The new hit movie “Wicked” starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo in theaters November 2024, was a popular topic among the Armuchee High School students. Many of the students and teachers found it to be great while others not so much. Lilith Dew, senior at AHS, said “Wicked was a fun movie with lots of fun and exciting scenes.” She especially enjoyed the defying gravity scene with Cynthia Erivo, playing Elphaba, who set out on her own adventure enhancing her abilities as a witch. Dew said, “I love how she did not follow the standard or status quo. She just leaped out to do her own thing.”
Abby Drew Trotter, Junior, said, “Glinda is an inspiration to me as she is genuinely just so iconic as a person and I think she learned a lot from her experiences throughout the movie making her time at shiz a bit more valuable.” Abby Drew’s prom dress for the upcoming prom represents Glinda in many ways. Trotter believes that Glinda was a bit naive however, she learns a lot throughout the movie enhancing the plot as her time at shiz expires. Abby Drew has gone into theaters to watch the movie many times as she believes everyone should watch it so they can feel what she feels after watching it. Abby highly recommended watching before it’s too late.
Many of the Armuchee students felt as though the song defying gravity was their favorite in the movie. For example students, Jackson Pledger, Fallyn Hinkamper, Adalyn Smith, Thayne Dew, and Garrett Bourg all said that “Defying Gravity” was the best song in the popular movie. Many would agree with them however Mrs. Mowery enjoyed the song “Dancing Through Life”. She said, “I enjoyed what was taking place in the library.” She thought that it was well developed for the sake of the dancing and the choreography. She said, “it all looked very put together and clean with great choreography.”
There was a large controversy that took place about singing in the theaters. For Abby Drew Trotter it was completely okay because that is how she enjoys the movie. Meanwhile for Jackson Pleger it is completely uncalled for. Jackson said, “I was just trying to enjoy the movie with my family when all of a sudden people started singing the songs.” He did not appreciate not being able to hear the actual actors and actresses sing the songs. This caused him to leave the movie prior to the ending, he ended up revisiting to rewatch the movie. He said, “I was actually able to semi-enjoy the movie without being interrupted by the Wicked enthusiasts.”
The whole meaning of wicked was kind of a toss up for the Armuchee community. The meaning that was intended for Wicked was for it to be an allegory, “whether you were born wicked or did wickedness come upon you”. While for some students it was more about not fitting in. For Fallyn Hinkamper it was about stereotypes. She said, “I feel like it has real life relevance since it talks about how they wanted to execute the wickedness because it’s not what the stereotype suggests.” Fallyn made many great points, especially how she believes that Wicked made it incredibly clear that it’s okay to go and do your own thing. She discussed how no matter what we do as humans there are always going to be people who don’t agree with it, so might as well do what you desire. For The AHS students and teachers Wicked was definitely a controversial topic around the school.
