It’s the start of a new year and you know what THAT means! Two things: worthless resolutions and a bevy of awards shows on television. The first of those shows is coming up Sunday, January 12th.

It’s billed as The 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards. Hosting the big night will be Chelsea Handler. It will broadcast live on E!

The “critics” have decided that the movie WICKED deserves PLENTY of recognition. The film, which hit the big screen late in November, exceeded $268 million in its opening weekend. It has now reached over a half billion dollars in ticket sales, making WICKED (part one) the highest-grossing Oz-related film, and the eighth-highest-grossing film of 2024.

The film has nominations for the upcoming awards show in these categories:

• Best Picture
• Best Actress: Cynthia Erivon, nominee.
• Best Supporting Actress: Ariana Grande, nominee.
• Best Director: Jon M. Chu, nominee.
• Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design and perhaps a couple of other nominations.

One organization not supporting any of these nominations is the powerful women’s lobbying group known as One Million Moms (OMM).They are urging families to pledge not to support the film WICKED, and to refrain from viewing the sequel due out later this year. The film is an adaptation of a musical that first premiered on Broadway in 2003.

So what’s the big deal? This film is not your parents’ (or grandparents’ or great grandparents’) Wizard of Oz. The “Moms” website states that WICKED “contains a tremendous amount of witchcraft and sorcery.” Add to that some “not-so-discrete crossdressing and men crushing on men.”

I have not seen the film and so I rely on those who have—and respect families enough to make recommendations. One such group are the reviewers at MOVIEGUIDE®. Their reviewers state,“MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution for WICKED, part one. The movie’s mixture of good and bad veers toward the excessive and unacceptable. Many people who love the classic 1939 movie THE WIZARD OF OZ …will be upset by some of the twists in WICKED.”

This would include themes of seduction, infidelity, and government corruption.

The plot line of WICKED is a filmed version of Act One of the musical play. Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West in WIZARD OF OZ, becomes friends in college with Glinda, the Good Witch from the North. According to MOVIEGUIDE®

“Elphaba is a misunderstood girl with green skin and magical powers she can’t control. At college, she becomes rivals and then close friends with Glinda, the school’s most popular and shallow girl. Eventually, they discover the person behind an evil plot to cage all talking animals.”

Now here is where things get a bit dicey. The One Million Moms (OMM) website tells us that

“Four of the film’s main characters are openly queer or gay in real life, or at the minimum, these actors have spoken about their queer experiences.”

I’m wiggling in my popcorn laden theatre seat.

The “world”—or those outside of the Christian mindset—believe any such criticism is unjustified. Kristin Chenoweth, playing the role of Glinda in the Broadway production of Wicked, responded to the OMM “boycott” by saying,

”Everyone knows the ‘One million Moms’ are a mere few hundred. Maybe.” She added,”It’s called entertainment. Artistry. I am a Christian woman [and] originated the role of Glinda and all the silliness that these women spew out of hate. No no no. I can’t help it: I try to love em anyways.”

People of faith have come to expect this kind of reaction to any moral resistance to Hollyweird productions. I doubt her feedback would be so aggressive to a New York Times reviewer!

All this being said, it does help explain why you’re seeing less of me in movie theaters these days. I get kind of stuck thinking, “Would I invite Jesus to join me to watch this movie?” My eyes have already taken in more than Jesus would approve.

Psalm 101:3 says, “I will not put anything wicked in front of my eyes. I hate what unfaithful people do. I want no part of it.” (GWT)

Leave it to the psalmist to prick my conscience. Again.