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Fiyeraba + text posts (10/∞)

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My favorite detail in Wicked

Wicked part 2 spoilers I guess but I just got to watch Wicked on streaming and noticed some foreshadowing that is SENDING me.

By far my absolute favorite detail is the use of body language to foreshadow what’s to come for these characters in part 2.

The biggest example is the choreography in “Dancing Though Life”. There’s just SO MUCH scarecrow imagery in the movements here, like look at the Scarecrow dancing in “If I Only Had a Brain” and then Fiyero dancing and TELL ME the filmmakers weren’t at least heavily inspired by the latter.

First Fiyero moves very slow and loosely, almost like a ragdoll. Which is exactly how IIOHAB starts.

But then as the song escalates the dancing switches to a much more energetic choreo, flailing and kicking their limbs around. Again, exactly how the Scarecrow does it. Especially the background dancers in the last scene look almost one-to-one with the original footage.

Its almost tragic seeing the unfortunate fate that awaits Fiyero foreshadowed in such a lively and fun musical number with none of the characters knowing.

I know a lot of other people have already pointed this out but just seeing it for myself, especially watching the clips back to back just blew my mind. This shows such a level of thought and care put into this movie by the production team especially from something that most people aren’t even going to notice. But it just makes the movie seem all the more complete and im SO impressed that they added this

still watching gifs does NOT do this parallel justice so I encourage ‘yall to watch the music videos back to back to get the full experience

More, smaller examples under cut:

The first time Boq meets Glinda he leans over her shoulder in a way thats almost identical to the iconic scene from the Wizard of Oz:

The burning statue of Elphaba in “No One Mourns the Wicked” mirrors Idina Menzel‘s pose while performing “Defing Gravity” on Broadway.

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#same fiyero #same

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hilarious foreshadowing

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Jonathan Bailey behind the scenes of WICKED

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Hi! I've seen some fans, in my opinion, completely misunderstand Elphaba telling Glinda in the deleted scene that choosing Fiyero was a "mistake." They are taking that to mean she would've preferred bringing Glinda and hates that she chose Fiyero?

I saw her calling it a "mistake" as her 1, sparing Glinda's feelings, and 2, she called it that because it was the event that made her feelings for her BEST FRIENDS BOYFRIEND grow, so of course she has some regrets. 😅 She loves Glinda, her not choosing Glinda doesn't devalue how she views their friendship, she just subconsciously knew Fiyero genuinely cared for the same cause.

I love your takes, so I was just wondering as to what your thoughts exactly were in that scene?

^ Video for context

(Firstly, apologies if I repeat some of the same things you’ve already said, I had a lot of thoughts about this scene and I just wanted to get them down and it was easier writing this as a bit of a scene analysis rather than just a direct response)

*Checks there’s no Gelphie fans holding sharp objects in hearing range*

Ok let me begin.

I’m glad it was cut.

I don’t think it was a very good scene. I think it doesn’t really make sense with the train station scene (there’s no way Glinda would still think Fiyero was distant and moodified about Dillamond if she knew this) and it introduces Galinda’s suspicions about Elphaba and Fiyero too early (I like the scene with her waking up and noticing they were both gone, I like the scene where she notices the moment between them at the train station, I want the niggling doubts in her mind, but something big like this doesn’t feel right pre-interval).

Saying that, I don’t think it’s saying what the Gelphie fans think it was saying.

I actually think it’s a fairly selfish scene from Galinda’s perspective. She’s upset because she was left out – which I do understand, but she’s failing to see the bigger picture. There was a sentient, intelligent, being in danger and it got saved and, instead of being happy about that or even asking if the Cub was ok, her first reaction is “but what about me?” Contrast this to Fiyero not even listening to Elphaba’s panic in the Lion Cub scene, because he’s seen an opportunity to get it to safety, or Elphaba who immediately joins him. Their first priority is about the Animal – any focus on feelings or why this happened doesn’t come until the Lion Cub appears to be safe.

And let’s imagine, for a second, the scene of Galinda in the Lion Cub scene. She would go with Elphaba, I believe that much, though it would not be Galinda who made the first move the way it was for Fiyero. She’d be discouraging Elphaba from doing it at least at first “Elphie, we’re going to get in so much trouble!” and she’d be busy complaining about going through the forest in heels. There probably would be some concern for the Lion Cub, in so much that it’s cute and small and vulnerable, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t end up asking “are we sure that the teacher isn’t right that the cage is for his own good?” Galinda doesn’t like challenging the status quo and is known to downplay atrocities (hell, we see in the train station scene that she refers to Doctor Dillamond being literally dragged away by guards as an “old Goat” that she was surprised Fiyero cared so much about who was “fired”).

Her insistence that “you could have picked me” isn’t one of her genuinely thinking she had the ability to help in that situation. It’s that she’s uncomfortable that her best friend and her boyfriend shared something she didn’t, that Elphaba (quite rightly given the circumstance) didn’t immediately turn to her for help. There also possibly is a hint of her realising here (if, I think, subconsciously) that Elphaba and Fiyero might have feelings for each other, and reacting to try and prevent it.

From Elphaba’s side, she is feeling guilty for having feelings for her best friend’s boyfriend. She first tries to downplay it “he just helped me rescue the Cub,” and then, on further pushing, apologises, says it was a mistake and promises to “pick” Galinda next time.

How do we know that it was a matter of her feeling guilty over feelings for Fiyero rather than thinking it was a “mistake” that she “picked” Fiyero? BECAUSE SHE DIDN’T PICK HIM! We know that she didn’t have any control over the spell, we know she was just as surprised as Fiyero when he didn’t fall asleep with the others. The only reason she wouldn’t have said “I didn’t pick him, he must have been immune to my spell for some reason, maybe he took a lot of hay fever tablets that day,” is because the mistake is not about that. The mistake was letting Fiyero get close enough at all that she caught feelings for him (perhaps even ones she sort of knew she was brewing – given the cut Boq train station scene implies that he’s noticed too and they’ve all be hanging together for a while before this point).

Therefore, her promise to Galinda is not about trusting her, or thinking she’d have been a better person to save the Lion Cub with, it’s about making it up to Galinda, and proving to herself that she will never do something that might hurt Galinda again.

And Defying Gravity proves that Galinda was indeed the wrong person to be “picked”. We see Elphaba and Glinda in a very similar situation to the Lion Cub scene, they’re breaking the law for the good of the Animals. Firstly, Glinda doesn’t even follow Elphaba until Morrible tells her to “get her back”(again, Fiyero takes the lead in the Lion Cub scene, he’d have saved the Cub without her), then she tells Elphaba to come back, that she’s out of her mind and, while she does clearly flirt with the idea of joining Elphaba, not only does she quickly back down, it’s never, never about truly believing, or even fully understanding, why Elphaba wants to go.

Ultimately, the promise scene is a tragic one, it’s the first scene where we see how different both girls’ morals really are. They’re making the promise for two different, selfish reasons, that have more to do with their own insecurities than actual belief in each other, and it’s a promise that gets broken before the end of the movie.

It’s also worth noting that Glinda even has another chance to keep this promise in Act 2. In the throne room scene, she could have gone with Elphaba and Fiyero – it would have been easy to say “me too” when Fiyero says he’s going with her, but it doesn’t even occur to her. Meanwhile Fiyero, again, has already stepped up, willingly giving away his palace life, reputation and become a traitor to Oz to ensure Elphaba gets away safely.

Fiyero was always the right person to pick in the Lion Cub scene.

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I mean the joke writes itself:

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“Your life could end up changing, while you are dancing through!"

WICKED (Part One)

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JONATHAN BAILEY + ARIANA GRANDE Wicked (2024)

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"An organizational psychologist, Adam Grant, sent me a message saying, “It’s a masterful portrayal of superficiality masking depth.” Out of all the things I’ve heard, that is the thing I’m going to get printed on a T-shirt."

- Jonathan Bailey for W Magazine interviewed by Max Gao

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Colourblind Fiyero

I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this idea but I thought of this literally half-asleep at 1 AM and bolted up to note it down.

Anyway what if movie!Fiyero is red/green colourblind and when he and Feldspar almost run over Elphaba, he doesn't see the Elphaba on the left, but the one on the right? reblog if u think the girl on the left is j-

And the reason he looks like this when he sees her face:

... is not because he is realising it's too late to stop himself from saying the words "blended in with the foliage" to the green girl, but because he has two eyes and a heart and just saw Cynthia Erivo in the woods. (And Feldspar sure as shit doesn't notice anything either because horses cannot see red and he is used to people looking kinda green.)

Fiyero arrives at Shiz well after everyone sings a song about how green and annyoing Elphaba is, and the day after he arrives Galinda has taken her under her wing and made her popular, causing people to stop talking shit. So, what if Fiyero just does not find out Elphaba is green until like 2/3rds through the movie? He just straight up misses it, does not know she is an outcast, and just thinks she isn't into him for some bizarre reason. And only when he finds out she has green skin does he realise that he said the foliage thing, which she would definitely have taken as a jab, and actually he was incredibly rude to her. ... Oh no.

LOOK. Obviously I love that Fiyero just is not Fantasy Racist™ and doesn't think there's anything wrong with Elphaba being green. HOWEVER, wouldn't it be funny if-

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JONATHAN BAILEY as Fiyero Tigelaar, “Dancing Through Life”

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The 'Dancing Through Life' Ozdust Ballroom scene in WICKED (Part 1)

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JONATHAN BAILEY as FIYERO TIGELAAR WICKED: PART I (2024)

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my favourite part of the wicked movie that is unachievable in a stage production is the scene where elphaba tells fiyero he's not really shallow and careless and his response, to probably the first genuine compliment he's had in years, is to basically go 'ding dong you are wrong lol' and she adds 'and frankly your mental health is in abysmal condition'

and then there's a lovely close up shot of his face as he stands there frozen, buffering and panicking all at once, for like a full minute

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JONATHAN BAILEY as FIYERO Wicked Part 1 (2024) dir. Jon M. Chu

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“Excuse me, there is no pretense here. I happen to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow."

Best of Jonathan Bailey in 2024 | Best Role: Fiyero Tigelaar (Wicked: Part One)