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Lovely video! I was curious as to what a roundel hat was, from the book, but all I could find was baseball caps with round military insignia, so now I'm imagining Elphaba in a trucker cap that has orange swag and yellow lace hot glued to it XD

I will say, the laughing makes a bit more sense in the stage production because Elphaba is also wearing a very unflattering frock, and the hat definitely doesnt go with it. So, ugly dress + weird hat + social outcast = cruel laughter that makes more sense. Shiz in the books is described as being very classist too (like many real Ivy League's), and so it not only makes sense for the students in the musical to make fun of Elphaba's bad fashion, but its even worse for her socially to also be some sort of nobility AND have a bad sense of style 😂 I think the movie kind of lost that though because all of Elphaba's outfits in the movie are quite intricate and work for her, and you can tell that she actually cares about her appearance and about fashion to some degree (even if in an alternative sense). Like, her ballroom outfit may be weird, but it matches the hat 😂 and she has microbraids for crying out loud! The only makeover Glinda would actually be giving this version of Elphaba would be like "Add some color, show some skin, and be less awkward!" Which doesn't hit the same, imo.

It's the classic wicked witch hat idk if it's any deeper than that But I'm here for any and all theorizing and exposition

7:36 It sounds like Grandma’s road of good intentions led where such roads always lead.

You know what's even funnier? In the Oz books this type of hat is regular fashion and everyone uses it. What distinguishes witches and sorceresses is wearing white, which is why the munchkins think Dorothy is a witch

Isn’t it simply because they people don’t like black clothing? I only know the movie and in it Elphaba is very much the only Person that really wears black. All the other inhabitants of Oz stear very much clear of it and prefer actual colors or some white.

"Unless there were some other disgraced wizard or witch that existed in Oz before Elphaba became the 'Wicked Witch of the West'." There was Queen Lurline.

Her granny did make it in the movie Quote: "I know, it's my granny, she always makes me the most hideodious hats"

Just an FYI: "sharp" is also a slang word for stylish, well put together (like an outfit), cutting edge of fashion, trend setting etc. I think it was especially prevalent in the 90s which tracks as that's when the musical was first in pre production.

Its not about the hat (though its clearly ugly), its that Elphaba is the one wearing it. They don't react like that to the ugly hat, its that Elphaba dared to try to fit in (dress up, come to the ballroom) where she obviously *doesn't* fit in, which is a worse crime than not fitting in in the first place. Elphaba doesn't fit in, isn't normal, thus the hat she wears in an attempt to be is unfashionable because her attempts will never be acceptable to the in-group, as fashion is a signal of being part of an in-group. Its symbolic. Everyone isn't aghast at an ugly hat, they're aghast that Elphaba didn't stay in her place (not coming) and tried to be normal, something she has no right to do and must be punished for attempting. People stop caring about the hat once Glinda signals that, actually Elphaba's part of the in-group now. The hat is also a key part of her visual identity as the wicked witch, a role she gains as a result of rejecting being part of the in-group (this time of Oz's power strcture, for the reason of refusing to be cruel to an out-group to secure her position in the in-group), for which she is immediately villainised on the same basis. The hat is symbolic of her, and of her being an outcast and othered. As the wicked witch Elphaba embraces this outcast, othered status, and one of the visual symbols of the wicked witch is the hat

Re: Theory 3 -- "The wickedest witch that ever was" tells us that there WERE wicked witches before Elphaba, so this SUPPORTS the idea that this hat could be referencing one of those previous wicked witches who may have worn a hat like this.

Honestly I took it more as mob/group mentality, because group bullying is absolutely a thing. And because glinda and her friends made their distaste known, i feel like it was just popular to make fun of her. I don't really think it's about the hat so much as it is about Elphie herself showing up at the ball, who already is being mocked and bullied, and showing up in something that's widely considered ugly, and then because she wasn't expected to be there at all let alone in something ugly (aka: her feeling possibly confident in something ugly and because she's feeling openly confident but vulnerable still) people take that as an opportunity to make fun of her. Sorry if that was rambly. just my thoughts (i'm about halfway thru the vid as of writing)

I am fully convinced that Glinda loved this hat. There is no way this girlie had all of this stuff packed, and didnt notice the hideoteous hat. Hell, Glinda probably tried on every single article of clothing in all of her luggage before packing them. It just when Glinda saw that Pfannee and ShenShen hated the hat, you could see her switch on her people pleasing skills, and she had to suddenly hate the hat too because her friends hated it.

...I went to a small rural highschool (283 students) Now, if the least popular girl in school would show up to a dance wearing that hat it probably would have played out the same way as it did at the Oz dust Ballroom. It rings true to me. If the most popular girl in school started dancing with her I don't think it would have changed a thing. People would assume she was mocking her. The kids in my highschool voted the most hated girl in highschool homecoming queen just to make fun of her.

Don't give Cynthia Erivo an Oscar, give the Oscars a Cynthia Erivo. They need her more than she needs them.

I like this video because when I was sitting in the theater and the characters reacted to the hat, I did try to discern what was ugly about it.

7:05 Great video and not to nitpick but the movie line does go on to say “It’s my granny. She always makes me the most hiddiodeous hats”

Thanks, I’d been wondering this myself actually glad I’m not the only one!

Their hatred of the hat represented their absolute slavishness to fashion as slavishness to conformity. Basically the inhabitants of Oz are like teenagers from an 80s movie

I love the hat

Complete crack theory from someone who hasn't yet seen the movie: what if the stereotype associated with the hat is only known to BE an awful stereotype to certain people? For example, if a grandchild comes out as LGBTQ, a well-meaning grandparent might try to give the child a gift that supports their identity--but not being of that community, they might mess up the symbolism. Say the grandkid comes out as ace ... and grandma gets them a bobblehead of the only vaguely ace character she knows of: Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory. Sheldon isn’t exactly a positive ace icon, and the kid might be embarrassed to display the toy ... but it's Grandma, and she's trying, and that matters a lot. So it goes in a box, but it goes to school with the kid. What if the hat is that bobblehead ... but for sorcerers? Obviously Shiz isn't a sorcerers-only school if Galinda is admitted to the school but not the sorcery program. Perhaps the hat is Granny's way of supporting Galinda's dream, first sorcerer in the family and all that ... but to Shiz students who are around sorcerers, it's equivalent to blackface. And the socially inept Elphaba doesn’t know that. Just a thought. Nice video. :)

I do think it is probably the out-of-style thing, coupled with Elphaba's own unpopularity, just all drawn to a ridiculous extent. But I do find the idea of the hat having some stereotyped connotations interesting. In the original oz books, from the early 1900s, thos type of hat (usually with the addition of bells) was the traditional garb of the Munchkins. When Dorothy first meets the good witch of the North (Locasta, not Glinda), she's wearing such a hat in sign of her solidarity with the Munchkins, while she wasn't powerful enough to fight the wicked witch of the East herself. But that doesn't seem like a style associated with Munchkinland in the Wicked movie, so it can’t really be that here…

Havent seen the movie yet. It's *supposed* to be Ozian High Society. Seedy? In the book, that was the sex club and Elphaba, Galinda and Nessa never went there.

i think that it’s not just that they hate her and the hat, i think it’s that she wears the hat with pride. and the audacity that someone would feel comfortable in their own right wearing something ugly and being ugly but still dating to take up space is what’s so offensive to the ozians. similar to how they say animals should be seen and not heard. while yes, they dislike the existence of animals, it’s when they try to use their voice that the ozians are sooooo offended

I wear a witch hat in real life, and it is homemade, but I live in Portland so I'm always getting compliments on it.

I appreciate you digging into this! I read the book but had never seen the broadway musical. So I also didn't get why the whole room stops when Elphaba walks in. I didn't "feel" whatever was supposed to be felt because it doesn't yet make sense to me. Unless they were new people (all dressed in mostly 20's themed garb, IMO), who still hadn't seen the green skin? But I don't get the hat. Although the dance was rather laughable IMO. Honestly I didn't feel that scene and especially not like others felt it.

This is a fun thought experiment, and I applaud you for putting so much thought into it! For me, sadly, the answer is something much less enjoyable: the ballroom is reacting to Elphaba, not the hat. The hat gave her an excuse to step out into wider society, and the ballroom is a reflection of how society outside of Shiz--which ironically is probably *more* used to her than the world of Oz at large--would react to her if she dared to leave the confines of school and/or home. That's why Galinda's reaction hits me right in the feels; she's not just trying to make up for a mean joke, she's making a genuine public statement: I accept you, even if the rest of the world doesn't.

Seriously you guys all of these theories are so smart and interesting, thanks for weighing in! It seriously makes me want to do an updated video lol

Hey! In the movie she actually does say her granny made the hat. After she says "I know. It's my Granny." She then says "She always makes me the most hideoteous hats."

Okay so in a weird way this makes me peevish all over again about the choice to give Galinda a uniform pink palette- on stage she has other pastels, and even Elle Woods and actual Barbie wore some other colors. And if you have a Galinda with a mostly pastel palette but with maybe something white with black piping tossed in there, the hat makes much more sense as something that she brought on purpose and tried to save face over. But why is it so especially ugly? I am going to shamelessly go back to a theme of the book which didn't make the cut into the musical and say it was popular several decades ago and associated with Lurelinism. Which could make the closest real-world version something like wearing the style of bonnet that is associated with Amish people to go clubbing, something that would likely be regarded as somewhere between odd and in bad taste but, with the right context, could be looked at as avant-garde.

Regarding the “the wickedest witch there ever was” line and how the hat could be referring to another witch, in Maguire’s novel there’s a lot of emphasis on the semi-mythical figure of the “kumbric witch” who is this ancient witch goddess type figure. There is a description in the book of a manuscript with an illustration her wearing a conical hat, so it could be that the pointed hat refers to the kumbric witch.

Fun fact that maybe no one pointed out yet: in the San Francisco tryout of Wicked in May/June 2003, we see Galinda receive the hatbox in the mail and the lines Galinda says about the hat are as follows: “It’s from Granny! ‘I made this myself.’ Oh I hope it’s fudge, and not another… ugh! Oh dear! Oh, this is the ugliest one yet! I didn’t know one hat could be so ugly.”

I get a felt sense in the movie that Munchkinland is kind of the backwater of Oz. There's something fish-out-of-water about Boq, Nessa, and Elphaba when they're among their urbane classmates, which feels a little like classism--but then two of them are the governor's daughters, so they aren't exactly poor. So maybe the hat has implications like, say, a mullet.

One point from right at the end, within book lore it’s entirely possible for the hat to be referencing the Wicked Witch who didn’t exist yet

Your last theory makes me think that perhaps the stereotype might have been about witches who failed rather than ones who are "wicked", which would be a humiliating association

The book’s hat is based on the illustrations of the witch from the Original wizard of Oz book.

I also would like to draw attention to that around the time Elphaba starts wearing the hat, she also stops wearing the glasses. And I think it's interesting that she has always had an additional accessory that marks her as unique and it spiritually transitions to the hat.

I think the idea that the hat is hidodous works in the book when it is described as having clashing colors and fabrics. But when it was adapted, they wanted to keep the scene even though it didn't make much sense with the new prop. The only way the scene makes sense now is as a meta joke referencing the 1939 movie.

Elphaba invite madam m. 😊 asked her (demanded her) to take a wand to Glinda

No one understands that..glinda didnt like it! She gave it to elphaba because she WANTED to embarrass her, and then she felt bad at the dance so she danced with her out of empathy. Even tho its HER fault.

5:06 actually, Elphaba is suspicious of Galinda setting up her sister. What changes her mind is specifically that Galinda gifts her the hat and invites her to the Ozdust. Elphaba perceives this act as kindness and inclusion, and she then decides that she will repay Galinda by convincing Madame Morrible to give her a chance. So this is directly tied to the hat, which I think Elphaba doesn’t even recognize as “out of fashion” or “ugly.” In her mind, it fits her just right because it’s so “other,” like her.

This was an interesting topic. Since you have the book (don’t know where mine is) I wonder if the Kumbric Witch of Oz’s history wore a hat?

You are not the only person... I thought everyone watching was thinking "it's not even ugly" to be honest.

i think it's probably the oz equivalent of gen z hating on sideparts and skinny jeans. they're not that crazy or bad. they're just considered out of fashion

You've thought about this hat exactly as much as I have. I found that scene so odd the first time I watched the movie that I could barely focus on the emotional impact. 😂

So, in the Oz books, the houses in Oz are all described as having rounded roofs and structures, so most buildings follow the aesthetic of rounder, cylindrical shapes. Dorothy's house is actually seen as weird by the Munchkins because it has an angular roof. So enter Glinda's granny, who in some way or another acquires this weird not circular hat and gifts it to Glinda because she's into fashion. Definitely a stretch, but maybe people in this universe just really do not vibe with triangular shapes for aesthetics as a callback to the source material

You covered the most likely things, I think, but consider this: While the hat is not Galinda's style, nor her friends, nor perhaps is it in style for any young person at Shiz, it is in fact a very grand, stately, formal hat, entirely unsuited to the occasion, showing how much Elphaba doesn't belong in this setting. It signals her outgroup status. Alternately, it could be associated with animals in some way, and therefore carry the stigma of going against the grain of the other students.

did that commenter in the beginning really tell you to find a hobby that isn’t “talking smack” about people? at the end of the entire paragraph they wrote talking smack about you? ijbol

This Canadian documentary, The Burning Times, describes how the pointed, conical hat originally symbolized wisdom but the witch hunts of the middle ages twisted it. Elderly women, especially ones wearing conical hats, became feared instead of revered as they had been. th-cam.com/video/34ow_kNnoro/w-d-xo.html Maybe in the Wicked-verse, such a hat was similarly stigmatized?