Connections

When we were discussing the quote, "I'm my sister's project. She's always trying to fix me up, but I don't want to look pretty" (7), and how Omishto does not want to be someone who is considered pretty and how the idea of her becoming even more of an object to look at than she already is by her stepfather, I couldn't help but think of the song "Popular" in the play Wicked. I didn't make this connection because of her great discomfort around her stepfather, but rather that she is solely considered a "project." The song even begins with Galinda saying, "Elphie, now that we're friends, I've decided to make you my new project!"
Another reason I thought of this song, were the connections between what we were saying in class about how being "pretty" gives you a sense of power, and how Galinda talks about being popular in the song. Galinda believes that by giving Elphaba a new make-over, making her pretty, she will become popular, and have some sense of power. In the song, Galinda claims, "It's all about popular. It's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed, so it's very shrewd to be, very very popular like ME!" In the book, Power, Omistho's sister does the same thing and tries to make Omishto as pretty as she is.