said it once and i'll say it again
the sidelining of fiyero is bullsh*t
and now especially in the new movies
across the board of the musical and new wicked movies it seems like the directors/writers favor glinda and some "idealized" version of elphaba and glinda's friendship
for the love of god, if u look at the facts, they're barley even friends:
- glinda bullies and mocks elphaba relentlessly when they first meet (getting the ENTIRE school to hate her and bully her more than they already did)
- glinda comments on elphaba's appearance multiple times in a derogatory way
- glinda attempts to change elphaba to make her "popular" and more "appealing", and only after that song does she say that elphaba is beautiful (after she has tried to change her)
- the BIG ONE ‼️‼️ she leaves her BEST FRIEND alone when she needed her the most. she doesn't come with her, even when elphaba practically begs her too, and instead sides with the enemy, a facist, racist dictator.
- she doesn't try looking for elphaba. she doesn't try protecting her. she does not try and work aganist the wizard as a spy on the inside
- she forces fiyero into an engagement, where if he says no, he loses his position as captain of the gale force (a position he only keeps so he can sabotage them from the inside out and find elphaba before anyone else can)
- she doesn't listen when fiyero begs her to run away with him and find elphaba
- when elphaba visits her again for the first time since act 1 (first movie) she tries to convince her (practically aganist her will) to join the facist regime and forget about her morals
- she does not go with elphaba and fiyero
- she suggests the idea to the wizard and madame morrible that they use elphaba's SISTER as bait to capture her
- when elphaba comes to mourn her sister, glinda traps her, slaps her, and attacks her, resulting in fiyero having to save her and getting fiyero brutally tortured to death and then crucified
and when u see it all laid out like that... poor elphaba. I mean, at least she has fiyero but like... damn. imagine glinda was the only friend you've ever had and ur first experience with friendship. that would be awful.
elphaba deserves so much better.
I hope she gets to experience true friendship one day with some who actually cares about her
but at least she has fiyero, who loves her unconditionally and died for her without hesitation💙