#i just think about those well wishes for dr dillamond before something bad a lot

[thinenotthee]

other thing i cannot stop thinking about!

i LOVE that the movie does not demonize these college kids for not taking a stand like elphaba does. because while we all know that college kids are more than capable of standing up to societal wrongs (look at the last year, or the last 60 years), sometimes you are also just a scared 18 year old! after the "Animals should be seen and not heard" scene, you get that shot of dr. dillamond headed to his secret Animal meeting, but you can hear the students wishing him a good night. because they know what happened was fucked up! and they're trying to show him some kindness because he literally had a hate crime perpetrated against him earlier that day.

AND! in the scene where dillamond is dragged away, every student has on their face a look of shock and horror. because what else are you supposed to think when the damn military shows up and removes your professor. while i know we all like to think we'd immediately get up and do something like elphaba, the truth is that you'd most likely be in too much shock, especially if you've never seen this kind of violence in person before. elphaba has been subject to some level of this violence her entire life, but most of these shiz kids haven't. and they're scared and don't know what to do!

i don't know, just the conjunction of those two scenes really means something to me. it's honest without being cynical. and it feels especially cruel when we have SEEN that the students at shiz will rally against bullying someone ("what is this feeling?") but when the stakes get so high that there's actual state violence involved? well, sometimes you're just a scared 18 year old.