Reconstructrambles Wicked & The Acolyte
IMAO from what I've seen of both, Wicked does the ‘is good really good?/Is wicked really evil?’ question right, without the creepy, terf-like implications of the fascist-coded Sith being ‘good’ The Acolyte made. This retelling shows more and more clearly that the ‘wicked’ witch is only labeled as such by the truly evil and self-centered elements in power who want her either useful or dead. Which is so, so on-brand. I also personally find the relationship between the ‘good’ Glinda vs the ‘evil’ Elpheba more compelling than Acolyte’s Osha and Qimir. Elpheba and Glinda are not only front and center for the majority of their media but are representative of greater societal patterns. Glinda represents the white woman in society who makes empty gestures of allyship but ultimately betrays a true alliance for her own selfish power grab. Meanwhile Elpheba represents the Black woman, ultimately turning her back on those in power behind the current oppressiveness and for choosing freedom and equality she’s declared evil and hunted down to be killed. While we are introduced to Osha and Qimir’s characters and given some tantalizing background, IMAO their relationship falters. The transition from enemies to lovers feels too quick – though the creepy vibe at least comes through – and the symbolism I see is oddly patriarchal with Osha trading a psuedo-father for a psuedo-husband.
That said, ‘Wicked’ has more freedom to defy its canon than ‘The Acolyte’. ‘Wicked’ is a retelling, allowing for considerable divergence from the original whose author/producers have passed and I do believe its a public domain work. Meanwhile The Acolyte is bound by the chains of canon with a creator and producers still among the living and definitely not public domain. Add to that the original Wicked Witches weren’t saddled with the fascist ideology or iconography the Sith were, nor were the Wizard and Glinda given anti-fascist ideology as the Jedi were. The original Sith in the first movie blew up a planet to make a point. The original Wicked Witch gets murderously angry her sister was killed and her sister’s property given to her (inadvertent) killer. The Wizard all but orders Dorathy & co to become assassins in order to grant their wishes – imagine if Mace Windu ordered Anakin “kill the Sith Lord if you ever want to see Padme again” in RotS. ‘Wicked’ simply had an easier time addressing with the question of: are the good really good and the evil really evil.
