In the iconic story of The Wizard of Oz, the wicked witch plays a central role as the main antagonist. Throughout the narrative, the wicked witch opposes Dorothy and her friends at every turn, making it their mission to eliminate her presence. One of the memorable moments is when Dorothy accidentally throws water onto the witch, causing her to melt and dissolve into nothingness. This dramatic demise of the wicked witch serves as a metaphorical representation of good triumphing over evil. The scene in which Dorothy douses the witch with water is both shocking and satisfying for viewers, as it symbolizes the end of the witch's reign of terror. The wicked witch, with her green skin and menacing cackle, represents the embodiment of evil in the story.
Despite being an early film, the Wizard of Oz employed the use of different unique editing techniques. First, and most notably, just the absence of color in the beginning (and ending) of the movie help to set the mood and overall feeling for Dorothy when she is in Kansas, and the issues and lack of ‘color’ that she faces there. She dreams someday of being ‘over the rainbow,’ and after the cyclone scene—when opening the door from her sepia-themed house to a ‘rainbow’ colored world outside—shocks the viewer and serves as a huge attention-grabber and, again, sets the mood for this new world Dorothy has found herself in.
First, and most notably, just the absence of color in the beginning and ending of the movie help to set the mood and overall feeling for Dorothy when she is in Kansas, and the issues and lack of color that she faces there. Dorothy is able to motivate these three potent forces and leads them all towards the Emerald City, whence greenbacks had once come, and an encounter with the omnipotent and wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The wicked witch, with her green skin and menacing cackle, represents the embodiment of evil in the story. Her goal is to reclaim her sister's magical ruby slippers and use them to gain ultimate power. However, despite her villainous intentions and attempts to harm Dorothy and her friends, the wicked witch meets her ultimate demise through an accidental act of kindness.
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the film that immediately brings to mind Judy Garland, although she was 3rd choice for the role. Shirley Temple and Deanna Burbin, a Canadian actress and singer in the 1930s and 1940s, were the first two desired actresses. It was their unavailability due to a contract (Temple) and a project ( Burbin) that gave Garland the opportunity of a lifetime. The images from the film and the novel are overwhelmingly childish and cute. We have a good witch and a bad witch, flying monkeys, a little green wizard with a hot air balloon, lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), and of course the notorious yellow brick road. What isn’t apparent about the story is Frank L. Baum’s genius in writing it for both adult and child audiences, and somehow managing to appeal to both. So far as the movie is concerned, the significant financial investment, well-cast actors and the genius of its director, Victor Fleming, made it a blockbuster. However, some critics believe the original story holds quite a different, darker tale that has nothing to do with children’s dreams or magic.
Most of the Oz research I conducted reached basically the same conclusions and uncovered the same metaphors, although there were some differences. I compromised and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was first published in Chicago in 1900. Baum was the editor of a South Dakota newspaper and a s upporter of William Jennings Bryan, who stood three times, unsuccessfully, as a U.S. presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. In America during the 1890s, as in Britain, there had been a severe depression. Many businesses had gone bankrupt, farmers forced to sell up, factories closed and workers made unemployed. True, some farms in the Mid-West were suffering from drought, but most were still capable of growing food; the businesses and factories were still capable of providing the things that people needed; the workers still wanted to work to provide those things, and people would still want the goods and services produced if they had the money to buy them.
The money in the USA then, as now, was entirely created by the private banking system. The pretence existed then that money was based on gold. (Even now some people still think that it is!) The major banks, based on the East and West coasts, could vary the amount of money in circulation, lending more to encourage commercial activity, then foreclosing on loans to put people out of business, enabling the banks to acquire their businesses cheaply. Baum and Bryan wanted money to be based on silver, not gold, as silver was more readily available in the Mid-West, where it was mined and such a money supply could not be manipulated by the banks. So the story of the Wizard of Oz starts with a cyclone in the form of imagined electoral success for Bryan.
Dorothy, a sort of proverbial ‘Everywoman’, lands on the Wicked Witch of the East (the East-coast ba nkers), killing her, so freeing the Munchkins, the down-trodden poor, but the Wicked Witch of the West (the West-coast bankers) remains loose. The Good Witch of the North (the Northern Electorate) tells Dorothy to seek out the Wizard of Oz (oz being short for ounces, that is of gold). She also gives Dorothy a pair of silver slippers, (ruby in the movie), representing the silver mines, and the original colour in the book. They enable her to remain safe on the yellow-brick road, representing the bankers’ gold standard, as she heads towards the Emerald City, representing Washington DC, since green is the colour of money. Ya with me so far, kids?
On her journey, Dorothy encounters a Scarecrow, representing the farmers, who do not have the wit to understand how they can end up losing their farms to the banks, even though they work hard to grow the food to feed a hungry nation. If only they could think it through!Next, she encounters a Tin Woodsman, (Taxpayer Identification Number), representing the industrial workers, rusted as solid as the factories of the 1890s depression, and who have lost the sense of compassion and co-operation to work together to help each other during hard times. Then the growing party encounters a Cowardly Lion, representing the politicians. These have the power, through the power of Congress and the Constitution, to confront the Wicked Witches, representing the banks, but they lack the courage to do so. Dorothy is able to motivate these three potent forces and leads them all towards the Emerald City, whence ‘greenbacks’ had once come, and an encounter with the omnipotent and wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The Wizard of Oz is initially quite majestic and apparently awesome, but he turns out to be a little man without the power that people assume he possesses. He does, of course, represent the President of the United States. Who finally exposed the Wizard for what he really was? Toto, the annoy ing little dog. Toto means “in total, all together; Latin in toto.” What was it that the witch wanted after she alleged that the little dog had bitten her? TOTO. … everything. Notice how Toto was not scared of the Great Wizard’s theatrics, yet he was so small in size, compared to the Wizard, that no one seemed to notice him? The smoke, flames and holographic images of Oz were designed to frighten people into doing as the Great Wizard commanded. Toto simply padded over, looked behind the curtain (the COURT), saw it was a scam, started barking until others paid attention to him and came to see what all the barking was about. Who was behind the curtain? Just an ordinary person controlling the levers that created the illusion of the Great Wizard’s power and authority. When Toto pulled back the curtain and completely exposed him, the charade With the Wizard’s illusion of power shattered, he is replaced by the Scarecrow who would ‘be another Lincoln’.
The Wicked Witch of the West, fearful for her own power, then attempts to destroy Dorothy but is herself dissolved in a bucket of water, as rain relieves the Mid-West drought, saves the farmers’ livelihoods and prevents repossession by the banks. Let’s also not forget that the Wicked Witch of the “West” represented the bankers who would control its resources and people legally (fly ing monkeys) and with psychotropic drugs (poppies). Dorothy’s house (equity) landed upon and killed the Witch of the “East,” representing a false sense of security that people from Europe felt when they trekked to the New World. The Good Witch of the South, representing the Southern electorate, tells Dorothy that her silver slippers, silver-based money, are so powerful that anything she wishes for is possible, even without the help of the Wizard. And, notice at the end of the film, this “good” witch knew the secret that would get Dorothy home all along, but didn’t tell her right away. Perhaps, this was Glenda’s way of having Dorothy learn her own lesson. Perhaps she was toying with Dorothy. Witch? Should have called her bitch. But the prizes given by the newly humbled wizard were themselves ruses, representations of cures and freedoms. So, this journey, or lesson, was ultimately futile.
Finally, Dorothy wishes to go home. There all is now well, because the land has a stable and abundant money supply. Note that Dorothy did not have a mother or father reference. Dorothy’s legal guardian was obscurely named Aunt “Em” or “M” for money. That means that money was her “legal tender.” Isn’t it everyone’s?
Children’s Literature – History Revealed Through Shoes
Historically children’s literature was written with both a moral and political purpose, usually depicting extremes of character and the political climate of the times. Folk tales were explicitly gruesome, depicting torture and death for children who misbehaved, or riches and rewards for children of good character. These stories were not considered unduly harsh, since children’s roles in the stories often represented adults and children alike, as well as the economic and political conditions at the time in which they were written.
In Hans Christian Anderson’s tale The Red Shoes, the heroine, Karen, fools her stepmother into purchasing her a pair of leather red shoes, and wears them to Church, a blatant sign of disrespect and personal vanity. The red shoes themselves punish Karen. They force her to dance mercilessly until an executioner cuts off her feet to rid her of the shoes. These moralistic folk stories were typical for their day. It was told from a religious perspective: Karen attended a Christian mass and her shoes were red, generally known as the devil’s colour. Andersen explained the origins of the story in an incident he witnessed as a small child. By his report, his father was sent a piece of red silk by a rich lady, to make a pair of dancing shoes for her daughter. Using red leather along with the silk, he worked very carefully on the shoes, only to have the rich lady tell him they were trash. She said he had done nothing but spoil her silk and he cut up the shoes in front of her. Story: The Red Shoes
However shoes also brought rewards to characters of purity. In Little Goody Two Shoes, a folk tale penned in 1765, Marjery is presented with a pair of black leather shoes that console her after her brother has gone missing. Marjery is a a child of exemplary behaviour, hence the title. She grows up to marry a rich widower, another reward for her good character. Story: Little Goody Two Shoes
Cinderella also illustrates a heroine of pure character. It is a small, glass slipper that provides Cinderella an escape from a life of drudgery as a reward for her good behaviour. Although the Disney version of Cinderella doesn’t emphasize the size of the glass shoe, the original version centered around its tiny size. For this reason historians believe the Cinderella story might have been based on the tradition of foot binding in Chinese culture. However there is evidence that the Cinderella was of Ancient Egyptian origin, and was recorded in the first year B.C.
story: The Original Cinderella Story
Perhaps the m ost famous children’s shoes in literature belonged to Dorothy in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. However, unlike the previous folk tales, Oz was written for entirely political purposes. The movie adapted its own version of the ruby red shoes, as they were silver in the novel, a significant material for the story’s political theme. Dorothy represents Everywoman, beleaguered by the corrupt President of the United States, being Oz himself. Frank Baum wrote the story in 1900, 40 years after the civil war. It was written chiefly about the Midwestern states, where silver was in plentiful supply. Private banks pretended that money was based on gold and used this deception to control the circulation of money in the states. Baum wanted money to be based on investments in silver which the banks would not be able to control because of its availability in the Midwest. Dorothy encounters three significant characters in her travels: the Scarecrow, representing the impoverished Midwestern farmer, the Tin Man, unemployed industrial workers, and the Cowardly Lion, politicians who had the power but lacked the courage to confront the private banks, or The Wicked Witch. Story Background: The Story Behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Interestingly, there were issues of a different type of political nature during the casting and filming of Oz. video: Wizard of Oz Casting Tin Man
The Elves and the Shoemaker also presents the theme of poverty as an imposition by government and corporate enterprise. The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the socioeconomic conditions of the times. Robert E. Lucas Jr. was quoted as stating, “for the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth. … Nothing remotely like this economic behavior has happened before.” Although this statement was true in terms of national averages, poverty-stricken people comprised the majority of the population. In fact most people suffered severe reductions in their living standards. However, the impoverished shoemaker attains wealth at the story’s end, a metaphor for the increased wealth of the overall nation.
The story also centres around the immorality of forced child labour in the form of the tiny elves who work without wages. There was limited opportunity for education except among the wealthy and the rising middle class, and as a result, children were expected to work. Employers paid a child less than an adult even though their productivity was comparable. Children as young as four were employed. Beatings and long hours were common, with some child coal miners working from 4 am until 5 pm. Conditions were dangerous: children were killed when they dozed off and fell into the path of the carts, while others died from gas explosions. Many children developed lung cancer and died before the age of 25. Workhouses sold orphans and abandoned children as “pauper apprentices“, working without wages for board and lodging. Those who ran away were whipped and returned to their masters, with some masters shackling them to prevent further escape attempts. story: The Elves and the Shoemaker
The historic eras of children’s literature is usually woven into folk and fairy tales. Two central themes are that of poverty and moral character. Sometimes the latter is revealed through journeys into the unknown. Other times, it is objects such as shoes that bring the tales’ characters reward or punishment, depending upon their morality and behaviour.
The establishing shot for her first steps in the land of Oz is an example of inside/out editing; it begins with a close-up of Dorothy and slowly moves out to show her surroundings—in this case, the entirety of Munchkinland and the beginning of the yellow brick road. After panning around the area, the camera view centers once again on Dorothy, when she declares they ‘aren’t in Kansas anymore.’
As Dorothy attempts to put out a fire engulfing the Scarecrow, she grabs a nearby bucket of water and throws it, unknowingly, onto the witch. The water has a startling effect on the witch, causing her to shriek and melt away. This sudden and unexpected turn of events not only saves Dorothy and her friends but also frees the inhabitants of Oz from the wicked witch's grasp. The melting of the wicked witch illustrates the power of purity and innocence in overcoming darkness and malice. Dorothy's act of accidentally splashing water on the witch serves as a powerful symbol of compassion and goodness prevailing over wickedness. It emphasizes the idea that sometimes, the simplest acts of kindness can have profound and unforeseen consequences. Moreover, this pivotal scene also emphasizes the importance of self-belief and the ability to confront and overcome one's fears. Throughout the story, Dorothy struggles with self-doubt and a longing to return home. However, in the moment of dissolving the wicked witch, she takes charge of her own fate and confronts her fears head-on. This act becomes a turning point in Dorothy's journey, as she gains confidence and finds the strength within herself to face the challenges ahead. In conclusion, the dissolving of the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz serves as a powerful symbol of good triumphing over evil. Through an accidental act of kindness, Dorothy inadvertently eliminates the witch and, in doing so, liberates herself and the inhabitants of Oz from her tyranny. This scene not only highlights the power of purity and goodness but also illustrates the importance of self-belief and the ability to confront and overcome one's fears..
Reviews for "Breaking the Curse: How to Dissolve the Wicked Witch's Influence on Oz"
1. John - 2/5 stars
I was really disappointed with "Dissolving wicked witch from the wizard of oz". The whole premise seemed promising, but the execution fell short. The special effects were cheesy and unconvincing, making it hard to immerse myself in the story. The acting was also quite lackluster, with the actors delivering their lines in a robotic manner. Overall, it just didn't live up to my expectations and I wouldn't recommend it.
2. Emily - 2/5 stars
I was really excited to see "Dissolving wicked witch from the wizard of oz" because The Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite movies. However, this adaptation left a lot to be desired. The storyline deviated so much from the original that it was hard to recognize it as a part of the same universe. The pacing was also off, making the movie feel jumbled and disjointed. I wish they had stayed true to the original and captured the magic that made the original so beloved.
3. Sarah - 3/5 stars
I had mixed feelings about "Dissolving wicked witch from the wizard of oz". While I appreciated the attempt to explore a different perspective of the story, I felt like it missed the mark. The character development was weak, leaving me unable to connect with any of the characters. Additionally, the dialogue felt forced and unnatural. However, I must admit that some of the visuals were impressive, and there were a few moments that were genuinely entertaining. Overall, it was a decent effort, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me.