Dorothy Gale (c. 1900-?), an American assassin, killed both the Wicked Witch of the East and the Wicked Witch of the West in Oz.
- Physical description: She looks just like Hollywood actress Judy Garland at age 17.
- Shoe size: Same as the Wicked Witch of the East’s.
- Social life: her dog Toto.
- Philosophy: “There’s no place like home.”
- Home: Kansas.
- Talents: “accidental” assassination, professional-level singing. She often breaks into song, which is odd in Kansas but not in Oz.
- Travels: A twister takes Gale, Toto and her house to Oz, circa 1915.
Kansas: a place where everything is a shade of brown, where much is owned by few (Almira Gulch owns half the county), a place of farms, fortune tellers, pigs, chickens, dirt roads and violent windstorms called twisters. North American English is the common tongue. Gale lives there on a farm with her aunt and uncle. Her aunt is Christian.
Oz: is clearly not Kansas, at least not in 1915. For one thing, there are more colours than just brown. But, going by the accents, it seems to be somewhere in North America. It may be far in the future since few have heard of Kansas.
- History: there are signs of:
- past ethnic cleansing: no Black people or anyone not White.
- past revolution: loss of democracy, rule by witches.
- past genetic engineering: flying monkeys, lions and trees that talk, a man made of straw, etc.
- extreme technological regress in transport: no cars or planes or even bicycles, much less regular bus service. Only witches can move faster than a horse, travelling by flying broomsticks and large bubbles.
- Government: ruled by witches: one in the south (Glinda), one in the east, one in the west and most likely one in the north. The Wizard lives in the Emerald City at the centre, but seems to have little power. He is certainly not as “great and powerful” as he claims.
- Economy: maize, opium, lollipops.
- Roads: The main road from Munchkinland in the East to the Emerald City is the Yellow Brick Road. It is little used but in good repair.
- Wildlife: lions and tigers and bears.
The assassinations:
- The Wicked Witch of the East: when Gale arrived in Oz, her house fell in a ditch on top of the Wicked Witch of the East (pictured above). It made her a hero in Munchkinland.
- The Wicked Witch of the West: Gale threw a bucket of water to put out a fire. The water fell on the witch, melting her.
Gale maintains both were “accidents”, yet takes credit for the first, accepting honours from the Munchkins, and had agreed with the Wizard to carry out the second in exchange for passage back to Kansas.
Both the Wizard and Glinda used her. As it turns out, Gale could have gone back to Kansas at any time once Glinda had given her the Wicked Witch of the East’s magic ruby slippers. Glinda knew that – but did not tell her till after Gale had killed the other witch.
– Abagond, 2016.
Source: “The Wizard of Oz” (1939), fictional.
See also:
- The Wiz
- Gregory Maguire: Wicked
- Agrabah
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- The white mythology of George Washington
525
This is a fascinating interpretation! Wow!
LikeLike
Most people don’t know it, but the Land of Oz actually existed, though only on a sound stage. This was a fantastic feat of film making, but as is often the case, the people who were making the movie didn’t know they were making a classic. They almost cut out the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Here are some cross-cultural notes. Strangely, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” became a kind of anthem of the South Seas, the English-speaking part of them anyway. Hawaiian icon the late Israel Kamakawiwoʻole did a powerful and unique version of this song. In the 2008 film “Australia”, the song figures when the “Wizard of Oz” is shown to a group of aboriginal schoolchildren of the Stolen Generation shortly before the outbreak of World War II.
In 1978, a black-cast, black-written version of the story called “The Wiz” was produced in collaboration between Universal Studios and Motown Productions, directed by Sidney Lumet.
“The Wiz” was based on the Broadway musical with the full title “The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”.
British musician and songwriter Dewey Bunnell of the band America in 1974 released a song called “Tin Man” which contained the line “Oz didn’t give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t, didn’t already have.”
For a long time I thought this song was from “The Wiz” (sorry, I don’t go to enough movies). With its careful construction of multiple negatives and the street language tone I thought it had been written by an American black man. But not. Sometimes African-Americans have a way of putting things that a white man likely would not think of. A few years ago, Sports Illustrated ran a feature about 1970s Denver Broncos star Floyd Little, after he had just been elected to the NFL Hall of Fame. In discussing his concerns about developing football-related dementia, this was before CTE became part of our daily vocabulary, he expressed his fear of someday living a life where, “what makes you, you dies before you do.” I just don’t see a white guy putting that way. But the same fear is there of course when you get older, the fear that “what makes you, [will] die before you do”. Or before whatever it is you yet hope to accomplish or see materializes.
One white critic came up with a more elaborate take on the Tin Man’s heart and the Cowardly Lion’s courage and the Straw Man’s brains too. He pointed out, the Tin Man showed great solicitude throughout, the Cowardly Lion courage often enough and the Straw Man great intelligence in plotting stratagems. His observations may have been good criticism, and they have stuck with me. But they lack the evocative power of the poet’s take on the issue.
In 1994, country and western singer Kenny Chesney released a song called “The Tim Man”, a story about heartbroken man who wished he could have been the Tin Man so that he would have no heart. I doubt the unavailingness of his wish went over every listener’s head.
When “The Wiz” was released it was promoted with the tag “The Yellow Brick Road Goes On”. And so it does.
LikeLike
I always thought that was fishy, Glinda could have told Dorothy as soon as she put on those slippers she could go home but I conclude that Glinda what to rule Oz for herself and she needed to get rid of the Wiz & The Wicked Witch. Dorothy discovers the wiz is a fraud and kills the wicked witch and we never see the witch of the south – So I figure Glinda can easy take care of her which leaves all of Oz up for grabs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The “Wizard of Oz “was and still is an Amerikan classic; within a pipeline of cinematic tropes where subliminally, black and brown people will somehow be literally extinguished by an unseen force and Amerikan soil is once again reclaimed by their SUPPOSED rightful owners, … white people!
LikeLike
I remember as a kid when the Wizard of Oz was telecast it was the beginning of Spring and leading to Easter Sunday. Nice childhood memories.
LikeLike
Margaret Hamilton was great as the wicked witch of the West and those flying monkeys terrified me as a kid.
LikeLike
I wonder what prompted this ,not that I’m complaining as your blogging is top notch as always.
Anyway one of my favorite hollywood films,my favorite part is the muchcians singing although the entire film is a classic.
As to there being no black people in this fantasy story.
guess what ,black people can’t appear in every film ,esp unknown bewfore hand classics.
and if we can’t make our own films and reject supservience to white people; then I’m not interested in empty complaining.
LikeLiked by 1 person
man,I
LikeLike
man,I liked the muchgains song parts so much I gotta shout them out 1.ding dong the witch is dead
2.follow the yellow brick road
loved these songs ,loved when I was a kid and still love them – a real fantasy classic.
LikeLike
@Mary Burrell
I remember those annual Spring telecasts of The Wizard Of Oz. It was part of the whirlwind of pleasurable activities leading up to Easter Sunday.
Other activities included:
❦Learning Easter speeches for the afternoon church program
❦Practicing Easter songs at the piano with my grandmother
❦New dress and shoes
❦Hours of hair pressing and curling
❦A fancy ham dinner
❦Handel’s Messiah booming through the house
❦Dyeing Easter eggs
LikeLike
@Afrofem: Yass! I loved those times
LikeLike
“Dorothy Gale (c. 1900-?), an American assassin…”
Note to self: Never again read Abagond while sipping anything. That was a serious spit-take, I cracked up.
LikeLike
This was one of my fav books as a kid. As a result, I keep imagining USA as Kansas. As in, Kansas (as I imagined it from the book) is the first thing that pops onto my mind when someone mentions America.
Though the first adaptation of the book I’ve seen (and the one I loved when i was a kid) was an anime series version from the 80s.
LikeLike
This post was a delightfully irreverent look at the many contradictions of the classic Wizard of Oz. They were always there, no one I know ever dissected them.
LikeLike
still think about this and I begin to notice some other things (proably because WE are no longer ignorant childern)
this is a film in which the compentent and complete chartecers are all females.
a young female lead in a fantasy story
good and bad wtiches (a term almostly exclusively reversved for female magicians)
the black is bad white is good cultural meme present in all white european cultural products –
I was watching the latest star wars reintweration and also after which a insight skit on racist hollywood from the john oliver show;
I realized the sandard black evil charcter that always wears black is racist symbolism by racist white hollywood.
but thats after the fact of enforced living under a racist regime.
LikeLike