Sonia

YOU 🫵 ARE CREATING A FANDOM SPACE BY EXISTING AROUND AND ENCOURAGING CONTENT CREATION

Listen, I’m not stupid, I acknowledge that Wicked was definitely written with misogyny in the back of their head whether they wanted to or not. But am I the only one that didn’t think Fiyero was supposed to be a great guy. The musical is called Wicked for heaven’s sake. Everyone has a bit of Wickedness within them. Another thing that the story pushes, is that everyone has to face the consequences of their actions. Which he also did. If he was a perfect man, he would have been completely unharmed by the narrative.

He joined the freaking Regime for goodness sake. Sure he had his reasons. But they weren’t enough. He didn’t know what else he could do. But again, it still promoted the regime. Jon Chu and Jonathan Bailey have both said that. He’s only considered good because he chose to change, like Glinda. Yes, he isn’t the main character, but he does have an arc, however small and in the background it may be. Jonathan Bailey specifically says that the second movie helps Fiyero solidify his morals, and leads to him finally making a good decision, which is to go with Elphaba. Him and Glinda are similar, but he is more impulsive. He makes decisions quickly. He didn’t think he would find Elphaba the way he did with the Wizard. He realized he had to keep her safe. He got himself caught in the process. He sacrificed himself for her, everything he had for her. Because she was what matters. Glinda thinks so too. But she’s more cautious. She thinks about every decision. And ultimately she places herself first. Which isn’t a bad thing. But Fiyero isn’t like that. Yes, it’s because he’s her love interest. He’s there to be there for her. But peel back the surface and there’s something deeper. There’s a man who’s incredibly flawed. Who cared, but was too scared to do anything. Who avoids problems because they’re too much for him. But ultimately, someone who hates himself. This is also said in an interview, they say that Fiyero looks around Elphaba’s house. Looks at her lair and the posters, and this dignified lifestyle she has set up for herself in the midst of everything. And he realizes. That no matter what other people say, and no matter how much it might affect her. She continues to love herself. And that’s something he can’t do. So he centers this woman. From the beginning. She is someone he’s never seen. Someone who doesn’t reduce him to appearance and status. But someone who reaches further and looks at Fiyero. And he craves that desperately. He wants to be wanted in that way. Just like Elphaba. So he places her first above everything. Above himself, above the animals, above everything good. Because he doesn’t just see Elphaba, he sees the girl that saved him from drowning further into himself than he already had.

Does that justify any of his actions. NO! But it provides us with an angle we don’t see before. And will I get a bit controversial next. Probably. But it’s my opinion. Refusing to acknowledge Fiyero’s evident hurt, is, sometimes, a subtle result of misogyny. That men are high and mighty and do not feel complex emotions the way women do. They can’t hurt or be objectified, because they’re too strong for that. But that’s not true. Everyone has their feelings and their reactions.

Yes, he should have broken up with Glinda, he should have never joined the regime. But he did, he was stupid and focused only on Elphaba, which is why he suffers for it. They’re all young. They react to things in different ways, and like what they also said about his character. For someone who’s never been loved, or even take dancing through life, for someone who knows lust is all people feel when they look at him. To someone who’s part of a military but still described as a “handsome swaine” for Glinda. He is going to want nothing more than to protect the one person who saw him a person. I still think his actions were flawed. But that was the point. If he made every right turn. He wouldn’t even be in Wicked. He’d be in some Disney movie with bland characters.