Defy Gravity

"Well? Where are your wings? Maybe you're not as powerful as you think you are."
-Glinda, Wicked

How many times can you say you've been told that you couldn't do something? Whether it was because you were too young, too old, too short, too tall, a girl, a boy...anything. I know for me personally, growing up as a girl who hated the "girly girl" things...I was told constantly by the boys in my classes that I couldn't play kickball with them because I was a girl and "girls don't play kickball." But the question is...why? Why do we, as a society, tell people what they can and cannot do based on these perceived roles that people play?

Why do we think it's okay to tell someone, as Glinda does in Wicked, that they're not as powerful as they think they are? I've always taken that line as Glinda trying to tell Elphie that it's time to stop...she's not meant to follow her heart, and that she needs to give up because it's the right thing...and the safe thing to do.

But as anyone who has seen the musical knows, that's not what Elphie chooses to do. What does she do instead? She defies gravity...defies expectations...and breaks free of the role that has been lain out for her. Seeing The Wizard was her greatest dream...realizing that that dream was a lie was heartbreaking for her. But she sees a role already planned out for her. She can be The Wizard's right hand woman. She's been told her entire life that she's not good enough because she's different. She's green. She's an outcast. But finally The Wizard is giving her a chance to fit in...to be accepted. For once someone is telling her it's okay to do something instead of constantly telling her that she can't.

But of course she can't betray who she really is. So she leaves.

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules of someone else's game
Too late for second guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts, close my eyes, and leap


Breaking free of what society thinks of her, Elphaba takes to the sky, leaving behind all she's ever known. She makes a statement to the world...this is who she is, take it or leave it. She's not changing for anyone.

I'm through accepting limits, 'cause someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change 
But till I try I'll never know
Too long I've been afraid of losing love I guess I've lost
Well if that's love it comes at much too high a cost
Fitting in and being accepted are two things that people seem to crave the most. We want to be liked...we don't like being the outcast. No one wants to be the person no one wants to sit with at lunch. But should we really sacrifice who we are to fit in..to be "cool"?

Never.

I think I'll try defying gravity...and you can't pull me down.