Wicked Part 1: The Two Sides of Venus
(Super longgggg! I actually wrote this last year and procrastinated editing it until this week lol)
Everything about this movie SCREAMED Venus! Elphaba and Glinda are so clearly the two Venus signs with Elphaba as Taurus and Glinda as Libra.
At first glance
With all the PINK, you already know Glinda is a Libra along with her very curated aesthetics! Glinda’s entire being fits into the same aesthetic: the way she looks, speaks, dresses, behaves and even with the choices she makes. She’s the side of Venus that represents the beauty that is created and must be maintained at all times. When Pfannee and Shenshen (her besties) were carrying her after she said she needed to lie down and one of them yelled “WE NEED A PASTRY!!” it was iconic because Venus doesn’t rule over sweets for nothing!
With Elphaba being literally green, the other Venus color, and less glam than Glinda, she represents the side of Venus that is naturally beautiful in the way that nature is beautiful. Taurus! What people find beautiful in nature isn’t the ability to appear perfect but the fact that nature simply exists and all the differences between the trees and the leaves and the flowers and the animals fit together perfectly, effortlessly. Also, love Elphaba’s iconic belt in Defying Gravity where she finds her voice aka her power! What rules over the throat? Taurus!
When they’re both writing letters home and it gets to the part where they have to describe each other and Glinda skirts around what she really wants to say which is that her roommate is GREEN. She would rather say that she can’t describe it just like Libra. Meanwhile Elphaba said “BLONDE.” because Taurus says what they mean and mean what they say. They don’t give a fuck!
Color-strology??
The two color choices make so much sense to me! Not just because they’re two Venus colors but because of the process to get to that color. Pink and Green are not primary colors. The way that you get the color green is by mixing two primary colors together: blue and yellow. Taking two things that exist and mixing them to create something new and beautiful! Their inherent differences are what allow a new color to be created. The same can be said for Elphaba’s parents being from two different classes. With all new things, there’s always a tense period before it can be accepted. The tension is even worse when you’re talking about a green baby being born from marriage infidelity! Her green color is a constant reminder of that shameful act and that’s why her Dad treats her like that. When her parents are waiting to see the baby come out they expect her to be perfect just to get the biggest shock of their life and they immediately reject her! So much pressure for the Venus signs since birth!
On the other hand, the way that you get the color pink is by diluting the color red! The more white you add the lighter the pink will be. This matches up with Libra because that’s how Libra survives. They dilute their wants and needs to fit into whatever the family, society or the situation requires. Libra knows exactly what ratio of white to red they need for every situation. It’s so interesting that even her uniform was a muted grey paired with light pink when everyone else’s uniform colors were darker and brighter. Glinda’s pink dresses seem to be darker when she’s positively emotionally connected??? to the moment. The dress she wore to the dance was so vibrant and colorful and that was the moment that truly established how much she cared for Elphaba compared to how light her dress is at the end when she loses her friend. In Popular she explains the makeover to Elphaba as personality dialysis. What is dialysis? Literally the purification (white) of blood (red)! Pink being diluted red can also represent how hard it is for Glinda/Libra to take a stand in certain situations. If you’re not being your full self (red), you’re weak and easily manipulated and you can’t stand for anything. This self-denial/dilution does take a toll because at some point even pink is no longer pink if you keep adding white. We can see this in the scene where she’s running after Elphaba and the flying monkeys literally claw at her and rip her clothes and the one guard (society) takes her leg and keeps her from “taking a stand.” In that moment, she was acting based on what Madame Morrible and the Wizard wanted and not even her own curated wants and needs. In the beginning of the movie though when she’s announcing that the witch is dead while wearing a vibrant pink! Hinting at somethingggg!
Venusian Upbringing
On the surface, it seems as if Glinda and Elphaba had drastically different upbringings. We get the full backstory of Elphaba’s family showing us that her parents outcasted her from the family because she was born green. They didn’t throw her out! They still provided her with a good enough life as the bear raised her. Her dad was the Governor so they weren’t poor, but she didn’t get her emotional needs met.
Now for Glinda, the only thing we see of her parents is when they drop her off at Shiz. We can infer that they are also well off based on how many suitcases Glinda had, and the fact that she was able to get a “private suite” when everyone else had to share a room. She also mentions that she’s from the higher part of the city inferring being part of the upper class. With her parents actually giving her all these things and being nice to her when they dropped her off it looks like the opposite of Elphaba’s situation. We watched Elphaba’s Dad be straight up mean, and basically tell her that she’s only there to make sure her sister Nessa is okay.
Venus rules over money so it’s not a surprise that both of them come from families that are well off. If we look a little deeper, the goodbye between Glinda and her parents was quick and detached. She literally shooed them away! From that interaction and from how Glinda acts towards others I would infer that there was a lack of emotional support for her at home.
Elphaba and Glinda’s upbringings suddenly don’t seem so different! Well off financially but lacking the emotional support from the parents making them both have a detached relationship with their parents! They both grew up in an environment where they had to overcompensate because their parents expected perfection. It worked out differently for them because unlike Glinda, Elphaba’s imperfection was always visible!
Being an air sign, the way that Libra deals with the lack of emotional support in childhood is to be detached and not get too close to anyone or anything emotionally. Libra gets its charm by being extremely observant and aware of the feelings of others so that they can be whatever is needed. Glinda was able to conceal her real needs and personality enough under all the aesthetics so that she could please her parents, which unfortunately still didn’t give her the emotional support she was looking for!
Being an earth sign, the way that Taurus deals with this lack of emotional support is by burying their emotions. Taurus is seen as very dependable because being useful is one of the ways that they strive for that emotional support. I feel like every interaction Elphaba had with her dad was in some way related to taking care of Nessa. Even in that letter where she expresses her disappointment with her rooming assignment, she mentions that she’ll take care of Nessa. As if she knows that that’s the only thing her Dad cares about.
Growing up in an environment like this makes Libra and Taurus susceptible to being taken advantage of by narcissistic types especially from people they view as an authority/parental figure. We can see this with the way that Madame Morrible and The Wizard manipulate and use them both.
Madama Morrible realizes that Elphaba had magic and she knows that the way to manipulate Elphaba would be to make her feel wanted and special so she opens up the class just for Elphaba and tells her how rare invites from the Wizard are. This is all Elphaba had been looking for! For someone to take an interest in her and care for her and want something good to happen to her.
Madame Morrible manipulates Glinda by noticing that Glinda had an emotional attachment to Elphaba and using that against her. She had no intention of teaching Glinda magic at first but she realized she needed to use Glinda to give Elphaba the confidence she needed to use her magic so she makes sure to give Glinda the wand that specific night. She manipulates Glinda again at the end by sending her after Elphaba and telling Glinda that if she does this and gets Elphaba back she would be good. Glinda’s entire image revolves around being good so she was compelled to listen to Madame Morrible and do the thing that is considered good because who would she be if she didn’t act according to her most popular trait?
Regardless of whether Venus is her true self with flaws and all like Taurus or aesthetically perfect like Libra, they will never be fully loved and accepted by the people they actually crave it from: THEIR PARENTS!
Loneliness of Venus
This lack of emotional attachment in childhood makes Venus very lonely. Not knowing how to create healthy attachment to people and things make the Venus signs very polarizing. Look at the way that the others interact with Glinda and Elphaba! With Glinda they’re bursting with love and admiration and they want to do everything for her and protect her. They end up putting her on this pedestal as a representation of how they should behave. Whereas with Elphaba they are bursting with hate and they want to outcast her and KILL HER! Which is so extreme like she’s just green omg! This also puts Elphaba on a pedestal but she represents everything that they’re uncomfortable with and ashamed of in their society.
In both situations, Glinda and Elphaba are essentially alone. Libra and Taurus become the pretty thing that is kept in a glass case and admired/criticized but never fully understood. Glinda is a good representation of that because she literally travels in a bubble! Yes, she has all the attention at school but she got a suite by herself. For Libra and Taurus, embracing that loneliness is multi-purpose. It gives others a perception that the Venus signs are exclusive and unattainable. When it comes to Glinda she’s seen as something they aspire to but that’s out of reach and for Elphaba they see her as something they are separating themselves from.
Another purpose for Libra is that it allows Libra to stop performing since there’s no one witnessing. Glinda’s suite was supposed to be where she could stop being so perfect for everyone! She knows that if she strays from what she usually does even a little bit she would lose that entourage and be physically alone. There’s a glimpse of this during the Ozdust scene when she steps out and dances with Elphaba, and all the people who usually surround her stay back. I’m sure this played a part in the decisions she made later on. She knew not to stray too far away from her curated image. Another purpose for Taurus is an opportunity to let their guard down and not be playing defense all the time from the criticism they face. Elphaba’s loneliness was both physical and emotional since birth because she’s green so she was used to making herself invisible. However while attending Shiz she would have to defend herself all day and a room alone would have provided relief.
Taurus and Libra, although both ruled by Venus, are inconjunct (hidden from one another). This is a difficult aspect because inconjunct signs usually have little to nothing in common but sharing a ruler allows Libra and Taurus to accept each other’s differences and co-exist rather than blend together. They are able to understand why the other acts the way they do because they share similar upbringings even if the specific details and outcome are different. In Popular, Glinda accepts that Elphaba is different and embraces it by offering her a flower instead of the Libraesque makeover. She could understand that Elphaba had a lot of guilt and shame from what Elphaba shared about her mother’s death and Nessa’s disability but Glinda immediately understands that it wasn’t Elphaba’s fault at all because to Glinda the small details are obvious.
Rooming together and becoming friends gives them a taste of what it is like to not be lonely and to be loved. Glinda was able to be more of herself in Elphaba’s presence and Elphaba was able to let her guard down. But ultimately they have a different relationship to being alone! Elphaba is used to it so to her by the end she’s weighing whether compromising on what she believes in is worth not feeling alone and being loved. When Elphaba sings “if that’s love then it comes at much too high a cost” we can see her choosing to stay where she is comfortable because that seems like her only option at the time to save the animals. To her, losing your voice is the worst thing that could happen to anyone so she would rather sacrifice having love for justice because she’s survived without it before. When Glinda sings the same she’s choosing to stay where she is comfortable too because the “love” of the public is all she’s known and she’s willing to sacrifice the love she feels for Elphaba to keep the comforts that she’s acquired from being loved by many, even if it doesn’t feel as satisfying because, unlike Elphaba, she was never comfortable in her loneliness.
Which is why the line “I hope you’re happy, now that you’re choosing this” is so important. Elphaba was forced into her loneliness by being outcasted in both her family and in society, and Glinda was forced into hers by being trapped into her performance of self. Seeing them choose it for themselves at the end is the first step to healing. Going back and experiencing that loneliness with the knowledge of what love feels like, they would realize that the comfort they thought they had wasn’t real.
Good v. Kind
Another part of their identity the movie explores, which also shows the difference between the two Venus signs, is the idea of being good versus being kind. The entire movie Glinda is referred to as good by everyone. Meanwhile Elphaba (before she gets called wicked) is referred to as kind by Professor Dillamond. When Madame Morrible tells Elphaba that she has the ability to be good we know that they recognize that the two are different.
Definition of good: to be desired or approved of, possessing or displaying moral virtue (like kindness), and that which is morally right.
The way good is defined is based in perception and not in an innate way of being. This definition fits Glinda/Libra because she is desired and approved of by society based on her personality, actions, and appearance. We see her display moral virtues LIKE kindness because “that’s what makes her so nice.” An example of this is when she tells Boq that she would perceive him as good if he asked Nessa to the dance. She didn’t do it because she actually cared about Nessa’s feelings, she did it because she knew that this was something that would be approved of socially. Again, when Madame Morrible asked for her help with Elphaba because that was in line with being good. Her and the wizard wanted to use Elphaba to upkeep their public perception of goodness.
Definition of kind: having or showing a friendly, generous and considerate nature, and affectionate or loving. This is not as focused on societal perceptions like morals.
To be cheesy, kindness comes from the heart lol something natural! It's also more related to interpersonal relations rather than a title to acquire in society. Being friendly is a trait you can have based on an exchange between you and other people. Being generous is a way to show you care for another person. Being considerate is also relational because you need to know and understand the other person to consider them and their needs. Being affectionate and loving are also relational because you have to know the other person and understand them to express these feelings. All these can be perceived by society but they would exist regardless!
Goodness is ruled by Jupiter, the sign that rules over Venus's exaltation (Pisces) and kindness itself is ruled by Venus. To me this shows how Glinda's goodness is more widely accepted because it's always pretty and makes people feel good as long as you stay in the superficial dreamland of it and avoid looking under the rug!! Kindness on the other hand is not always pretty to look at because sometimes you may have to do something bad to be kind. Like Elphaba having to magically knock out everyone in that room to steal the lion cub to save it! Also, how she had to cause all this destruction to steal the Grimmerie so that the wizard couldn't do anymore harm and let's face it it was ugly! Broken glass! Fire! Fighting! Yelling! Crying! But, she was doing it out of the kindness of her heart. When Elphaba had lost control of her magic before causing disruption, it was because she wanted to protect Nessa or Professor Dillamond or when she thought she was helping the monkeys. It was from her kindness!
This difference becomes the thing that ultimately separates Glinda and Elphaba because it’s the foundation of their belief system.
Justice Warriors
When Glinda joins Elphaba on her journey to the wizard so they can save the animals, they seem to have the same goal on the surface but the different ways they view justice shows how different their approach is. Elphaba/Taurus takes a more emotional and personal approach to the issue. She can understand the animals deeply because they are in the process of losing their voice and being outcast and that’s how she’s lived her entire life; as an outcast who wasn’t allowed to express herself. She has an inherent understanding that this treatment is unfair and unjust and she fights to save them from losing their voice because there was no one there to save her from losing hers. Her kindness leads her to take this stance, leading to her finding her own voice and she accepts the consequence of it which is returning to the loneliness.
Glinda/Libra on the other hand is more responsive in her approach to the unjustness and her goal is harmony whatever that looks like. She has a very acute understanding of how the society she lives in functions and how she fits into it. Throughout the movie you can see that she only intervenes when the scales tip too far in the wrong direction. In the beginning of the movie she can see how people are treating Elphaba but it’s not something she feels is unfair in the moment because it’s the norm and she doesn’t know Elphaba, because again Libra is detached from those emotions. However, at the dance, she joins Elphaba’s dance because in that moment things were no longer fair in her eyes now that she knows Elphaba so she had to stand up for her to restore harmony.
There was also some guilt involved for Glinda because Elphaba was in this situation because she chose to give Elphaba that hat. When she did it, she was doing it to uphold her image in front of her “besties” but at the dance she realized that it wasn’t a harmonious choice because people were turning against Elphaba so she had to make a different choice. The goal is always harmony! When it comes to saving the animals, Glinda advises Elphaba to say she’s sorry to the Wizard and that way Elphaba can get what she wants because harmony was being disturbed when Elphaba went against the wizard. When she realizes that Elphaba will not join the Wizard, Glinda makes a different choice to help Elphaba escape because she sees all the destruction and unrest happening that would only get worse if they catch Elphaba. The only way to restore harmony! It’s not that Glinda doesn’t care about Elphaba’s wellbeing or the animals when she makes those choices it’s that she truly believes that this is the way things can be done because that’s what has always worked for her!
Perception is everything
Knowing how things work in society and playing the game is how Glinda/Libra has protected herself. In the song Popular (very Libra coded), Glinda tries to teach Elphaba the ways and explaining to her that it’s not about being real it’s about how you’re being perceived. She gives Elphaba all the tools she uses to maintain the perception of perfection. Although at that point Elphaba hadn’t expressed an interest in romantic love, Glinda still told her how dressing a certain way, wearing makeup and tossing your hair could get you love because that’s how Glinda had gotten it before!
Glinda’s ways are not all bad because although superficial, embracing these Venus things (in moderation) are necessary for your wellbeing. Taking care of yourself and dressing the part does grow your confidence and make you feel good! Knowing and participating in social norms does ease social interactions and relationships! Glinda is also smart enough to recognize that Elphaba has different needs and she’s able to adapt her advice and offer a pink flower to Elphaba. So much more Taurus! Her advice on Elphaba’s behavior also changes from toss your hair and be pretty to encouraging Elphaba to be strong because she knows that’s what will work because that’s what a good friend would say!
Everything is about perception for Glinda, including getting on that train to Oz with Elphaba while everyone was watching. She couldn’t possibly give up an opportunity to go see the Wizard; the embodiment of goodness! A good witch that knows the Wizard is like unlimited browning points forever are you kidding?? She is there just as much for herself as she is to support Elphaba because to her they have the same cause so they must be on the same page: they will meet with the Wizard, he’s going to be a good Wizard and grant their wishes and they will live happily ever after! Madame Morrible had already realized this about Glinda which is why she was the perfect pawn to encourage Elphaba. Whatever the motivations were for them, it was still helpful for Elphaba because she needed that encouragement to confront the Wizard.
Fragility of Perfection
Glinda and Elphaba had no idea the Wizard was a fraud ahead of time but being their polarizing Venus selves, they easily saw the cracks in the façade. The Wizard is very Piscean in the way that he has created a whole dream city based on a lie. Venus’s exaltation in Pisces shows up again because you can make people believe anything is real as long as it’s pretty! This was something Glinda understood very well. The Wizard brought them back to show his little model of the perfect city and asks them about the color of the road. Elphaba couldn’t care less about the color because who cares about the color of the road? Are the animals going to be okay? Are the people going to be okay? Glinda on the other hand was in her element! She said can you go back to yellow? All these details are not important to Elphaba, just like all the details Glinda tried on her during Popular were not important to her.
Unfortunately for the Wizard and Madame Morrible, when you have to be in control of so many details to upkeep a perfect fantasy it only takes one thing going wrong for reality to show itself. They didn’t anticipate that Elphaba would choose the animals’ safety over wishing her green skin away. They didn’t anticipate the power of love! (Cliché I know!) The only reason Elphaba wanted her green skin gone was because NO ONE accepted her! Everything backfired when they paired Elphaba up with Glinda who ended up accepting her and one person was enough for her to realize that her green skin was never an issue, people just did not bother getting to know her.
It’s understandable that they misunderstood the dynamic because they only know the perfect version of Glinda. They don’t know Glinda when she’s not performing. The scene where Glinda is getting ready for the Ozdust and her besties find the black hat represented that deep down under all that pink and glam, Glinda was hiding her true self. Everything she does is curated, so if the hat wasn’t something she cared deeply about she would have never brought it to Shiz. Of course in that moment, she pretends that it means nothing because it doesn’t go with her image. Although she claims to give it to Elphaba because it’s ugly, I think the hat represents her and Elphaba’s mutual acceptance of each other’s differences. She gave it to Elphaba knowing that Elphaba would not reject it. This was then reciprocated when Elphaba understood what the hat meant to Glinda and didn’t let the public deter her from wearing the hat proudly which was her way of accepting Glinda’s true self. The Wizard and Madame Morrible had no way of knowing the depth of their relationship which led to Elphaba being able to escape.
Because the opening scene technically happens after the story in the movie, we know that Glinda ends up becoming the representation of that fragility by being the good witch that travels in a bubble. Bubbles are of course very fragile and this was a choice they made to give the public the illusion of goodness and magic. When the munchkin child asks her “is it true you were her friend?” Glinda pops the bubble to answer and tell the story showing that her intention in telling the story is for the munchkins to break out of the illusion that Elphaba is wicked by understanding her life story. It may seem like that made her uncomfortable but on the inside she was thinking “I’m glad you brought this up actually!!” An act of kindness perhaps from Glinda!
Venus Lesson
Glinda and Elphaba have the qualities that the other wishes they had and the true power would have come from them meeting in the middle and joining together to save the animals but instead they stayed on their respective sides. Venus rules over both of these signs for a reason because Glinda/Libra’s charm and knowledge of Oz and society and even psychology would have been very useful for Elphaba to help the animals after the Wizard exposed himself. Elphaba/Taurus’s deep emotions would have pushed Glinda/Libra to let her true self be known and allow herself to get attached to something.
Together they would be unlimited!
Extras??
- Another thing that screamed to me they were Libra/Taurus was them during Defying Gravity and the end because they both started acting like their sister signs Aries/Scorpio because they were pushed over the edge! Glinda raising her voice at Elphaba like WHY COULDN’T YOU STAY CALM FOR ONCE because she’s so angry like an Aries that nothing has worked to convince Elphaba to submit that she can’t even fake it with her nice voice! And Elphaba having the biggest crashout because she was betrayed leaving destruction in her path during that whole end scene just to plummet to rock bottom and rise out of the ashes and destruction like a scorpio!
- Libras love a good nickname for people they don’t know to pretend there’s more intimacy there than there actually is but then they’ll call you by your whole government name when they get to know you. First thing she does is call Elphaba “Elfie” when they barely even tolerate each other!
- The libra poise (venus word) never leaves her bc she's literally being attacked and says "give me my leg!" like bro you're being sooooo annoying give me my leg ugh but it wasn't enough to get pissed off as they’re literally attacking her!
- Fiyero is a great representation of the Leo/Aquarius axis in relation to Libra/Taurus because he came into Shiz on his Leo high horse ready to run the school and meets his perfect partner Glinda the Libra who seems to have the same goal of running the school. Leo is rules by the Sun which is in fall in Libra so the popularity and attention that Fiyero/Leo receives is different from the popularity and attention Libra receives. For Fiyero he’s just being himself but for Glinda it’s a whole production that never ends because she thinks this is the only way. The longer he’s with Glinda he realizes that there’s no depth to her and ends up drawn to Elphaba! This then makes Glinda feel like she has to work harder to keep his attention like changing her name and declaring that she wants to save the animals too but it's never going to be authentic to her. Fiyero starts dipping into Aquarius in the classroom scene when he doesn’t get knocked out by the poppies like everyone else showing that he has left the group think. He started thinking for himself! Even Glinda pointed it out that he started thinking!
- Fiyero’s role as a love interest for both Glinda/Libra and Elphaba/Taurus has a different effect on them. For Glinda, she had been doing all these things and acting a certain way to attract love and once she’s with Fiyero she’s like that’s it? It’s because she’s not emotionally involved and to do that she would have to reveal her true self but she only did that for Elphaba! For Elphaba, Fiyero showed her that love is something that is possible for her. That’s now TWO people who are accepting her for who she is! Is it actually love?? Probably not! Because I don’t think either of them felt it until they became friends and the confused it with…loathing lol
- After this long ass analysis I remembered Ariana has a Libra moon (because same) and guess what Cynthia’s moon is! Taurus!! I rest my case lol they were perfectly casted!
I’m excited to see Wicked For Good and see how this all holds up!