glinda the coded lesbian: an analysis
pull up a chair and take a seat as i walk you through the deeply entrenched lesbian coding of galinda upland/glinda the good and the multiple closeting metaphors in wicked and wicked for good.
i obviously have to start this off with the literal lesbian flag poppy-field. and on the freaking title card, seriously?
there will be more on the lesbian flag color scheme in a minute, but first we must get on with the closet metaphors so… follow me. c’mon.
closet metaphor #1: popular
during popular—the song where galinda essentially tries to teach elphaba how to be successful in life by performing and abiding by the society approved terms and conditions—galinda removes elphie’s glasses so she can consider how she looks without them on. she stares for a moment—with eyes full of affection and smiling—and then she abruptly shoves them back on and verbally implies that she finds elphaba unattractive.
despite, as i said, looking at elphaba with full blown heart eyes as she does so.
this is the first time, in my interpretation, that galinda finds herself becoming aware that her feelings for elphaba might go beyond just platonic or loathing. it’s also the moment i knew that ariana’s performance as glinda was going to be truly special when i first watched it in the theater, but i digress.
the shoving of elphie’s glasses back onto her face doubles as a metaphor for shoving herself into the closet. it’s here that galinda realizes she finds elphaba attractive, but the mere thought of that is so threatening to her entire life philosophy and, being the coward she is, she resorts to insults to cover for it. she must perform disgust to re-ground herself in her comforting reality of falsity and ignorance. in her bubble.
my favorite thing about the film adaptation of popular—and one of my favorite things about gelphie’s dynamic in it—is that elphaba is not annoyed or insulted by galinda’s behavior, even though she has every right to be. i mean, she’s basically running around singing about how to change elphaba into someone she’s not so that she can be more palatable to society. it’s the very thing that should and would normally bother elphaba, but instead… she’s endeared. on one hand, i believe this is largely rooted in the fact that elphaba has never had a friend before up until this point so she’s going to accept any kind of friendship she’s offered, but that’s true for all elphaba’s in any production. the decision to play elphaba as endeared by galinda during this scene is independent of that. almost like elphaba somehow knows that this is all just a dramatic performance from galinda and not a reflection of how galinda truly feels about her. and this is something that carries throughout the entire narrative. she has the same demeanor during the cat fight scene in for good, but elphaba only regains that endeared demeanor once she has successfully provoked glinda out of her Glinda the Good performance mode.
but back to popular… it’s only once galinda reasserts her performance of perfection and aloofness that she is able to comfortably call elphie beautiful.
closet metaphor #2: ride to see elphie
glinda keeps the clothing items she wears when she rides feldspar to warn elphie—a black cloak, black gloves, and elphaba’s black boots—stuffed in the back of her closet in her suite at the emerald palace.
aside from the blatant-ness of her hoarding elphie’s boots, black is the color associated with elphaba, as it’s the only color she really wears, and it’s a color glinda generally finds hideodeous, as well. it also symbolizes darkness and secrets, a contrast to the lightness of her pink, white and orange pastels.
elphaba is the only person glinda has ever had a true, deep connection with and… she keeps her hidden in the back of her closet.
and while we’re on the topic of glinda’s literal closet, why not bring up the fact that galinda/glinda’s color scheme is literally the lesbian flag colors.
glinda’s color scheme covers a range of pinks, whites and oranges throughout the films. lavender—of all colors—is the only exception.
the lesbian ozdust dress is my favorite, i can’t lie.
and then there’s the lavender. which we see in about four different outfits.
the first time galinda meets elphaba...
what is this feeling gay panic...
waking up from her poppy induced coma to realize elphie & fiyero are gone...
the deleted scene where a jealous galinda tells elphie to pick her...
and then, of course, the lavender dress she wears for over half of the second film.
you know, the dress glinda first wears when she announces her engagement to fiyero in munchkinland before singing about how she’s getting her “fairytale ending” and he “couldn’t look handsomer” and she “couldn’t be happier” even though all of this “happiness” is nothing more than a performance…
and last wears when she says “i love you” and then watches her elphie “die”
i honestly have no idea the thought process behind why glinda has so few outfit changes in for good, but i find it kind of fitting that she’s stuck in that lavender dress—or an extremely basic white wedding dress—when she’s performing her ultimate conformities and complicity in, not just elphaba’s suffering, but her own.
i also think it's interesting that each time lavender is included in an outfit of galinda's in wicked (the first one), it's during a moment where elphaba is forcing her to confront some kind of internal conflict.
their first meeting is the first time galinda comes into contact with a different life experience to her own, the first time she "doesn't get her way".
during what is this feeling, galinda is struggling with the... feelings elphaba is stirring within her.
and in the ones regarding fiyero & the cub, galinda is being confronted with the possibility that someone else can fill the role she realizes she wants to be the one to fulfill... (even though when push comes to shove she wouldn't be able to do what elphaba needed of her, and i think deep down elphaba knew that but she just didn't want to face it yet)
the entire girl in the bubble sequence is also a closet metaphor, but there’s really nothing in it that i haven’t already said.
just the imagery of this moment: glinda, and her lavender dress, cloaked by elphie’s black and getting on feldspar—borrowing from fiyero’s courage and bravery—as she is on her way to finally choose elphie for the first time…
glinda’s lightness (lavender) cloaked by elphie’s darkness (black) turning the narrative of lightness = good and darkness = bad on it’s head but also, glinda is wearing her own darkness, her own hidden secret, her love for elphaba on the outside. visible for the first time…
closet metaphor #3: the door scene, obviously.
it essentially functions as a tragic metaphor for a self-inflicted closet that glinda becomes trapped in. up until for good—and to a degree during and probably a period of time afterward too; the girl has shit to work through—glinda is a coward. she hides the real parts of herself and presents to the world a version of “perfection” she was brought up to believe is the way to move through the world. and, i mean, it is… if you only care about power and prestige. which is what glinda thinks she wants throughout most of the narrative as popularity and superficial love are intertwined with glinda’s self-worth due to how she was raised. and.. it cost her.
she kept herself locked inside her own metaphorical closet—which in the films is more of one of her own making as homophobia either doesn’t exist or is, at the least, more akin to the way things are in the U.S.—for so long and by the time she was finally ready to face reality, it was too late. now, it’s her elphie who locks her in the closet, and glinda is forced to watch the only person she’s ever truly loved “die”… from behind the literal closet door in part due to her own complicity in elphaba’s villainization and inability to choose elphaba the way fiyero did. the latter bit has some more complexity to it, though.
and really, i would argue that it’s during the scene where fiyero holds the gun to glinda’s head with shaking hands and terrified—risking his life for elphaba—that glinda’s closet first begins to crack.
the dialogue between glinda and elphaba during the cat fight already works as a double entendre in the film—god bless you cynthia + ariana for your acting choices.
while i don’t believe elphaba knows that she has romantic feelings for glinda nor that glinda has them for her, she feels betrayed by glinda—as she should—and her usage of “someone like him” is directly referencing fiyero’s narrative function as glinda’s mirror. in the film, the scene reads less like the two of them are fighting over fiyero himself and more like fiyero is invoked simply as a substitute for what they actually want to say to each other.
he loves me enough to choose me (you don’t)
and because of the double entendre used with fiyero as a substitute for glinda herself, it would then make sense that glinda’s “he just… he loves her!” could be interpreted as glinda’s first verbal admission of her romantic feelings for elphaba.
he loves her (i love her)
even more so, glinda’s reaction to elphie’s “i love you” is one that exposes a deep repression. her eyes fall closed, her breath catches; she’s soaking it in. like she never in a million years believed elphie would ever say those words to her, and she never thought she would ever get the chance to say them back. like she wasn’t sure she even physically could.
the character of galinda upland and glinda the good is a cautionary tale for the cost that comes with performing heterosexuality, patriarchy, and refusing to confront or accept your true desires due to a fear of the discomfort that will come with it in the most extreme sense of the concept. you lose true and authentic love because you weren’t brave enough or didn’t have the tools to claim it when it was needed, and sometimes, your own fear and cowardice ends with you being forced to perform for the rest of your life. never able to claim or admit that you truly loved this person more than you have loved anyone else because people wouldn’t be able to handle the truth.
the closet costs you the girl; it costs you real love; it costs your authentic self. it’s an endless facade and performance that glinda brought unto herself, and ironically, it’s the very thing she believed she wanted for so long.
popularity. power. adoration.
what she thought she desired ends up being the very thing that causes her suffering because she realized what she really wanted—elphie—too late, and elphie’s time was up.
