#from the story Oz told the characters

[pedanticat]

Volume 9 intro is really hammering in the fact that Neo and Ruby are meant to parallel the mysterious girl seen throughout the intro. Given the current arcs/problems Neo and Ruby are going through along with their similarities, there are several things I'm getting from this:

The girl seems to have the playfulness that both Ruby and Neo themselves have.

Similarly to Ruby and Neo, the girl may be running away from her problems instead of properly addressing them. Hence she covers up her pain with a smile.

She may be serving as a cautionary tale for the person Ruby and Neo themselves may become if they don't end up confronting the emotional distress that's consuming them.

[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.

[threeacttragedy]

Entry 17: The One About All the Hot Air

Oh, hey, hey, hey – what is that over there?

No, not that –

That!

Ah, fuck.

Is that what I think it is?

Yeah, yeah, it looks like some sort of hot air balloon.

Ugh, it’s that fucking wannabe Wizard! Get that manipulative shit-fuck outta here!

Seriously, don’t let it set foot on land. It’s not welcome on this side of Oz.

Someone release the flying monkeys! Like, now. Knock it out of the sky.

Wait, I thought the Wizard liked green. This weirdo has a red balloon.

Bitch, I didn’t say it was the Wizard; I said it was a wannabe Wizard.

Oh, no wonder it’s steering that balloon like a fucking clown.

Hell, I don’t even think we need the monkeys. That idiot is going to crash and burn itself straight into the glass walls of the Emerald Palace.

Well, you know what they say when you start throwing stones in a glass house…

It is slightly amusing (and a tad concerning) to me that children are always led to believe that the villain of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is that bitch of a Witch of the West when the worst character traits are actually portrayed by the Wizard himself. And, by “worst character traits,” I mean that he was a master manipulator who conned an entire city into believing he held some form of great power.

Did you know that in the original story the Emerald City wasn’t really that green? Sure, it was made from green glass and emeralds, but the Wizard required everyone to wear green-colored glasses so that everything appeared greener than it actually was. Weird, that. And, even more weird, people bought it! “Here, put these glasses on and you’ll see everything exactly the way I want you to see it.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m fully aware “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” is a work of fiction, but the idea that people can be easily manipulated – especially by someone with “power” – is not fiction.

That’s what today’s piece of “hot air” is about – fandom manipulation and the power of suggestion. And who better to manipulate an entire fandom than the media? It’s unfortunate that I have to give the media power in this story – and even more unfortunate that I have to give it to rag-mags and social media – but the reality is information is power, regardless of whether it’s misinformation. In fact, MIT Sloan did a study in 2018 demonstrating how false information spreads through social media, namely, Twitter, six times faster than true information. Disturbing, right? I don’t even want to know what the going rate for misinformation is in 2025.

And, of course, since I opened today’s story with a visit to the Land of Oz, we may as well take a day trip over to Australia. Remember how I told you Australia deserved an entry of its own? Well, this is it. No, not really. I did say this was a day trip, not a sleep-over, so it’s not going to be chucked full of shiny bracelets or ways to “keep a good girl down.” It’s just our starting point today.

In my first entry, I briefly described what brought me into this fandom. It was something Luke said – and not really what he said, but how he said it – that left me intrigued. He was being interviewed on the Bowral red carpet by “Gretchen from the Philippines.” Yes, that’s literally how she introduced herself! Could I instead refer to the nice lady by her real name (Gretchen Fullido)? Sure, but “Gretchen from the Philippines” is far more fun. Plus, it sounds kind of whimsical. Any ways, Gretchen (from the Philippines) asked Luke if, “in real life,” he’d support friends-to-lovers. Luke’s response was, well, a bit jumbled, which was what sparked my curiosity because his previous answers that day were, for the most part, articulate: “I would – I would support friends – I feel like it’s not something that – that I have in my li – that I resonate with – that I’ve experienced. But, you know, if my – if my friends wanted to explore a relationship with one their friends, go for it. I’ll support it.”

Something in the way Luke answered that question was like suddenly being able to see the forest for the trees. At that moment, I was convinced Luke had always been in love with Nicola, and everything else that went on during that particular red-carpet event (and thereafter) simply christened the USS Lukola. However, that comment by Luke – and a subsequent one he made in New York – would result in the addition of a lot of trees to our enchanted forest.

Now – I apologize – we need to borrow a hot air balloon, preferably one that can travel through time, and jump forward to November 5, London-time. I promise, we will return to Oz momentarily.

Oh, fuck.

What now?

That ridiculous faux Wizard is right behind us. I thought I told you to send in the monkeys!

Dammit, you said we didn’t need them! I left those fuckers back in Oz.

Well, umm, I think we might need them now.

Why??

Uhh, do you see those four-legged beasts on the ground chasing our balloon?

Oh, you mean those coyote-like creatures?

Yeah, but we’re not in the Americas – and those ain’t coyotes…

Ah, here we are: November 5, Claridge’s, London. This was the evening Nicola attended the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year awards. We’re only stopping in real quick to steal a piece of the speech Nicola gave that evening. Okay, got it! Let’s get the fuck out of here!

The part of the speech I wanted to share was this: “I did a six-month press tour for Bridgerton, the show which I love, and I’m so proud of. The amount of inappropriate questions I got asked about my appearance, about my relationship…”

Hold up. Relationship? What relationship?

Did she say “relationship” or “relationships?”

Does it fucking matter?

Well, I guess not. But what does it mean?

I could tell you what I think it means… Wait a hot-air-balloon-minute – where the fuck have you taken us? I told you we needed to go back to April 21, Aussie-time. This looks like Soho in January.

Shit, sorry. Let me fix that. Here we go…

>>> 

Umm, hey, where’s that weird little red Wizard? I swear it was just behind us…

Eh, probably got stuck in Soho, hahaha. Guess it missed its exit.

Do you think that’s a good idea?

Yeah, sure. It’ll be fine…

We’ve returned to April 21, Bowral, Australia. Now, at this point in the timeline, World Tour interviews were already well underway. In fact, the first two parts of EmEdits on YouTube are entirely pre-Australia interviews, making up roughly 6 ½ hours of screen time. I’m not the least bit surprised that “Gretchen from the Philippines” asked Luke what his thoughts were on “real life” friends-to-lovers. The chemistry between Luke and Nicola was hard to ignore.

The Australian red carpet also introduced the hand holding, which – if we took another magical mystery tour over to May 9, Italy – Nicola and Luke agreed was a sign of “love.” I suppose I could buy the excuse that one or both had so much anxiety they needed the other’s hand to remain calm on the red carpet. But, nah, I wouldn’t buy that at all – for one very specific reason. When Luke and Nicola were seen leaving (I believe) the Milton Park Country House on April 23, Luke instinctively reached for Nicola’s hand as they were descending the steps. Why? This reflex by Cool Hand Luke was as natural as a pregnant woman touching her stomach. I ask again – why?

There’s only one answer.

It’s the answer that fits with the Claddagh ring. It’s the answer that fits with the side jaunt to Galway. It’s the answer that fits with their natural chemistry, the hand holding, the canned “shared experience” and “unique relationship” responses, the playful sexual innuendos. It’s the answer that fits with Luke’s “the best foundation for love is friendship” bracelet. It’s the answer that fits with Nicola’s remark about “[t]he amount of inappropriate questions I got asked…about my relationship…” It’s the only fucking answer that makes sense.

But, the real kicker is, why don’t people believe that is the answer?

Why is it so hard to believe that Luke and Nicola could be in a real-life relationship?

That’s easy – because the Man Behind the Curtain told us so.

Who is the Man Behind the Curtain? Well, that’s also easy. It’s collectively the rag-mags and the social media creators on the prowl for a following. It’s the spread of misinformation at its worst and it’s so incredibly easy to do with, say, a pair of green-colored glasses.

Like I said, “…put these glasses on and you’ll see everything exactly the way I want you to see it.”

There was one major plot twist that came out of the World Tour, and you already know what that is. The seed was planted with a New Year’s Eve kiss, fertilized with blurry pictures, a compulsory hallway hug, and copycat photos, and encouraged to grow with a bit of junk news and a lot of social media innuendo. Now, I’m not saying the video and photographic evidence that was presented was fabricated; I’m simply suggesting the narrative that came out that evidence was skewed. The media, namely, social media creators, pushed us to plant Lutonia trees while Luke’s actions (i.e., not acknowledging the existence of Lutonia) told us to “pay no attention to the Man Behind the Curtain.”

Uh, so, what you’re saying is we shouldn’t have left that wannabe Wizard in Soho?

Ah, shit! I forgot about that fucker!

The unfortunate thing about the Lutonia narrative was that it was bolstered by insinuation that Luke would never be interested in Nicola. Now, whether these remarks were deliberately planted, or they were simply seedpods carried away by a storm, they were not overlooked by Lukolas – or Nicola. In fact, Nicola herself brushed upon it in her Harper’s Bazaar speech: “The amount of inappropriate questions I got asked about my appearance…” Yes, I’m referring to the suggestion that Luke preferred “brunettes” over “blondes.” Somehow this narrative was conveniently supported by the existence of – lo and behold! – the brunette “friend of a friend” Antonia, who happened to be slender. Again, whether it was intentional or not, the push by, initially, social media creators (and later gossip rags) to link Luke to Antonia inadvertently called the blonde in our story – Nicola – fat. I refuse to dance around that word because it is exactly what this disgusting narrative implied when it chose to compare Antonia to Nicola. Regardless of whether these gossipmongers “corrected” themselves by replacing “thin” with “brunette” and “fat” with “blonde,” the implication was that Luke would never be interested in Nicola because she had thick blonde hair. This was incredibly upsetting and confusing to many Lukolas because it was contrary to Luke’s behavior towards Nicola throughout the World Tour (and in Bridgerton behind-the-scenes clips).

I decided months ago that Luke was incredibly transparent. And, by that, I mean he’s terrible at keeping secrets. Luke himself admitted his “tell” to this was pulling at his ear – now go watch the World Tour with that information in mind. It’ll give you something to do, at the very least. Luke’s sincerity is also why the blonde versus brunette nonsense just doesn’t take flight for me. Any ways, as I hinted at earlier, Luke’s comments on the Bowral red carpet and his later comments in New York City about friends-to-lovers would – again, unfortunately – give the Man Behind the Curtain ammunition to debunk any real-life relationship between Luke and Nicola. Luke was quickly labeled as being “…dismissive of something ever happening between him and Nicola…” Those are literally the words The Tab used in an article dated May 22 to explain Luke and Nicola’s differing commentary about real-life friends-to-lovers. In fact, the article is titled, “Luke Newton has revealed the reason he’d never date Bridgerton co-star Nicola Coughlan.” Oddly – but not really given the source – Luke never actually said he would never date Nicola. But that fact didn’t stop it from becoming a theme of the World Tour – Luke didn’t believe in friends-to-lovers therefore he would never date Nicola – even though, by the end of the tour, Luke’s stance on this had seemingly changed. That’s not to say the rag-mags misquoted Luke – they didn’t – but the narrative they coiled around his words attempted to shut down the idea that Luke and Nicola would ever date in real life because Luke wasn’t interested. But what Luke was saying was that he believed in love-at-first sight. “I actually don’t think friends-to-lovers is something that happens in my life. If I meet someone, I know immediately.” Now, take that statement with the fact that Luke has repeatedly stated he remembers everything about the moment he met Nicola.

The above examples of gossip and innuendo are simply par for the course. The media manipulates facts all the time – whether it be through social media chatter or rag-mags putting their own spin on ordinary commentary – but this type of manipulation is not what puts the fandom in danger of itself. In fact, most of the gossip and innuendo that took root during the World Tour would have dissipated almost immediately after it ended – if it hadn’t been for Papsmear.

Yeah. That was disastrous.

Come to think of it, it was awfully convenient, too, don’t you think?

Absolutely. And you know what else was convenient? That little wannabe Wizard was –

Oh, yeah, I heard that, too! That clown has been trying to hand out green-colored glasses ever since!

Yep. Tried to give me a pair and I told it to go fuck itself and its little glass cat, too. I mean, they weren’t even name brand glasses. Fake ass, bitch.

All jesting aside, if you haven’t noticed already, I do, on occasion, use my writing to call out the fandom, usually as a whole. I mean, we are in this together, right? Actually, no; we ceased being Collectively Delulu after a few unsavory characters were bitten by the Hunter’s Moon and followed Nicola through the streets of New York and London. There was a major – and rather unexpected – shift in the fandom when the rabid Jakolas appeared from the dark corners of our enchanted forest. And I’m sure you’ve realized at this point in my story that I have one particular – oh, shit, I just realized I don’t even know to which fandom our wannabe Wizard belongs. Ruh-roh. Regardless, that motherfucker is in my peep sight because it is a perfect example of how fandom manipulation has reached a new level of toxicity.

Typically, I don’t care what part of the fandom you’re on. My general attitude is, to each their own. If you’re a Jakola and you find yourself spending an average of 15 minutes each week reading my Lukola blog, I applaud you for peeking outside of the den hole. Best not let Alpha find out, though. It’s all in good fun, right? I often find myself getting a good laugh from Jakola stories, especially when they theorize on the Woman Behind the Curtain. Question, though – did you find her? In all seriousness, if I didn’t consider Jakola and Lutonia perspectives, I would be borderline Conscientiously Stupid, now, wouldn’t I? After all, the desire for knowledge is what ultimately gave our Scarecrow his brain.

However, what I don’t find “in good fun” is when social media creators prey on more than one side of the fandom under phony pretense, namely, that they “just want Nicola to be happy.” Oh, these Cowardly Lions may argue that they’re simply being “neutral” – and, yes, I’m sure some instances of this do exist – however, neutrality does not embrace openly ridiculing one fandom over another, especially on a platform that is touted by its owners as being a “safe space” for everyone. The problem with these so-called “neutral creators” is that they’re only here for social media engagement – the clicks and the giggles – and they defect to the other side when the going gets tough. If you, too, take issue with this kind of creator, be soothed in knowing that when you play two sides, you find yourself with two-times the number of enemies.

What makes these so-called “neutral creators” – actually, let’s just call them the “Defectors” – so poisonous to the fandom is that they are made from the grease drippings found at the bottom of the barrel of the Conscientiously Stupid. The Conscientiously Stupid are one thing – they are the ones using their platforms to spread misinformation because they choose to ignore exculpatory evidence (i.e., they’re headstrong in their beliefs) – but the Defectors are typically the ones creating the misinformation and feeding it to the Conscientiously Stupid and then hanging them out to dry when the information proves to be false. The Conscientiously Stupid who refuse to “lose the battle” then resort to bullying (more so than usual) the Sincerely Ignorant of an opposing fandom. And in defense of their Sincerely Ignorant comrades (or simply because they’re sick and tired of the Conscientiously Stupid preventing anyone from having nice things), the Fact Finders – unceremoniously, I might add – have taken their own place on the battlefield (oh, yes, they are absolutely your tactical commanders). Now, the entire fandom is at war with each other – all because some wannabe Wizard – a Defector – convinced people to look through a pair of shiny, green-colored glasses. More than once.

Is it appropriate – or perhaps a bit catty – to put “ceasefire” here?

Ah, yes, well, uh, we have found ourselves a bit far from Oz at this point, haven’t we?

I suppose – but we are trying to help Dorothy find her way back home, and at least we now have an idea as to how she got lost.

Maybe one day we will get her back to Kansas.

Yeah, maybe.

Oh, silly me! I forgot to sneak in a sly reference to Dorothy’s third companion – the Tin Man! He’s perfect for the end of our story. You know, in the book, the Wizard was just an ordinary man who stumbled into his Ozian existence on a magnificent hot air balloon and took advantage of the power that Emerald citizens bestowed upon him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Wizard preyed on the naïve using deception and the power of suggestion and invoked fear in anyone who dared to question his authority –

Uh, where are you going with this?

Give me a minute!

Like I said – shit, where was I? – Oh, yes, the Wizard was just an ordinary man, and ordinary people are flawed. We all make mistakes. This is where our Tin Man comes in as he represents love and empathy. Yes, empathy; the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to understand and forgive, to take into consideration someone’s redeeming qualities –

You know that Wizard defected in his hot air balloon before taking Dorothy home, right?

Wait, what?

Okay, okay. It was Toto’s fault but the Wizard sure as shit didn’t come back for her!

Hmm, you’d almost think Toto knew the Wizard’s true colors all along…

“Au revoir, Wiz.”

[the-clock-of-the-time-dragon]

Musings on how magic works in the Wicked musical/film(s):

So I've actually never really heard anyone explore in-depth how the powers work in Wicked, because I guess they're both simple AND mysterious enough that most people regard them as self-explanatory. But I think there's actually a lot of interesting things we might learn about the characters and world through observing how and when magic happens in Oz.

So with the Grimmerie, it seems to work by reading people's hearts and granting them an approximation of what they ask for. I've pointed out before how it's kind of a mirror version of what the Wizard does: people come asking for their "heart's desire", and both the Wizard and the Grimmerie want to grant that desire and make people happy. But whereas the Wizard must do this with charlatanry (and in the end, people always end up having to either go and get what they came for themselves, elsewhere, or they already had it all along), the Grimmerie can actually twist reality to give people some version of what they wanted (and didn't already have): but it always comes with some fucked up cost that makes them regret it. It plays into the overarching theme of "what is happiness? Is it getting your heart's desire? What will you give up to get it? Is it worth it?", etc. I think it could even be inferred that every character who ever comes into contact with the book — directly or indirectly — is in a way "cursed" to never obtain true happiness, only a mockery of what they'd imagined happiness to be. This extends to the Wizard, Glinda, Morrible, Elphaba, Nessa, and even Chistery. And the grander the desire, the graver the cost for getting it — Chistery is able to get away with physical pain for his dream of flying, but the human characters all have their dreams come true only in ways they are never able to actually enjoy. I think the reason Elphaba is the only one able to not only read the book but get away with using it repeatedly, is due to her own innate power.

Elphaba's power is very different from that of the Grimmerie. She seems to have the ability to just flat-out REJECT ACCEPTED REALITY. She defies the law of gravity; even TIME (essentially "remembering" things that have yet to happen). Every time we see her use her powers, she does so to STOP what is transpiring, or simply to say NO to what is before her. Making things fall up instead of down, recalling the future instead of the past, reading books that are illegible. It's in keeping with her overall character, being off, or backwards, or at odds with everything around her: crowds part as if repelled when she comes near; her first day of school she's already being told she's going to excel far beyond what any of the other students could ever hope to achieve. The idea of "I clash with everything" isn't just a joke about color coordination, it's quite literally how she interacts with the world, including on a metaphysical level. She distorts and repulses.

The reason she has such a different relationship to the Grimmerie than everyone else who's tried to use it, is precisely because she clashes with everything. More importantly: she rejects both the world as it is, AND the world as she wants it. She denies her own desires for the sake of what she considers more important. She knows that she can have all she ever wanted: but she can't. She won't. She chooses to go AGAINST heart's desire, REJECT happiness — to deny HERSELF. Something that, perhaps, only a child of both Oz and Kansas — of fantasy and reality — is able to do. She's so at odds with the fantasy world she's been born into, so committed to Truth — a world of objective non-fiction — that she actively says no to her own dreams, and can literally disrupt and challenge the basic laws and logics of the story that she's in. She can use the Grimmerie because she uses the same language: negation. You can't reverse the Grimmerie's spells because they ARE reversals — distortions of a twisted nature. But Elphaba can't want what she truly wants in her heart; she rejects it; it's already reversed. To the "what are you willing to give up to get what you want?" question, Elphaba is the only one in Oz who can honestly just reply "NO", and give up her heart's desire of her own accord.

Now, how Morrible's powers work seem to be a lot different from the others. Her abilities aren't derived directly from the Grimmerie (though we know she has at least studied it), and appear to be innate like Elphaba's, but they manifest very differently. But why weather?? I think it pertains to her innate nature. She's a manipulator whose temperament changes like the wind (warm with some and cold with others), capable of clouding the truth or making things clear as she pleases, and acts as if the world revolves around her like a cyclone. She has total control over her powers because her power is control. There might have been a time when her powers were more benign — she says her talent is "encouraging talent", so perhaps we could infer that her true powers are motivating/suggesting things, giving directions, and that whenever she developed into the truly wicked person she is now, that power darkened into coercion/manipulation. So she can direct a cloud to disperse, encourage a wind to blow, or persuade a crowd to become a raging tempest.

As for Glinda: the musical/film(s) kinda implies she doesn't have any powers?? At least not the innate kind that Elphaba and Morrible have. We haven't seen her use any spells (except a simple one that got cut way back in the pre-Broadway tryout run of the musical), her bubble is shown to be mechanical rather than magical, and she's obviously interested in learning sorcery but fails the only time we really see her try to use it, and she doesn't believe she can read the Grimmerie. So whatever magic Glinda possesses has to be developed, and given she has never really been encouraged to do so (whether in school or when she's Glinda the Good), she probably hasn't had much of a chance to become a real witch by the time the story wraps up (although it would be a fun inclusion if the second film shows her using a spell at some point). Also: since magic seems to be related to character's personal qualities or narrative themes, it's actually quite meaningful that Glinda (at the very least) struggles to use it — she's constantly questioning who she is, what she wants, etc., and so whether she possesses a natural power of her own or needs to develop it through training, we might infer that her magic is similarly "unsure" of what it's supposed to do.

Feel free to respond with any thoughts — I just find this aspect of the story really interesting and hopefully this all came together to at least mostly make sense, lol

[nobodysdaydreams]

Been thinking about Galinda and Elphaba’s choices at the end of “Defying Gravity” and how different things might have been, and it makes me so sad because at the end of the day, while it was Elphaba who did the right thing, Galinda’s decision has less to do with her being cowardly or evil, and more to do with her going with what she knows to be a safe/effective strategy.

Galinda doesn’t insult or downplay Elphaba’s concern for the animals. She yells at Elphaba for defying the Wizard because doing so “hurts her cause forever”. Galinda’s whole thing is popularity, playing the system, playing the social game. That’s what she does, that’s the world she knows, that’s what she’s comfortable with. She knows that Elphaba leaving will only lead to her being vilified, even if Elphaba is 100% right. Yes, Galinda loves her popularity and has ambition, but she does it with intention and purpose. Whereas Elphaba, who has never been popular and has no chance of eclipsing the Wizard in that domain (but totally can and already has in terms of her power) is way more comfortable calling him out right here and now. Galinda’s comments about Elphaba’s delusions of grandeur and her not knowing what she’s doing with the book also hold some truth to them as seen in Act 2 when Elphaba’s attempts to fix things with the book have unintended consequences, yet work. There’s some truth to both their perspectives and no perfect and effective and 100% moral solution to this problem. These are two college girls trying their best with the cards they’ve been dealt, and it is not either of their faults what happens: it’s the Wizard’s and Morrible’s. Galinda is not the villain of the story, they are.

Galinda makes mistakes, she does selfish things, for sure, but she’s certainly not evil. I point this out in my analysis of “No One Mourns the Wicked” but the Wicked story, while it is about Galinda and Elphaba and features them as the main characters, isn’t a story of Galinda vs. Elphaba. As Galinda says, despite their different choices, they were friends, and they cared for each other. Wicked is the story of Elphaba vs. the Wizard, as told by Galinda, who was friends with Elphaba and worked for the Wizard. The villagers in the song characterize Galinda goodness itself and sing that “goodness knows what goodness is, goodness knows the wicked die alone” and in the end, Galinda is the only one that does know the truth about the Wizard being the truly Wicked one and Elphaba being wonderful. Galinda also knows in the end, she’s ruling Oz and carrying out Elphaba’s mission to make Oz better for everyone, including the Animals, which is what she believes Elphaba died for. Meanwhile, Galinda knows the Wizard, who was truly Wicked, died/left Oz grieving what he’d lost/what he’s done.

That’s why I have a hard time blaming Galinda or calling her the villain for her choices during “Defying Gravity”. Even though there is tragedy in both Galinda and Elphaba’s endings, their respective strategies pay off for both of them. Elphaba’s stance against the Wizard leads to him being exposed by Dorothy as a fraud and allows Elphaba to help the animals. Whereas Galinda becomes so popular and loved by the people, that they totally accept the Wizard leaving because they have her now, and Galinda is able to take power from Morrible and send her to prison, no questions asked. Now she’s ruling all of Oz and can actually make things better for the Animals. She had to make moral concessions to get there that Elphaba wasn’t willing to, and yes, that was wrong, I’m not saying it isn’t, but Galinda didn’t just do it because she was 100% selfish, she genuinely believed this was the best choice and winning strategy, and given her background, why wouldn’t she? Galinda’s popularity is what has gotten her this far in life despite her lack of ability, and Elphaba was asking her to give all of that up, every bit of power, influence, and protection she had, to become a scorned criminal, and anything Galinda tried to do to bring about positive change would be twisted and manipulated by the Wizard and Morrible. Whereas Galinda was asking Elphaba to let a man who is abusing the Animals (who for many years, were the only friends Elphaba had) use her power for his own evil designs in order to slowly gain more power and influence and make gradual changes and concessions for the sake of the Animals all while there are huge injustices being committed right now that she’d be doing little or nothing to stop.

Given these situations, of course Galinda and Elphaba made the decisions they did at the end of part 1, of course they still hope things work out for one another, of course Galinda smiles to herself with pride when she sees Elphaba flying away (I loved that detail, she so happy to see her get away, it’s so sweet). Neither of them are in a fair position at all, and you can argue that Galinda should have been more willing to take a risk and had a moral obligation to do so, but the fact that she didn’t wasn’t 100% self-motivated and if anyone is to be blamed it’s the grown Animal abusing deadbeat father and professional conman who put her in that position, not the college girl who just wants to support her bestie without losing the only card she had to play.

The unfortunate byproduct of this (and I talk about this in other posts about how powerful Elphaba and Galinda could have been together), is that we will never know if things could have been better if Galinda had gone with Elphaba or if Elphaba had decided to stay. Galinda’s popularity might have been enough to make the students at Shiz, her parents, and her friends question the Wizard’s vilification of her or at least frame her as an impressionable and confused young girl, but would it have been enough for her, a college student, to totally expose the Wizard’s plot and rally all of Oz to her and Elphaba’s side? And had Elphaba chosen to stay, could she have found a way, after the Wizard makes the people see her as “wonderful” to use her magic she still barely understands to secretly protect her Animal friends until she finds a way to stop/expose the Wizard and Morrible? Both sound unlikely, but at the end of the day, we don’t know. You can argue that Elphaba’s choice was more morally correct and Galinda’s was more strategic and effective long term, but we’ll never know what might have been. Though goodness knows, the two of them will probably wonder for the rest of their lives.

[siolixz]

~Veils Of Crimson~

Chapter 5: part 2

<chapter 1> <chapter 2> <chapter 3><chapter 5: part 1>

The truth is here and so is the ending of the story. I'm glad to be over with it and maybe start another project like a one-shot or something. It was so much fun to write it and if you read all of it- you have my deepest thanks and gratitude. This story takes a darker turn and you can decide to just ignore that it exists if that's not your cup of tea.

This is a work of fiction and all the characters are 18+.

I took my inspo from Driving Miss Falcone by (https://www.tumblr.com/genevievedarcygranger here on tumblr), check out the story if you can.

Enjoy, give feeback if u want ily xoxo.

Warnings: mature language, violence towards the reader, angst, smut (a bit of non-consenual too- so just be aware of that)

Your driver was still your husband's employee, so his loyalty remained with his boss- if you wanted to leave, you had to do it when Oswald wasn’t at home. But today, luck was on your side. 

Oz left promptly at noon, buried in business you hoped would keep him occupied for hours and you slipped out, a quiet rebellion that had your heart pounding in your chest.

The one thing that irked Oz the most was when he didn’t know where you were or how long you would be staying, he only allowed you to visit certain places at certain times and you usually had a bodyguard with you or two but this time you had none, just you and your driver.

If everything goes according to plan, you would be back before he knew it.

As you sat down in front of the glass window separating you and your sister, you anxiously turned the letter in your hands. What were you even going to say to her?

Sofia looked so different, her eyes were empty and her voice was almost a whisper.

“Why are you here?” she asked, her tone devoid of emotion.

“Sofia, I—” Your voice wavered as the nerves coiled tighter around your throat. “I received a letter.” You held up the envelope, fingers trembling. “It’s from a woman named Selina Kyle. She says she’s our half-sister. She could help us. Help me get you out of here.”

A moment passed in suffocating silence as she stared at you- studying your face.

“I got one too,” she said finally.

Relief surged through you, a wave so strong you nearly sighed out loud. But Sofia’s expression remained stone-cold. The relief curdled into confusion.

“I’m so glad, Sofia. I—”

“How do you sleep next to him?” she interrupted, her voice sharpening like a knife. “Knowing what he did? To me. To Alberto.”

Your breath caught. “Excuse me?”

Sofia’s eyes narrowed, the hollowness flickering into something darker. She leaned closer, the harsh overhead lights casting shadows across her face.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know?” she squinted her eyes at you. You took a deep breath- your heart was beating out of your chest- what the hell was she talking about?

“He killed him. He killed Alberto and stuffed his body in the back of a car.. like a piece of trash; he lied and manipulated us. Just so he can play king.” 

“No,” you whispered, but it came out weaker than you intended, sounding more like a plea than a denial. You shook your head- no. No. No, this can’t be. 

“You’re lying-”

“Why would I lie? I don’t have anything to lose now.” 

“What?” you were too shocked to say anything more- ask more questions

“He got what he wanted in the end. He’s got the girl and the power.” her voice was sharp- judging you “You ate right out of his hand. He spun his web of lies and you listened.” She gave a deep breath. 

You placed your elbows on the table, hands on your mouth- God, you wanted to throw up right now.

“You know—” she started, her tone taking on an almost mocking edge. “I visited his friend, Eve. She was his alibi—she told me all about him.”

You closed your eyes, trying to get yourself away from this place mentally 

“He would make her dress up like you. Y’know that?” Sofia’s voice broke, the brief flash of amusement mingling with pain. “Make her walk and talk like you—then he’d fuck her.”

“Wha-” 

“From your dresses to your purses- she had almost exact replicas. Sick fuck.”  She shook her head in denial. 

Your phone dinged in your purse but you were too caught up in what she was saying to pay attention to it. 

It must’ve been hours- Hours, since you arrived though it felt like seconds. This was the longest conversation you’d had with your sister in what felt like a lifetime, and it peeled back every lie you had clung to. 

The guards, bribed into silence, loomed in your periphery, but they were irrelevant now.

Sofia recounted everything—how Oz orchestrated the club, the arrest, every meticulously planned step. He’d severed your contact with her, veiled you in a life built on manipulation, and ensured you were too blinded by his charm to see the truth.

You felt the anxiety wash away and be replaced with something stronger, anger.

Anger at him and what a monster he was. Anger like you’d never known gripped your chest, tightening until you could barely breathe. Anger at yourself for believing him.

How could you?

As you said your goodbyes, you made sure to swear on your life you were going to get her out of there. 

You left in a hurry and as you checked your phone in the car you finally bursted out crying. He called you- multiple times but you were in no mood to talk. You knew you were going to get berated back home but that was pushed to the back of your head. You had to think- you replayed all your past memories with him in your head.

Oz called your driver too- who told him he was with you. You tuned out most of the conversation after declining to speak to him in the car. 

The ride home was a blur- you didn’t wait for the driver to open the door for you so you jumped out of the car and got in the elevator as soon as you could. 

As you climbed up the levels and it finally dinged you heard a voice that made your body feel filled with- fear?

“Fuck have you been?” he yelled.

The anger almost toppled you over as you saw him.

No, this isn’t wise you thought. If you were to tell him what you know now, it would probably end badly for you. He probably drank something as he came home and he was capable of anything. 

“I- I-” you started, averting his gaze. You weren’t that good at lying, especially not in moments like this “I visited my brother and dad.” you whispered and tried to walk by him.

He grabbed your arm and forcefully pulled your face up towards his. 

“Don’t fucking lie to me” his breath- laced with whiskey and tobacco was hot in your face “Where were you?”

The anger started bubbling up inside of you. You knew the house staff could hear you two and the Gazette would go mad with gossip if they heard of this confrontation.

“Lower your voice” you whispered back in his face

“Don’t tell me how to speak in my own fucking house!” His voice was a shout now, ricocheting off the walls. If he wanted a scene, you would give him one.

You studied his face, from the big scar on it to his furrowed eyebrows and almost black eyes in this light. 

“I went to Arkham- to speak to Sofia.” your words were precise. A glimmer of something went through your husband's eyes- was it uncertainty? 

His eyes narrowed as his voice got deeper and quieter.

“You listened to her lies- she ain’t right in the head.” He was lying.

“She told me I have the devil in my house and I believe her. You lied to me Oswald- you manipulated me and you have me right where you want me.” You looked up at him- staring in his eyes. You were afraid, yes- but you were also very angry.

His eyes darkened, the mask slipping. You saw the raw, dangerous man beneath- your husband was not the kind of man to be crossed. But you pushed on, refusing to cower.

“Watch your words-”

“Or what are you going to do Oswald?!” you screamed at him- your eyes stung with the memory of your brother and sister and of you.

How gullible you were.

No more.

You heard the sound of footsteps as one of your maids scurried off.

“Are you going to kill me?” you whispered.

His eyes grew wider, nostrils flaring and but you continued.

“Like you killed my brother?” you whispered to him. “Like you killed Vi-Victor too probably?”

The impact of the slap almost sent you toppling over if he didn’t have a close grip on you and you gasped as his heavy hand made impact with your cheek.

You blinked- trying to stop your world from spinning.

You looked at him again and he looked like a complete fucking monster. That’s who he was. A monster.

“Fuck you.” you told him. God your cheek was stinging, you felt tears in your eyes but you didn’t let them fall. 

“Everything I do, everything I did, was for you—for us!” He tightened his grip on your arm, gesturing wildly around the room. “All of this!”

“You don’t have power over me anymore- I’m not that little girl you used to lie to-”

Wrenching free from his grasp, you stumbled into the living room, heart pounding as you sought refuge in one of the spare rooms. The sting of his slap lingered on your cheek, you let your tears stream down your face hot with fury and shame.

You had to leave him.

Screw all these expensive clothes and this fucking life- you don’t want it. Not anymore. Not if it was alongside a man that did that.

He was worse than Maroni or Carmine- he didn’t feel anything as he lied to you. Did he feel love for you? Was it real? Or was it all a game he played? To have you all to himself because of his sick obsession.

You got him in all those high circles, your friends remained the same. All now women who married into power- you got them to talk to their husbands.

To meet you two at your gorgeous penthouse ‘to do business’- you helped him. Bastard. You hated him. You will get Sofia out and you will leave him. You have to.

In the back of your mind you knew it was impossible, but you had to try.

Late that night, dressed in your pajamas, while standing near the bed. The door creaked open, and your heart raced, dread pooling in your stomach.

You didn’t need to look to know it was him. 

The way he shut the door and took a deep breath told you everything- his presence filled the room.

He was dressed in the same black suit he had downstairs but his jacket was gone and his top buttons undone. Oz’s cologne filled any room he was in and you wanted to throw up just smelling it.

He stared at you, eyes unreadable, as though you were the one who had wronged him.

He said your name but you ignored him, the pain of everything almost hitting you again and you tried not to cry.

Your head was hurting from all the crying. 

He called out your name again and you ignored him, the tears were coming back and you hated it- hated to make him see you cry. 

He came closer to you, grabbed you from behind- wrapping his arms around you and shushing you.

You tried to break free from his grip, but he only pressed you harder against him. Wrapping his arms against you to the point of it being uncomfortable- his fingers dug into your skin.

“Let- let me go.” you cried

“I love you.” he whispered in your hair “I love you.” as you struggled against him again.

You cried against his chest- you wanted to hit him, slap him across his dumb face just like he did you- you wanted him to feel lost and sad as you felt.

“You can’t leave me” he whispered “i won’t let you” 

Your sobs were louder now, how could you have been so naive. You actually thought you could leave him- that you could get Sofia out of Arkham; you were a fool. 

He grabbed hold of your face with his big hand, squeezing your cheeks together and bringing them closer to his face in a painful hold. 

He kissed you, pressing his lips together and it felt like an eternity before he let you breathe.

God you wanted to bury your head in the ground with shame.

He kissed you again; harder this time and you felt him groan in your mouth. Fighting against him was useless; he was three times your size and much- much stronger.

You felt him press himself against your ass- was he? Was he hard? 

“I hate you.” you said as he let your lips go. He smiled and you saw his gold teeth. You hated him.

Sick man was getting turned on by you saying you hated him.

“There’s nothing you can do about it.” he leaned down to be at your level- stare you in the eyes as he told you that.

You narrowed your eyes at him in disgust. He was like a giddy schoolboy- knowing you were hopeless. 

“You’re sick-”

As he turned you around to face him he grabbed both of your ass cheeks in his hands.

You pressed your palms against his chest- trying to push him off.

 He chuckled as he pressed your bodies together and tried to kiss you again but you looked to the side.

You didn’t want this- you pressed again- harder this time against his broad chest until you had some distance between you two.

“No Oswald- No.” you pleaded.

You weren’t in the mood for him right now- especially right now.

He grabbed the hem of your pants and pulled them down in one swift motion. 

“Oswald!” you repeated, louder this time. You looked at his pants and his boner- this fucking bastard. 

He pushed you down the bed and you tried to sit up, really you did. 

He got on the bed and removed your pants fully. You started to go back on the bed and he only leaned down on you- palming your pussy with his hand. 

The fucking cheek on him- to try to fuck you after he slapped you and you said no. Fuck him. 

You brought your hand up- before you could think about it. Before you could think about what you were doing or the consequences of your action. 

His face barely moved when you slapped him and you shocked yourself in your boldness. 

He grabbed your throat and pushed you down the bed. Your anger came back- harder this time. 

“I hate you.” He only smiled at you. 

Your body didn’t move on the bed as he pulled your legs up on either side of you. “Stay” you weren’t sure if you felt this much embarrassment in your whole life. 

“You were always such a fucking brat” he pulled his suspenders off of him 

“I fucking hate you.” you muttered as you put your legs on his chest- pushing yourself out from beneath him.

He grabbed them and forcefully spread them to the point of pain “You’re hurting me!” you yelled out- truth is, the pain wasn’t that great and it certainly wasn’t the only time he got you in this position- you wanted to embarrass him, yell as loud as you could “Get off of me!”

 Either way no one was coming to save you.

“Shhh.” he readjusted himself between your legs as he unzipped his pants

“Always giving me orders- like I was your dog.” he shook his head as he relieved the memories. Were you always giving him orders? Well that was his fucking job!

“You were my fucking dog.” you spat at him and saw his brows furrow again- rage flashed across his eyes and you thought he was going to hit you again- let him try you said.

Your hand was itching too.

“So fucking ungrateful” he ripped open your blouse sending the buttons flying everywhere

“You would come home and drag me around with you everywhere-”

“Yeah? I dragged you around?” you asked as he pulled his cock out and palmed himself- you almost laughed before you said

“Don’t fucking kid yourself Oz- I know about your whore and I know you made her dress up as me. You fucking creep” you giggled, maybe in desperation to feel something else; anything but fear- maybe because you thought it was actually funny, you couldn’t say.

Your heart was beating out of your chest and your stomach was in knots at your predicament right now.

This really- really wasn’t the moment to laugh at him, but you just couldn’t help yourself ! 

Always so nice, always so devoted because he wanted you to be his girl- he asked about you, countless times- when he saw you his eyes went all over your body. Did he get hard then too? Did he get hard in the car as he drove you around- trying to sneak glances under your skirt? Oz was like a dog, devoted to you. Obsessed. 

He smiled back at you- the mask came off and now there were no more lies between you two.

He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he DID make her dress up as you.

In this moment of absolute terror- where you should be afraid of him, you both laughed. He grabbed on of your legs with his free hand- making sure you weren’t about to escape again.

Oz was laughing like a kid that was just found with his hands in the cookie jar and you more at the absurdity of the situation. What has your life come to?

“He saw the way you looked at me- like a prize to be won.” you sneered at him

“-Really?” his eyes widened- like he just found this out. Shocking. 

 “Bet you fucked your hand to the thought of me beneath you whenever my dad or brother yelled at you.” He pressed himself on top of you- his hand almost touching your body as he rubbed himself. 

“You’re sick- fucking disgusting. Forcing yourself on top of me- did you fantasize about this too? I hate you-

“Oh baby- the way I’m about to fuck yo-” 

“Fuck off” He chuckled as he saw you struggle. You tried to pry yourself off from under him- to no avail. But you tried; his much larger body was holding you down and the more you struggled the more he pressed himself into you.

Now it was actually becoming painful. 

He placed a pillow under your ass and grabbed both of your arms and pressed them against your chest as he positioned himself- having finally had enough and as he entered you- you almost let out a yelp of pain. 

The size of him was uncomfortable and this position only made you take him deeper- you felt your eyes get teary.

“You gonna cry, sweetheart ? Lemme see them.” He sounded like he was talking to a toddler- No. He will not see them- think about something else besides the feeling of having him shove himself inside you like you were a prostitute. 

“You’re always goi-going to be just a driver-” you muttered loud enough for him to hear 

He grabbed one of your legs from besides him- throwing it on his shoulder as he fucked you. Now you really were in pain. You removed your hand out of his grasp and slapped him again. 

“Ooo- take it easy sweetheart.” he grabbed it again and you knew he wanted to hit you too- his eyes changed

“You’re so beautiful.” He smirked before it was replaced with another expression of pleasure as he fucked you. This man- this beast, he looked like a bear on top of you. You hated him and you hated how wet you were getting- you knew he felt it too.

“I wanted you for so long” he grabbed your thigh as he held your leg on top of his body. “Fuck the real you…you’re so wet and tight doll” 

“EAT SHIT Oswald.” 

He lowered himself on you and it felt like he split you in two; combined with the weight of a 250 pound man too busy with burying himself balls deep time and time again to not press himself too hard down on top was also your poor leg up on his shoulder. 

His breath was on your face as he stared into your eyes. “You’re hurting me- you’re too heavy” you exhaled- trying to catch your breath -your voice was breaking and now you were sure you were about to cry again.

He kissed your forehead and pressed his cheek against yours.  From this position- he could easily brush against your g-spot time and time again.

You felt a familiar sensation built in your lower stomach- threatening to wash over you. No. Not like this. 

He placed his hand under your head, holding you in place- his pace became rhythmic and you began to actually moan- like really hard this time.

"You gonna cum baby? You’re gonna cum on your driver’s cock?”he chuckled mocking you- he always won in the end. You could barely talk- your chest was in pain, but it felt so good.

“S-stop…please.” You didn’t want him to stop. Your leg was almost shaking from its place near his head.

Oz kissed your neck- near your ear, softly nibbling on it. Your moans right near his ear only encouraged him to keep going, keeping the same pace and wanting you to come undone.

He looked at you again as you squeezed your free leg near his body- he knew you too well, knew you were close.

Always ever observant. 

You closed your eyes as you came- not wanting to give him the satisfaction of watching you like this. You felt yourself grip his cock time and time again until you felt spent. You stomach was aching.

You stopped feeling the pain- there was only tiredness and the same headache as before. He removed himself from on top of you and you could finally breathe.

God you were sweaty. 

He unbuttoned his shirt all the way before he manhandled you on your hands and knees.

You were too tired to fight- partly because of your orgasm and partly because you knew, you knew you had no chance against him. 

He placed another pillow beneath you- raise you up to his level so it won’t be too uncomfortable for him.

He was breathing so heavy- god this place all smells like him; a mix of cologne and tobacco. 

He brought your shirt up towards your neck- to see your back and ass better as it arched on his bed. You almost closed your eyes- maybe you could- 

The sting of the smack across your ass made you yell

“Ow!-” he smacked you again harder this time- on the other cheek. You wanted to look back at him, curse him again- but you won’t give him the satisfaction. You bundled up the comforter beneath your face- hiding your cries of pain in it. 

“I should’ve done this a long time ago-” He grabbed hold of your ass as he spread you apart- you heard him spit before he entered you again- you moaned in the comforter. 

The familiar feeling of having his penis inside you was very welcomed by your body- unfortunately. 

He gripped your waist as he fucked you, probably checking how you took him in the meantime too.

The sound that your bodies made as they colided was incredibly shameful, you felt your cheeks burn.

A few minutes ago you were cursing him out and slapping him now you were fucked like a bitch. How shameful.

“You fucking brat-” he sneered from on top of you and slapped you across your ass again “I should’ve bended you over back then too.” 

He heard your muffled “Fuck you” in the comforter set and pulled your hair back 

“Fuck did you say?” he switched the hands he was holding your hair with- conveniently smacking you again over the other ass cheek

“Look at me.” he let go of your hair and you pressed your face down again- cheek on the bed and closed your eyes. 

“Look at me I said!” 

You moved your head and looked forward again. 

“You little shit- I'm gonna take the belt and give you a real beating if you don’t- “ 

Alright, you looked at him.

Only the thought of getting your ass smacked with one of those heavy leather belts accompanied with gold buckles sent a very unpleasant shiver down your spine- you knew he wasn’t kidding either.

“There you go-” he gave you a smile- those gold teeth glinting at you

“You look so sweet- with those gorgeous eyes of yours.” His grip on your hips was becoming very forceful and his strokes erratic

“Tell me.” His mouth opened in pleasure- pleasure in anticipation of what you were going to say

“Say it.”

This was so embarrassing- you hated having to look him in the eyes and tell him this. This monster enjoyed you so much- enjoyed your pain and embarrassment. 

“SAY IT.” He bellowed out “Tell me.” You knew what he was referring to.

“I love you.” you were so exhausted- your legs and back were hurting from the position he had you in and your stomach was hurting even more from the way he pressed himself inside.

He started to fuck you even harder- the death grip on your waist almost made you cry out in pain.

He groaned as he came and pushed your smaller frame down even harder on the bed. 

Oz groaned as he removed himself from you and you could finally stretch out your poor legs- the relief you got was immeasurable.

You almost forgot what you were talking about before. 

He sat on the bed- breathing heavily. You sat up and got in his face again.

“I hate you-”

“It’s gonna pass-”

“Fuck you” you went to the bathroom.

Your legs felt like jello and you could barely walk but you didn’t let him see that.

He thinks he can take everything from you and win- you’ll show him. You will. 

He couldn’t know about Selina or Sofia. You had to wait- like he did. Wait until it was the right moment and then press on. 

He went to the bathroom too- to start the shower. 

“Got a fuckin’ headache because of you.” He looked at his cheek in the mirror and started to undress himself. “You better stay put from now on.” 

You stared at him. Your brother didn’t die for nothing, your sister wasn’t in the looney bin for nothing- you had to do something. 

You'll show him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author's note: From the moment I saw what sort of shit he did in the finale I knew it was going to end this way.

Thank you so much for reading. Have a great day.

[profoundbondfanfic]

Hi!! This might be a weird request, but I hope it's not too confusing: I love Destiel, but I get really frustrated trying to find fic where one or the other character isn't super confident/smug/Dommy most of the time. To be honest, I'll always be hung up on that scene at the end of It's The Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester, with the two realising their similarities in chasing after absent father figures. Could you rec any fics where they're both damaged and vulnerable and learn to be kind and open?

Hello there!

Here are a few that might fit:

don't care where you've been by thanks_tacos (Explicit, 328k words)

Dean's life is finally changing. After years of enduring Alastair's abuse, the alpha dies and Dean's married off to the next alpha the system pairs him with - Castiel. The man is strange and distant, but not exactly bad, and Dean's determined to be on his best behavior and not mess up the chance he was given. Soon enough, though, he fucks up anyway and has to call the alpha for help. Castiel's lived his entire life without an omega by his side, and he was fine with that. He doesn't know how to proceed once he's suddenly married to a beautiful man who's obviously been through a lot. Omegas were always a confusing subject to him, so he tries not to interfere much - neither of them is there by their choice. But when Dean calls for help, he understands he's going to have to set some things straight and engage more.

Everybody Needs the Light by opal_bullets (Mature, 46k words)

In the summer of 2005, a gruesome hunt leaves a lonely and hurting Dean to take refuge in a remote Minnesota motel. He only means to stop for the night, yet finds himself compelled to stay. Maybe it’s the old, well loved lodge, or his cozy little cabin, or the spectacular views off the cliffs of Lake Superior. Or maybe it’s Castiel, the guy who runs the place. Dean’s falling for him fast, but there’s more to complicate the matter than the family business. Something strange is afoot in the Northwoods…Is Cas just caught in the crossfire, or is he the one standing at the center of it all?

First by FriendofCarlotta (Explicit, 25k words)

Romance novelist Castiel Novak is recovering from an addiction to painkillers and he’s struggling to settle back into life post-rehab. His therapist suggests visiting a local farm where anyone can spend an hour or two in the calming company of rabbits. The farm’s owner, Dean, is himself a recovering alcoholic… and a huge fan of Castiel’s books. A story of recovery, romance and rabbits, told in a series of firsts.

For Evermore by casblackfeathers (Explicit, 110k words)

There's no place like home. This was a line Castiel used to know by heart when he was a kid, watching The Wizard of Oz and believing fairytales were real. At thirty-one years old, he isn't a kid anymore, and it has been twelve years since he has known what home feels like. Twelve years. That's when his world had come crashing down and he had left his hometown, Holly Springs, with the broken pieces of what he once was to build a new life in San Francisco. But as circumstances force him to come back to the only place he swore he would never return to, Castiel is finally forced to face everything he once knew and loved. Especially when said everything is made of spring-green eyes and a stardust of freckles, wrapped in all the memories Castiel was not able to erase from his heart. After twelve years, Dean is as mesmerizing as Castiel remembers, but the scars of what was broken still run as deeply as the marrow of his bones, and Castiel will do everything he can to protect himself. After all, his favorite movie also taught him that 'until hearts can be made unbreakable,' he can’t listen to his own.

Have Love, Will Travel by squeemonster (Explicit, 94k words)

Castiel Novak is a reclusive writer with a childhood so tragic it's left him terrified to leave his home—until his overbearing brother, Gabriel, drags him out for a night on the town full of booze and strip clubs, and he encounters Dean Winchester, a mesmerizing and mysterious stripper with secrets of his own. Both men find themselves inexplicably drawn to each other, and soon Dean's private dances for Castiel become much more, as both men confess their troubles and find solace in each other's company. But neither can seem to find the courage to take their relationship further than the intimacy of the club's VIP Room—and just when Dean's own brother gives him the excuse he needs to finally admit his feelings, Dean discovers something that brings it all crumbling down. Will they find a way past their demons and their trust issues, and back to each other?

IPAMIS OL OLPRIT by emmbrancsxx0 (Explicit, 56k words)

The Winchesters, Castiel, and Jack discover the Men of Letters hid away a weapon that may be able to kill Michael. The only problem: it can only be used with John Winchester's blood. When Rowena performs a spell to temporarily bring John back, Dean runs into another problem. His father doesn't approve of his angel, and Castiel isn't too impressed with John either.

Nine Times We Met (And One Christmas We Parted) by almaasi (Explicit, 54k words)

On the last day of school before Christmas vacation, Mr. Castiel Quinn discovers that one of his young students has smuggled male pornography into the classroom. Upon being told that the photos belong to the boy's uncle, Castiel vows to himself that he will keep the other man's preferences a secret. It's 1947; a man experiencing attraction to another man or fantasising about his sexual touch are transgressive faults, which could potentially result in imprisonment - or worse. But then the uncle walks in. The photos are of him: Dean Winchester, a rogue with an empty pocket and a child to feed. Castiel doesn't know it yet, but his life is never going to be the same again. Years pass between chance meetings, but even though they live their lives apart, Dean and Castiel's story is proof that absence truly does make the heart grow fonder.

six hundred sundays (and many more) by sobsicles (Mature, 15k words)

Dean starts falling in love with him on a slow Sunday morning under slanted sunlight that slips through the gaps in the trees.

Solitudes by ilovehowyouletmefall (Mature, 21k words)

Dean and Castiel understand each other more than anyone else. They misunderstand each other more than anyone else as well. After Cas is nearly killed by Ramiel, Dean is coming very close to acknowledging that he wants something more from Cas than friendship. Cas, however, feels the weight of his responsibility very heavily. When Dean asks Cas to stick around longer, Cas says he needs to keep looking for Kelly, leaving Dean feeling dejected. But Cas agrees to help out on one more hunt before he leaves. Neither him nor Dean realize that the monster they're after can make their worst nightmares come true. OR: Dean thinks Cas is killed. Cas is there to witness the aftermath.

Something by the Sea by destielpasta (Mature, 30k words)

After suffering the horrific cost of being cured from demonhood, Dean and Cas settle down in the small town of Old Orchard Beach, Maine, buying a run-down shack near the beach to call their own. Dean attempts to get into a normal routine– fixing up the kitchen, chopping wood for the fire, and picking out paint colors– all with the pleasant backdrop of Cas’s company and a beach fifty feet away. These things prove themselves to be fragile, however, and the past haunts Dean in the form of nightmares and strange phone-calls from an untraceable number, along with the far-from-innocent history of their new house.

The Evil that Men do by MalicMalic (Explicit, 174k words)

When Dean learns his girlfriend found the man that raped her all those years ago, he is ready to make him feel the exact formation of Dean's knuckles, but Bela had some other ideas in mind. Dean is not what you might call a good guy, but even some things are too much for him. And then the worst thing happens - Dean learns they made a mistake. The guilt will consume him, making him change his foul path, but nothing will ever seem enough, even when he gets a chance for redemption.

The Greatest of These by DoctorProfessorSong (Teen and Up, 9k words)

When Jack pulls Cas from the Empty, his vessel is damaged. Jack is working on it. In the meantime, Cas is stuck hanging around the bunker in his Trueform. In other words, the fic where Dean takes Trueform!Cas on little dates and the author has way too much fun with angel lore

[bestworstcase]

Tbh I can only imagine the rage Salem might feel on Oz's behalf once she finds out Light manipulated and trapped him into the task Light gave him, and that he has no choice in coming back (assuming she doesn't know that it isn't his choice). I think finding out he's essentially been trapped in a prison (the prison being the fucked up cycle of life/death/rebirth and the Mandate) this entire time would give her extra incentive to, presumably (if that's her goal), overthrow the tyrants that are the gods.

And honestly I think that would really show Oz that yes, Salem does still love him and care about him (quietly slides over Would You Fall In Love With Me Again from EPIC the Musical). Ugh I just want them to make uppp they mean everything to me. I need that reconciliation arc sm. And sighs. Salem saving Ozma from his metaphorical tower like how Ozma saved Salem from hers :( i want them to at least be friends again. There's sm they have to talk about and make up for

in all honesty i think her immediate reaction is more likely to be anguished guilt than fury, because the god of light deftlymanipulated her into acting as the lock on ozma's cage. it's been evident since 6.3 that salem already feels an immense burden of self-blame and guilt and in v8 we see, with cinder, salem turn on a dime while articulating a very precise and accurate understanding of why cinder acted as she did in response to the way salem treated her.

(and i do also think ozma's view that salem is at least partially responsible for what the brothers did to her and to the world may be, ultimately, because she told the story that way: if salem really did hesitate to tell him parts of it at first because she feared ozma would reject her, then it follows she felt ashamed and guilty, and feeling that way would undoubtedly color her account.) 

and in 6.4, the one time in the present we've ever seen salem truly lose her temper, what happens? she sends everyone else out of the room and self-harms. the windows shatter inward—the scene cuts away before we see salem get ripped apart by broken glass, but that is what she's doing. that unbearable uncontrollable rage is for herself. 

so how will she feel when she learns that all this time she spent believing that ozma  cynically took advantage of her trust and love to manipulate her into serving her tormentor, that he willingly bent the knee to tyrannical monsters and never wavered from his obedience—how will she feel when she finds out that actually, all that time, ozma was being tortured and forcibly twisted into an unwilling pawn by a curse he was tricked into accepting?

like. 

look at what she did to herself when she realized her decision to abandon cinder meant leaving cinder to infiltrate atlas and recover the lamp from oz all by herself, with no support, mere weeks after cinder nearly died at haven. and that was harm of a much smaller scale, spanning just a couple weeks. salem fled into exile after that horrible fight and left ozma to suffer alone in a state of inescapable torment for thousands of years. 

i think she's going to be devastated and furious with herself first, and she'll have to navigate that before she can reach being enraged at the god of light for ozma's sake. but yeah once she's had that time to process her hatred of the brothers and conviction that they must be cast down will only deepen. 

for ozma it's far more important that he sees the anguish and grief and guilt clearly. he already knows her rage. he knows she hates the brothers and why. salem is a deeply emotional character but her affect is blunted and notably in the narration of the lost fable, spite and anger at the gods are the only emotions jinn ever describes salem feeling—everything else we see salem feeling in that episode is framed as a manipulative lie, because ozma is terrified that her spiteful anger at the gods might have been the only thing that was real. 

and again i think this is a misconception rooted in the way salem presented herself because in both the kitchen scene and even more so in their last conversation, salem keeps what she wants and what shefeels very tightly locked down. from the instant ozma suggested that he wanted more than their cozy little life in her cabin, salem was one hundred percent focused on giving him what he said he wanted. literally, "whatever we want—what you want!"

salem fearing ozma would reject her didn't begin and end with just flinching before she plucked up the courage to tell him of her rebellion. it also encompassed what she wanted, if he wanted something else, and anything she felt that she feared might upset him. even when he told her the whole truth, she crushed down her own feelings and quoted from a myth—spoke in his language—and tried to reach out to somehow find a compromise because even then she was putting him and what he wanted so far above herself that she couldn't even bring herself to admit that she felt hurt. 

fundamentally what ozma needs is to see her pain, her grief, without any restraint—not just for her sake but also for his own. anger is what he expects. it's the only thing he expects. and i think a lot of the resentment he feels toward salem in the present comes from a place of believing on some level that he's just her excuse for being angry at the gods because he feels so much doubt that she truly loved him. 

which is where the maiden-in-tower allusion becomes salient; when the prince is blinded his sight is healed by her tears. ozma won't be able to see her clearly until he sees her sorrow.

[graciesbow]

Please pleaseeeeee write a Severus Snape x reader who’s obsessed with musicals and drags him to see wicked and sings musical songs (like wicked/mamma Mia/sweeney Todd of course/hamilton) at home constantly

In honor of me seeing wicked 7 times I thought I'd write this :) ( I have so many one shots lined up) (let's also pretend the movie is act one and act two I got too ahead of myself)

CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR WICKED!!

You didn’t think you’d ever convince him to come.

The second you saw the trailer for Wicked, a movie musical inspired by Wicked: the musical, you knew you had to go. The soaring ballads, the lush costumes, the reimagining of the Land of Oz—it was everything you loved in a story. But getting Severus, your brooding, no-nonsense husband, to agree to two and a half hours of singing and dancing? That felt like a lost cause.

Still, you tried.

“I’ll owe you,” you had said, leaning on the kitchen counter as he skimmed the headlines on his tablet. “Whatever you want. A week of your favorite movies. Even the ones with subtitles.”

His dark eyes flicked to you, amused. “A week of no musicals?”

“Deal.”

And so, here you are, sitting next to him in a theater as the lights dim and the first lilting notes of Wicked play. Severus is already slouched in his seat, arms crossed, his usual look of resigned skepticism firmly in place.

The movie begins with the birth of Elphaba, the green-skinned girl destined to become the Wicked Witch of the West. The opening number is vibrant and grand, but you can feel him shift beside you, hear the faintest huff of disapproval when characters burst into song.

“Of course,” he mutters under his breath when Glinda makes her grand entrance in a bubble, singing an impossibly high note.

“Shh,” you whisper, elbowing him gently. “Just watch.”

An hour in, you notice the change.

It starts during Defying Gravity, a powerful ballad where Elphaba begins to question everything she’s been told about Oz. The actress’s voice fills the theater, raw and full of longing, and you glance at Severus. His arms are no longer crossed. He’s leaning forward slightly, his eyes fixed on the screen.

By the time Elphaba and Glinda perform their duet, For Good, a tear-jerking number about friendship and forgiveness, you catch him tapping his foot ever so subtly.

When the movie reaches its dramatic climax, with Elphaba and the Scarecrow defying the Wizard, you feel him tense beside you. It’s subtle, but you know Severus well enough to see it. He’s invested. He cares.

As the credits roll, you sit in your seat for a moment, watching the audience filter out. You’re glowing, your heart full from the story and the music. Beside you, Severus stretches, his expression thoughtful.

“Well?” you ask, trying to keep the teasing out of your voice.

He tilts his head, his mouth twitching into something almost like a smile. “It wasn’t terrible.”

You laugh. “Not terrible? I saw you tapping your foot during For Good. Admit it—you liked it.”

He shrugs, standing and offering you his hand. “The green witch was interesting. I’ll give it that.”

As you take his hand, his grip warm and firm, you can’t help but smile. “So, would you come to another one with me?”

“Maybe,” he says, that rare flicker of lightness in his voice. “If you don’t make me watch any more bubble entrances.”

You beam, knowing full well he’ll be there next time, humming the songs under his breath when he thinks you’re not listening. Sometimes, even the most stubborn hearts find their tune.

[chaikachi]

The Little Prince, The Rose, & The Aviator

AKA We just got confirmation that Oscar's main allusion is in fact The Little Prince so I wanted to gather all evidence that supports it in show thus far.

cross-posted from twitter

A brief summary for those who aren't familiar:

The Little Prince is a story about a young boy that travels to many worlds & meets many people. It is told out of chronological order from the perspective of an airplane pilot that the prince meets close to the end of his journey.

It explores themes around childhood and growing up, love, loss, friendship, loneliness, and hope, among other things. All ideas very prevalent in RWBY.

Part 1: The Little Prince

The first theme I want to touch on is that struggle of trying not to lose yourself as you grow up.

"Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is exhausting for children to have to provide explanations over and over again."

Oscar is the youngest of the group, and yet he is one of the characters most often shown trying to reason with the adults in the room.

Yes, we've mainly seen it with Hazel, Ironwood, and Oz... but while the rest of RWBYJNR are also 'just kids', he spends so much energy trying to reason with them and mediate conflicts there as well. All while still being the youngest of the bunch.

Another way this shows itself is in Oscar's resistance to merging with Oz. The merge is a very clear metaphor for how the people you meet and the things you experience can often change you. And how, when you're a kid, it all feels like its completely out of your control.

Speaking of the hoverbike scene, I want to shift to a different part of The Little Prince. The infamous moment with the fox and what it is to be 'tamed'. To be tamed is to create ties with others. To become important to them and for them to be important to you.

When Oscar is having a talk with Oz in v8 about how he finally felt like himself, the person he wanted to be, and felt like he was finally "part of the team"... There is a fox plushie lying on the ground as he passes by.

But we see that Oscar was right to feel this way later on.

Because just as he was "only a little boy like a hundred thousand other little boys" when he first met everyone... he had since been tamed, and tamed his friends in turn. And they fought tooth and nail to bring him back when he was captured by Salem.

Part 2: The Aviator & the Rose

In RWBY, most characters have a main allusion that is central to their arc and then secondary allusions for what roles they fill in relation to other characters. (Ex. Yang's main allusion is Goldilocks, but when thrown into the plot, she also becomes the Beauty to Blake's Beast, just as Blake was once the Beauty to Adam's Beast).

If we apply that metric to other characters here, we know that Ozpin's main allusion is The Wizard of Oz and Ruby is Little Red Riding Hood... so when placed within Oscar's story structure of The Little Prince, they become The Aviator and The (Ruby) Rose, respectively.

The aviator is a man that struggles to hold onto his childlike wonder. He tries, but he lives in a world of grown-ups so it becomes difficult with time. The little prince - much like Oscar with Ozpin - helps him remember some of the things that he's forgotten.

When the little prince meets him, the aviator is grumbly after crash landing his plane in the desert & is trying to fix it before he runs out of water.

Funny then, that when Oscar is crash landing a plane it is Oz that instructs him on how to do it.

When the aviator explains his circumstances, the prince laughs and exclaims that he "fell from the sky too". Which is an interesting tie in to the canon RWBY fairytale mentioned in Before the Fall, The Boy Who Fell From The Sky...

...as well as another fairytale we've seen mentioned in the show proper: The Girl Who Fell Through The World. A tale that was first talked about by Oscar, later expanded upon by Ozpin, and finally lived by Ruby Rose herself. (Yes her team also experienced it but it's very strongly emphasized Ruby and Alyx were paralleling each other in ways the others were not).

One thing about the little prince and the aviator is that by the end of their journey when it's time to say farewell, it's quite clear they've tamed each other as well. So much time spent by the pilot wishing to fix his plane and get out of the desert, but when it's finally time to say farewell, he does not want to go. This is not something we've gotten in show yet, but I'm willing to guess is going to be the basis for when the war is won and Oz is finally set free. Leaving the two of them to finally have to say goodbye.

And I realized I couldn't bear the thought of never hearing that laugh again. For me it was like a spring of resh water in the desert. "Little fellow, I want to hear you laugh again..."

Moving onto the Rose.

In the story, the little prince is enamored by her as soon as he sees her for the first time. As he gets to know her, she is described as many things. Some that fit Ruby well (miraculous, naïve) and some that she subverts (vain, self-centered).

Ruby might not be caught up on physical appearance, but she is convinced that she's the only one in all the world that can do what she has to do. It's a childish way of looking at things, and to believe you can't accept help from others is - in its own way - selfish.

In the book, the rose asks the little prince to tend to her. She's very needy with her demands and while the prince loves her dearly, it is a strained relationship. In RWBY, Oscar sees Ruby wilting very early on and decides to tend to her without waiting for her to ask. Of which we have... SO MANY EXAMPLES AND I DON'T HAVE A HIGH ENOUGH IMAGE LIMIT TO POST THEM ALL SO YOU GET 2.

Not pictured here, but still worthy of note: Oscar mediating when Ruby is being undermined in v8, Oscar talking the responsibility of telling Ironwood the truth in V7, the "food always makes me feel better" / "I made you a casserole because you were sad" scenes. The List Goes On.

Part 3: Other Easter Eggs & Evidence

There are also other fun little pieces that drive home just how much these characters allude to the book as well as the inspiration it's had on the show in general.

The first thing the little prince asks the aviator for is a drawing of a sheep that he can take home with him so that it can eat up the sprouts of baobab trees before they overgrow his entire planet and destroy it (and his rose) in the process...

The tree in the Ever After has maple leaves, but the shape of its trunk is very clearly not a maple. When compared to these illustrations, it seems to have pulled inspiration from baobabs... and what does the tree in the Ever After do?

Its roots consume the rose.

One of the lessons that's brought up repeatedly in the book is that:

"One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”

This is brought up in a few different ways:

The little prince left his rose back home, so when he looks to the night sky, separated from her, he says:

"The stars are beautiful because of a flower you don’t see . . ."

When Ruby is in the Ever After, with no one to tend to her, she is in a town filled with paper stars.

It is brought up again in reference to the desert, which we have a wonderful tie-in now thanks to the animatic shared at RTX recently:

“What makes the desert beautiful,” the little prince said, “is that it hides a well somewhere . . .”

And again by the aviator in reference to the little prince himself.

What makes the little prince special is his loyalty to a flower. Ruby Rose, who inspired Oscar to keep fighting, who reminded him he was brave, and who's mission he has worn on his literal shoulders.

Two other lines in that passage I've highlighted I also want to mention.

"As the little prince was falling asleep, I picked him up in my arms, and started walking again. I was moved. It was as if I was carrying a fragile treasure."

This line about the little prince being a treasure (treasure is an rg song truthers rise up 🙌)

And the emphasis on lamps being symbolic of the Little Prince himself which... we've seen for Oscar A LOT.

"What moves me so deeply about this sleeping little prince is his loyalty to a flower - the image of a rose shining within him like the flame within a lamp, even when he's asleep... (...) Lamps must be protected: A gust of wind can blow them out..."

Also Ruby has been referred to as a "spark" by Oz before and when Oscar is worrying over Ruby at Brunswick farms, Maria tells him to "keep that fire fed" which is exactly what lamp lighters do. Just very deliberate use of that imagery here.

It ALSO ties into earlier in the novel where, among the little prince's many travels meeting plenty of confusing adults he doesn't understand, he encounters a lamplighter. And of all those that confused him, he found he could at least relate to this one and see value in his work.

There is also a matter of how the prince's first appearance is at sunrise:

That he is cited to live on a planet "scarcely bigger than himself" and "being in need of a friend". How we see Oscar very alone on his farm back in Mistral, just like the prince, only tending to his daily chores by himself, we never even see his aunt.

And while there are a few other bits and pieces i'm surely forgetting, the last big one I want to talk about is how both the beginning and end of the book start with a venomous snake.

The aviator shows us a drawing of a boa constrictor eating a wild beast...

...versus Oscar's first appearance coming immediately after he wakes from a nightmare of Tyrian, a venomous scorpion faunus, being sent to capture his rose.

And the story ends with the little prince in a desert getting bit by a venomous snake that sends him back to his rose and away from the aviator... thank goodness RWBY loves to subvert its fairytale origins, amiright?

"(The little prince) fell gently the way a tree falls, there wasn't even a sound..."

tl;dr Oscar is for sure The Little Prince, Ruby has always been his rose, RG canon, Tryian vs. Oscar in the desert real and #GREENLIGHTVOLUME10 SO WE CAN SEE IT HAPPEN ALREADY >:OOOO

Thank you for reading 💕

[jadelotusflower]

Rewatch: Return to Oz (1985)

I've been on a bit of an Oz kick recently, revisiting the original Baum books and of course anticipating Wicked coming out later this year (which I'm managing expectations for to avoid disappointment).

Return to Oz was a staple (and nightmare fuel) for many a millennial childhood, at the tail end of the "dark fantasy" era popularised by The Neverending Story and The Dark Crystal, the antithesis of the Technicolour, musical world of MGM's The Wizard of Oz - a dystopian future that reflects the fracturing of Dorothy's mind and her inability to reconcile the trauma of her previous Kansas-Oz journey.

Return lives in a sort of mirror world to the 1939 film, taking elements such as the ruby slippers (for which Disney had to pay MGM a hefty fee), but returning to the original illustrations for the character designs, and drawing inspiration from Baum's novels but not explicitly adapting them. It also returns Dorothy to a child rather than Garland's quasi-teenager, which is important as I feel Baum (an advocate of women's suffrage) had a keen interest in the empowerment of girls as the heroes of their own stories.

To evoke that other turn of the century fantasy classic, Dorothy is to early modern American folklore as Alice is to English, and if The Wizard of Oz is Wonderland, Return to Oz is Through the Looking Glass. In fact Return relies heavily on the mirror motif, not only literally, in the mirror that entraps Ozma, but Ozma herself as a mirror to Dorothy. Return also takes the Kansas/Oz dichotomy from the film in reflecting people Dorothy knows in Kansas to characters of Oz (a concept not found in the books), but while in Wizard it’s Dorothy’s trio of friends that are personified in the Scarecrow, Tinman, and Cowardly Lion, in Return it is her trio of antagonists from Kansas who appear in Oz - the Dr Worley/The Nome King, Nurse Wilson/Mombi, and the Orderly/Wheeler.

Her Oz friends in Return are instead pulled from inanimate objects - Ozma gives her a pumpkin that personifies in Jack Pumpkinhead, Tik-Tok resembles the "Electrical Therapy" machine with the face, and the gump...well, I guess they forgot about that one.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Fairuza Balk was just 11 but has a compelling screen presence - her Dorothy is troubled and serious, befitting the overall darker tone of the film. While she would go on to embody "witchy" energy in later roles, here there's a world-weariness yet innate strength to her Dorothy.

Aunt Em helpfully tells us it's been six months since the tornado and Dorothy can't sleep. Her body may be back in Kansas, but her mind remains in Oz.

The film doesn't really pick a lane between the "it was all a dream" of the 1939 film and the "Oz is an actual place" of the books, leaving it for the viewer to decide. We are told the old house was "lost" but that can suit either interpretation, same with the OZ key being either delivered by shooting star or the key to the old house (as Em posits). Dorothy's inability to sleep is either unresolved trauma from the tornado, or longing to return to her friends in Oz and/or sensing that there is trouble in Oz.

I'm much more sympathetic to Em as an adult - she has a husband unable or unwilling to finish building the new house, Dorothy won't stop rabbiting on about nonsense rather than helping with chores, and she has to borrow money from her sister to pay for medical treatment to try and cure Dorothy's insomnia.

Justice for Aunt Em! Played with grace by three-time Oscar nominee Piper Laurie (for The Hustler, Carrie, and Children of a Lesser God respectively).

Poor Toto doesn't get to come on this adventure, but hey, he's still around, guess Mrs Gulch didn't make good on her threat to have him destroyed (or she died in the tornado, which is probably likely given the Witch's fate).

Just a guy patronizing a child that the machine intended to surge electricity through her brain is perfectly safe because it has a face.

But there is a face in the machine - Ozma, stuck in the glass.

Nicol Williamson is our villain, with a fantastic voice. Mostly known for theatre and Shakespeare, you may remember him as Merlin from that other dark fantasy classic Excalibur, or as Little John from Robin and Marian.

Jean Marsh is our witch, complete with black gown and pointed sleeves - to continue our fantasy bingo she was Queen Bavmorda in Willow (which I've actually never seen) and Rose in the original Upstairs Downstairs (which I've never seen either). She'll always be creepy Mombi to me.

We see Ozma in the glass again before she appears in Dorothy's room, ethereal barefoot child gifting her a carved pumpkin because "it's Halloween soon". Okay, whatever you have to do to get there.

On that note, the screenplay was written by Gill Dennis (who would go on to co-write Walk the Line) and Walter Murch, who also directed. Murch was film school friends with George Lucas, and they wrote THX-1138 together - Lucas has a "special thanks" credit on this film. Murch worked steadily in sound design and editing (nominated for 10 Oscars with 4 wins), but after Return was a box office failure he never directed another film, which is a real shame.

Dorothy "combs" the pumpkins hair, which I find very charming.

The growing tension of Dorothy's isolation, being strapped to the gurney, the squeaking wheels, the far-off screaming: this is a horror film for children.

My sister and I used to re-create Ozma and Dorothy's escape on our grandmother's porch all the time.

Because we’re in a mirror, the streaming river of Kansas becomes the deadly desert of Oz - water, of course, also being a mirror and common pathway/doorway between worlds.

Billina the hen also appears, because Dorothy needs an animal companion, who can now talk because she is in Oz. The question is whether Toto could also talk, as all animals can in Oz, and simply chose not to (iirc in the books he didn't because he could "make himself understood" without words or something). The chicken puppetry is really quite good, I'll always prefer puppets/animatronics over cgi.

The voice of Billina is provided by Denise Bryer, who was the "junk lady" in Labyrinth (have we got that bingo yet?).

Another reflection - the packed lunch that was taken from Dorothy at the sanitarium in Kansas is returned to her in the form of a lunch pail tree in Oz, which leans towards the reading that Oz is a projection of Dorothy's mind as a way to cope and resolve/repair the traumas of her Kansas life.

Dorothy comes across her old house that is seemingly not in Munchkinland, the broken remains of the yellow brick road nearby. How much time has passed in Oz? Since everyone was turned to stone it could be hundreds of years and we're in a Narnia situation - at least long enough for a forest to grow where there once was a munchkin town square.

Glinda is conspicuous by her absence - probably because the plot couldn't happen if she was around.

Also absent are any stone munchkins which has very dark implications - the Emerald City still has ruins and stone inhabitants, but Munchkinland has been completely obliterated.

lol, Dorothy runs to the Emerald City in literally minutes, a journey that previously took half a film.

Sleep well, kids!

If we go with the interpretation that Oz is a manifestation of Dorothy's mind (maladaptive daydreaming?), it is interesting how she projects people and objects from her real life into her fantasy life - obviously her threats in the sanitarium become the villains, but the Electric Shock machine becomes Tik-Tok, her erstwhile protector. In this, she transforms a threat into an ally, and yet much is made that he isn't, and cannot be, "alive."

Many of the elements of this film - Billina, the Wheelers, Tik-Tok, the Nome King, and the princess with a hundred heads - came from Ozma of Oz, while Ozma herself, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the witch Mombi (combined in this film with Princess Langwidere) originate in the earlier The Marvellous Land of Oz, with a different backstory.

Oh to be a wicked witch, playing a mandolin, in a gilded, mirrored palace.

I enjoy this costume! Reflective of the high structured sleeves of nurse but sharp to emphasise the danger Mombi poses, and with the same mechanical accents/coloiur scheme as the Wheelers

Those cabinets full of heads are still so creepy. The way they watch Dorothy - are they alive and aware the whole time? Horrifying.

Jack Pumpkinhead was voiced by a young Brian Henson (who also acted as puppeteer).

I always used to fast-forward the scene where Dorothy steals the key and gets chased by headless Mombi as a kid, it was just too tense.

I mean maybe this isn't scary to kids today, but it sure freaked the fuck out of me. Especially with all of those heads screaming in their cabinets.

But how exactly was zombie Mombi snoring without a head?

Interesting that the cabinet with Mombi's original head is the only one without transparent glass, but instead has a mirror. Her original head is also kept in cabinet 31, which was Dorothy's room in the sanitarium. As a kid I was always dead set that Oz was real and Dorothy really went there, but now I'm leaning more towards Oz as a manifestation, or at least a world directly influenced and constantly adapting based on Dorothy's experiences. Was she unable to sleep in Kansas because she knew Oz was in trouble, or was Oz in trouble because of her mental discord?

"If his brain's run down, how can he talk?" "It happens to people all the time Jack!" is a nice callback to "Some people without brains do an awful lot of talking don't they?"

In which we strain the metaphor.

But all these mirrors also serve a story purpose as well as a metaphorical one - the mirror world is where Mombi has trapped Ozma, so she can look on every surface and see her victory. The mirror is also a connection with the real world, and how Ozma can reach Dorothy and draw her back to Oz. Mirrors are reflections, but they are also doorways, as we see in this very scene as Ozma directs Dorothy to the right passage to get back up to the tower.

We also get another Dorothy/Ozma parallel, in which she becomes a surrogate mother to Jack in place of Ozma, his creator.

There's almost some social commentary in the Nome King's grievances: "All the previous stones in the world are made here in my underground dominions...so imagine how I feel when someone from the world above digs down and steals my treasures? All those emeralds in the Emerald City really belong to me. I was just taking back what was mine to begin with." But of course he didn't just take back the emeralds, he turned the populace to stone or into inanimate objects so that does undercut his point a bit.

Her descent visually recalls (deliberate or not) Alice's fall down the rabbit hole in Wonderland. The VFX are pretty rough though.

Dorothy points out that he has so much, implying perhaps he could share, and the Nome King retorts "that's not the point." It is the point in later books, where under Ozma's leadership the Emerald City is essentially a utopian communal living society.

She also points out that the Scarecrow didn't take the emeralds rather they were there when he was made king, but the film is uninterested in exploring the culpability around generational wealth and repatriation of cultural property.

But it's interesting how much the Oz story revolves around powerful objects and theft and/or appropriation of them. Glinda steals the Witch of the East's ruby slippers and gives them to Dorothy, who then steals the Witch of the West's broom to give to the Wizard, Mombi steals Ozma, someone stole the emeralds from the Nome King, who steals them back, Mombi steals heads, Dorothy steals the Powder of Life, etc etc

At this point the Nome King is merely a face in the stone, but when he comforts Dorothy he starts to takes a more humanoid rock form, with a hand to reach out to her.

Is his sympathy genuine or feigned? I'm going with the latter, since he manipulates her into playing the "guessing game" to try and get the Scarecrow back.

Worst production of Starlight Express ever.

When I was a kid I always wanted to try the limestone pie and hot silver drink, but now it looks super gross.

The Gump chose…poorly.

The Nome King making points again - Dorothy and co didn't ask what would happen if they got it wrong, even Tik-Tok only brings it up after the Gump has already gone in. But they press on in order of most expendable, Jack (with Billina hiding in his head) and then Tik-Tok.

As each get turned into ornaments, we see the Nome King become more and more humanised in his rock form - a nice subtle indication that his motives aren't purely spite and he gains power from turning living (or living-adjacent) things into inanimate objects, the opposite (mirror) of Dorothy's power in turning inanimate objects into living things in the journey from Kansas to Oz. If Dorothy had chosen wrong too, he says he would have become completely human - would he have been able to access the path to the human world? Was his goal to eliminate Oz, the fantasy world, in favour of the human world, much like Worley was obsessed with harnessing electricity and the "modern" world?

It's revealed that Chekhov's ruby slippers that Dorothy earlier told Dr Worley had fallen off on her way back to Kansas the first time were found by the Nome King, and their power enabled him to conquer the Emerald City.

It's unclear whether the rubies were first mined from the Nome King's caverns, but Dorothy really can't complain given the shoes were magicked off the feet of a dead woman and onto her own.

I'm actually surprised that they kept the ruby slippers in given the license fee they had to pay, since nothing really turns on their inclusion, other than the Nome King's offer to send her home with them, allowing Dorothy the choice between her own safety and the lives of her friends, of course the parallel to Worley offering the ECT to wipe her mind of Oz. I do like the callback, but it didn't need to be the ruby slippers rather than some other power the Nome King had.

Hee, the Nome King's little stone feet kicking out of his stone robe with the ruby slippers is so camp.

It is interesting through to think about the chain of events - Dorothy, eager to get back home, lets go of the ruby slippers, they fall into the Nome King's hands, he uses them to conquer Oz and install Mombi, who has imprisoned Ozma in the mirror (at some point long in the past). The fracturing of Oz influences Dorothy's mental state which drives her to Worley, where Ozma is able to contact her through the mirror world and bring her back to Oz, depose the Nome King/Mombi, and restore Ozma to her throne. It's quite neat writing.

There's an interesting green/red dichotomy - red seems to represent the witch's power, the ruby slippers that originally belonged to the Witch of the East, Mombi's ruby key, fire/red smoke being used by the Witch of the West, and even pink was the colour associated with Glinda in the 1939 film, while green represents Oz in the ornaments they turn into, the Emerald City, the Gump is green, etc. Both rubies and emeralds are present in the Nome King's costuming, perhaps indicating that the raw items did come from his dominions.

When Dorothy chooses correctly, the Nome King reverts to his claymation rock form, and the room turns red. I don't think it's explicitly green=good and red=bad (the Witch of the West had green screen after all), but both are associated with power.

I always used to fast forward this sequence as well. The Nomes coming out of the walls? *shudder*

The Nome King, felled by a classic egg poisoning.

Dorothy liberates the ruby slippers from another dead body, lol.

At the celebration in Oz, the costuming does lean heavily into either red or green - so maybe that was just standard complementary colour palette and I'm reading too much into things.

We get a nice long pan over the mirrored ceiling of the parade, just to really hit the point home.

Oh hey, the Wheelers are here too! All is forgiven I guess? Except Mombi, she gets to be paraded about in her cage by the woman whose heads she stole. Hey, at least she's able to smirk about her villainy.

Dorothy turns down queenship of Oz but wishes she "could be in both places at the same time" - the ruby slippers grant her wish and Ozma is released from the mirror.

Ozma's backstory: "Her father was king of Oz before the Wizard came. Ozma grew up as Mombi's slave, but when the Nome King promised Mombi thirty beautiful heads if she kept Ozma a secret, she enchanted her into the mirror." The first part is the much the same in the book, although there we get some interesting gender-bending stuff where Mombi transforms her into a boy name Tip and she doesn't discover her true nature until much later.

Dorothy gives Ozma the ruby slippers, combining the power of green and red (I'm just going with it now), therefore healing the kingdom of Oz from the discord first created when the Wizard arrived (in the book he was the one who gave baby Ozma to Mombi), and drawing Ozma's real world counterpart Dorothy to fix it by deposing the Wicked Witches and then the Nome King. But with Ozma returned, there is no need for Dorothy to remain in Oz, the two sides of herself are split and no longer warring inside her.

Billina however remains, to be Ozma's animal counterpart to Dorothy's Toto.

As a kid I coveted this gown, and I still kind of dig the headdress. Well, the OZ circlet anyway.

I also acted out the pulling Ozma from the mirror scene many times.

Although kind of a bitch move on Ozma's part to send Dorothy back before she could give her proper goodbyes. It's like, off you pop, thanks for freeing me but this is my kingdom now.

Dorothy wakes up beside the river (with a close up of a reflective pool of water/Dorothy's eye), and again, this could either be her actually returned by Ozma, or her simply waking from her delirium.

But the real world counterparts have met the same fate as their Oz reflections - Worley died in the fire and Wilson is carried off in a police cart.

Henry, after the shock of almost losing Dorothy, is motivated to finish building the house, and Dorothy is able to look back fondly at Oz through her reflection, but has learned to keep it a secret and not let it consume her life.

Her trauma is resolved, Oz is at peace; Dorothy and Ozma can live contentedly in parallel, with a connection between both worlds.

This is also a nice callback to the books, where Ozma would check in on Dorothy once a day through her magic mirror to see if she needed her assistance.

Maybe it's just my nostalgia goggles, but this film really holds up for me! Yes the effects are a little dated and it's on the darker side for kid's fare, but overall the story and acting is strong, there's meaty subtext around the importance - but necessary limits - of fantasy as escapism, it unequivocally centers girls/women as the heart of the story with their own agency and harnessing their own power. It's well worth the rewatch.

What do you think? Am I blinded by nostalgia? Reading way too much into a kids movie? Am I just rambling into the void here?

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

With that other ask saying Luz has no future in the human realm right now, especially since she’s a nonwhite LGBT girl who Republicans would want dead for existing, I thought of something else:

If TOH’s finale aired now, would people react more negatively to Luz living in the human realm and going to human school at the end? She was definitely shown to be more at home in the BI, and again, everyone in power would want her dead or deported or *something*. Recently someone made a joke to me about how you couldn’t do The Wizard of Oz nowadays since Dorothy would have absolutely no reason to go back to Kansas. Luz was better off in the Boiling Isles than in a world that hates her for existing.

Please reply.

[Rubs temples]. Guys, guys. Luz is fictional. Her world is not our own. Gravesfield is not depicted as being an unwelcoming place. Her "not fitting in" was just her having trouble in school and two bitchy ladies in the park that she didn't even overhear. She is "more at home" in the BI because it's the place where she can actually do magic, not because Gravesfield was such a horrible place to live in. Camilla and Vee live there full time and no one is worried about them.

Heck, when we do see Gravesfield, it's really not a bad place to live! Masha is able to be out about their gender identity at work, Vee finds friends, Jacob loses his job and gets arrested for assault, two random students praise Luz after her classroom freakout! How is this place so terrible?

Y'all need to stop projecting your own fears and anxieties onto the show, especially when the text demonstrates the opposite of what you're afraid of.

As for that joke your friend made about The Wizard of Oz, you know when that movie came out?

1939.

The final year of the Great Depression. Does the movie go into the world's worst economic crisis? No, because it's about a young girl learning to stand up for herself and not run away from her problems. Kansas is boring and dreary in comparison to the bright and whimsical Oz, but it's still her home, it's where her family is. You could absolutely make it today because it's styled like a classic fairy tale instead of dealing with the gritty reality of 1930s America.

Toh is also a fairy tale. It has straight forward morals, simple characterization, clear distinctions between good and evil, and a happy ending. Any gestures at complexity or subversions are superficial at best. It does not deal with politics or current events. Luz is never in any danger in Gravesfield, she just wants to live out her fantasies and quite frankly, the show is not very good at showing that her life is terrible. We don't even see her get bullied, it's simply told to us.

On a final note, since some people get upset when the hero has to leave the cool fantasy world, the Hero usually has to return home from the Fantasy World because it's a metaphor for growing up/growth/accepting change, etc. Anne is separated from Amphibia seemingly forever. Dipper and Mabel were only supposed to be in Gravity Falls for the summer. Dorothy leaves Oz. Change is inevitable and you can't live in the Fantasy World forever. There are exceptions of course, but that all depends on how the Fantasy World functions in the story. In toh's case, the function of the BI is muddled because there's no clear contrast between it and Gravesfield. The show wants you to think that this place is better for her but it never put in the work to demonstrate why. Luz doesn't really grow much as a character either, her priorities just shift. So in the end, the BI is basically a power fantasy for Luz. She would only find Gravesfield intolerable to live in because she can't do magic, not because of some fault with the town.

Here are the previous asks for anyone curious.

[ichiwashername-o]

Sorry to bug you, but I had a question: as someone who's full extent of knowledge re: Oz and Wicked is "I have seen the 1939 Wizard of Oz movie, and I've been told both that the books are super crazy and Dorothy's actually gay as hell, and also been told Wicked is the secret sad gay backstory of Glinda and Elphaba." I'm surprised to learn a) that Scarecrow was a real guy, b) he and Tin Man knew each other pre-Oz movie's story, and c) he apparently dated Elphaba, so my question is: is he a "her boyfriend until it turns out she was gay and the romance was doomed" boyfriend, or was I lied to about the nature of the story of Wicked being a sad lesbian backstory?

Oh boy, a lot to unpack here so let's see if we can break this down XD

Without getting into spoilers, it's important to know the book Wicked is a very, very different thing from the musical Wicked. I admittedly had never read any of the original Wizard of Oz books beyond the first one so I don't know anything about the whole "Dorothy is gay" thing but apparently that's true? I'll leave it to others who've actually read the series to verify on that.

My comics are solely focused on the musical adaptation of Wicked and such major plot points and characters are very different from the book, and if you'd like a break down, I'll post it under the spoiler below. Although I would recommend either waiting in eager anticipation for the movie to come out this November or find a Wicked bootleg slime tutorial on Youtube if you'd like to see the theater adaptation yourself. I highly recommend doing so.

Ok, so to break it down: Yes, both the Scarecrow and the Tin Man were actual people before they become the iconic figures we know and love (at least as far as the musical is concerned) And yes, Wicked is gay as hell, and though the musical isn't nearly as gay as the book, the relationship between Glinda and Elphaba that can absolutely be read as gay.

The Scarecrow, whose name is Fiyero, was a prince who initially dated Glinda but then things happen and he falls for Elphaba instead. He breaks off his engagement to Glinda to run off with Elphaba. The two have a steamy sexy duet together but tragically the relationship is bitterly short; the Wizard's guards take Fiyero prisoner and try to torture him for information on where Elphaba is hiding. In a desperate gambit to save his life, Elphaba casts a spell on him, which turns him into a scarecrow.

Also Fiyero and the Tin Man (who in the musical is Boq) went to university together so they sort of know each other. In fact, all four of them went to school together, which is where the majority of Act 1 of the musical takes place.

The book is very, very different: Tin Man (Nick Chopper) keeps his original backstory of getting his limbs chopped off by an enchanted axe and Fiyero dies (I can't remember exactly how but probably somewhere along the lines of "Wizard's guards capture him and beat him to death"). Obviously the musical changed these things to tie all the characters together and give it a bit of a happier ending.

I do not blame you if you are now more confused than before.

[mask131]

So you want to know about Oz! (1)

Then congratulations! Welcome to this quick crash course to know everything about the world of Oz! The movies, the adaptations, the musicals, the books! Yes, books, with an S, because "The Wizard of Oz" everybody knows and love was just the first book of an entire BOOK SERIES that became the enormous franchise we know today! You thought there was just ONE Wizard of Oz movie? Think again! You thought "Wicked" was the only work that gave a backstory to the Witches? Get ready for some discoveries!

And so we begin our journey to the wonderful land of Oz...

The story of Oz begins with one novel. No, not one movie - but the novel that caused the movie... L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"

Published in 1900, this children novel is still to this day one of the most famous works of American youth literature, as well as the master-piece of Baum, THE book everybody knows he wrote. Baum intended, with this book, to create a purely American fairy tale: he wanted to rival the European tales of Charles Perrault, the brothers Grimm or Hans Christian Andersen - and he succeeded! The novel was a best-seller as soon as it was released, and is still considered as "America's greatest fairy-tale".

Most people know of "The Wizard of Oz" through its famous adaptation, the 1939 musical movie. While these two works do share a same set of main characters and a similar plot, the novel contains many, many details that were not adapted into the movie ; and, in return, the movie brought a lot of elements that were absent from the novel. Both, however, are still the story of a little girl by the name of Dorothy (she wasn't yet named "Gale") and her dog Toto, who are swept up into a tornado and taken to the magical Land of Oz. There she meets three comical companions (the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion), and together they go seek the Wizard of Oz in hope he can grant their wishes, only to have to escape from the clutches of the Wicked Witch of the West...

If you want to read the original novel, it will be very easy! Not only is it still regularly printed today, with various anniversary editions ; but it is in public domain since the 1950s! So you can go read it for free right now, without any problems!

Most people tend to stop at just this book... Not wondering if there was any sequel, treating it as if this was just a one-shot. Except, we told you, this book was a best-seller! An ENORMOUS success! Never before had a children's book brought so much money in the United-States! As such, Baum was not going to just stop there...

While he did intent "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" to be a self-contained novel existing as its own thing, in 1904 he published a sequel "The Marvelous Land of Oz":

This novel does not follow Dorothy however, but rather a very different character... A little boy who lives in the Land of Oz post-Dorothy: Tip (short for Tippetarius), an orphan boy who escapes the clutches of his wicked witch of a caretaker alongside a pumpkin-headed scarecrow he just brought to life. And the two undergo a journey to the Emerald City ruled by the Scarecrow-king, only to get swept into a revolution...

This novel was conceived in a similar way to the first one, as a "self-contained" story. While it does take place after the events of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", reuses several of the same characters (The Scarecrow and the Tin Man are part of the main party, Glinda plays a key part in the final act) and briefly recaps the events of the first novel, it can still be read on its own. This novel especially get a lot of attention today (after decades and decades of falling into pur oblivion) due to its fantasy-dissection of the topics of genders - differences between men and women, boys and girls, unfairness and injustice among sexes (the revolution in question is a "girl revolution" seeking to destroy what is perceived as a misogynistic patriarchy)... All culminating with what is still to this day one of the most famous accidental depictions of a trans character in fantasy!

But I'll return to this all in a later post, possibly...

This novel was ALSO a best-seller and a huge success. And as such... you know what that means. Yes, Baum wrote a THIRD book taking place in Oz! Well, almost... The novel actually mostly takes place in lands neighbors to those of Oz, the land of Ev and the realm of the Nome King... But all the Oz characters return - including Dorothy, who is again swept away into fairy-lands, this time not with her dog Toto, but with a pet chicken Billina.

This story is the novel "Ozma of Oz", published in 1907:

And with these three books, you have the original Oz trilogy!

"But wait, there were other Oz books, weren't there?" you ask. Oh yes, there were more books, indeed! However, I want to stop at this point because these three books do form a specific trilogy for various reasons. The trilogy of the "good" Oz books before everything went... let's say downhill (but more about that next post). But more importantly, the trilogy of Oz books most people know about!

Indeed, even if you have never read "The Marvelous Land of Oz" or "Ozma of Oz", you probably came across various elements of these books, that are regularly scattered throughout Oz adaptations and novels. For example the famous Disney movie "Return to Oz" is mostly an adaptation of "Ozma of Oz", but with numerous elements of "The Marvelous Land of Oz" added to the plot

More recently, the trilogy also formed the basis of the new plot offered by the short-lived TV series "Emerald City"!

Langwidere the princess with a hundred heads, Mombi the witch, Ozma the princess of Oz, the Nome king, Tik-Tok the automaton, Jack Pumpkinhead, general Jinjur, the land of Ev, the Powder of Life and many other names and concepts you might be familiar with come from these two direct sequels to "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". Sequels which unfortunately never knew the lasting popularity of their predecessor, despite being just as famous, if not more, in their time...

Next post: Baum's downfall...

[fairytale-poll]

BEST MODERN FAIRYTALE ADAPTATION! ROUND 1B, MATCH 1 OUT OF 4!

Alice (2009) is based off Alice in Wonderland; The Path (2009) is based off Little Red Riding Hood.

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Alice (2009):

It had an all star cast (kathy bates and tim curry are in it!) And it had a fun aesthetic for the lands of oz, with the hearts castle being a casino. There are several plot twists about character alliances. Andrew leepott's Hatter is a complete sweetheart and we love him. Also the main pairing have good chemistry. The whole thing is uploaded to youtube (in like 240p but w/e) and its only about the length of a movie total so its definitely worth a watch. Its an all time fave for me.

An imaginatively wild, steam punk ride where an evil empire built on the exploitation of emotion-filled instant gratification is challenged by our motley crue of rebels lead by Alice, who helps bring down the whole house of cards with her bravery, friendship, loyalty and love.

The Path (2009):

An artistic and abstract story about six sisters at various stages of life who travel through the woods to their grandmother's house. They are told that they must stick to the path to be safe from the wolf, but if the player truly does stay on the path, of course, no growth or story occurs. Each girl has their own wolf, representing a truth she must face or a danger she must endure in order to grow up and learn her lesson. And Grandmother's house is strange and abstract as well. I adore these sorts of indie games so much.

[deviiancetv]

Cinema Starview Presents: No One Mourns The Wicked

Wicked is truly a sad story disguised as a musical about how being an outcast, being physically/mentally different from others and struggling to find communities of people who truly love and respect you for you uniqueness — can oftentimes lead those judged for their quirks, to accept the norms of being an outcast or deviant.

The directors choice for making Cynthia Erivo play, Elphaba, is one that sticks home for many black and melanated POC. We’re always judged, misconstrued and outcasted for our skin tones by westernized European beauty standards, and as someone that’s on the more lighter end, I’ve always disliked whenever people mention my skin tone in an appraising manner, because what exactly makes me any different from other people? Cause let it be known more about my personality, beliefs, and my own quirks I’d be outcasted too simply for being different. The colorism debate is one that is never ending, and sadly it won’t ever end, but this movie adds a whole new layer to the conversation about colorism and also the aspects of being physically/mentally different. I’m sure there are tons of neurodivergent people (as I feel myself to be, though I am undiagnosed) who relate a lot to Elphaba.

I’ve been so inspired by The Wizard of Oz lore for years ever since I was a child. While everyone was an Alice fan or liked other fantasy mediums I was always a supporter of anything related to The Wizard of Oz:

The Wiz with Michael Jackson and Diana Ross was and will always be a treat of nostalgia for me when it comes to the good times my grandma and I had together… I’ll never forget the first time I watched it too, had to have been right before or right after the passing of Michael Jackson, but man that movie has so many great moments for me.

Oz, The Great and Powerful was a weird one, but I loved it nonetheless, especially it being an origin story to how Oz got to The Land of Oz

Emerald City is a unique and short lived series that nobody has really talked about. It’s barely even regarded for much beyond brief talking points of cancelled shows, but it had a more adult approach to the well beloved story.

And with Wicked, I remember being a teen watching cute animatics like this one , and a few others that had me intrigued by the overall story of Wicked and who Elphaba and Glinda were prior to Dorothy. My own story Starworlds is loosely inspired by The Wizard of Oz and my two favorite characters I’ve been working on, Nollah and Maliya, are very much inspired by Glinda and Elphaba (as well as Blue and Yellow Diamond from SU but that’s not what this review is about lol)

I’m beyond inspired by the story they told and I relate so much to Elphaba’s story as an outcast. It’s sad that we all know how her story ends, but I can only hope that there’s some revelations to her story that we further explore in the second act of this film, coming next year ✨