Great shrieking clams, we’ve got us a brand-new series for you all! Oh yes we do, oh yes we do! Mike and I were thinking (a rare and dangerous occurrence) and we figured why should WE do all the work picking out movies like a couple of chumps, when we can ask you, our erudite, well-coifed, and splendidly handsome listeners for your suggestions! Which brings us to our series “Remember! YOU Asked For It!” We’re booting off this series with a suggestion from our resident scholar Adam Mark, a movie that is still in theaters (and, judging from the audience reactions, will be for some time): “Wicked.” Sadly, this has nothing to do with the Boston dialect (which is wicked disappointing, pally) but rather an unusual take on the classic story “The Wizard of Oz” focused rather on the so-called Wicked Witch of the West, aka Elphaba, just a soul whose intentions are good; oh, Oz, please don’t let her be misunderstood . . . ok, enough song references, sorry. This is a movie based on a stage musical based (VERY loosely) on a book. So what did we think? Did it carry us somewhere over the rainbow or did we feel it was flying monkey poop? Give a listen and find out!
Poll question: Do you like your villains simply villainous or do you prefer them deeply examined, with backstory and such? Answer in the comments or call our evil lair and leave a message at call us at 617-398-7266.
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I think Wicked might have been one of the first “understand the bad guy” stories to reach a large audience and it really didn’t and still doesn’t interest me. Characters like Magneto have a sympathetic back story I think works, mostly because its part of his origin and isn’t totally retconned. Malificent was much better as a someone willing to kill a baby because she didn’t get a party invite than whatever that horrible movie about her back story was supposed to be. There can be nuance but throwing it in decades later to make money from an old franchise is just gross to me. Now it seems to be everywhere and just isn’t good storytelling as a rule.
I have problems with this kind of storytelling, too. In a way, “Wicked” is just re-hashing someone else’s work. That being said, sometimes these can make for interesting takes and this is a very popular show. It just wasn’t for me. I still think it’s well made. Thanks, Vince! Poll question answer? 😀