I'm a theater kid at heart. I loved stage acting in high school, and acting was always something of a release for me, but while it was really fun, and I still enjoy live theater to this day, the culture that develops around some of these plays can be really, really weird. 

Take, for instance, the latest screen adaptation of the play "Wicked." I never saw this live, but I know enough about it to understand that the production is unique, and that the music is actually well-written and gripping. However, like many plays will, a fan base was created that truly goes the extra distance to the point where it begins to resemble a cult. 

Bizarre behaviors pop up that defy explanation, unless you're looking at it from the lens of a cult. 

While some things can be dismissed as people just having fun around something everyone loves, which is absolutely fine and normal itself, it's the weird emotional attachment and expressions that create a sense of unease around this movie. 

Some of you may already be familiar with the YouTuber "Papa Meat," a man who analyzes weird things in our society and does very entertaining deep dives into them. He recently focused on the Wicked super-fandom and boy howdy... prepare yourself. I'll highlight some of the things he spoke about in the video, but here it is if you want to watch it yourself. 

There is a language warning for the video. 

One of the crazy things about this crowd is how ready and willing they are to cry. As the video goes on, you'll notice a lot of people uploading videos of themselves weeping both during and after the film, as if it was something so beautiful that it effected them on a deeply personal level. 

And "personal" seems to be a very common theme here. Many of these people seem to believe this moment is about them. According to the video, there's a very real issue of people singing in the theater during the movie, ruining the experience for everyone else. The problem is so bad that there have been people making signs in the theater asking people not to, and some people binding their mouths with gags in order to prevent themselves from doing so. 

Apparently, fans of the movie "Wicked" are so lacking in self-control that they have to gag themselves during the movie in order not to sing along. pic.twitter.com/wTrTf2xvyH

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) December 2, 2024

One Reddit post in the Wicked subreddit asks fans who see the movie to keep their voices silent, and while many were in agreement, there were many that outright refused to keep quiet. 

Apparently, AMC prepared a moment before the movie's "please no talking" pre-screen warning to include "no singing" and "wailing." 

Wailing? 

According to the New York Post, fans of the movie act like spoiled brats, stating: 

Audience members at “Wicked,” reports say, are culture-less barbarians who can barely comprehend that they are outside of their own home. They’re a pack of whiny preschoolers who paint their faces green and make a scene as they shriek the songs of Stephen Schwartz to the extreme irritation of those around them.

Sitting with hundreds of paying strangers, the selfish jerks rudely belt out “Defying Gravity” and patter along to “Popular.”

The thing is, if you watch how the actors act during interviews, you'll see that this is a mentality being served from the top down. The actors encouraged people to sing out the first time, but not during the second viewing. You'll also notice that the lead actresses, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, are prone to crying during interviews as well, solidifying the over-dramatic behavior you see around the film. 

While I haven't seen the movie personally, and probably won't, I don't begrudge people who are fans of it. My wife and sister-in-law saw it, loved it, and reported no ridiculous behavior in the theater they went to. 

However, this movie is clearly inspiring some to act in bizarre, selfish, and stupid ways that would be more expected out of small children than grown adults.