Scarecrow Prince

No being ableist is not necessary, people will treat him like he is absolutely the worst character on earth. Like you seriously do not have to like him at all but the ableism and the constant comments of “oh he’s ruined now”

“Oh he can’t walk he’ll only slow elphaba down”

“Why’d she get stuck with that straw man”

I’d like to talk about something that’s has been bothering me since the movies came out. Throughout the 20+ years of this fandom existing there has been more or less a kind of unspoken tolerance between sapphic fans that loved the story being centered around two gay/bi women and the neurodivergent and disabled community that found a deep connection to the story as they saw themselves represented in Elphaba, or the supporting characters struggles. Because the story at the end of the day is not just “about the girls stupid” its a story about struggles of being othered and the toll it takes on someone that just can’t be…normal. Neurodivergence, depression, and disabilities both congenital and later acquired are thematically represented in their character arcs.

For many who her story resonates with, Elphaba losing, isn’t a study of how radicalism accomplishes nothing and she should have followed Glinda if she wanted to change things, its a completely relatable outcome to someone that has been there, who has the stakes set up so thoroughly against them just because of who they are and its something they can’t change, so they have to work 10x harder to prove themselves capable, and still lose in the end. For me as a early diagnosed ADHD-inattentive/OCD comorbid I feel for her struggles where you give 100% of yourself to something you believe in only to f*ck it up in planning or execution to where it spirals in the most self sabotaging way.

And before you go “oh girl your projecting onto Elphaba, you ‘outcast rebel weird girl” lets look at some of her qualities and why she’s so relatable to the neurodivergent community: Elphaba’s overly sincere, incredibly empathetic, irritatingly inflexible, and (more-so in the musical) emotionally volatile and can be seen as lacking emotional regulation, she also misses social cues, big ones….

These are qualities that have resonated with fans for decades before the movie was a thing, and since it came out we have lost something tragic in the fandom. The theater gays and the outcast weirdos who have loved this story since they were children were suddenly drowned out by some of the new fans that were either fans of Ariana, pink aesthetics, edgy bully gays here for Yuri and nothing else, or identified with popular influencer vibe Glinda radiates effortlessly, none of which is very compatible with the original community, and any push back resulted in social media dog-piling, reddit downvoting, and often popular backhanded think pieces that try to bury anyone that clashes with their own interpretation.

Also as a queer sapphic woman it also has been kind of upsetting to see some people treat Elphaba and Glinda's relationship as some kind of romantic story (because of the portrayal in this movie) when Glinda constantly chooses to sustain and lead a system that keeps a hateful rejection of Elphaba's otherness. There's no love there, only the preservation of the own privilege.

And from a disability perspective it even feels at points like she treats Elphaba like an accessory (which is very real to how some influencers build their fame on taking selfies with vulnerable communities, yet never actually do anything for them besides gaining more fame). All of these elements of the narrative felt very clear to me always, so it was surprising (in a sad way) to see how people missed them because they too, like the people of Oz, were charmed beyond empathy by Glinda's pretty dresses and singing voice. Which is not to say you can't love pink aesthetics and pretty dresses, I know I do! But it's also important to look with empathy and intersectional awareness far beyond that.

A couple days ago we were discussing Elphaba and Glinda’s uneven relationship dynamic and I said how I never liked the lyrics to Popular, I think we stirred a pot and got a few reactionary posts, one that had Glinda putting the flower in Elphaba’s hair with the caption “she’s being tortured, she being bullied, she’s being traumatized, ect…” I’m like ‘that’s the only friend/girlfriend she’s ever had she literally doesn’t know that she can be treated better’ She has had no experiences or personal relationships to know it can be any different.

People will say that they love Luca so much and were so sad for him that he felt different for being aquatic, and then say that gay men are gross

People will say they wish Rumi didn’t feel the need to hide her patterns and that they love her, and then say that bisexuals are dirty and should stay closeted

People will say that their heart breaks for Peter Parker trying to find a way to tell his loved ones that he’s actually Spider Man, and then say that transgender and nonbinary folks are freaks

People will say that Luke Skywalker was so brave for being in the Rebellion and for blowing up the Death Star and that they love him, and then say that peaceful protestors have “gone too far” and won’t sympathize with activists

my wicked pitch: fiyero should be a lesbian too

“And even in your case,….Though it's the toughest case I've yet to face”

“And with an assist from me, to be who you'll be Instead of dreary who you were, Well, are”

“When I see depressing creatures, With unprepossessing features” (Now remember Glinda called her the toughest case so basically she’s the most severely depressing creature)

All of this is hidden between quirky “lar’s” and “La La’s” while Glinda slides all over the floor and hangs from the ceiling at 6am to distract you from the fact that she’s being incredibly mean in the most sugary sweet way. Then she puts a flower in her hair, stares at her own reflection WITH Elphaba realizes her green is a complimentary color to her pink and then calls her “beautiful” as if they were a set, not because she thinks she’s truly beautiful as is but because she makes a good accessory. Elphaba leaves and Glinda concludes the song with

“You’ll be popular, Just not quite as popular AS MEEEEEE”

Also I want to highlight this part, it's more on the general themes of the musical

Celebrated heads of state or Specially great communicators Did they have brains or knowledge? Don't make me laugh! They were popular! Please - It's all about popular! It's not about aptitude It's the way you're viewed So it's very shrewd to be Very very popular Like me!

Again my girl is literally saying all that matters in life is being attractive and charismatic. And she even admits it's cynical (BTW, people acting like Glinda is an ingeneu when she sings shit like this)

it was unbearable to have people constantly tell me how I could be pretty if I just did XYZ, if I just fit in if I stopped dressing like that

I hate that the end of popular is upheld as a sign that Glinda truly found Elphaba beautiful because she calls her such

But after Elphaba leaves she says “you’re welcome”

Before the song she takes off Elphaba’s glasses, grimaces, and puts them back on

The whole song is basically her way of saying “You are unattractive, I can fix you”

Her jokes at Elphaba are targeted at Elphaba’s skin color, the first thing she does seeing Elphaba is scream then offer to “fix” her “problem” which visibly discourages Elphaba. Where have I heard of a white woman saying she can fix the problem of a woman of color if she just changed her?

In their fight scene she calls her “Greenie” a rather diminishing nickname based on skin color

Glinda doesnt bother to treat Elphaba with kindness until she gets into the sorcery seminar because Elphaba wanted to do something nice while the things Glinda did were selfish and mean

I love Glinda ( because she is so flawed it’s fascinating I wanna keep her in a jar)

But she quite literally refuses to change until she sees a mob gathered wanting to finally take action against Elphaba it’s not a game anymore for Glinda she no longer can just play princess, wave a wand, and smile

Now there are people wanting to murder Elphaba and ready to go do it too.

Glinda never does anything that isn’t selfish until the last song she mocks and berates Elphaba throughout school, then gets what she wants then is nice to Elphaba, then sings a whole song about how while she finds Elphaba unattractive she can fix her, then tells her too compromise her morals twice and so on