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Jul. 7th, 2008 07:28 pmMy first surprise in probing Wicked fandom is how pro-slash it is. The amount of Glinda/Elphaba over at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
wicked_fanfic made me raise an eyebrow. While I reveled in all of the subtext in both the book and the musical, there's that Fiyero character that you would think would mix things up, but apparently fandom hasn't been dissuaded much at all in this respect. In reading Wicked: The Grimmerie, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical, I was struck how Winnie Holzman, who wrote the "book" (non-music) part of the show, speaks about immediately envisioning the show to be a love story. What they didn't know at first, she says, was that the love story would be between Glinda and Elphaba. She continually uses the term "love story" to talk about this aspect and even knowing that she means their friendship and its closeness, it amazes me how strongly fandom has seemed to appropriate the "love story." Even considering the novel's material, which minimizes Glinda's role much more, fanfics tend to latch onto these two leading ladies (is it the novelty of Glinda the Good being so tangled up with the Wicked Witch of the West?).
Nonetheless, despite how campy the musical can be (and it seems it was even more campy in the workshop versions, where a line cut from One Short Day goes: "I must say I'm so happy you're with me! / The hand that I'm squeezing / Is part of the reason / I'm having a ball!" -- Really? Two . . . good friends. Two . . . best friends. Right. =D), I've been saying to myself that the novel has more subtext, probably because I see the musical as coming off very strongly in the friendship department while Maguire's prose is ambiguous and in at least one scene he positions Glinda's feelings toward Elphaba in a sexual context. That being said, it's always very nice when the author himself confirms what you've been thinking all along. Awesome.
For those who have read the book, the rest of the questions are also very interesting, including rehashes on Maguire's feelings about the musical. I agree with him about the ending of the musical, too, since I thought it was really sad in the respect he names (I was thinking "That sucks!" when I walked out of the theater). Fun tidbit: among the three personalities Maguire had in mind when he was envisioning Elphaba were Emily Dickinson and Virginia Woolf. Dickinson makes sense on a lot of levels, but I'm especially interested to know if Dickinson's struggles with Christianity translated into Elphaba's hang ups with Unionism. He also answered a question I was wondering about regarding Elphaba's self-consciousness about her body. Interesting!
wicked_fanfic made me raise an eyebrow. While I reveled in all of the subtext in both the book and the musical, there's that Fiyero character that you would think would mix things up, but apparently fandom hasn't been dissuaded much at all in this respect. In reading Wicked: The Grimmerie, a Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Hit Broadway Musical, I was struck how Winnie Holzman, who wrote the "book" (non-music) part of the show, speaks about immediately envisioning the show to be a love story. What they didn't know at first, she says, was that the love story would be between Glinda and Elphaba. She continually uses the term "love story" to talk about this aspect and even knowing that she means their friendship and its closeness, it amazes me how strongly fandom has seemed to appropriate the "love story." Even considering the novel's material, which minimizes Glinda's role much more, fanfics tend to latch onto these two leading ladies (is it the novelty of Glinda the Good being so tangled up with the Wicked Witch of the West?).Nonetheless, despite how campy the musical can be (and it seems it was even more campy in the workshop versions, where a line cut from One Short Day goes: "I must say I'm so happy you're with me! / The hand that I'm squeezing / Is part of the reason / I'm having a ball!" -- Really? Two . . . good friends. Two . . . best friends. Right. =D), I've been saying to myself that the novel has more subtext, probably because I see the musical as coming off very strongly in the friendship department while Maguire's prose is ambiguous and in at least one scene he positions Glinda's feelings toward Elphaba in a sexual context. That being said, it's always very nice when the author himself confirms what you've been thinking all along. Awesome.
For those who have read the book, the rest of the questions are also very interesting, including rehashes on Maguire's feelings about the musical. I agree with him about the ending of the musical, too, since I thought it was really sad in the respect he names (I was thinking "That sucks!" when I walked out of the theater). Fun tidbit: among the three personalities Maguire had in mind when he was envisioning Elphaba were Emily Dickinson and Virginia Woolf. Dickinson makes sense on a lot of levels, but I'm especially interested to know if Dickinson's struggles with Christianity translated into Elphaba's hang ups with Unionism. He also answered a question I was wondering about regarding Elphaba's self-consciousness about her body. Interesting!
