Elphaba Thropp

Wicked + "subtle" Scarecrow foreshadowing (bonus ugly but relevant gif under the cut lmao)

First Look at CYNTHIA ERIVO as ELPHABA THROPP in WICKED: FOR GOOD (2025)

I think one of my favorite parts of the new wicked movie is how "dancing through life" shows the problem I have with pride as a concept.

When Fiyero is singing it, he's not being proud. He's just living his life! Being happy! Having fun! He's just some guy, he gets to dance through life, doesn't he? Nobody would have a PROBLEM with him dancing through life, it's just how he's supposed to do it! He doesn't have to defy anything, he doesn't need to stand his ground. He gets to just be a person.

But Elphaba doesn't.

She doesn't get to just be happy, or just be deserving of respect, or, for that matter, just BE. So she needs to try, over and over. And over. She needs to approach people every single time, see if this time, they'll let her be a person. And the night before the club, she just had Glinda show her two gestures of friendship- with Nessa and the hat. So she got to think, will I get to be one of them for once? And she came to the club, to dance, just like everyone- but nope, still not a human. They laugh at the freak, the green freak with the pointy hat. So she has to be proud. She'll put her hat down on the floor and make up a dance for it. She'll put the most upsetting parts of herself on full display as an act of defiance, she'll spin for all those people like a preformence because that's what they turned her onto. Might as well make the best out of it, might as well be everything they hate her for, might as well dance in the ten-feet circle of repellency that her essence seems to project and let them watch, if her dancing at the club is something to gawk at, then let them gawk! If that's what they make her into, then that is what she'll be! She's not gonna cry, or run, or stutter, she'll dance! This is her war.

But then Glinda comes and dances with her, and you can see her pride melting away. As she finally gets a friend, finally gets to put down her guard, finally gets to be accepted. She doesn't have to be proud. If she can be accepted, if she can be safe, then she won't have to fight anymore. She, too, can dance through life.

And in a way, that's true. You can see how throughout the movie, she stops directing her anger at everyone who looks at her wrong, because she comes to terms with the fact that she CAN find people who love her. It doesn't need to BE about her. Society has fundamental problems that need to be fixed. Cruelty and pain are symptoms, not the essence of the problem. She needs to defy the very gravity keeping her down.

JONATHAN BAILEY & ARIANA GRANDE rehearsing “Dancing Through Life”

JONATHAN BAILEY in WICKED: PART ONE

Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero Tigelaar WICKED (2024)

CYNTHIA ERIVO as ELPHABA THROPP Wicked (2024) dir. John M. Chu

yo, Fiyero, is the defensiveness a recent development?

JONATHAN BAILEY Behind the scenes of WICKED (2024)

BRIDGERTON (2020-)

KATE AND ANTHONY

2.05