#also narrative foils gelphie <3

[katherinemckay]

elphaba and glinda's choices in defying gravity

or "glinda's choice to stay behind is very justified and objectively leads to more success by the end of the show": an essay

okay so i came across people discussing whether glinda or elphaba made the more difficult choice in defying gravity and the comments were overwhelmingly elphaba biased and as a glinda biased girlie i wanted to write my little analysis of this scene so this is my 1 am, hyperfixation-driven take on this show <3

so as the audience we spend all of act one meant to empathize with elphaba. she's your typical underdog protagonist; the world is basically against her and you root for her because she has good intentions and goals. so, when she decides to give up everything to fight for what's right, we naturally admire this choice and cheer her on. this tends to make people feel like glinda made the cowardly/weak choice to stay back, but i think it's more complicated than that.

first, we have to look at these choices in the context of their lives. glinda has presumably grown up in privilege and has spent her entire life striving to be perfect, as she's desperate for everyone to love her and will continue trying to put on this act even when it makes her miserable (see: all of thank goodness). in contrast, elphaba's life is the opposite: she's never really received love from anyone before her friendship with glinda, even her relationship with nessa is very strained. all that she has driving her forward are her own personal goals and ambitions (see: the wizard and i), so when she realizes what's going on with the wizard, she's naturally going to continue prioritizing these goals. however, they look different now that she realizes the wizard and her society in general are actually responsible for these problems- now, she has to center herself in achieving these goals, as she can't strive for the wizard's help anymore. this means that although it is still an incredibly bold and difficult decision, elphaba forging her own path is basically the natural choice for her going forward. however, when we look back at glinda, it's the opposite- impulsively uprooting her entire life is not at all a reasonable course of action from her perspective. she has everything (she thinks that she wants) to lose- her reputation, the opportunities the wizard is offering her (and we know she's been interested in sorcery and has wanted to do this for awhile), and even her relationship with fiyero that she's still trying to maintain. this is very different from elphaba's situation, who even points out she basically has nothing left to lose ("i've been afraid of losing love i guess i've lost"). so, going with elphaba would be a much more high-stakes decision for glinda in the context of her life and what she values at this point in the story.

additionally, i think a main theme a lot of general fans miss about wicked is the fact that glinda and elphaba do want the same thing (glinda not going with elphaba does not mean she actually supports the wizard!!!!!), but they are just fundamentally different in how they believe change gets made. glinda has always believed that how someone is seen affects the power they have. she explicitly states this mindset in popular- "did they have brains or knowledge?... they were popular", "it's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed, so it's very shrewd to be very, very popular." because glinda has grown up in privilege, she understands that in her society, people who are widely liked hold the most power. in contrast, elphaba believes/wants to believe that change can be made by taking a stand and doing what's right; this is the mindset we see in defying gravity. the differences in how glinda and elphaba see the world very strongly explain the differences in how they act throughout the show. glinda choosing to run away with elphaba in defying gravity ultimately wouldn't make sense for her because that's not how she believes change happens. based on how important glinda deems popularity, i truly believe she thinks that staying back and finding a powerful position within the ozian government is the best way to slowly push for change. everything glinda does is so carefully calculated, while everything elphaba does tends to be more impulsive, and so this is seen in their methods for trying to fight against the injustice in oz. i don't believe it makes either of them weak or wrong; it's just two very different mindsets that reflect their very different life experiences.

finally, i think one of the most crucial plot points of the show that almost everyone seems to miss is the fact that ultimately, glinda was right. elphaba forging her own path results in her image becoming even worse in oz, to the point where no one besides glinda sees her as anything but wicked. because of this, she ends up completely unable to make any of the change she was hoping for, as her image as the wicked witch ruins her chances of any kind of public support. she even explicitly tells this to glinda in for good: "i'm limited, just look at me / i'm limited, and just look at you, you can do all i couldn't do, glinda." here, elphaba realizes she's limited because she is so widely hated... but glinda isn't. because glinda is widely loved, because glinda spent all of these years carefully constructing a perfect public image, glinda has earned herself power, which she can now use to make a difference. elphaba is admitting that glinda can do what elphaba can't, and that's because glinda made that choice to stay behind. as tragic as it is, glinda's outlook on the world was more realistic than elphaba's, and so it ultimately lands glinda in a position of power with the opportunity to make change.

tldr: glinda is the smartest character in wicked please stop being mean to her :(