#wicked: part one

[themousefromfantasyland]

@the-blue-fairie

"No One Mourns the Wicked" is about Glinda, not Elphaba

Okay, but hear me out. Wicked songs are so good at saying one thing and meaning something entirely different once you have more context. For instance, "I'm Not That Girl" is Elphaba singing about Glinda initially, then in Act 2 flips to Glinda singing about Elphaba. Because it turns out, Elphaba IS that girl and Glinda is not. When we meet the Wizard, he sings about how he always wanted to be a father. When you get to Act 2, you get the sad little reprise in the background music as he realizes that WHOOPS, he was one and he destroyed his only kid. "Defying Gravity" starts with "I hope you're happy" in the sarcastic sense and ends with them both using the same phrase to genuinely wish one another well.

"Thank Goodness" is set up as a cheerful engagement song where Glinda genuinely means "thank goodness for how great my life is" and ends in a place where she's insisting that she IS happy even as she realizes her engagement is a sham, her best friend is gone, and she's left with the Wizard and Madame M, who she doesn't even like.

You get the picture.

Basically, the whole musical is about subverting what you expect, starting with the base premise of "what if the Wicked Witch was the hero of the story" and digging in from there.

Honestly, I'd never paid much attention to the first song. It's a good opener, sets things up well, but it has some big competition with later songs. However, in the movie the staging and camera choices made me really notice it for the first time. Because you know what? Someone DID pay attention to that song, and you can really really tell.

For those who need a refresher, the lyrics to the chorus Glinda sings are: And Goodness knows The Wicked's lives are lonely Goodness knows The Wicked die alone It just shows when you're Wicked You're left only On your own I was always so busy noticing Glinda's grief over thinking Elphaba was genuinely dead that I failed to notice Glinda's grief over her OWN fate. The movie did such a good job with this because every time we get to the pink lines about being alone, Glinda IS alone. She is standing apart from the crowd who adores her. Standing above them. Standing at the center of a bunch of people yet still, isolated.

Because in the end, we know that Elphaba DIDN'T die alone. We know she wasn't on her own. We know her life WASN'T lonely ultimately. She had her flying monkey and animal friends. She had Fiyero.

And who does Glinda have?

Everyone, but realistically, no one. She is an ideal, not a person to most of Oz, just as much as Elphaba has become the token scapegoat. Where Elphaba is the "Wicked Witch," Glinda is "Glinda the Good Witch" - she is literally supposed to be the embodiment of goodness.

And what does Glinda have at the end of this whole thing (as of this song at least)? A disastrous end to her engagement, the death of her best friend, a sorceress who has hated her, demeaned her, and dismissed her from the start, and a con man who is also just a symbol more than a person.

I think it really hit me when Glinda throws the fire on the giant effigy of Elphaba. Ariana's acting was SO good there, because I'd expected us to see that private moment of horror or regret. What I didn't expect was the sort of determined and almost angry glare at the effigy.

But it makes sense. At this point, Glinda has realized that she lost everything and everyone she actually cared about.

As she so aptly puts it in "Thank Goodness"...

Though it is, I admit The tiniest bit Unlike I anticipated. But I couldn't be happier, Simply couldn't be happier, Well, not "simply" 'Cause getting your dreams It's strange, but it seems A little, well, complicated.

There's a kind of a sort of cost. There's a couple of things get lost. There are bridges you cross You didn't know you crossed Until you've crossed!

And if that joy, that thrill Doesn't thrill like you think it will Still-- With this perfect finale, The cheers and the ballyhoo! Who wouldn't be happier? So I couldn't be happier, Because happy is what happens When all your dreams come true.

Well, isn't it?

Happy is what happens when you're dreams come true.

It's not Elphaba's fault that Glinda has ended up this way. Glinda chose it every step of the way. Yet, if Glinda had never met Elphaba, (if she'd never known her, you could say), she might have stayed shallow and vain. She might never have been challenged to look deeper and realize how empty it all felt.

So as Glinda sings "No One Mourns the Wicked," she realizes that even if the Munchkins are singing about the "Wicked Witch," she's not.

She's singing about herself.

The one who traded her morals, friendship, and love for a taste of the admiration and power over those who don't really know her. The one who was so worried about being likable that she herself doesn't like who she's become.

Even after she makes things better for Oz and herself by sending the wizard away and getting rid of Madame M, it just leaves Glinda by herself as the leader and source of goodness in Oz. It leaves her on a pedestal she can never step off of.

It leaves her lonely.

Entirely alone.

[cinefiliz]

Wicked: PartI (2024) BTS.

[liongrl321]

Hey Wicked Fandom,

if Dr. Dillamond was married to a guy what do you think he should be?

(I cant wait for the Wicked movie to come out fr)

[themousefromfantasyland]

Wicked: Part One (2024) - Review

Yesterday I watched Wicked: Part One which adapts the first act of the beloved musical and I have to say, I was blown away.

This is the best film of the year.

I need start this by saying that watching Wicked felt like watching The Little Mermaid remake last year.

This film is Universal's response to Disney's Live action remakes.

In the same way that Disney capitalized the love and nostalgia for their classics to sell their remakes, Universal capitalizes the love and nostalgia for the stage show to sell this movie.

Here in Brazil, our montage of the show is very, very beloved. So Universal saw that, used the lyrics of the Brazilian version in the dub and even put the Brazilian actresses of Elphaba and Glinda to dub their movie counterparts. Universal dubbed the movie hoping Brazilian audiences would sing along, in the same way Disney remakes keep the lyrics of the Brazilian versions of the classics.

Also, the tone is the same of a Disney live action remake. Even though Wicked has darker elements and has political subtexts, it never stops being a family fantasy musical, and Elphaba never stops being a proto-Elsa. Wicked is a fantasy family musical first and is in the same league as Frozen and Tangled.

However, Wicked is beneficed by not having a perfectly made cinematic source material that is already good on its own.

Movie and stage are different beasts, and contrary to Disney remakes which already have source materials that are pretty cinematic on their own, Wicked has to deal with a source material that is limited to what's possible in a stage show, so it has better chances to actually improve and expand the show into new ways.

If Doctor Dillamond was an animated character in the original, his movie design would be atrocious, but since the original is just a man in a goat makeup, the movie design is already a huge improvement.

The Land of Oz is fantastically created. There's CGI everywhere, but they actually took the gigantic budget to actually build the sets this time and the money is really put into what you see on screen.

The Land of Oz is vibrant and colorful, a mix between the Mediterranean and Americana with tons of Steampunk and talking animals that are integrated into the everyday life. The world feels lived in, and it's the most real Oz ever felt since ever.

And the tidbits of visual storytelling are insane.

The way that the worship of the Wizard is in every facade of the Ozian society, and how the once thriving culture of the talking animals was replaced by the Wizard and how they are being reduced to silent servants of the elites in the Emerald City.

All of this narrative you get through quick visual cues all over the film.

It was a five stars film for me, a 10/10.

Please, watch it. You'll be absolutely enchanted

@ariel-seagull-wings @thealmightyemprex @princesssarisa @tamisdava2 @the-dark-storybook-prince @the-blue-fairie @mask131 @theancientvaleofsoulmaking

[nonbinaryhatboxghost]

2024 movies I am looking forward to

[commander0fmyheart]

me, hearing idina menzel and kristin chenoweth on One Short Day: *GASP*

also, me:

[delightful-mirth]

As Wicked: Part 1 is already being released in many countries today, one of my biggest hopes for it is to grow into such a popular (yeah, you're gonna be popular! 🎶🫧) franchise that it will at least partially overshadow one specific wizard saga. And now more than ever, after a spokesperson for HBO defended the transphobic views of said saga's creator as freedom of speech, I wish that 1939 The Wizard of Oz weren't owned by Warner Bros. After all, they already didn't deserve it anyway, given their unwillingness to do anything with it. Not even releasing related merch outside the United States, except in some extremely rare cases.

That's all. I'm heading to Shiz now 💖💚

[thenerdsofcolor]

'Wicked' New Trailer Captures More of Elphaba and Glinda's Magical Friendship

Wicked: Part One is almost here! Continue reading ‘Wicked’ New Trailer Captures More of Elphaba and Glinda’s Magical Friendship

[thepeoplesmovies]

Welcome To Oz In First Wicked: Part One Teaser Trailer

Last night Kanas City Chiefs won the 2024 Superbowl. Superbowl means film studios fight for the premium adverts and Universal unveiled the first teaser trailer for Wicked: Part One...Welcome to Oz! It’s been a long time coming and Jon M.Chu‘s version of one of the most beloved and enduring musicals on the stage. It’s taken two decades to get there and fans are now teased in what we can…

[edwins-fangirl]

“What is this feeling?” Gay. The feeling is gay.

The lyrics just prove my point: “My pulse is rushing, my head is reeling, yeah well my face is flushing.”

It’s not loathing babes it’s lesbianism.

[evrm0re91]

[thephantomofanastasia]

Absolutely beautiful fanart by Denver Balbaboco on IG

[oswlld]

WICKED: Part One ⪢ Act I Tracklist ↳ Premieres November 27th, 2024

[ajsozianadventures]

Ok ok hold on hold on-

You’re telling me Glinda and Elphaba see this little girl (Dorothy), who makes friends with their Husband (Fiyero) and their other friends (Boq/The Tin Woodsman and The Lion Elphie SAVED) and their first instinct is NOT to adopt her and teach her Witchcraft?

Like the shoe situation could have been handled so so differently and then Glinda and Elphaba could have hid Dorothy from the Wizard and taught her to be a new Witch to help them topple his empire for GOOD.

GIVE ME THAT GRITTY RETELLING OF THE WIZARD OF OZ!

[themousefromfantasyland]

For those who watched the Wicked movie, did you feel Cotton Club vibes from the Ozdust Club?

A club where a increasingly marginalized community is only present to entertain their oppressors.

It's suspicious how the Animals are allowed to be the musicians, but are not among the party guests.

[itinabe]

only in the year 2024 could wicked come out and NOT be the gayest thing about witches (it was still very very gay)