As any Wizard of Oz fan can tell you, the classic movie has a lot of iconic moments. There’s the songs, specifically “Over the Rainbow” but “Follow the Yellow Brick Road” also comes to mind, Dorothy clicking her heels, and the Wicked Witch melting just to name a few. But there is one moment that is equal parts humorous and unsettling and now, 86 years later, Wicked: For Good has given us the perfect response — and fans are absolutely loving it.
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In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch — perfectly played in the 1939 original film by Margaret Hamilton — has an absolutely iconic and, well, wicked laugh. It’s something that has become deeply associated with the character over the decades for its cartonishness but also it’s delightful evil. It’s truly one of the great moments in movie history. Wicked: For Good pays tribute to Hamilton’s performance with a very pointed nod to that laugh, but not in the way you might expect.
It’s Glinda, Not Elphaba Who Has a Wicked Laugh
In Wicked: For Good, Glinda (Arana Grande) and Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) end up in an altercation following the death of Elphaba’s sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode). Nessa is killed when a house is dropped on her (thanks to the machinations of Madame Morrible) and Glinda gives Nessa’s silver shoes to Dorothy, sending her off to the Wizard with the promise that he will help her get back home. Elphaba is furious about this and the two begin to fight. While the fight itself is hilarious — it gets physical but no one would really call it much of a brawl — it’s what Glinda does that sends audiences into fits of laughter.
At one point during the fight, Glinda mockingly busts out the Wicked Witch’s iconic cackle, complete with a dismissive hand gesture and follows it up with “Please. Where’d you get that?” In the moment, it’s Glinda calling out Elphaba for having a fake “evil” laugh, but it also serves to honor Hamilton’s performance from the Wizard of Oz. And fans love it. On social media, fans shared how theaters broke out in laughter when Glinda broke out the mock-cackle, with some claiming that the moment was the funniest in the entire film. Some even noted that Elphaba herself seemed amused — and truly, Elphaba appears to smirk a little after Glinda does the laugh.
Could Glinda’s Laugh Be a Call Back to Wicked As Well?
There is also another interesting read on the humorous moment Glinda mocks the Wicked Witch’s laugh in Wicked: For Good. A few fans have observed that Glinda laughing in that moment is, quite literally Elphaba making her laugh — something Glinda directly tells her not to do in the song “Popular” in the first movie. As fans will recall, during that sequence, Glinda is instructing Elphaba on the real way to get ahead in Oz — popularity. She asks if the great communicators had brains or not and before Elphaba can answer, she cuts her off and says “don’t make me laugh” then asserts that they were popular.
Given that, in Wicked: For Good, the two women are in a conflict where they are at odds at doing what is “brains” versus what is “popular” and with Elphaba choosing the brains part by trying to expose the Wizard’s lies, she is effectively making Glinda “laugh”. It’s certainly an interesting way to read the moment and adds an extra layer on what is also a really excellent way to tie Wicked: For Good to The Wizard of Oz.
Wicked: For Good is in theaters now.
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Image courtesy of Lucasfilm
