The Women of Wicked
Chinaza Iwe, Culture Section Editor, BA History & World Philosophies
Body positivity and inclusivity could be dying. But more likely it's dead and buried. 2025 seems to be the year of post woke culture. With the rise of Ozempic and Mounjaro and the health concerns related to the women of the Wicked cast, what on earth is going on?
Hollywood has always set impossible body image ideals, with the women being slim and toned and the men muscular and lean or actors with perfect skin and hair, playing teenagers. Hollywood has never been accurate in representing the masses but it may have gone too far. The women of the Wicked cast, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and Michelle Yeoh are all worryingly thin. And it all began with Wicked. And to be extremely clear, this is not a shaming of these women but instead a conversation on the bodies represented in the visual arts.
Impossible standards exist just as much in ballet, the difference is context. Ballerinas being incredibly thin is also a point for concern however these ballerinas are lifted by their partners, jump extremely high and are expected to land almost silently. The same cannot be said for the women of Wicked, who do not exist in a similar context. Instead when we look at the women of the Wicked cast we worry for them. Whatever happened on the Wicked set is unknown but the truth about eating disorders is they are incredibly competitive.
The nature of anorexia and bulimia is that it's never enough. You’re never skinny enough, never purging enough and never working out enough. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are joint at the hip with Erivo very much being Grande’s keeper. In a Q&A in Los Angeles, the interviewer shakes Ariana’s hand and Cynthia responds by reaching over, protecting her elbow and then kissing her arm. The scene was dramatic and felt almost unnecessary. This adds another layer of confusion into the mix, but maybe this is something that is hard for most people to apprehend?
The ED world is cruel because only people in it can understand. As outsiders we look at the women of the Wicked with obvious concern. In their active struggle everything from the outside feels foreign and unknown.
Society has been moving backwards a lot since the era of ‘peak woke’ in 2020 & 2021 but it’s going even further now. With Ozempic and Mounjaro being on the market and available to the masses so many are losing weight quickly and almost unsafely. Here in the UK, Mounjaro is available completely unregulated, quick google search reveals dozens of providers saying no gp referral needed. Having drugs that help you drop body weight so quickly and with no specific medical history required is dangerous to our physical and mental health. Since the heroin chic of the 90s and noughties we’ve been living in a ‘thin is best’ world. Now weight loss is accessible and low effort. Instead of time and drive you need cash. You can pay your way into being skinny. Which we’ve always been told is what we should want.
Circling back to the Wicked cast, if Hollywood sets our unattainable body standards then the expectation for actors has shifted. Everyone can be thin now and Hollywood reacted accordingly. If the masses are thin then the tiny sect of the world that is Hollywood must be thinner. They need to portray the impossible to keep the illusion that they are separate from the masses.
2025 seems to be the year of extremes and lack of moderation. The realest concern is how far beyond Wicked will this unattainable ideal spread? Continuing to consume media in which everyone is painfully thin is not good for us. Comparison is already the thief of joy but comparing to the impossible may steal our lives. Not all bodies are represented on screen but they should be. All bodies are equally beautiful and we shouldn’t promote illness or unwarranted medicated weight loss.
