#author: gregory maguire

[bookstofilms]

Wicked dir. Jon M. Chu | 2024

“People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us… It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.” ― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

[haveyoureadthispoll]

Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West, a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

[slaughter-books]

Day 1: JOMPBPC: Reading Goals

All the beautiful books on my TBR shelf, that I plan to read throughout 2025! 💙💜🩷

[gennsoup]

Out of our need we patronize our artists, we flirt with our poets, we petition our architects: Give us your lusty colorful world. Signal to us a state of being more richly steeped in purpose and satisfaction than our own.

Gregory Maguire, Mirror Mirror

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

GREGORY MAGUIRE??! in MY Song of Achilles?? it’s more likely than you think

[litrpg-author]

Gregory McGuire liked some of my posts from Twitter. Author of Wicked if this is real. I'll pretend even if it isn't.

[harocat]

lol the experiences people will experience if they go "I'm gonna read the book!" after they come out of part one of Wicked and have to wait a year for part two.

[eyecandyandbraincandy-blog]

I think about number 3 a lot in regards to Wicked. I am genuinely baffled by this book and by the series as a whole and I can't decide if it's because it's not my cup of tea, if it just didn't do what I wanted it to do, or if it's just something my peanut brain can't understand.

The first one I get, it's a political allegory. Maguire said so himself. And it does a lot to discuss how villains are made. It even started a whole genre. But it also didn't really hit the notes I hoped it would. Is that because I saw the musical first and THAT shaped my opinion? Probably to some degree. The musical did a good balance of hitting those allegories but also keeping it way more streamlined, focused, and on Elphie and Glinda.

But those sequels? I feel like they really had an opportunity to say something about family, legacy, and how history rhymes. But it never really said that. Or at least not in the way I wanted it.

I'd really love to discuss this if anyone's down. Because I really want to like this series. I want to get it. But I just don't.

Folks act like "maybe the author isn't the final authority about what their work means" is some wanky post-modern nonsense and not a simple recognition that a lot of authors are perfectly prepared to bullshit about their own work. Like, leaving big-name popular media aside, I have personally encountered authors being actively disingenuous about their own work for all of the following reasons:

A true answer wouldn't fit the image they've cultivated.

They've decided they like the explanation the readers/viewers have come up with better than what they actually had in mind.

Something that was originally intended as a standalone work ended up growing into a franchise or series, and now they're pretending that was the plan all along for some reason.

They don't want to admit that the bit you're asking about is genuinely just a plot hole.

The real answer gets into some shit they don't care to discuss, so they've prepared a cover story to explain away the parts they don't want to talk about.

Their politics have changed since they wrote it, but they don't want to acknowledge that, so they're constantly trying to re-interpret everything they've ever written to be perfectly consistent with whatever their positions are this week.

They wrote it decades ago and they honestly don't remember what they were thinking at the time, so they're just making shit up; sometimes they also don't remember what shit they made up the last time, so the answer is different every time they're asked.

The work in question is at least partly autobiographical and they can't tell the truth without confessing to a crime in the process.

Most of the good bits are plagiarised and they don't really understand it themselves.

They're lying to you on purpose, for evil reasons.

[princesssarisa]

Here's another interesting discovery:

Just like many other authors, Gregory Maguire used celebrity facecasts in his mind when he wrote Wicked!

Elphaba he imagined looking like k.d. lang (only greener, of course):

Glinda like Melanie Griffith:

And Fiyero like Antonio Banderas:

(All these pictures are from the early '90s, since that's when he was writing the book.)

[jbaileyfansite]

When it comes to long-awaited films, there are few movies with as much anticipation as Wicked. Inspired by Gregory Maguire’s best-selling novel, it became a cultural juggernaut when it transitioned to the Broadway stage. Now, one can't talk about the Wicked Witch of the West without talking about Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda/Glinda (Ariana Grande). While the massive film has brought Oz’s witches to life like never before, it's Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey) who’s most benefitted from the stage-to-screen transition.

Fiyero's roots can be traced back to author L. Frank Baum’s original Oz lore, though the Winkie Prince himself is Maguire’s creation. On stage, Fiyero is a lovable troublemaker who flirts, and of course, dances, his way through life. The big screen version of Wicked honors this while adding a uniquely wonderful twist to his Lothario nature. When Fiyero arrives in the show, he charms Galinda in a very similar way to what he does on screen, but Fiyero’s actions in the movie aren’t solely to impress Galinda. Rather, he is out to create a real sense of joy for everyone, an effort that is made clear through his flirtation. While an ensemble number on Broadway, his stage counterpart spends the whole of the song with Galinda, where the film has him flirt and dance with a multitude of Shiz students to help them celebrate life.

While Fiyero mirrors some of cinema’s most iconic “bad boys,”one of the best changes the movie makes is his sexual ambiguity. He shares his seductive side with all of his fellow students, no matter their gender. And, what’s more, he genuinely enjoys it, sharing some of his steamiest flirtations with male cohorts. It’s a wonderful way to not only shake up the archetype but also makes Fiyero himself feel more fleshed out. But the greatest alteration comes from his relationship with Elphaba.

Elphaba Reveals That Bailey’s Fiyero Is Deeper Than He Seems

On stage, Fiyero starts to show depth in the second act, but Wicked doesn’t make audiences wait for the second film to see that there is more to the character. Both of Fiyero’s scenes with Elphaba exist on stage, but Bailey and Erivo fill their interactions with nuance. Both actors give their first meeting new meaning with the screen version. The musical usually plays this moment as an unpleasant introduction, but Erivo and Bailey play the scene as an undeniable flirtation. It’s a fantastic way to set up Elphaba’s upcoming conflict and solidify the complication that brews below Fiyero’s surface. Bailey brings a boyish charm to the scene that makes it clear he is undeniably taken with Elphaba (the first person in the film to be so), and he continues to add depth to the character after he and Elphaba free the imprisoned lion cub.

She gets under his skin in a way no one else can. While many in Shiz lust for Fiyero, no one can see his internal unhappiness except for her. When she touches him, Bailey shifts his performance and makes it clear that she is the first person to make Fiyero really look within and question what he wants out of life. It’s a beautiful way to foreshadow the conflict he will continue to face in the second part of Wicked and pulls on the heartstrings of moviegoers. He immediately goes from a lovable flirt to a relatable, deeply complicated young man who just might find himself in the woman who will eventually be perceived as Oz’s greatest villain.

Indeed, there is no denying that Wicked has used its new medium to reinvent Fiyero. From twisting an age-old archetype to Bailey’s fantastically intricate performance, he’s become a far more interesting version of the character. As audiences anticipate the next installment, it’s safe to say that Fiyero is set up for even more exploration.

Source

[bicokun]

Oh, yeah, I read a bunch of his books back in ‘02 and/or ‘03. He really likes to give his readers whiplash with his… descriptive imagery. I see the reason behind it, but it definitely messes with you in the moment.

The dysfunctional relationship I'm developing with Gregory Maguire....sometimes he's really cooking and I lose my mind over it

Other times when he throws in an unfitting mention of piss and shit or a kid's genitals or whatever else he insists on talking about:

[notearsnora]

Gregory Maguire, the author of the book WICKED was based on, in a new Instagram post.

[gennsoup]

"Angels will carry me to Paradise, where I intend to make a lot of trouble."

Gregory Maguire, Hiddensee

[queer-book-character-tournament]

Character, book, and author names under the cut

Felipe Galvan- The Reanimator Mysteries by Kara Jorgensen

Teo- The Sunbearer Duology by Aiden Thomas

Blue- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Turtle Heart- Wicked by Gregory Maguire 

[homoerotic-sea-shanties]

i’m collecting them like pokémon cards. gotta catch ‘em all i guess…

Four authors after a wonderful dinner the other night. I’ll reblog the first person to correctly identify all of four of us. (Clue, top right is me, unshaven, and not, as you probably thought, a random werewolf.)

[girlmeetswicked]

'Wicked' author on watching Cynthia Erivo cry on set: 'Devastating'