yangsbandana

[yangsbandana]

don't mind me just compiling the 'elphaba and glinda are gay and in love' canon moments

[yangsbandana]

Wicked: Part One (2024) deleted scene

[yangsbandana]

GLINDA + that fond little smile (she saves just for elphaba) Wicked (2024) dir. Jon M. Chu

[yangsbandana]

(open pages for better image quality)

the moment I heard elphaba's delivery of "there's a girl i know..." in i'm not that girl i knew i had to draw this comic, i strongly recommend listening to it while you read for the full experience!

this comic is a companion to this piece (which was inspired by glinda's delivery of the same line in the i'm not that girl reprise).

pages 1-4 are from elphie's pov, pages 5-8 are from glinda's.

flower meanings in order of appearance:

[yangsbandana]

#growth

[yangsbandana]

(obligatory note that the footage does not usually look like this; i'm trying to reduce the washout on Laurel's face to make a point)

every time we watch Wicked Leah and i play a game of "how gay is it" during this part, because it does feel pivotal for Gelphie to fumble toward acknowledging what their relationship actually is here, before everything goes to shit. in my head the way it goes in the Original Cast Recording is that Elphaba takes the leap: Idina says two good friends so hesitantly, like she's worried just by calling it anything she's ruining what they have, and Cheno's Glinda responds with a warm reassurance. that's basically how it remained for some time, with Glinda's answering affirmation being on the whole more platonic, if equally emotional.

then at some point the onus shifted onto Glinda to Make It Gay. my intellectual self wants to say Kendra or Annaleigh started this trend, but since my insanity began with Katie (and Willemijn) she comes to mind first. there's always a moment right before friends where she wavers, which communicates two major things. the first, which is constant no matter her scene partner, is that Glinda feels the weight of this moment. all Glindas have to seriously acknowledge Elphaba's feelings to some extent here so they can assure/assuage them, but Katie always seems to extend the fragility her Elphaba displays rather than dispelling or shifting it. instead of Glinda assuring Elphaba that Elphaba is doing this right, we get the sense Glinda equally wants to get this right--but she's not certain how to do it either.

it can get lost because she's a serious Glinda in general, but what's unique about Katie's Glinda is how seriously she takes the project of understanding Elphaba. the most obvious example is with "i told you a really good one" during Popular, where Galinda is so fixated on WHY Elphaba would have these feelings she ends up neglecting them altogether, but there are some additional subtler moments in One Short Day. you just get the sense that Katie's Glinda is constantly on the verge of asking ten million followup questions about Elphaba, TO Elphaba, at this point in the show. she was wrong about Elphaba when they were enemies, which culminated in her being so cruel while Elphaba was kind; now she's going to learn everything about her new friend, so that whatever Elphaba does in the future she can respond in kind, with equal magnitude. (which, again, reads SO autistic for me.)

the second thing, which feeds from the first, is that if Glinda is as serious and vulnerable as Elphaba here, then the exact nature of Glinda's hesitation before friends alters depending on the Elphaba. as Wicked has aged (and Glindas have gotten gayer) Elphabas have accordingly shifted two good friends towards a statement of overwhelmed gratitude. she's still tentative about their friendship, but friendship is the sole realm she can even imagine at this point. in those cases Glinda's pause before friends turns into this neat reversal, where GLINDA now wants more (romantical) things out of their relationship but is shy about revealing her hand, because she's not sure Elphaba will reciprocate or because it's not fair to put that on Elphaba per the terms of their relationship. it's a super nice reading if you want a pining Glinda for a straight/oblivious Elphaba...

but that's not really what's happening here, because Laurel's Elphaba isn't just in love with Glinda. she seems pretty cognizant of it, too, so two good friends becomes a retreat from them being more than "good friends" in two distinct ways. it's an echo of Idina's hesitation with more explicit romantic intent, and her face afterwards betrays this very heartbreaking certainty that nothing Glinda offers back could be enough, because SHE wasn't brave enough in the first place to tell Glinda how she really feels. which would be bleak enough in itself, but played against Katie's Glinda--this empathetic tryhard who studied the Elphaba while she was supposed to be heterosexual--it becomes downright tragic. because Glinda KNOWS Elphaba is holding something back here. she knows that when Elphie makes that face she's worried about being hurt. and she knows, by now, that asking why immediately might make Elphaba hide more and ruin everything, so she's just going to have to guess. she says two best friends, because that IS what they are, but it doesn't feel like enough. she wants to acknowledge the thing Elphie can't say, even if she hasn't figured out yet what it could possibly be. she's going to try, though; not just for Elphie, but because she feels it, too.

and how could that not feel like a revelation for Elphaba? even the best case scenario she refuses to let herself think about, where Glinda reciprocates her feelings, would have come with the painful rawness of being seen through. but Elphaba could have never imagined this incipient possibility: that uncertainty can be something you relish, as opposed to something you fear. that she could be relished and not feared. they're not there yet, but that's the thing, isn't it? yet. and Glinda is going to try--Elphaba is certain of that much, now. they might get there, which feels like everything. they might, with time.

and why wouldn't they have enough time?

[yangsbandana]

Just you and I, defying gravity 💚🩷🧹🫧

[yangsbandana]

fanfic and edits is jsut not enough for me when it comes to gelphie i don’t even think a canon happy ending would be enough idk what it is i want more

[yangsbandana]

I’m enthralled by this because I’ve never seen anything less reflective of my experience of the world.

[yangsbandana]

WICKED (2024) DIR. JON M. CHU

[yangsbandana]

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.

[yangsbandana]

gelphie..

[yangsbandana]

happy valentine’s day💌

[yangsbandana]

WHAT

[yangsbandana]

@dragonsrrad had a fun idea so I went with it! haha

bonus Ariana with Ariana

[yangsbandana]

i love how by combining the wicked canon with the original frank l baum wizard of oz canon we've can only conclude that after elphie's death glinda had a massive lesbian crashout and now lives in a palace with a bunch of beautiful women trying to compensate for the loss of the love of her life