Annie, Dear Evan Hansen, Hairspray, and most recently, Wicked. Film adaptations of Broadway Musicals have become an integral part of the movie industry. Some may argue that these films take away an important part of the shows– being on Broadway, sitting in the audience, and watching actors perform live. While this is true, these movie musicals play an important role in bringing what was previously considered “high” culture to the masses, as well as, especially in the case of Wicked, giving more people access to storylines that feature diverse leads.
I still remember when my parents took my sisters and I to see Wicked on Broadway. I was 8 years old, and while I maybe didn’t understand all of the dialogue, I will never forget the feeling I had watching Elphaba and Glinda, the lead characters, sing and dance around the stage as they explored their beautiful and complicated relationship. As we left the theater, I asked my mom when we could come back. She explained to me that seeing a Broadway show is not cheap, and that I was lucky enough to have seen it once.
Later this week, the movie adaptation of Wicked will hit theaters around the country. Millions of people will see the film, including kids the same age as me when I saw it on Broadway. The experience will undoubtedly be different, especially for those who wait to watch the movie until it inevitably arrives on a streaming platform and can be viewed from home. German philosopher Walter Benjamin (1935) would identify this difference as the loss of “aura” that comes with mechanical reproduction, such as movies.
Benjamin (1936) defines aura as the “here and now of the artwork—its unique existence in a particular place” (p. 50). While Benjamin is mostly referring to viewing visual art in person, the concept of aura also applies to going to see a musical live– traveling to the theater and sitting in the audience to watch the show live in its original and unedited form. Benjamin further explains that aura “withers in the age of mechanical reproduction”(p. 51). The age of mechanical reproduction began with photography, and continues with the production and distribution of movies.
I agree with the notion that the aura, at least in Walter’s definition, of the musical is lost when it is transformed into a movie. That said, movie adaptations of musicals bring the work to audiences that may have otherwise not had the opportunity to see the show on Broadway. Ticket prices are often upwards of $100, not to mention the cost of traveling to and staying in New York (Statista, 2024). This high price and limited accessibility has traditionally made musicals a part of “high” culture, or culture “made by and for the world’s educated elite” (Zeisler, 2008).
On the other hand, movie tickets cost around $10, and Wicked will screen in theaters across the country and the world (Carollo, 2024). When it ends up on a streaming service, it will be free for users who already have a subscription. This transformation solidifies Wicked as a part of popular culture, or culture that has a mass audience (Zeisler, 2008).
Furthermore, bringing the Wicked storyline to screens across the globe has important implications for feminism, as well as Black feminism. Wicked features two strong female leads, one of them being played by a Black woman, as well as a storyline that is not centered around a romantic relationship. Additionally, the movie was written by a woman and directed by an Asian man. This fits well with Andi Zeisler’s (2008) definition of feminist pop culture: including more women and people of color both on-screen and in the production of pop culture (p. 20).
Moreover, the casting of Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba is connected to Moira Bailey’s (2021) discussion of “Misogynoir” and how to combat it. Bailey describes Misogynoir as the “ the uniquely co-constitutive racialized and sexist violence that befalls Black women” that has been perpetuated through pop culture (p. 1). She suggests that Black women can fight Misogynoir through digital alchemy, or shifting “our attention from the negative stereotypes in digital culture to the redefinition of representations Black women are creating” (p. 24).
Casting a Black woman in a role traditionally played by a white woman can be classified as “generative” digital alchemy, or creating a new kind of representation for Black women. There is nothing directly related to race in the original show, and Elphaba’s skin is always painted green, but the role of Elphaba has traditionally been played by a white woman on Broadway. Having a Black woman step into a strong female role that doesn’t enforce any racial stereotypes, furthermore that uniquely removes race as a focal point of the story, will certainly play a role in promoting a new representation that works against Misogynoir.
Ultimately, I agree with the notion that Wicked and other film adaptations of Broadway musicals take away from the aura of the shows. However, Wicked will likely be seen by millions of people around the world, and there is no way to measure the massive impact that it will have on the women, girls, and people of color who watch it, but it will certainly outweigh the cost of losing the show’s aura. I remember the effect that seeing two women on stage had on me, and, especially with the new casting of Elphaba, that will not be lost just because the show’s aura is.
References
Zeisler, A. (2008). Feminism and Pop Culture. Seal Press.
Bailey, M. (2021). Misogynoir Transformed. NYU Press.
Benjamin, W. (1936). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
Statista Research Department. (2024, June 27). Average paid admission at Broadway shows in New York, United States from 2007 to 2024, by category. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/198306/average-paid-admission-at-broadway-shows-since-2006/#:~:text=The%20average%20admission%20paid%20to,reaching%20around%20128.5%20U.S.%20dollars.
Carollo, L. (2024, September 11). Average ticket price at movie theaters in the United States in 1971, 2019 and 2022. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1400207/average-ticket-price-movie-theater-us/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20recent%20report,price%20has%20remained%20relatively%20stable.
Sophia Leong:
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are benefits to film adaptations of musicals. Broadway shows are expensive between the ticket prices and the experiences that come with it– such as going to a nice restaurant before the show. Film adaptations of musicals make something inherently “high” culture more accessible to the general public.
As someone who saw both the musical and the movie recently, I agree that the original aura of Wicked is lost; however, I do think that the film had aura in itself. The movie was anticipated for more than two decades by fans of the stage production. Sitting in the movie theater with the surround sound, a cinema screen, and next to fellow audience members was an incredible event. I remember being amazed by my proximity to the art (that I had looked forward to for a couple of years) that was happening in front of me.
According to John Storey, ideological forms (such as Wicked on Broadway and in movie theatres) are used to draw attention to a specific image of the world (Storey, 2009, p.4). Throughout the show, there are messages surrounding propaganda, bias, and prejudice. The use of posters and props during “No One Mourns the Wicked” and close ups of the actors’ reactions during “Dancing Through Life” in the Ozdust Ballroom are elements of the movie that conveyed the themes of the show clearly. From its very first scene, I found the Wicked movie to be incredibly successful in reinforcing the messages of the show, especially within audience members who may not have been very familiar with the stage production.