Wicked for Lent? Gravity Defied explores faith through film

Jon M. Chu’s 2024 film Wicked (or Wicked: Part I, to give its full title), is easily one of the most successful films of the first quarter of the 21st century. Based on the first act of the 2003 stage musical by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman (the latter of whom also co-wrote the screenplay), Wicked picked up cinematic awards like a Hoover gathering scraps off a dirty carpet, and in the process turned the British Nigerian singer and actor Cynthia Erivo into a household name for her portrayal of the lead character, Elphaba the Wicked Witch of the West.

Rachel Mann’s new Lent course, Gravity Defied (Darton, Longman & Todd), takes Wicked as its starting point to explore themes that resonate deeply in the contemporary world, a connection signalled in the title’s playful reference to ‘Defying Gravity’, the lead character’s most iconic song in both the stage musical and the film.

Though based primarily on Wicked, Mann’s book also incorporates illustrations from other films: Victor Lonzo Fleming’s Wizard of Oz (1939), and a film that seems to work its way into every Christian discussion of portrayals of faith on screen: Hugh Hudson’s Chariots of Fire (1981).

At the risk of stating the blindingly obvious, do be warned that this book contains spoilers all the way through. After all, it is designed for viewers to reflect on and discuss what they have just watched. That said, Gravity Defied is easy to follow, structured across five weeks, each offering selected passages of scripture for personal reflection and group discussion, icebreaker questions for meetings, suggested actions to take after each session – and, of course, one or two segments of the film on which each week’s reflections are based. Time codes are provided for each film segment, making it straightforward for group leaders to locate and play the relevant moments during sessions.

Mann’s book will resonate with readers who enjoy exploring spiritual and socio-political themes as they surface in popular culture – not only in film, but also in literature, art, music, dance, and everyday life. She reminds readers that cultivating good habits applies as much to prayer and holy action as it does to diet and exercise, and she consistently challenges them to look beyond the surface, echoing the Bible’s warnings against judging by appearances.

Gravity Defied is thought-provoking, honest and vulnerable. Mann shares candidly her own experiences of marginalisation, from both the giving and the receiving end, including an account of being a school bully, and of witnessing restorative justice with the person who was the object of that bullying later in life. As readers reflect on the way Elphaba is universally shunned because of her green skin, and how the talking animals of Oz are systematically pushed out of society, the parallels with our own world are hard to miss – particularly at a time when racism, xenophobia and nationalism are becoming increasingly normalised and accepted. The relationship between the “ugly duckling” Elphaba and the all-bright-and-beautiful Galinda (played in the film by Ariana Grande) highlights the difference between valuing people as fellow human beings and merely using them – or failing to see them as human at all.

Kudos to Rachel Mann for this Lent course. It powerfully underlines how Wicked functions as a commentary on our times, engaging with themes of populism, scapegoating, discrimination, everyday cruelty, and the ease with which we become complicit in the suffering and marginalisation of others.

Yet Gravity Defied is more than a thinly disguised call to “wokeness”.

It never loses sight of the fact that it is, first and foremost, a Lent course. At every stage, Mann draws readers back to Jesus – to his ministry, his suffering, and his execution – the defining realities of the season for which this course was written.

So buy or stream Wicked, pick up a few copies of Gravity Defied, invite some friends round, and embark on a five-week journey of Bible-based self-examination – with a generous helping of quality show tunes and dance routines thrown in for good measure.

Gravity Defied: A Lent Coursed Based On The Movie (Darton, Longman & Todd) by Rachel Mann is out now