter of perspective. The story shows that the Wicked Witch is not really bad, she’s just marginalized, and the Good Witch isn’t actually good, she’s just popular.
“If ‘bad’ is just misunderstood and ‘good’ is just popular, then you realize that there is no good and no evil. And yet L. Frank Baums’ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a story of people, good and evil, of vice and virtue. There’s a real right and a real wrong. To rewrite a story where that’s not the case, I think is wrong.”
He explained that this is an example of “retconning” which is to take a story – usually written by someone else – and change the original characters or plot to suit the retconning writer’s fancy. It is glorified fanfic that often does a disservice to the greater intellectual property.
“You can do that if you invented the characters. You can do that if you invented the story, but to take someone else’s story and say ‘what if,’ I think is unjust.”
