While Iām still a bit bummed that they didnāt go with a more book-aligned POC Fiyero for the Wicked movie, Iāve been thinking (heheh) about how his being white highlights the really interesting foil relationship between him and Glinda (and, in many ways, the audience yourself).
At its core, Wicked is a cautionary tale about propaganda, (literal) scapegoating, and what it means to uphold the status quo. The audience is watching through Glindaās eyesāit is through her, arguably the most beautifully tragic character of the show, that we learn how lonely life becomes when you forfeit your values in favor of systemic power and likability (āNo One Mourns the Wickedā is, in many ways, about HER).
Now, this is where Fiyeroās whiteness can get interestingāif you consider him and Glinda to share roughly equal footing at the beginning in terms of privilege/how much they have to lose (applying our real-world lens of race and power here, where whiteness is the apex), his storyline essentially represents what could have happened if Glinda had made the brave (and arguably wise and loving, if youāre picking up what Iām putting down š) choice to go with Elphaba and fight the good fight (this is also why I feel like a queer reading of G&Eās relationship is almost implicit to the story, but I digress).
As the POC/marginalized allegory, Elphaba has much less of a real choice in her curtain-pulled-back turning point. But Fiyero and Glindaāboth representing privilegeāget to choose. So in Act II, we see the consequences of both the choice to stay (Glinda) and to go (Fiyero). In Fiyeroās case, his ultimate rejection of his own power, privilege, and even beauty leads to immense physical lossāincluding his own bodyābut that is then compared to the loss of love, community, and identity that we see Glinda left with by the end. And this brings us to the question that the audience is left grappling with: in an unjust system where loss is inevitable (a.k.a. our own world, as the Wizard himself represents), which of these things are YOU more willing to give up?
Itās important that Glinda is an empathetic character because, in reality, most people are going to be Glindas (obvi this is nuanced among us Elphabas of marginalized identities, but Iād still argue that thereās some level of Glinda in us all)āand itās important to be rattled by the end of the show when you realize that she is the one who has the sad ending. But itās also so important that Fiyero is empathetic (which Iām SO glad this movie leaned into)ābecause heās ultimately who Glindaāand thus we, as the audienceāshould have been.
And especially given the state of US politics right nowā¦this is just all more relevant than ever.
