Saturday, November 16, 2024

The Wizard of Oz: How It Should Have Ended



The new movie Wicked is a prequel to The Wizard of Oz that explains how the Wicked Witch became wicked. But was she really? The 1939 movie is woefully short on just how what she did to give her an evil reputation, outside of being ugly. As Glinda says, only bad witches are ugly. The Wicked Witch threatens to kill Dorothy, but only manages to kidnap her. She wants the ruby slippers, which should be legally hers anyway as the heir to her deceased sister. And I couldn't have been the only child who watched the movie and thought Glinda was a real ass for not telling Dorothy the slippers could have taken her home anytime. Frank Baum's series of Oz books has a lot more backstory and context on how the Wicked Witch enslaved the Winkies of the west, but few people these days read any of them. We all know the movie, and without Glinda's subterfuge, it would have been pretty short, as HISHE explains.   



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