Why is wicked so gay
The Wizard of Oz (1939) never spoke to me as a child. Quite the opposite, in fact; it terrified me. Certainly, the story is unsettling: Being swept away in a tornado is no one’s idea of a good time. But it was not that, nor was it the drabness of Dorothy’s animation on the farm.
It was the costumes.
I was terrified of anyone or anything in costume as a kid: mascots, the Easter Bunny, a mall Santa minding his control business. All of them were suspect to my childish eyes, and one look at the Tin Man had me begging my father to repay to golf. Harrowing, to think I was so upset I wanted him to put on golf.
Wicked, though, was different. I had read Gregory Maguire’s book by the time I got tickets as a Christmas gift, and I was…perplexed, to say the least, as to how they planned to make a musical out of a book rather clear on whimsy and rather heavy on fascism and subjugation of people of different races. And yes, the musical greatly diminishes the political uprising that is, I would say, about 87% of the guide. Honestly though, sitting in that theater, I don’t ponder I could contain told you what the book was about by intermission. That’s how swift it (say it with me, and get
I’vebeena fan of the “Wicked” franchise for, well, prolonged enough that you should address me as your queer elder. So when I saw all the posts and memes and TikToks insinuating that the ”Wicked” film was basically a lesbian love story, I was delighted. Sure, that’s not really how the books portray Glinda and Elphaba’s relationship, and no, they’re not a couple in the musical, but I am here for making them — and everything — gayer. Basically, I walked into the movie saying, “If they don’t kiss, I’m leaving.” But they didn’t kiss and I didn’t leave, so let’s gay a few things up.
Even if you haven’t seen the film, you likely know that ”Wicked” is a retelling of ”The Wizard of Oz” from the point of view of the wicked witch, Elphaba. Glinda, it turns out, has a complicated past with Elphaba. In the film, the relationship between the two feels like it could easily veer into classic enemies-to-lovers territory. Elphaba and Glinda hate each other, they love each other, they dance awkwardly, and there are meaningful glances. It’s sapphic catnip par excellence.
But here’s the thing: Glinda and Elphaba don’t fall in cherish. Well, they do tumble in love; it’s just that it’s not like tha Questions eight and nine asked respondents to characterize the relationship between Gelphie, and asked if Wicked is a “queer” musical and how so, respectively. The limited answers are yes, most ship it, but whether it is a gay musical was very up for debate. Among the six heterosexual respondents, for instance, four outright said that the show was not queer or that Glinda and Elphaba were not a couple, while one said she could see the potential and one said Gelphie is her OTP (one right pairing). Among homosexual respondents, many saw the musical as not as lgbtq+ as the guide, or not gay at all because characters who are canonically queer in the book are not discussed or erased. For instance, Gregory Maguire has confirmed that Elphaba and Glinda were in some type of relationship, so both are canonically bisexual, and Elphaba is hinted to be intersex. Other folks saw the show as definitely queer or the potential for it to be scan as queer, comprehension its need to insert the adore triangle and create the show “family friendly” in the name of ticket sales, but “the way it is structured, the choices musically etc build it clear tha “Wicked” is a sensational musical that explores the origin stories of the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the South from “The Wizard of Oz.” Based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, its protagonists Elphaba and Glinda navigate the highs and lows of their fierce, tumultuous connection while trying to keep Oz from the conniving Wizard. Since it debuted on Broadway in 2004, “Wicked” has been hugely trendy amongst the queer society. While the musical features no explicitly queer characters, Maguire is openly same-sex attracted and many media analysts have noted multiple elements of the show that serve as obvious metaphors for queerness. Firstly, Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship contains weighty homoerotic undertones. Although both women pursue romantic relationships with the charming prince Fiyero, most of the plot focuses on the connection between Elphaba and Glinda. Some critics view Elphaba and Glinda as bisexual or pansexual, while others argue that both women are coded as lesbians and their interest in Fiyero develops as a reaction to societal expectations and compulsory heterosexuality. Rega 3 January 2025, 18:01 By Sam Prance Are Elphaba and Glinda gay? Wicked fans have shipped the two characters together ever since the musical debuted. Wicked's Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have said that they think Elphaba and Glinda are queer in a new interview. Throughout Wicked's history as a musical, people have debated whether or not Elphaba and Glinda's relationship is platonic or romantic. The two characters turn from enemies to best friends, and the musical revolves around their chemistry. Neither Elphaba nor Glinda is explicitly gay in the text the musical is based on but some fans consider they're queer-coded. Now, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande own addressed the theories. Kristen Chenoweth has also chimed in and Ariana's spoke about Glinda's sexuality further in a separate profile. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande sang live on Wicked In an interview with Gay Times, Cynthia and Ariana were told that people have been shipping Elphaba and Glinda and Ariana's4. But Are They Gay? A Gender non-conforming Take on Elphaba and Glinda
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