#nessarose

Not that I don’t think she deserves sympathy; she does to a decent extent. And I’m sure there is a lot of misogyny and ableism in the hate she gets.

But one way that her fans defend her makes me feel iffy. It’s when they say “Just think of how hard it must be for her to be stuck in Elphaba’s shadow. How would you like to be the sister of a freakish-looking, sharp-tongued, uncontrollable magic-spewing misfit whom everyone hates and who is always embarrassing you?”

Yes, I understand that this is hard for Nessa. But I don’t think it’s such a great defense of her character or justification for why she never defends Elphaba at Shiz. Because not only is it not Elphaba’s fault that she’s the way she is, or that other people discriminate against her, but no one has a bigger guilt complex about the problems she’s “caused” for her sister than Elphaba does. (Except of course Queen Elsa of Arendelle, but that’s literally another story.)

Let's say these same sentiments were applied to a girl with a transgender sister in a very transphobic environment.

"You have to sympathize with her. All her life she's been stuck in the shadow of her 'freak' sibling. Think of how hard it must be to have everyone know her as the sister of that 'cross-dressing pervert'.”

Wizard of Oz book: Evil, witch dictator of Munchkinland. So old she literally SHRIVELS UP AND DISAPPEARS IN THE SUN ONCE DEAD FOR A FEW MINUTES JFC. Wears magical silver slippers. Wizard of Oz movie: Evil, witch dictator of Munchkinland. Her legs disappear?? Wears magical ruby slippers. Wicked Book: A religious zealot. Also armless :(. She gets pretty shoes that Glinda enchants so that she can walk. Eminence of Munchkinland, declares independence and is a dictator. Wicked musical: Beloved little sister, tragically beautiful. In a wheelchair. Receives magical enchantments on her shoes. Has such a bad breakup she becomes a dictator.

I think many agree that The Girl in the Bubble is the weaker song, wastes time to make an extremely obvious point heavy-handedly, and halts the movie's action in an awkward way.

So let me propose an alternative second song: a Nessarose and Fiyero song that comes earlier in the movie.

I think Nessas character makes more sense and is more compelling if she hates herself for being disabled. The changes the movie makes waters down and confuses her character, and while the stage show isn't perfect either, I think it's more interesting to have a disabled character cope poorly with their disability and mistreat the people around them as a result of their own poor mental health. Classic "it's not your fault but it is your responsibility" situation.

Nessas low self esteem and desire to use magic to get what she wants/ thinks she needs to be a complete person is also the antithesis of the moral of The Wizard of Oz. The whole moral is that you already have everything you need inside of you to be the person you want to be, you just have to realize it within yourself first. You may already even demonstrate the virtues you seek and not realize it (the scarecrow wants a brain but he comes up with the plan to save Dorothy, etc.)

Nessa wants to be loved and thinks that if she can walk she'll receive it/ be worthy of it. She's already capable of being loved, but because she doesn't believe that, she abused Boq by forcing him to stay with her (as proof that she's capable of being loved) and getting mad at Elphaba for not using a spell to help. She's confusing her physical disability with her mental health and self image.

When Elphaba does enchant the shoes and she's able to walk, she's still not happy because she realizes that Boq never loved her, causing her to spiral. The way I imagine it is like this: imagine if the wizard really did give the scarecrow a brain. Literally opened his head and put a brain inside of him. Then he goes out and fails in some way intellectually. Not only can the wizard not fulfill this request because it's impossible, but it wouldn't really help. There's no "fixing" what's "wrong" with you, only working to become the person you want to be and living a genuine life for yourself. That's the lesson Elphaba has to learn in the first act/ part: she thinks if the wizard can make her not green than she'll be accepted and respected by her family and community. She learns that not only is the wizard incapable of fulfilling her wish, but she wouldn't necessarily get what she wants anyway. The goal should never be to change yourself dramatically to appeal to others- the people who will truly love you will love you unconditionally. That's the difference between Elphaba and Nessa. (Also I want to add in that I don't think Boqs character thinks any sort of way about Nessa because of her disability. He's got his own issues when it comes to his incel-esqur behavior but thats another post)

Can we talk about, in Wicked: For Good, how Boq almost murdered Nessa after his transformation into the Tin Man?

He literally starts raising his axe as he screams at her and she just starts going "it wasn't me, it was Elphaba!"

He doesn't even put the damn axe down until the second time she says that.