Villains Profile: The Wizard

Today, we complete our look at adaptions of Baum’s world of Oz and its villains.  Wicked in many ways birthed a trend for good or ill, the villain origin story.  Many have tried to copy this from Disney with Maleficent and Cruella to the Sony Spider-Man universe that is without a Spider-Man.  Some of these work better than others, notably I enjoy Cruella but Wicked is on a whole other level.  Considering that this originated what people perceive as the villain origin story.

Now when the original book written by Gregory Maguire was released, the idea was to present it a biography detailing the life and times of the Wicked Witch and ask what makes someone evil.  In many regards, writing a story from the perspective of a well known villain is tricky. With the original Wicked Witch as I stated in that entry, she was a bit of a simple character.  So, this works and it can make sense as you’d be able to get people to root for her.  Despite my saying I enjoyed Cruella,  knowing the original wanted to skin puppies makes that something of an uphill battle.

 

This also comes to the second issue with these stories where we view villains in a new light.  Who is the antagonist?  That is always something tricky and choosing the right antagonist is like walking a fine line. The Maleficent movie made Aurora’s father the villain, which is a bit of a baffling choice as he’s really a nothing character in that movie.   

Whereas with Wicked, they used The Wizard which makes sense as you can see him as a villain as they exaggerate his worst qualities.  Even in the book and the original movie which pulls heavily from, he is a con man.  Yes, he does  have a good heart but this movie asks what if he doesn’t have that good heart.  Instead of being seen as a beloved leader that so many Ozians see him as, he is more a benevolent and tyrannical ruler who wears the facade of being a fair and just leader.

It’s a cult of personality thing where The Wizard uses propaganda to make himself look good and better. (Insert political joke here).   One of the most prominent examples of propaganda he uses is the pop up book at the beginning of the movie that we see little Elphaba reading to her sister and how much as a child, Elphaba deified The Wizard.

 

Another huge example comes during the Wiz-O-Mania section with the added lore of how the Ozians view The Wizard as that hero worthy of worship.

Also we see this man has a giant ego and thinks of highly himself when Elphaba sings The Wizard and I.  There’s a giant bust of his face on or near Shiz University.  It’s almost like a one man Mount Rushmore.

  In some aspects, it’s almost comical but in others, it’s just so scary as it again speaks to the type of the power he has over Oz and how much his influence sways how the Ozians think.  In many regards, thanks to The Wizard, they think in a hive mind.   This is something that’ll be explored more in Wicked: For Good as Act II is much darker than Act I and John M. Chu has already confirmed that will be the case with the second movie.

First Appearance

In many ways,  we have three first appearances to look at.  First during the flashback where we find out Elphaba’s mother had an affair with The Wizard and he is why she has green skin thanks to her mother drinking his green elixir. Even at a young age, we see him as a con man.  He is very snake oily tricking Elphaba’s mother into drinking the elixir. In many ways, this can be viewed as him enabling and taking advantage of a victim.

 

We next see him in the traditional role with the giant head s Elphaba and Glinda greet him.  We see him use the giant head as a tactic to scare even more after Elphie takes the Grimmerie.  He says that he thought the giant head was too much but that is him playing a role and lying.  He knows it’s a tool that he can use to scare the Ozians and keep them in line.

 

Finally, we see him as a his true self when he emerges out from behind the head and here he attempts to play the role of a grandfather figure who truly cares for his subjects.  He uses the facade of a grandfather to get close to people to hurt them.

Personality

Again, everything about The Wizard is a facade even down to his personality.  As I mentioned, he uses the facade of a grandfather figure to lure and trap his victims into joining his side.  Yet as he knows and even he would admit, he’s a con man.  Even after Elphaba calls him out by saying

“You have no real power”

He doesn’t deny it but rather agrees and wants to use Elphaba to achieve his ultimate goal.  It takes a while before we see the ultimate nature of The Wizard as a tyrannical ruler when Elphaba steals the Grimmerie nod flies off with it.

Now the song, “Wonderful doesn’t appear until Act II and thus will not be heard until Wicked: For Good but the opening does sum up his desires.

I never asked for this

Or planned it in advance

I was merely blown here by the winds of chance

I never saw myself as a Solomon or Socrates

I knew who I was

One of your dime a dozen mediocrities

Before The Wizard arrived in Oz, he was just a guy but once he convinced the Ozians he could read the Grimmerie he had formed a cult of personality and eating his every word.  Consider his backstory during Wiz-O-Mania with the wonderful cameo by Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth is labeled as the “factual truth”. He tricks the Ozians into thinking he is magical by saying Omaha.   

This itself is a nod to Baum’s original text as The Wizard is from Omaha. Also if you pay attention to the way the Ozians speak, the words they use are just that close to our own yet different.  So, this makes sense how the Ozians could be tricked by hearing the word Omaha would sound foreign and magical to them.

We also need to talk about the fact that The Wizard is played by Jeff Goldblum and many times when you cast Jeff Goldblum, you get Jeff Goldblum and that is a bit of the case here s well.  Something I’ve felt with his characters whether it be Dr. Ian Malcolm or the Grandmaster is that his characters can exude a sense of sliminess and that is also the case with The Wizard.

Grand Desire

Considering we know that The Wizard has no real power as pointed out by Elphaba, this is the thing we have to consider as his ultimate desire.  He wants to hold onto his sense of power and this informs his sense of tyranny towards those that are different and how the Animals are treated as second class citizens.  This is an obvious commentary for how long minority groups have been oppressed.  This is something that must be considered when looking at the oppression, Stephen Schwartz who adapted the book is Jewish and has said time and again that Jewish upbringing informed how he approached the story.

And to go back to the original text, Gregory Maguire who wrote the book that the musical is based on is gay.  This is yet another group who have and still are facing oppression with those in charge wanting to erase us.  I could take this further and observe how Oz and LGTBQ history are interlinked in many ways and how gay men would refer themselves and others as a friend of Dorothy.

Going back to the idea of how The Wizard wants to hold onto power and strip the Animals of their rights, there are two huge ways we can see his heinous influence on the Ozians both in Dr. Dillamond’s classroom.  First when someone wrote “Animals should be seen and not heard”

This heinous act shows the influence of The Wizard on his supporters and how they are willing to put down they consider less than.  For people such as myself and many other minority groups, this is akin to seeing a red MAGA hat.  It sends the message that we aren’t  welcomed in that space and you do not consider us equal.

The second form of oppression that comes from The Wizard’s influence is seen with the Lion cub. And again spoilers, the Lion cub or Baby Lion as I call him is a child version of the Cowardly Lion.

We see Lion in a cage and how the new professor is going on about how the lion being in a cage means he will grow up domesticated and never learn to talk.   This is yet another example of how minorities are always treated unjustly.

There is one last thing I want to bring up regarding his obsession with power. This is something that came to me when I was building my Emerald City LEGO set. 

 

 

This movie gives the Yellow Brick Road a new meaning.   The Yellow Brick Road is perhaps the biggest piece of iconography attached to the Oz fairy tale. 

Yet, here in Wicked it hasn’t been built yet and it’s not hard to imagine that is driving Ozians mostly the Animals out of their homes as it’s being built.  We see The Wizard working on it in a scene that in many ways feels as though it was influenced by how Walt Disney would present new attractions on television with the uncle or grandfather exterior.  Yet, when you think about The Wizard is doing, the Yellow Brick Road represents a form of gentrification.   

 

We even hear as much when he says this line,

“All roads lead back to me”

Before the reveal, this seems like the line of a benevolent leader who will always do the best he can to help his citizens.  Yet, once we get to the reveal, this line becomes much more sinister and in many ways, Orwellian.  With all roads leading back to The Wizard, that means he is always watching and always observing every move of the Ozians.  And if you dare speak out against what is happening, you’ll either be disappeared like Dr. Dillamond or made into an enemy of the state like Elphaba.

Song

A Sentimental Man

This song is so interesting. If one was to listen to it without having watched the movie, they’d just hear a whimsical number but knowing what we know about The Wizard, this song takes on a new layer.  Is it a lie? Possibly. Is it the truth? Also a possibility,  I believe that The Wizard believes what he is selling in this song and that is why this song is so effective on Elphaba. Yet, at the same time I can’t help but think The Wizard knows he has to put on an act to please the audience around him. For all intents and purposes, he is a politician and politicians are the least trustworthy people in the world so they put on a false persona to try and impress the people they serve.

Second In Command

Madame Morrible

 

 

You’ll notice I worded this differently than I usually do and that is because Madame Morrible is just as capable as The Wizard. In many ways, I find her to be more menacing than The Wizard himself.  She also used the tactic of lying and manipulating Elphaba to get close to her to fulfill the wishes of The Wizard.  I don’t want to say too much about her here as I might do a full entry on her when the second part releases in November.

Most Evil Deed

Wicked does something fascinating in how it makes you feel sympathetic for the monkeys.  Think of how the monkeys in the 1939 movie were terrifying creatures that children feared. 

Yet here in Wicked, we see them as unwilling participants in a spell that Elphaba is coaxed into casting which causes them to grow wings.

 

 

The way this sequence is presented is straight up body horror and makes you scared of what is happening while also feeling bad for the monkeys.  If we look to real life history as it’s obvious that this movie and its politics are influenced by real life events. It’s known that Nazis preformed bodily surgeries against people’s wills.

Much like what we see here, The Wizard tricks Elphaba by saying Chistery, his head royal guard always dreamed of flying in the sky with the birds.  When in reality, he wants to use the monkeys as spies in the sky  report on any rebels that speak out against him.

This makes the ending so interesting as at first, we see the monkeys attacking Elphaba and Glinda. Yet at the end of Defying Gravity, the monkeys are flying with Elphaba.

 

 

Signifying that they have aligned themselves with her and will fight against the oppression of The Wizard. Yes, at first they are chasing her as they are threatened by Morrible that something bad will happen to them and their families if they don’t go after Elphaba but I think they align with Elphaba after realizing what The Wizard has done to them.   

Is The Wizard a Good Villain?

Perhaps, it isn’t fair to answer this question yet as we have only seen half the story but even with that, I would say that he is a great villain. In my opinion, he’s also the most realistic villain of the three Oz villains I’ve looked at.  He represents a realistic and more adult fear for being silenced by an oppressor because you dare to stand up for what is right.

 

This is seen by how Elphaba is vilified in the propaganda posters and the effigy that Glinda burns at the opening of the movie.   With his power, he is able to convince all of Oz with a form of group think that someone who was trying to stand up for what she believed in was the true villain. And the fact of the matter is that in a way, he won.  It’s a sad reality where sometimes evil wins (insert obvious reference here) no matter how hard we try to do the right thing.  It sucks but that is the truth of the matter, we can do the right thing time and again but evil can still win over good.

 

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