WHO TELLS THE WITCH’S STORY? WICKED, NARRATIVE COLONIALITY, AND THE PRODUCTION OF THE OTHER IN SOUTHERN EPISTEMOLOGIES

Abstract

This article analyzes the film Wicked (2024), directed by Jon M. Chu, drawing on the contributions of Southern Epistemologies and decolonial studies, as well as feminist critical theory. The research problem is: how does the film’s narrative challenge the social construction of heroes and villains and reveal disputes over narrative legitimacy and knowledge production? The main objective is to understand how the trajectory of the character Elphaba problematizes the production of difference, mechanisms of silencing, and power relations that define who is allowed to narrate and be recognized as a legitimate subject of knowledge. The methodology is qualitative, based on bibliographic research and documentary analysis of the film. The theoretical framework includes Aníbal Quijano (2005), Walter Mignolo (2017), Boaventura de Sousa Santos (2009; 2010; 2019), Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (2010), Stuart Hall (2016), and María Lugones (2020), whose works address coloniality, representation, subalternity, and the production of absences and emergences in epistemological fields. The results indicate that Wicked operates as a counter-narrative by shifting the traditional perspective on the Wicked Witch of the West, showing that categories such as hero and villain are historical, discursive constructions shaped by power relations. It is observed that narrative legitimacy depends on institutional and symbolic structures that regulate discourse circulation and define which voices are recognized as true. The study concludes that the film highlights the inseparability between narrative, memory, and power, reinforcing that struggles over representation are also epistemological struggles.