Cynthia Erivo comments on Wicked poster edits: "the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen"

[babarsuhail]

Cynthia Erivo has reacted to viral edits of the ‘WICKED’ poster:

“This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful AI of us fighting… Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face & hide my eyes is to erase me. That is just deeply hurtful” pic.twitter.com/y3P1Qh379S
- DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 16,

Comments

[varioussaints]

I understand her perspective but I truly don't think the fans who did the manips/edits meant to hurt or offend her. The original poster is iconic and part of what makes it iconic (to me, at least) is how little of Elphaba's face we actually see and how much is conveyed by just her smile. She's the lead, and yet she's in shadows while we get most of Glinda's profile. I admittedly was not a huge fan of the original musical but what I did love about it was how the musical pulls the character of Elphaba out of the metaphorical shadows and uncovers her character. I love "Defying Gravity" but honestly my favourite song was "No Good Deed" and the moment where her "wickedness" crystalizes.

That being said, the part I liked least about the poster (aside from Ariana's hand placement) wasn't that her eyes were visible but her green lipstick and lack of smirk. I also don't agree with "because, without words we communicate with our eyes." You can communicate wordlessly with a lot more than just your gaze. But I do still understand why she's upset, especially since Ariana's edits were so minor.