Wicked Birthdays & Gay Icons

On Friday, I had a birthday, and from now on, I will make my birthday an event like Barbenheimer and Glicket—one that extends over an entire weekend or even a whole week. As part of my gay weekend fantasy, I saw Wicked last night, and right before the Oscars, I fell in love with all the main characters in the movie. I realized the chance Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have with this movie, no matter how much I loved Demi Moore in The Substance.

I never knew that Wicked was about power. A long time ago, I think I saw The Wizard of Oz or some animation, I don't know, but this movie truly made me interested in seeing more of the story. When I connected the dots and realized that the animals teaching in the schools were actually the scientists and teachers of our world—who are being silenced little by little in the pursuit of power—the story became so relevant in my mind. Information is key, and from the start, I knew that Michelle Yeoh's character was somehow evil. No one uses their status in that demeanor and dismisses people like that unless there’s something wicked in them.

I also remembered something about the wizard behind the curtain, and I never saw anyone else doing magic except Michelle Yeoh. But she probably had some gadgets that controlled the weather, so I quickly connected what was going on. They needed Elphaba’s power. Her power was her choice to believe in that power, while all the people in Oz freely gave theirs to those in control—just like we do in our reality.

Different kinds of power are displayed in the movie, but two main themes permeate throughout: power is an illusion, and power lies in your choice. The monkeys Elphaba transformed were the fucking cops. And power also corrupts—so they were left without any and just became foot soldiers without a voice, like the entire animal kingdom. I loved that Elphaba stood on her own and realized she didn’t need Oz. She had everything already, and that gave her the ultimate boost.

So far, my two favorite scenes are, of course, the final performance of Defying Gravity and the one where she appears with the hat, and Glinda finally realizes she’s been acting like Regina George and flips on everyone. Speaking of everyone—they can suck it. That guy Boq, the carrot-top? I hate him. And you know who else can suck it? That hunky Jonathan Bailey. He was great in the role, so charismatic. The gays will love him.

Speaking of something the gays will love, I feel like a new icon has been born and now walks among us in the form of Sandra Hüller. After I watched The Zone of Interest and Anatomy of a Fall, I felt like I could watch every film with her. The other day, I saw Toni Erdmann, which is another crazy European movie that deeply touched me and made me fall in love with the story and the actress. The love-hate relationship between a distant father trying to reconnect with his daughter by inserting himself into her life in the most ridiculous way made me laugh out loud several times. The dry humor, the miles the actors went for that movie, and the sheer provocation of it—after spending time with those creations, just like in Wicked, I got to know them so well.

The father, played by Peter Simonischek, tries to loosen up his daughter from her heavy, stressful life. There’s one scene where Hüller sings Whitney Houston’s The Greatest Love of All in a Romanian home. The performance misses most of the right notes but hits all the ones that matter. You can’t help but fall in love with this stupid relationship in repair that the movie follows. I’d watch it again because, like everything Hüller is in, it’s special. She’s such an authentic and real actress, and her craft is just fluid—it gives her this power over our hearts.

Given that I turned 33, I also saw The Passion of the Christ a couple of weeks ago. Mel Gibson is not only great for tape recordings (which I’ve heard every one of and memorized the best of them, so whenever I go to a jacuzzi, I have something to say about it), but also an incredible movie director. But basically, the movie is just people beating Christ for two hours. His power is generated in different moments throughout, with the help of his unbreakable will and the solidarity and compassion of the people around him. It’s brutal. I almost became a believer because of it. Watch out.

I also saw The Monkey by Osgood Perkins, and I did some quick research on his personal life. Boy. I appreciated the movie because of the subject NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT. Why is death such a taboo? I want to get over it, and this movie made me tackle that trauma a little. I loved the message: WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE, and we never know when or how—but meanwhile, all we can do is smile and dance. And I love that.

No matter how boring parts of the movie became—especially in the middle when the film relied too much on the main actor, who didn’t carry it as well as I needed—there was still something there. Maybe a bigger movie star with more status could have brought the film to what it should have been. I also didn’t like the son of the main actor—meh, his acting was questionable. There’s one scene where he wakes up, and as someone who has pretended to sleep 1,000 times just to avoid being bothered, that was some clumsy-ass acting right there.

I loved the camp surrounding the subject of death, and I think She-Hulk redeemed herself. Tatiana Maslany’s acting and her dialogue with her kids made this movie special. I’m beginning to think that Stephen King’s work should only truly exists in my imagination, and maybe his stories should be left alone for a while.

Iliya Badev