ipl-logo

The Theme Of Racial Prejudice In WICKED

3957 Words16 Pages

Racial Prejudice in WICKED: How is the theme of racial prejudice explored in Act One of the musical WICKED? The musical Wicked: The Untold Stories of the Witches of Oz was first performed on 10th June 2003 in New York City on Broadway. It was adapted, by Winnie Holzman and Steven Schwartz, from the 1995 book by Gregory Maguire (WICKED: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West), and follows the story of Elphaba a green-skinned girl who eventually becomes better known as the Wicked Witch of the West. The plot runs from before the start of the Wizard of Oz and then proceeds alongside it, finishing with the supposed death of the Wicked Witch. It re-tells Elphaba’s story and shows how her differences rendered her a scapegoat, allowing the government of Oz to turn the population against her when she hadn’t really done anything wrong. Elphaba’s differences and the people’s reaction to her are obvious symbols of racial prejudice. This is again seen through Doctor Dillamond, an Goat and professor of History at the university, who tells that the Animals in Oz are losing their rights and their powers of speech. This essay will explore racial prejudice in the musical WICKED, analysing the songs and scenes where Doctor Dillamond and Elphaba interact with the other characters in the production to show how the theme is conveyed. The musical opens with the song “No-one Mourns the Wicked” which announces the death of the Wicked Witch of the West, and the population’s joy at her

Show More
Related

  • Dorothy Must Die By Danielle Gaige Symbolism

    1167 Words  | 5 Pages

    The wicked explain to Amy she is the only one who can kill Dorothy. Along the way the magic, the characters, and the pressure change Amy. In “Dorothy Must Die” Danielle Paige illustrates symbolism by raising the stakes and building an on edge and sensitive mood. Danielle Paige uses “The Beast” as a symbol to raise the stakes for not only the characters

    Read More

  • Prejudice In To Kill A Mockingbird By Marie Lu

    724 Words  | 3 Pages

    Maya Angelo once stated, “Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future, and renders the present inaccessible”. Marie Lu uses this idea in Legend (Penguin Random House, 2013). Fifteen-year-olds, Day and June, are both seeking revenge against each other's wills. June wants revenge against Day for the murder of her brother. Day wants revenge against all government officials, like June.

    Read More

  • Essay On Blackface Minstrelsy

    704 Words  | 3 Pages

    Name: Tutor: Course: Date: Legacy of Blackface Minstrelsy In the 19th century, the history of American entertainment had one popular and peculiar form that was referred to as the blackface minstrel act. The act was supposedly an American indigenous act that was performed by artists who were black faces.

    Read More

  • Essay On Racism In Night Of The Living Dead

    977 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hordes of flesh eating murderers move slowly towards a defenseless white girl, she has nowhere to run, seemingly out of nowhere, a black man comes to the rescue as a white family ignores the obvious screams for help from the other side of a door. This exact situation occurs in the film Night of the Living Dead, and although he does everything he can, the main character, Ben, still ends up shot by the people that are supposed to protect him. Throughout the movie there is a prevalence of rebellion and aggression towards Ben due to nothing other than the color of his skin. Through the actions of Ben and those around him in their struggle for survival, racism is shown as an extremely prevalent issue. Mr. Cooper feels threatened by Ben which causes

    Read More

  • Racism In The Semplica Girl Diaries By George Saunders

    1536 Words  | 7 Pages

    Silent Racism George Saunders ' "The Semplica Girl Diaries", is written in the style of a diary in which the narrator of the diary is a lower middle-class father is just trying to make ends meet. The father seems to have good intentions by always putting his family 's happiness as his priority; however, the consequences of his actions never seem to be quite as good. One lucky day he happens to stumble upon a winning lottery ticket and as expected, he spends it on objects he believes will make his family happy. Yet in the end it turns out that winning the lottery was more of a curse than a blessing. One of the biggest purchases from his lottery money was four Semplica Girls, who essentially hung out in the lawn like pieces of decoration.

    Read More

  • Prejudice And Discrimination In Richard Wright's Black Boy

    3767 Words  | 16 Pages

    This chapter focuses on the depiction of prejudice, oppression and brutality in the novel under study. By analyzing the content of Black Boy we come to know about the different types of hardships and discrimination as experienced by the Richard Wright. 3.1 POVERTY AND HUNGER The text throws light on the neediness and the starvation as experienced by the black characters that are monetarily disempowered by the afflictions of racial segregation. The black population is deprived the right for equivalent work prospects.

    Read More

  • Comparing The Wizard Of Oz And Wicked: Broadway Musical

    1249 Words  | 5 Pages

    The Wizard of Oz and Wicked are both very successful and well-known broadway musicals. Both of these musicals are based off of the same story, but each give a slightly different meaning to it. While they are both based on a similar tale, these two broadway musicals have many characteristics that are similar and differ from each other. This paper will compare and contrast the characters, theme, and plot.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Prejudice In The Outsiders

    945 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Outsiders Final 5 Paragraph Essay S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders is a novel that follows a group of boys growing up in the 1960s who have to face prejudice and stereotypes on a daily basis. The author uses multiple examples of prejudice in the novel to demonstrate the destructive nature of prejudice on the characters in the story, such as fights between characters, friendships being torn apart, and people feeling ashamed of who they are and which social class they belong in. The first examples of prejudice shown in the novel are fights and hate between the two social classes. As a result of prejudice, many characters got into fights and there was a lot of hate between the two classes.

    Read More

  • Roll Of Thunder Hear My Cry Cassie Logan Quotes

    803 Words  | 4 Pages

    Cassie Logan, the central protagonist of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, has, all her life, been shown confidence, love, and pride in herself, her history, and, most importantly , her family. During this year, though she is only nine years old, Cassie is shown the real world of cruel racism and supposed white superiority. Many people treat blacks as if they are inferior to whites, such as Miss Crocker, the Night Men, and Lillian Jean Simms. These people have specifically impacted dark-skinned Cassie; they have tried to degrade her, and destroy her pride and confidence. Throughout my essay I will be discussing how the characters listed above have tried to reduce Cassie’s worth--only because of her skin color-- and if they have succeeded or not.

    Read More

  • Wicked Musical Analysis

    720 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wicked is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz based on a book by Winnie Holzman. The musical is told from the perspective of the witches of the Land of Oz. Wicked celebrated its tenth anniversary on Broadway on 30 October 2013. It is the 9th longest-Broadway show, surpassing Beauty and the Beast. A typical performance runs for approximately two hours and thirty minutes.

    Read More

  • Prejudice And Racism In Dorothy Field '

    371 Words  | 2 Pages

    The themes of the piece we most clearly wanted to communicate to the audience included racism, loss, bias, betrayal and revenge. I feel as though the ones we communicated most were certainly racism and loss. We showed racism in Dorothy Field's behaviour and actions towards Heiss Dun, the young German soldier who was not even old enough to be fighting in the war. One of the themes we could've emphasised more in these particular scenes was bias. Although it was clear that Dorothy was racist because she believed that the English were the protagonists and the Germans were the antagonists, we did not entirely use this opportunity to prove that the Germans were not always the bad ones apart from in Cavell's monologue when she said, 'The war has brought out the worst in all of us...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Racism In Aladdin

    1067 Words  | 5 Pages

    Disney’s portrayal of culture and race in their fairy-tale love stories had often led to backlash and criticism due to racist elements. It’s not a new concept the Disney films have poorly represented the experiences of people of color. As far as Disney Princesses are concerned, the women of color tend to be far less prominent than their Caucasian counterparts. The movie Aladdin (1992) showcases an Arabian princess Jasmine, the first women of color among the Disney princesses. They marketed the movie to people “of all races” devising “Brown” as a monolith to represent all Middle Eastern, South Asian, Black and Latin experiences, which obviously came with some heavy backlash as it shows negative stereotypical imagery and lyrics.

    Read More

  • Wizard Of Oz Genre Analysis

    2800 Words  | 12 Pages

    The use of stylistic techniques such as sound, both diegetic and nondiegetic and the way characters act in The Wizard of Oz, showcases the conventions of a musical fantasy. In the scene where Dorothy sang her solo of “Somewhere over the Rainbow” ” is interwoven in the narrative of the film to illustrate and her underlying intention to flee away from home without her having to put it across in words to the audience. The tune of the song is tweaked and reproduced with variances and used throughout the film to highlight pivotal moments in the film, lending familiarity to us, channelling the same kind of hopefulness that Dorothy is feeling. The rhythm of the song also complements the musical film which accentuates the development of the narrative (Study Guide).

    Read More

  • Racism In To Kill A Mockingbird

    921 Words  | 4 Pages

    What if the world was still the same as it was back during the great depression. What if this was the truth. In To Kill a Mockingbird readers can see how prejudice affected people of color back then, and how it’s not so different from today. In the novel readers will find unfairness in court, hate crimes, and segregation. Today readers can still find these same issues, but in different forms.

    Read More

  • Racism In The Play Fences

    702 Words  | 3 Pages

    The play Fences is a drama written by August Wilson who was one of six children and also dealt with opeesrrions and racism when he dropped out of school due the struggles of racism. The play Fences presents the character Troy Maxson a person who has faced racism and discrimanation throughout his life. The Pulitzer Prize winning play is set in 1957-1965, a time when African-Amercians where hopeful for a better life. In Fences, racism haunts Troy Maxon’s life past and present. The play brings the view of racism in the world through Tory Maxson, family and friends.

    Read More

More about The Theme Of Racial Prejudice In WICKED

Open Document