Nesting box commentary about that scene where Elphaba comes to Glinda’s apartment with sorbet so Glinda can commiserate about her breakup. That’s one of my favorite scenes, and I especially want to know Elphaba’s thoughts during that scene and leading up to it!
ahhh thank you okay yes. let me pull it up
okay so poor elphaba. she's really been going through it in the lead-up to this because finding out your crush is into women in the exact same moment you also find out your crush is dating your ex is a rough time of it always and also glinda is the queen of mixed signals. also! elphaba decides to show up at glinda's with ice cream/sorbet and wine because in an earlier chapter (chapter 9 i think) glinda talks about being good friends with shenshen:
“Thank you,” Glinda says. “Anyway, ShenShen is a dear friend of mine—ice cream and wine after breakups, manicures, you know?”
so elphaba is like (little mental note) this is what glinda expects of a friend.
i also think elphaba is not quite comfortable enough to really make a move at this point which is why she doesn't. like, she doesn't know what happened between glinda and selma exactly. she doesn't know at this point how long she'll be at ozford, there's too much up in the air.
“In a hysterical, irrational way,” Glinda specifies. “Don’t take me too seriously.” “I always take you seriously.”
nothing super smart to say about this but this is a recurring gelphie thing to me-- that elphaba takes glinda more seriously than glinda does herself, and that that's one of glinda's major character flaws that she doesn't take herself seriously in a lot of ways: her potential to do harm, her potential to do genuine good, and figuring out what the fuck SHE actually wants.
“Me?” Elphaba tucks the errant braid back, peers at Glinda over the rim of her wine glass. “What about me?” “Your type.” Glinda smiles sweetly around her next spoonful of sorbet. “I don’t have one.”
this is a big fat lie. dr. thropp is a liar. she definitely does not know what to say without it sounding incredibly odd. i think her type Actually is women who are very confident and smart and who don't impose societal expectations on her but like. how would she say that?
also probably blonde dermatologists a little :/ sorry elphaba. putting you on blast.
Clear margins, distinct lines. And Glinda’s—well, crush, she can admit that much, at least—can live in its own little box, undisturbed and safe.
boxes motif, obviously, but nesting box does seem to return to the idea of boundaries and spaces and homes often.
i also feel like this scene really hammers the recurring thing in where glinda is obsessed with permanence and whether the inclusion of elphaba in her life is permanent or not. i tried to really establish this relatively early on so that the ozford reveal would feel organic--the entire time they are together, before glinda has a concrete reason to suspect otherwise, she already senses somehow that this is transient. and then of course elphaba tells her at the end but she doesn't understand the significance of it, just like she doesn't understand what it means that elphaba would show up at her apartment with sorbet and a bottle of wine -- another example of "representativeness restraint" (the chapter title), which is when you miss a diagnosis because the presentation isn't typical.
