The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) has slapped a trigger warning on the blockbuster hit Wicked for discrimination against a “green-skinned woman”.
The new movie musical, adapted from the popular stage show, is a prequel to the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz that follows the untold story of the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.
The plot documents the friendship between Elphaba, a misunderstood young woman with green skin played by Cynthia Ervio, and Glinda, a popular rich witch played by Hollywood legend Ariana Grande.
But despite the famous green witch at the heart of the story, the UK’s film classification body has slapped a trigger warning on the beloved musical for “discrimination.”
Viewers are now warned by the BBFC: “A green-skinned woman is mocked, bullied and humiliated because of her skin colour.” The writer Simon Evans mocked the decision in an interview with the Mail.
He argued: “Trigger warnings are ridiculous and counterproductive at the best of times, dampening excitement, destroying creative, dramatic tension and creating a muffled atmosphere appropriate to an HR seminar than a movie.
“But with this one they’ve really (Warning: Comment contains dangerous aquatic threat!) jumped the shark.” Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology at the University of Kent, said: “Green skinned people under attack?
“You cannot make it up. It is evident that the author of this silly classification is living on planet Bonkers.” The fantasy land of Oz is also full of fictional creatures such as the munchkins, flying monkeys and goats which have the ability to speak.
And this did not go unnoticed by the classification body for the movie industry, who felt the need to warn audiences about persecuted “talking animals”.
They insisted: “Talking animals are persecuted in a fantastical society.” The BBFC, of which TV presenter Natasha Kaplinsky is president, gave the movie a PG label – meaning Parental Guidance is advised.
It comes as Wicked, which has an estimated £120million budget, has been accused of turning the magical land of Oz “woke”.
The original 1939 film used people of short stature to fill the role of Munchkins, but in the 2024 version, the Land of Oz workers who live by the start of the Yellow Brick Road look very different.
In the new film, the actors playing Munchkins are led by Grande’s boyfriend Ethan Slater, who cuts a wholesome figure as a curly-haired Boq.
During the film’s worldwide promotional tour, the new film’s director Jon M Chu has explained why he decided on a different approach to the popular characters in the latest incarnation of the film.
The 45-year-old filmmaker told GQ magazine: “We wanted [Boq] to come from a culture, and so we were trying to reinvent what a Munchkin is.
“In our eyes, Munchkin was not a size. We built the Munchkinland look around him, in a weird way – like his red-hair, fair-skinned type of character.” And the auburn locks of Boq and his fellow Oz natives haven’t been missed by fans online.
Taking to X – formerly known as Twitter – one user penned this week: “Anyone else intrigued on why nearly everyone in Munchkinland is a redhead…?”
Others noted just how different the setting where the Munchkins live is. Another posted: “Still can’t believe the Wicked movie gentrified Munchkinland.”
According to the British Board of Film Classification’s newly published annual report, it received its highest number of complaints in four years, driven by youngsters complaining that they were not being allowed into the films they wanted to see.
The report reveals that it received 148 complaints in total about its “classification decisions” in 2023. This was more than the 84 in 2022, the 109 from 2021, and the 93 in 2020, but less than 149 in 2019.
The most complained about tissue was the film body’s decision to give the US horror thriller Five Nights at Freddy’s – based on the video game of the same name – a 15 age-rating.