Tag Archives: Utopia

José Arroyo In Conversation With Fiona Cox On Wicked (Jon M. Chu, 2024)

Fiona Cox, PhD in Film Studies by day, and, under the name of Kitty Mazinksy, chanteuse extraordinaire by night, is the ideal person to talk to about WICKED (Jon M. Chu, 2024). She’s read the book, seen the musical four times and has even performed in it. She now talks to me about musicals, the politics of the film, the dancing, the singing, the numbers, the length. Are critics right about tonal problems in the film? About finding fault with the way it looks? What about the casting and the songs? What does the film convey about race, queerness, female solidarity? How does it speak to the current moment? We compare it to the stage version, find it an improvement, and look forward to part II. Like Fiona herself, this is an ebullient, enthusiastic conversation, full of smarts and laughter.

 

The podcast may be listened to here:

 

The duet with Miley Cyrus can be seen here:

 

Fiona performs as Kitty Mazinksy

Utopia: Visuals and Violence

A great video essay by Andrew McGee, Utopia: Visuals and Violence, that asks: are the visuals superfluous and is the violence gratuitous? After watching the short video essay, one is convinced  that this is the form in which this particular argument could best be made, that prose alone would not render it as intelligible, as instantly graspable, as convincing.

A high resolution version can be seen here: https://vimeo.com/155866858

Otherwise:

 

José Arroyo