Psi as Synthesis, Psi as Subversion: “Making Good” With Psychokinesis in Wicked

Ever since seeing Wicked (2024), the film and its 2025 sequel Wicked: For Good have taken up a fair amount of real estate in my mind. The great care that the two-part fantasy film took was clear in every element of the production, including the acting, cinematography, practical effects, musical score, and special effects. All of these were adapted from the Broadway play of the same name and, prior to that, the Gregory Maguire book series that was arguably a fanfic of the iconic 1939 Wizard of Oz Hollywood rendition of L. Frank Baum’s beloved works (e.g., Baum, 1900). Naturally, spoilers for the films and for some of their adjacent material follow, as I focus in particular on some of the major moments in the first film that involve mind-matter interactions.

Herein, I reflect briefly on the ways in which psychokinesis, or PK, serves as a site of both synthesis and subversion within the worldbuilding of Oz and against the “toxic culture” (Fawaz, 2025, p. 65) therein that is cultivated by the Wizard and Madame Morrible. In other words, I propose that the mind-over-matter actions of our green-hued protagonist, Ms. Elphaba Thropp, are used in two primary ways: 1) as means of further illustrating her subversive social position in relation to others and their beliefs about Oz; and 2) as means of asserting her personal agency to affect, and therefore synthesize, positive change alongside her allies.

“Take It Away!”

These words are spoken by Elphaba’s professionally successful yet unloving, emotionally abusive, and distant father, Governor Frexspar Thropp, upon her birth. While the doting nanny-to-be Dulcibear presents the just-born infant to her parents, the Governor rejects his newborn and others her due to her “obscene” (Chu, 2024, 7:52) green appearance. When he speaks these words, Elphaba becomes visibly upset (a fact that indicates that not only is her appearance “uncanny,” but that even as a newborn she has a proclivity for sensing the intent, if not actual meaning, behind people’s actions). That said, she begins to cry and inadvertently causes the unmoored objects in the room, both big and small, to fly into the ceiling. From the very beginning, her psychokinetic abilities, among other things, make her a “dangerous anomaly” (Maguire, 1995, p. 420) the likes of whom can be found in the annals of both real-world parapsychological and fictional paranormal literature (e.g., Laythe et al., 2022, pp. 36-38).

In our world, spoon bending or psychokinetic metal bending (PKMB; Watanabe & Kokubo, 2014) is a fascinating as well as potentially subversive act when it comes to unseating “common sense,” status quo assumptions about how reality works in Western culture; in the world of Oz, Elphaba’s actions act similarly, upsetting a sense of how reality works for all those around her. When she is born, not incidentally, those objects that she displaces include a number of pieces of silverware, some of which become firmly implanted into the ceiling. While in our reality, spoon bending parties can be seen as fun ways to practice psychokinesis, Elphaba’s actions tend to be anger-inducing and frightening to those who witness them.

Therefore, her birth scene may be read in part as fear of psi (Cardeña, 2015); however, I would argue that most (if not all) of Elphaba’s psychokinetic acts are best understood in-universe as secondary effects of people’s primary perception of her uncanny appearance and character. How she looks and acts is not only subversive, but produces unease and anxiety in those around her.

Unfortunately, Ms. Thropp’s own unease seems to be all but lost on most of those who confront her. Interestingly, mind-over-matter effects such as recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis (RSPK) are hypothesized to be inadvertently caused by people (i.e., via so-called living agent psi) who are emotionally distraught or in “dis-ease” (Laythe et al., 2022, p. 38), wherein their emotionally-charged inner states are displaced onto the physical environment around them (Roll & Persinger, 2001). Thus, it is not just percipients or experiencers of PK who are put at unease, but an initial unease in those who may be causing the PK may be in part responsible for the manifestation of this kind of psi in the first place. As we see throughout the first film (Chu, 2024), Elphaba’s psychokinetic acts tend to follow this same modus operandi.  

“Green On Top”

The very next scene after our protagonist’s birth shows her, now an older child, caring for baby Nessa Rose in their home garden after their now-nanny Dulcibear is called away briefly by their father. While Elphaba dotingly teaches her sister about how the Wizard of Oz came to their Land via a pop-up picture book, a group of local Munchkin children begin taunting her from the edge of the garden. This ostracizing and rather noisy act upsets Nessa Rose who begins crying. At this point, Elphaba becomes angered and telekinetically sends some pebbles that had been lying on the ground flying at the group, hitting them and making them run away. Governor Thropp returns with Dulcibear immediately thereafter and incorrectly blames the elder sister for Nessa Rose’s crying. Fortunately, somehow, Dulcibear is aware of the truth of the matter and attempts to soothe Elphaba. 

It should also be noted that lithoboly (e.g., Cutchin, 2020), or rock-throwing, is a feature of many potentially paranormal encounters, including those that are associated with RSPK. In both popular culture (e.g., via fiction such as the film Carrie) and in historical accounts (e.g., the Salem witch trials; Ferrero Sánchez, 2025; Yusupova, 2026), both poltergeists and witches are seen as socially, if not also spiritually and morally, subversive and antagonistic to the status quo, and as representative of unbridled (and typically feminine) energy. For better or worse, young Elphaba’s actions in the garden fall in line with such themes.