#wicked ramblings

[polyarmy]

Do any of you ever think about how it is *A Choice* for them to have Glinda screaming Fiyero’s name bleeding into Elphaba screaming Fiyero’s name at the start of No Good Deed

[polyarmy]

Extremely necessary tags by @youvebeengalindafied because how dare

Ariana Grande as Galinda "Glinda" Upland and Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar in WICKED (2024) directed by Jon M. Chu

[musashi]

i want more nuance to be entered into the discussion of the green girl sorority and how differently cynthia plays elphaba in comparison to those who came before her because while a lot of people are rightfully like "why was elphaba not black from the beginning" and celebrating that she is now being played by a black woman, i think we need to be careful in just writing off all the elphabas of the past as Random White Girls when the role was championed (and often followed/succeeded) by a jewish woman

the pop culture archetype of the Wicked Witch has deep roots in antisemitism stretching faaaar far back. there is a level of reclamation happening in casting idina menzel, a jewish woman, to play the Misunderstood and Maligned young girl who is branded as exactly that. and stage!Elphaba is also written and acted with jewish stereotypes in mind--she is loud, aggressive, no-nonsense, blunt. she is quick to advocate for herself and shut down the discrimination she faces. all of this is very intentional! her personality is abrasive from years of abuse, and that makes propagandizing her easy. this is literally the thesis statement of the musical--it's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed.

cynthia's performance of elphaba is fucking INSPIRED despite going in a completely different direction. she's much more reserved, analytical, one of her key character traits is how well she can read people (see her calling out Galinda as insecure/putting on airs in their first scene together, clocking that Fiyero is using his party guy persona as a shield for his own depression) elphaba's attempts to blend in and make herself smaller all fail simply because of her existence, if not that then because she feels empathy so strongly she often struggles to hold back from acting, protecting.

personality wise, though, cynthia's elphaba is very quiet and closed-off, not at all the bullet-to-the-face that she is in the stage show, and... she still gets propagandized and maligned. though this seems to contradict the other interpretation, it tells of the other end of the spectrum of propaganda, one that black women watching (and many, MANY other marginalized folks) are sure to identify with--it does not matter how "nice," how reserved, how small a black woman makes herself. a racist society will still scrutinize her every action for a way to parse ill intent from it, brand her as an angry black woman who is dangerous and wicked, and write off any humanity she has in the process.

these two very different interpretations tell of the lie of assimilation. the fact of the matter is, when you are marginalized, there is no way to sand down your edges enough to make the people oppressing you "accept" you. that is why wicked is a tragedy at its core. whether loud and aggressive or quiet and unimposing, there is nothing elphaba could have done to make the people of Oz see her as anything other than a scapegoat to blame all their problems on.

so while i definitely appreciate that people are excited for black girl era elphaba, i would encourage us all to still show appreciation for what came before--that was not white girl era elphaba. that was jewish girl era elphaba. two houses, both alike in dignity, two stories both worth being told.

[festivating]

elphaba is only meant to leave for a single day and glinda still asks how she will manage without her and she buys a whole emerald city guidebook for elphie and writes such a sweet message and surrounds it with little hearts SHE'S IN LOVE

[polyarmy]

*tapping desk* still waiting for someone to write the wicked fic where practically everything is the same except a significant chunk of Act I is rewritten to be more of an angle of Glinda and Fiyero knew they were in love with Elphaba and them navigating that and bonding over it and the train scene is also them asking her to be their third

Cuz uh

Even in the musical that’s often what it looks like

[polyarmy]

I also would like to comment that Fiyero quite literally could be a woman with very few plot changes and the result would be the same. One ought to take account that Fiyero actually fills a narrative role typically reserved for a female character (he's a damsel in distress lost lenore that the musical ultimately spares, but not before serving both of those narratives straight). Glinda is given multiple chances to reject her status to help Elphaba and never takes them, and the ultimate cost of that is losing everyone she loved on a personal level while being forced to shoulder their legacy alone, while Fiyero and Elphaba, while now in exile, at least have each other.

I’m thinking about Wicked tonight, specifically why Elphaba ends up with Fiyero instead of Glinda in the musical despite Elphaba and Glinda having the more well-rounded relationship.

You could chalk it up to the writers wanting a heteronormative ending (and I’m certain that’s part of it) or the fact that Elphaba and Fiyero had a love affair in the book. But I think there’s a bit more nuance to it.

The whole point of Glinda’s character is that she upholds the status quo of Oz. No matter how much she loves Elphaba or sympathizes with the plight of the Animals, she will always align herself with the current system and those in power. And as long as that remains the case, a relationship between her and Elphaba is futile because Elphaba will not give up her cause.

Elphaba and Glinda represent to different ends of a spectrum. Elphaba resists the oppressive forces in Oz, while Glinda upholds them. But Fiyero is somewhere in the middle. He starts out privileged and carefree like Glinda, but quickly turns to Elphaba’s side. He does become Captain of the Guard, but only to find Elphaba and help her evade arrest.

And therein lies the difference between Glinda and Fiyero as love interests to Elphaba. Glinda would never sacrifice her title as “the Good Witch” and all her power granted from the Wizard, even if it meant helping Elphaba. Fiyero, on the other hand, does give up his privilege, his title, and even his human form for Elphaba. Glinda clings to what the status quo gives her, while Fiyero ultimately rejects it.

Yes, the writing around Elphaba and Fiyero’s romance is a bit rushed and doesn’t have the same gradual development that Elphaba and Glinda have. And yes, I have no doubt heteronormativity played a role in giving Elphaba a male love interest in the end. But I see a lot of people write off Fiyero and his relationship with Elphaba and I just don’t agree.

Why does Elphaba end up with Fiyero instead of Glinda? Because Fiyero makes the sacrifices that Glinda wasn’t willing to.

[anothergameofwickedgrace]

Love that Blitzø spent his morning just piling stuffed horses on top of Stolas while he was sleeping.

I'm sure it was a way to try and comfort him. His plushies make him happy, so maybe they'd help Stolas feel better too.

[saltedbirdcat]

HELP GALINDA HAVING SUBTLE EMOTIONAL MANIPULATION MAGIC CANON?!

I’m going insane

[festivating]

glinda running away screaming and crying and then standing against the wall and closing her eyes and waiting for death... elphaba saw firsthand how much of a TERRIBLE fugitive glinda would've been and was still like mmm yes please come with me we'll be the greatest team there's ever been. she loves glinda so dearly.

[polyarmy]

It’s been said before by others, and I’ll say it again,

We already know the basic outcome of Glinda going with Elphie or Elphie staying, and it’s Fiyero.

Fiyero stays by Glinda’s side for as long as he can emotionally and physically tolerate, until he cannot take it anymore and leaves the first chance he sees an out for it: which is probably what would happen to Elphaba if she stayed in the Emerald City with Glinda.

But once he’s fled with Elphaba, he quickly becomes a liability for her and eventually becomes a casualty: which is probably what would happen to Glinda if she left with Elphaba.

There was no way for Act I to end differently unless their circumstances were wildly different before they stepped foot in the wizard’s chamber. From the moment we meet Glinda her priorities are about surviving in an unfair world, which ties with her obsession with having a good self-image. Glinda absolutely had a thought process in the reasons why she did not take Elphaba’s hand, and for her they were completely logical ones, not even really wrong ones. Elphaba is thinking about justice, but Glinda is trying to not die. And ultimately in the end, those priorities don’t change for Glinda until the she’s about to lose everything and Elphie is all she has left, only to lose her shortly after.

The tragedy of Wicked is where their continually compiling choices from that pivotal split end up leading them, not so much the choice they made in the split in of itself.

random glinda rant of the day bc im still stuck on the way ari looked in defying gravity and her subsequent thoughts on that moment:

I understand that, in the context of the musical, Glinda makes several very poor choices of her own free will in Act 2. However - I also firmly believe that Glinda not leaving with Elphie in Defying Gravity is not as simple as her just “not wanting to go against the system.” Is that a part of it? Certainly. Is that all or even most of it? imo No. 

As Ariana herself said: Glinda would’ve died if she left. There was no way both girls were flying out of there. Plus, Glinda’s whole world just got turned upside down, she just got chased by flying monkeys and almost fell to her death, her best friend was labeled an enemy of the State, guards are trying to kill them, the ruler of Oz is apparently a liar, like- these are crazy things to process in the moment! And then to expect her to get on a rickety broom and trust that it can carry her away???

Also- where would they go?! Elphie had no plan. Glinda had no plan. If they left, all Glinda knew was that they’d be on the run from people trying to kill them and she has no power. She can contribute absolutely nothing. People forget, she wasn’t Glinda the Good yet. She was just a random college student. Like I genuinely don’t think Glinda was over here thinking “oh no, i won’t be popular anymore” like the girl was probably thinking “shit what if we die?!”

(also: imagine your best friend, who the leader of your country has a personal vendetta against, pulled you to the edge of a building and was like “we’ve got one parachute, and i’m going to wear it, and i’ve never used a parachute before, but don’t worry- i think i can catch you”)

[thedykeparade]

I know for a lot of people the relationship between Elphaba and Fiyero feels rushed and underdeveloped, but, I don't know, I happen to like the fact that she had such a strong impact on his life in such a short amount of time... like, yes! of course she altered his brain chemistry and whole philosophy of life after a grand total of 3 encounters, she really is THAT girl (I just realized what I did there as soon as I finished typing it, I swear the pun was not intended).

I think they gravitated towards each other because they were exactly what the other needed in their lives.

In the beginning Fiyero was a person that felt comfortable reducing his entire existence and purpose to just being a "hot prince with a scandalacious reputation". But then he meets Elphaba, and she is different than anyone else he'd ever met in all those schools he went to, in more ways than one. She is Not Impressed by his looks or his title. She challenges him because she's able to look past his "nothing matters" bullshit and see that he's actually a really kind, caring person. She looks at him like she knows that he can do better, be better ("no matter how shallow and self-absorbed you pretend to be..."). She inspired him to become the best version of himself.

Fiyero needed that, someone to push him to take control of his life and act upon his wants and beliefs. Without Elphaba he would've had a content but unfulfilled life.

And Elphaba needed someone to stand by her, to not leave her alone, to not be ashamed of her, to fight for her, to prioritize her, and to love her unapologetically. That person is Fiyero (and yes, Glinda could've been that person too, but ultimately she made her choice, and by the time she realized she chose wrong it was already too late).

Elphaba spent her whole life feeling unwanted. She needed someone that would spend years looking for her!!! Someone that would risk everything for her!!! Fiyero did that!!! That man was devoted!!! And that's exactly what she deserved!!!

She was alone her whole life until Glinda (except for Nessa, I guess, but even in that relationship Elphaba was always the one that had to take care of her sister), and she is so strong, but in the end she didn't have to be alone anymore, and she didn't have to be strong, she could just let herself be held and loved, and I love that for her 😭❤️

In conclusion: fiyeraba they could never make me hate you

[fishtrouts]

Avoryx the Wicked, resting on her hoard of charred bones 🦴✨

I love love LOVE very traditional dragon designs!! Yknow the super evil treasure-hoarding beasts who just radiate malice :D Just being evil for the sake of it. It’s cliche but I enjoy it so much

It also feels great to switch it up and make something other than my comics. I really ought to do it more often to reignite that passion for drawing evil wyrms. It’s gotten a bit stale and I’d like to make and share some art that I like doing for ME, even if it might not speak to many as my comics do.

Specifically I really want to doodle my BG3 Dragonborn.. as soon as I get back my computer I can take some reference screenshots…

[polyarmy]

The Wicked movie did so many fantastic things but the one that I keep thinking about is one of the smallest and insignificant things.

The 1939 Universal Pictures logo remaster and the Wizard of Oz styled logo in the movie - completely forgoing the modern Wicked marketing logo. its one of the things that matters the least, since they don't impact the story at all. The movie could be exactly the same without the logo motifs. But I don't know. There's something about their extremely deliberate decision to make Wicked evoke memories of the MGM Wizard of Oz - along with decisions like making Glinda's initial bubble dress pink instead of blue, and making sure that the Wizard's giant face lightshow had pulsing pyrotechnics - that I find so dang charming. It's one of those things that they could only do for movie too, because like the MGM Wizard of Oz, this version of Wicked is a movie. They really want you to feel like this is a prequel/alternate retelling, in every way.

[polyarmy]

Taps sign that @youvebeengalindafied’s tag is required reading

Love how once Elphaba and Glinda become friends their dynamic is basically this

[anothergameofwickedgrace]

Blitzø would be so proud of Stolas just fucking decking Andrealphus.

And then proceeding to beat the ever-loving shit out of him.

Blitzø would be in the corner like

[schrodingerseurydice]

Glinda's note saying "I hope you get whatever your heart desires" and Elphaba responding with "come with me" IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME.

Elphaba is going to see the Wizard, her childhood dream, but HAVING GLINDA BY HER SIDE is what Elphaba's heart desires.

A big part of the reason Elphaba wanted to meet the Wizard was because "Once you're with the Wizard/No one thinks you're strange/No father is not proud of you/No sister acts ashamed/And all of Oz has to love you."

But that's already what it's like being with Glinda. Most of the bullying has gone away, because Glinda's influence is that powerful. Plus, even when folks do still treat Elphaba as lesser, their opinions matter less because she has Glinda by her side who sees her and loves her for who she is.

Elphaba also dreamed that the Wizard would "de-greenify" her (but that it wouldn't be important to him). She knew it wasn't right that she should have to change her appearance to be palatable to others, but she still craved that change.

But then she befriended Glinda, who tried to give her a makeover that had nothing to do with changing the colour of her skin. And even that, Glinda decided that Elphaba's glasses and dress were fine as they were. She called Elphaba beautiful exactly as she was. She only added a flower and said "pink goes good with green." Glinda not only accepted Elphaba's green skin, but realized it had it's own special beauty that should be celebrated and accentuated rather than hidden.

Without the Wizard, Elphaba and Glinda would have been SO HAPPY together. Elphaba had already found her heart's desire.