“Wicked” movie stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo have received considerable attention online with the release of the second film and the surrounding press campaign, and perhaps for the wrong reason.
Audiences have had ranging opinions on the relationship between the stars, with many viewers finding their attachment to one another off-screen to be bizarre.
I agree that the press tour has been over the top, but I feel that many audiences online, especially on TikTok, have had an exaggerated reaction to the relationship between Grande and Erivo, particularly towards Erivo.
Audiences have made the relationship out to be rather one-sided, with Erivo acting as a kind of “aggressive protector” of Grande. This is not the kind of relationship I see between the duo.
Grande and Erivo have both shown public affection towards each other. Online spectators who make it out to be a one-sided relationship and portray Erivo as “aggressive” is not only an inaccurate interpretation, but they also show elements of racism.
Viewers may not always intend for their comments to be offensive, but these sentiments encourage harmful generalizations of the diverse black female community.
The online discourse surrounding Erivo serves as another example of the all-too-common masculinization of black women that occurs in media.
Erivo’s case is not the only instance of this I’ve noticed. It’s also present in the reality television show “Baddies,” and the culture surrounding it.
“Baddies” highlights conflicts between a variety of women of color who live together. However, the show fails to show any growth in its cast members, and rather glorifies the fighting that happens between the cast members.
This type of television does very little to uplift the black community, and instead portrays black women in a very animalistic and dehumanizing manner.
Both “Baddies” and the online reaction to the “Wicked” press campaign ignore the complexities of the black female experience and instead push lazy stereotypes about black women.
Cynthia Erivo is in no way an aggressive woman. Rather, I see both Erivo and Grande as both very feminine women who are just displaying love towards one another,
It’s perplexing that a black woman can not even show love towards her co-star without audiences finding a way to box her into a stereotype.
“Baddies” also pushes a negative idea of black women being loud and aggressive, while ignoring the complexities of the personalities of the cast members, and mainly showcasing the fighting between the women.
I would much rather see media that affords black women the privilege of being shown as complex characters, rather than just a spectacle to sneer at.
My hope is that in the future, this type of dehumanizing portrayal of black women in the media will be less popular and audiences will accept complex stories about black women. It is time for society to progress past this rhetoric.
