Written by Lady T.
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| Dorothy and friends skip to the Emerald City |
The Wizard of Oz is my favorite movie. There are movies that are more artistically accomplished, movies that are more sophisticated, and funnier films that make me laugh my butt off, but no film I’ve seen has the same sentimental, emotional effect on me as The Wizard of Oz.
I love this movie as I love no other movie. And I hate the ending.
Let me explain.
The plot of the movie is fairly straightforward. Dorothy and her three male companions go on the same quest: to meet the Wizard of Oz. Each member of the original Fab Four has a different reason to meet the Wizard. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tin Man wants a heart, the Cowardly Lion wants courage, and Dorothy wants to go home to her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry in Kansas.
In the end, their quests prove to be unnecessary, and not just because the Wizard is a charlatan who cannot give the characters what they desire. As it turns out, each character already possesses the quality he or she was seeking. The Scarecrow doesn’t need a brain — he’s already the smartest person in the group, a quick thinker and problem-solver who comes up with the plans to break into the Wicked Witch’s castle. The Tin Man doesn’t need a heart — he’s already emotional, crying whenever his friends are in trouble. The Lion doesn’t need someone to give him courage — he already steps up to every challenge that’s presented to him, even when it scares him. And Dorothy doesn’t need to go home — she’s been there the whole time, because the entire colorized section of The Wizard of Oz was all just a dream!
BOOOOO. (Just to make myself perfectly clear, I am, in fact, saying “Boooo!” and not “Boo-urns!”)
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| “Wait – I thought it was a trip, but I was really just tripping?” |
I hate “it was just a dream!” endings on principle, because if the entire conflict takes place in the main character’s head, there’s no real urgency, nothing really at stake.
I hate that the message — “What you thought you wanted is something you really had all along!” – is applied differently to Dorothy than it is to her friends. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion are told that they always had a brain, a heart, and courage, and the Wizard giving them their “gifts” is affirmation of their strengths. Dorothy, on the other hand, gets a lecture from Glinda and has to realize that “if I ever look for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard.” Her friends get to realize that they were always smart, emotional, and brave, while she has to learn a lesson about being grateful for what she already has.
I hate the ending because it breaks my heart to think that Dorothy’s friendships were all a product of her fantasy.
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| Dorothy yearns for life somewhere over the rainbow |
The truth is, Dorothy doesn’t have a bad life on her farm in Kansas. Her aunt and uncle love her and take care of her, and the hired hands on her aunt and uncle’s farm treat her with kindness and consideration. I don’t mind that she takes a minute to appreciate that and realizes that running away is not the best idea.
But even though a loving family is invaluable, guardians are not the same thing as friends.
In Oz, Dorothy has friends and equals. She and the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion share the same adventures and support each other. She invites them on her quest to find the Wizard, giving them hope where they had none before, and in turn, they save her from the clutches of the Wicked Witch of the West. They don’t treat her differently because she’s a girl; any concern they have for her is because they fear for her life in an enemy’s hands, not because they doubt her abilities or strength.
There’s mutual respect and love among Dorothy and her friends and equals, something she doesn’t have in Kansas because there’s no one her age to relate to her — and we’re supposed to happily swallow that this is all just a dream, and there’s no place like home?
Well, I don’t accept it. I refuse. In my mental version of the ending, Oz is real. Dorothy traveled there and came back, and even though she has a renewed appreciation for her day-to-day life, the door is still open for her to return, where the new rulers of Oz — the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion — will all be waiting for her, ready to go on their next adventure.
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| Dorothy and her three best friends |
Lady T is an a writer and aspiring comedian with two novels, a play, and a collection of comedy sketches in progress. She hopes to one day be published and finish one of her projects (not in that order). You can find more of her writing at The Funny Feminist, where she picks apart entertainment and reviews movies she hasn’t seen.
Read the books. L. Frank Baum made it pretty obvious that Oz was an actual REAL place. I believe in the later books Dorothy, along with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry go to live in Oz permanently after their house, once again, gets blown away by another tornado. So her friendships with her three companions were in fact real! Oz is real! And she gets to go back later on in the series. The 1939 version really changed many aspects of the books anyway. It was not very faithful. As much as I love the 1939 version and it’s actually one of my favorites as well, and while I thought Judy Garland was great and I think she was adorable. I still didn’t really like how Dorothy was portrayed. She seems to be too much of a “damsel in distress” type of character, and just a little too whiny every once in a while. In the books she is much younger, but she’s a lot tougher and smarter in more ways.
I know this is kind of off topic from the actual movie itself, but I thought it was worth noting that L. Frank Baum was considered a feminist back in his day, which is pretty amazing. He fought as a Women’s Suffrage advocate, and in his second book, there is a character named Jinjur who is a young female general in an all-female “Army-of-Revolt” where they go off and fight while the men stay home and do the household chores. That idea itself is pretty big for 1904 (when the book came out). And the fact that a man wrote that is pretty amazing.
Hi! I linked over here from Shakesville.
Wonderful write-up. I actually hate this movie. I’ve always hated this movie, even when I was a little kid. There, I said it. I feel so much better now.
I love Judy Garland, and she is terrific in this. You’ve articulated so well a couple of the main reasons why I can’t stand this movie, including my utter loathing of “it was all just a dream” endings (once in a while they’re done well, but for the most part – boo!).
I never got around to reading any of the books, but I will definitely have to make the time for it.
Yes- but (as you mention) the movie takes many big departures from the books, and it did not continue the way you describe.
This comment comes off to me as a “well, actually,” sounding as if Lady T. just wasn’t as well-informed as you. But her opinion is perfectly legitimate given that, based on the MOVIE, which is the subject of the article, none of the information you describe is actually there!
I’m not sure you intended it this way; maybe you only meant it to be comforting. But it still very much reads this way to me.
Oh NO! I absolutely did NOT mean for it to sound the way you thought. If it did then I feel bad and I apologize. Yes, I know she is only going by the MOVIE. And I do in fact agree with her opinions about the film and I respect them very much. I was just meaning to say (as you said) that if it brings any comfort to the story, then one should definitely read the books! L. Frank Baum makes an effort to let the reader know that Oz is a real place. Which is fantastic! Because I didn’t want it to be “all in her head” too. And I also just wanted to give my two cents about the author L. Frank Baum, and how awesome it was that he was basically a male feminist in a time and place where there were barely any of them at all. I can only imagine he must have made a few male enemies because of his stance on gender equality. It’s truly amazing. (to me at least)
[Lady T here]
Thanks for the comment, Emma. I did read the first few books years and years ago, and I meant to mention that the ending is a huge departure from the original novel in this post, but it slipped my mind. Thanks for pointing it out!
With Dorothy, she does have a fair amount of scared-crying in the film, and I figured the director just realized that Judy Garland was really really good at playing vulnerable and had her do that as much as possible
I think she’s still tough in her own way, though – she stands up to Miss Gulch, slaps the Lion when he goes after Toto, and doesn’t hesitate to act when she pours water on the Scarecrow.
I definitely understand.
I’m very glad to hear that Frank Baum was such a feminist author! It makes me want to pick up The Wizard of Oz again, and maybe even delve into its sequels.
Very true.
Dorothy does have some pretty great moments in the film herself. So I guess she wasn’t a complete “damselesque”, but yeah. Oh man, makes me want to read the books again! 😀
Very true, all. I would add that the ending also seemed to sweep under the rug her original motivation for running… to save Toto! The ending had no resolution for that issue. Was Miss Gulch on her way back, even as Dorothy was waxing sentimental?
I bet you liked the book better; Oz was real.