i think NPLH as a song has this weird tension between the space it occupies within the story of wicked/what it's trying to do for elphaba as a character, and the wider political message it's trying to send to the audience. and this creates a somewhat awkward situation where it's a song kinda built around the irony that elphaba will eventually have to leave oz behind, but also it wants to be an uplifting rallying crying for #activism or whatever, and these two things can't really work together
obviously wicked has always been political; you'd be really fucking stupid to try to argue otherwise. and obviously this extends to the music. the worldview galinda presents in popular--that popularity and external presentation, regardless of substance, is all that matters--has clear political implications. this is taken a step further in wonderful, which in the og musical is probably the most overtly political song in the way the lyricism critiques. the change in the first verse from musical -> movie is likely a result of the shifting political climate, and the song moving from a critique of bush to a critique of trump
so NPLH being a song about current issues isn't inherently out of place, but i do think it's the most overtly 'about current events' song in the sense that it's the only song i heard for the first time and was like "oh they're gonna love playing this at the no kings rally." and while wonderful is political in the sense that it pokes at that kind of dishonest, populist politician and has little references to charlie chaplin's the great dictator and bush's war on terror and trump's 'i could shoot someone on fifth ave and not lose any voters,' NPLH is political in the sense that it's meant to be a rallying crying. like, the Animals basically serve as an in-universe surrogate for the audience so elphaba can deliver a 3:52 long psa about fighting for what's right and standing up to authoritarian strongmen
now, putting aside the fact that i just don't think the song is particularly good and i find the in-your-face way schwartz delivered the message more preachy than anything and not particularly engaging or empowering i saw on insta NPLH was featured in my high school's MLK day programing for some reason and that makes me irrationally angry, i can at least appreciate the intentions here. ultimately, it's a good message to send to people, and one more people should probably internalize
the problem, though, is that within the context of the story, elphaba's rallying crying to stay and fight for what's right is ultimately shut down by her having to flee oz. and part of why NPLH was written was to emphasize the sacrifice elphaba is making when she decides to leave; she loves her home, she wants to stay and make it better, but atp she's burned all her bridges and the best thing she can do for oz is leave it behind and trust glinda will make everything better and fulfill her heart's desire. elphaba's curve is a tragic one--she ultimately has to recognize she's limited and can't make the change she wants
i do like the idea of having a song in the beginning of act ii that shows why elphaba keeps fighting and where her headspace is at that moment. NPLH is similar to TWAI in that sense, because they both show a naive and optimistic elphaba who still believes everything can turn out okay. but this can't also be a rallying cry/activism song. part of what makes TWAI so good is the dramatic irony of elphaba dreaming of working with the wizard and all of oz celebrating her when the audience just watched the ozians celebrating her death. and this exemplifies the tragedy because you're endured by elphaba's dreams and ambitions but also haunted by the knowledge that those dreams will get crushed
NPLH also attempts to underscore the tragedy of elphaba's eventual banishment from oz, but there's none of the tongue-and-cheek lyricism of TWAI. it's played very sincere, and the message of "stay and fight to make your home better" is very direct. rather than building a sense of foreboding because you the audience member know she will eventually fail in her quest to change oz and flee into the desert, you're supposed to just listen and nod along to elphaba's 3:52 activism psa. you're supposed to hear her and agree there's no place like home and feel compelled because oz belongs to you too, but then we watch elphaba go back to colwen grounds and get spurned by sister, culminating in her cutting ties with her only remaining kin. so it's like if TWAI was about the power of a liberal arts education and didn't address the fact everything is about to blow up
and this is made worse by the fact that the movie doesn't fully commit to the tragic tone the ending of the musical takes on, and leans far more into the "elphaba escaped and found her freedom" angle and the "well, she had to leave oz behind, but she has this man so really it's a happy ending." i'd argue her ending is still tragic, but the movie undoubtably takes a more upbeat, hopeful tone. personally, i think this decision was a bad one for a variety of reasons, one of them being that it cheapens the tragedy that NPLH was supposed to exemplify. the movie/musical also doesn't really explore elphaba's decision to leave oz between NGD and FG, outside of her finding out fiyero's alive, which is a disservice to her character imo cuz elphie's ties to oz are so much bigger and more substantial than her relationship with that man, but whatever
but even if you can accept elphaba's ending and it's framing, it still clashes with NPLH. are we supposed to feel inspired to fight for what's right, as the song seems to want us to, or are we supposed to read the lyrics with a touch of irony, knowing elphaba will have to feel? should we fight for our home when others try to cast us out, or is leaving when things get bad enough an acceptable recourse? is there no place like home, or is going off into the desert with a scarecrow you don't actually know that well a viable alternative because male validation amiright?
and these contradictions give the whole thing a similar sort of energy to the 2016 DNC fight song rendition: a hollow, soulless attempt at political messaging that misses the mark, further dampened by the additional knowledge of what the future has in store
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