[ wicked-film ] Start the themes section

Not a particularly cheerful start, but hey ho...

Author: CodingCellist

content/en/post/wicked-film-is-surprisingly-good/index.md

@@ -121,11 +121,56 @@ she can sing incredibly well!
 
 ## The Message Is Surprisingly Relevant
 
-* Wicked is a critique of power.
-* Lots of themes that could be interpreted in several ways. [SPOILERS AHEAD!]
+**:warning: THIS SECTION CONTAINS MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS :warning:**  
+I have no control over how your browser handles scrolling, so you may see the
+bottom of this section when clicking it, but here is a
+[link to the next section](#not-all-great).
+
+
+The overall message of the film was something I did not expect to be as relevant
+(if not _more_ relevant) now as it was when I saw it over 10 years ago, or when
+it was made roughly 20 years ago. The film's plot is effectively unchanged from
+the musical's, and yet it definitely resonates with several current topics.
+
+### A Critique of Power
+
+At its core, Wicked is a critique of power. Those who have control are shown to
+have been corrupted by it, wanting to use new and emerging powers to keep and
+entrench their current control, because they are out of ideas and things haven't
+magically fixed themselves just by them being in power. But they don't want to
+not be in power; it is quite nice to be at the top, making all the big
+decisions, and so they'd rather stay no matter the cost. I mean the Wizard
+literally says the quiet part out loud:
+
+> Back where I'm from, everyone knows the best way to bring people together...
+> is to give them a _real good_ enemy.
+
+It is difficult not to see the parallels with the current geopolitical
+tendencies towards isolationism and the rise of various flavours (in a worrying
+number of cases, extremes) of right-wing politics across the world.
+
+Elphaba also nicely highlights this by handing the Grimmory to the Wizard and
+asking him to read it. Only to, when he fails, conclude:
+
+> You can't read it, can you? You have no real power!...
+
+Which, to his credit, the Wizard immediately owns up to:
+
+> Exactly. And that's why I need you.
+
+The Wizard and the sorcery expert Madame Morrible _need_ someone who can
+actually exert the power they have been carefully creating an illusion of
+having. Because cracks are beginning to form in everyday well-being, and they
+know that finding a scapegoat to persecute is a very time-limited, short-term
+""solution"".
+
+### Being Different/Queer
+
 * Definitely has some sub-themes of queerness
   - To some extent makes sense: Friends of Dorothy, etc. (TODO: expand)
 
+### Racism, Xenophobia, and Persecution
+
 * Animals meeting in secret to discuss others going missing, being erased from
     educational history, etc. draws some links to black history as well as World
     War 2.