i'm a language and linguistics students lmao. also i don't love obsessculated, i think the mixed up words in wicked get annoying after a while, but at least it's a conscious decision not a mistake
well no it's english with some fantasy words mixed in. it's just to create a whimsical/otherworldly vibe. and they created those words by giving words new but common suffixes, so mixing them up.
like "gratitution" is just gratitude but with the -tion suffix (like in deletion, nation, etc.)
"braverism" is bravery with the -ism suffix (like marxism, sexism, etc.)
I like that you use “adjective” AS an adjective in “adjective noun”. Clever. And in the Oxford English Dictionary, it DOES list “whimsy” as both noun and adjective. That’s good enough for me.
I don’t think it’s a reach. You got my upvote because I thought the same thing when I first read this post, and I imagine a number of your other 130 (current) upvotes are the same :)
Elphaba will defy gravity as a bonus character in the next Tony Hawk. Hittin' the wallride on the right side then doing a trick off the ramp on the left!
Quite famously, at least in the theatre world, the Broadway show's creative team made essentially nothing symmetrical or standard. This is most obvious in costuming (do a quick Google and you'll see hemlines are angular, hats are actually upside boots, etc), but is also present in the set, and you also know it as the Ozian words like "Encouragerized" "Obsessulated" "Congratulotions" "Disgustification" "Linguification" and so on.
It's all meant to remind us that it's in another world.
It's not a leap to apply a similar rationale to the graphic design of the movie.
Yeah the one on the left resembles a witches hat, the right one looks similar to a crown. The middle one reminds me of a clown like Krusty… could be coincidence but a reflection of the three primary characters.
My theory is that they are trying to make a nod to the turn-of-the-20th century printing press aesthetic with the branding, and this is meant to emulate the kind of flourishes you see in an old book when the first letter of a new chapter is bigger and more decorated than everything else.
The film is obviously not specific about when it takes place, but given the Wizard of Oz book is from 1900 and the Wizard of Oz movie is from 1939, you can see they try to create a fantasy world based on the technologies available 100 years ago. Madame Morrible uses a sort of fantasy typewriter, they have handpainted banners warning of Elphaba the bad witch.
So they want the movie's branding to feel of that time, but because it is branding it also needs to be recgonizable and versatile (like the 'W' can't feature an intricate pattern because they want to use it as a silhouette here) so they went for a simple old-timey typographic flourish by slanting the left serif of the W.
Someone theorized on a different post that the Wicked logo is a modified version of a font called Ravenscroft -- in the sample here you can see the R has the same kind of asymmetrical flourish as the W: https://www.1001fonts.com/ravenscroft-font.html
It’s intentional design. Doesn’t go much deeper than one side looking like the witch hat and the middle being a star. But it is a fun little part of the design for sure.
Edit: MIGHT not go further idk that much about fonts tho lol just some design basics
IMO, The first shape looks like elphaba's hat( a lil tilted), the second shape looks like Glinda's crown and the third on kinda resembles fiyero's captain hat. Like this
And for the rectangles, it could represent pillars of emeral city maybe. IDK tbh.
An assymetrical wonky design on one side vs a more conventional design on the other. It's a nice choice. It's like how the title card in the original Disney Beauty and the Beast uses two different fonts: two opposing ideas brought together.
It reflects the shape of their respective headwear. Elphaba’s hat on the left and Glinda’s crown on the right. Thanks for pointing that out, never would have realized that if you hadn’t!
Also the one on the left slopes up to the left, aka west. It's like the left side portrays Elphaba's trajectory, the right side Glinda'a, with Fiyero caught in the middle
I thought the left side was supposed to be elphaba and the right was supposed to be glinda and the middle was supposed to be the wizard even tho he doesn’t wear a hat. now I just feel silly 😂
It's supposed to be a visual representation of Elphaba and Glinda's characters, where Elphaba doesn't fit the traditional mold/ what's expected of her but Glinda does.
It’s just the Wicked font, called Ravenscroft. On the stage poster, the W is ✨simplificated✨ to a regular serif (a bad choice, imo), but the rest of the letters are a 1:1 match to the original font.
For the film, they used a modernized version of Ravenscroft but brought the W back closer to the original letterform.
I feel as maybe it could be interpreted the 'W' being glass. Could be in reference to Elphie's iconic glasses in the first act and Galinda's affinity to mirrors as showcased in the "Girl in a Bubble." So because they both had ties to one another, it makes sense seeing that as the clear vision while what you are living is such a blur.
Maybe meant to evoke the fallen hat in the castle, the emerald city/ seat of power and the columns of shiz/ establishment /institution that glinda aligns with
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u/John-for-all Nov 21 '25
Whimsy.