Wicked Has an Ableism Problem

People are so cruel , how can somebody get online and make somebody feel bad for being disabled … I just want to know what hatred they have on their heart… another disabled character that got a bit of hate is Viktor from arcane and that made me so incredibly sad when people made fun of him for walking again, it just made me so sad because I love his character and he’s my favorite how are people so cruel💔

SPOILER!!!!!!! In the stage show Nessarose actually walks in the second act. A little difficult to cast an actual
Paraplegic when she needs to walk on stage

Yes the whole fixing Nessa is problematic in the ableist vein, we shall see how they change it. Because Nessa walking ties in to the magic shoes.
Movie is different in that they can use all kinds of special effects to show Nessa walking. It is far harder to do that on stage which is probably why they did not have a wheel chair user i. The stage show

As a fan of wicked I’m excited to see what they do with Nessa’s walking in the second half if they include it. Since it’s down to the magic slippers it’d be interesting if they took almost a horror aspect and made her walking look stiff and possibly puppet like or uncanny because her legs are being animated by magic.

Still haven't seen the movie. But I love the book and the musical (seen 3x😍) (those who haven't read, Nessarose is a spoiled, pretentious berch. Dad preferred Nassarose, and loved Nessie. And it shows by her actions and snotty attitude. Hate her in the book. Why she was minimalised in the musical

Im worried

I want my disabilities to be fixed and I'm disappointed by the way you spoke about people like me in this video.

I'd watch the musical 20,000 before I ever think about watching the movie. No thanks. Not interested in Ariana and her wife dumper boyfriend, don't care about the Elphaba actress even if she's super talented

I like to think of the enchanted shoes as the ultimate mobility aid. However, I think the "fixed" lyrics that Nessarose sings is comparable to the Act 1 offers to "fix" Elphaba's green skin. Just as Elphaba's skin didn't need to be "fixed," Nessarose wasn't "fixed" but rather the shoes were enchanted. This take, though, is after a great deal of familiarity with all the Wicked material.

Ugh this is why I don't have tiktok. It feels like being in high school all over again along with the cesspool of awful people.

I stopped watching at the Act 2 spoiler since I haven’t seen the stage play, but I just want to commend you for making this video. I’m Autistic too, and while I don’t know what it’s like to need to use a wheelchair, I certainly have experienced similar types of ignorant jokes and online abuse.

I do agree that, typically, it’s better to have characters with disabilities or autism to be played by actors in similar situations. I don’t think that, by definition, it’s ALWAYS bad when a physically typical or neurotypical person plays someone who isn’t—the movie Adam changed my life for its accurate depiction of autism despite Hugh Dancy not being Autistic—but you certainly do run the risk of harming our communities if it’s not done tastefully. Also, in most cases, as long as they are good actors, it helps the dismal employment rates for disabled people to let them play these characters.

Also, Wicked was a brilliant piece of filmmaking, with excellent acting and singing all-around, including from this very talented young woman. 🥹. Can’t wait for part 2.

Subscribed, BTW.

Verbal abuse can be harmful. 'it's just a joke' is something a bully says.
I'm so traumatized by being mentally and emotionally beaten down by these 'jokes' I been denied by therapists for being too traumatized.

I've passed out a few times this year, because words can do harm. these "jokes" flood into a narrative of lies that disregard my feelings by assuming I should just get up and be cured... being ignored and mistreated and neglected because they think I just need to toughen up. I smh.
Ignoring the idea of killing myself, is an everyday battle inside, an everyday thing I rarely talk about. Hundreds of voices insulting me, thousands, is not simply ignored without damage.

As someone who used to have to use a wheelchair and now can walk most days, and if not I have to use a cane or bandages around my entire leg just to stand up, I do get the idea of 'disabled people dont want to be fixed'
It is a part of me and a part of a lot of people
But i do want to walk as i used to. I do want to be able to walk all day and not have any problems
Idk
Just a thought
Like i have migraines and i want them gone
I cant walk the way i used to and i want to

Wicked has a character in a wheelchair? So what's the ableism problem?

As someone who is surrounded by people in the range of disabled to People using mobility aides (myself included) I was. SO HAPPY and told all my freinds that the actresses were disabled and me and my partner like, sobbed. REPRESENTATION MATTERS!!!

I saw the show a decade ago and completely forgot the second act, the bit about Nessarose walking so that meant they couldn't cast someone who uses a wheelchair is a nasty reminder

MFer they've got Elphaba flying on wires, but they can't rig something up for a wheelchair user to walk? Absurd.

Side note, you should check out some of the old cover art for the books if you haven't already. Kind of a newspaper looking vibe to them.

Haven’t seen Act 2, but I do hope they stick close to the original plot point for
Nessa walking, but I’d like to see in such a way that Oz is being evil, where it is his opinion that it “must be fixed” and Nessa just wants to be accepted.

As long as it’s handled respectfully and poignantly, I’ll be happy though.

If you haven't started reading I'll warn you the book is very adult oriented and dense😅

Love the video put wpuld like to point put the lack of wheelchair using nessarose in the traditionak broadway musical is due to the fact that the charcter does walk later in the second act

for me as an autistic person, I am fine with people making disability jokes at comedy shows because they are known for being potentially offensive. it’s something you walk into consciously and thereby consent to. I am NOT fine with those jokes in comment sections, in schools, etc. there’s not any consent there and that’s where, in my opinion, it breaches away from comedy and into bullying. it’s the same way that with my close friends, I am okay with jokes about my own disability and they are okay with jokes about their disabilities. there’s a level of consent. either way, I appreciate your take and if we all share our opinions on it, we are more likely to come to a common consensus. education and consent are both key ❤

For a uni assignment, I rewrote Wicked (plotted and some song changes, not the whole thing) and Nessa standing always bothered me (I am disabled and will need a wheelchair in the future) and changed the plot that Nessa asked to be makde beautiful, rather than fixed. My professor loved that change, it takes such a Tiny switch to make it so much more inclusive!

I think that the scene should change, having Nessa gain the ability to walk in my opinion is disability erasure. I much prefer for her character to have a highly realistic take on disability and also maybe even have a plot point where instead of her no longer being disabled they should replace it with acceptance and understanding of her disability. Everyone who says otherwise is just ignorant.

If Nessa's actress is actually disabled... how will Nessa walk in the second movie? Because she does in the second act

I'm being genuine, I swear, I'm just confused

Edit: got to this part of the video, still confused, but if they changed it them makes sense

People are just becoming more and more soulless and careless if something isn't about them so they don't care. It's pathetic and it's ugly. No respect for anyone anymore.

The original book was full of sa and literally had a man saed by a tiger... I think changes to a source material can be good. Its not a big deal. People need to be respectful. This is so gross. I hope shes okay

"you're like me~"
(/spiderverse-autistic)

I feel like it's easier to be the person I want to be online so it scares me that what other people wanna be is Cruel

How are they going to do it in part 2 😅😅 isn’t she supposed to get a shoe to make her walk in the original story?

Could someone explain the Matt ryfe (I don’t know if that’s how you spell it) issue? Does he only make disabled jokes or make an uncomfortable amount of them? Because I do think that certain jokes that are technically discriminatory can be very funny in the right situation and context and more like, a joke about the absurdity of such discrimination, rather than a joke about the marginalised groups themselves. For example my friend makes jokes that are technically racist against black people but the punchline is that racism is absurd and stupid, and he only does this in our friend group where everyone is comfortable with it and knows he’s not serious. (He’s indian, for more context, so is everyone else in the friend group).

O. it's like the people who think as long as it's aimed at an awful person behaving badly that makes it justified to use whatever racist slurs come to mind...
Does that mean they think the problem is with that race?
Or people whose go-to response to a misogynist is to start insulting micro penises, re-focusing on that presumed body type of theirs as the disgusting thing that makes them unloveable...
Um I think that just makes you both bad people.
and it's an insult against everyone else who shares the innocent trait.
Better to just focus on criticizing what they're actually doing that's bad.
Dragging them for everything else is a distraction that mostly exposes your own petty prejudices.

Those of us in the blind/low vision community can relate as well (and yes, we can use technology and social media. Look at your own phones settings and you will find assistive technology for blind, low vision, and other disabilities if you don’t believe me). We constantly have to deal with comments like “I guess you didn’t see that coming“ and other old tired “jokes“ that are just thinly veiled bullying. Not to mention all the accusations of faking our blindness that many of us get if we don’t happen to fit the media induced stereotype of what someone with a vision impairment is supposed to look like, act like etc. in fact, it seems like the blind and low vision get the least amount of representation in the media, and when there is, it is usually a complete stereotype, and hardly ever played by an actual visually impaired actor.

The idea that an ambulatory wheelchair user can’t be on Broadway pisses me tf off as an ambulatory wheelchair user who did theater for a long time. It’s entirely dependent on the person and for me there were ABSOLUTELY ways to accommodate myself and make sure I was able to do performances.

The press tour drama starting all the way from this year was enough to put me off from this movie. And it just kept gettinng worse, further validating my choice.

I think it makes sense that Nessarose wouldn't walk in part 2. That's how it is in the book. Elphaba doesn't "cure" Nessarose of her disability with magic in the book like in the Broadway show.

I don't understand why people can't make a new thing with new characters and new stuff. We don't need to redo such old things all the time, we have to get creative.

I don't understand why the internet goes after the actors(and actresses) of bad(ly written) characters. They play a part, they don't even write the roles, they just act. This just keeps happening, Marissa is the latest in a long line but its extra awful that she's being attacked for her wheel chair on top of it.

A little off topic but the fact that this is how I found out that the actress for extraordinary attorney woo isn’t autistic is kinda sad cause I really related to her so much

doesn't nessarose stand up in the second part of the musical?

The actor who plays Nessa Rose does need to be able to walk in act two, so a wheelchair could not be ideal.

I can take a joke. What I won't take is hate disguised as a joke.

I understand why people would find it insulting that Nessa want to be cured of he disability. But in her case I believe it fits her arc perfectly. I mean, she is completely obsessed with Boq and believes that her being able to walk will make him love him even more. Is it really for her own ”gain” that she want Elphaba to fix her legs, like people seem to say.

13.35 condescending? Like how you said how it was cute how nessa's young actor probably looks up at the present day one? "Aww, they're physically disabled and still feel the things we do" ..kay