Wizard of Oz questions

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

In The Wizard of Oz (the original) when everything is in black and white is that how the Kansas characters actually see their world in universe?

If so when Dorothy has her Oz experience it would be like us being hit on the head and seeing 100 NEW colors we had never conceived of, like some kind of acid trip. It would be impossible for her to explain it to Aunt Em or even, after a time, to recall those colors.

Also are we to assume since Toto is at Dorothy's bedside after she wakes up that Miss Gulch was killed by the tornado? Dorothy has been knocked out for a while, though Miss Gulch might just be very busy with her tornado property damage and not dead. It seems to me though that since the Wicked Witch is dead Miss Gulch will be dead too. Another explanation could be that pressure was put on her to allow the almost dying girl her dog at her bedside.

 

[marksound]

In The Wizard of Oz (the original) when everything is in black and white is that how the Kansas characters actually see their world in universe?

If so when Dorothy has her Oz experience it would be like us being hit on the head and seeing 100 NEW colors we had never conceived of, like some kind of acid trip. It would be impossible for her to explain it to Aunt Em or even, after a time, to recall those colors.

Also are we to assume since Toto is at Dorothy's bedside after she wakes up that Miss Gulch was killed by the tornado? Dorothy has been knocked out for a while, though Miss Gulch might just be very busy with her tornado property damage and not dead. It seems to me though that since the Wicked Witch is dead Miss Gulch will be dead too. Another explanation could be that pressure was put on her to allow the almost dying girl her dog at her bedside.

Kansas really is in black and white.

Ok, I'm kidding. It's actually more like sepia tone.

 

[KaraBear]

I always thought of it like they were in an area where everything was dull, mostly shades of brown and dull colors. which would still be a big contrast to all the colors and flowers and such when she gets to oz

 

[J.T.B.]

In The Wizard of Oz (the original) when everything is in black and white is that how the Kansas characters actually see their world in universe?

No, the transition to color was a storytelling device to show the contrast between "normal life" in Kansas and the magical land of Oz. The book also described Kansas as dull and gray. The "black and white" sequences were actually sepia-tinted, the intent of which is said to have been to ease the transition shot to the color part of the film. I think it also makes the non-color sequences warmer and more homey, which is nice because, dull though it may be, it represents home and security.

Also are we to assume since Toto is at Dorothy's bedside after she wakes up that Miss Gulch was killed by the tornado?

Huh, I never thought that. I always assumed Toto got free in during the tornado and came home, and Miss Gulch was alive somewhere.

 

[Sindatur]

Dreams are often depicted as Black and White in Movies

Seriously, though, yea, it's to show the contrast between drab ordinary life and The Wonderful Fantasy of Oz.

Toto, yea, he escaped by jumping out of the basket

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah, I never took it so literally that Dorthy's "reality" was actually sepia toned. It's just that Oz was more vibrant and colorful than her Kansas farm. Further the sepia to color transition was more for the color shock-value for audiences.

 

[DarthTom]

I always thought of it like they were in an area where everything was dull, mostly shades of brown and dull colors. which would still be a big contrast to all the colors and flowers and such when she gets to oz

Exactly. The color change was a metaphor not to be taken as if everyone in Kansas only viewed black and white.

It's also intended to differentiate between Dorothy's implied dream [in color] versus the reality of black and white.

 

[Stevil2001]

This is the relevant passage from the novel:

When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great gray prairie on every side. Not a tree nor a house broke the broad sweep of flat country that reached to the edge of the sky in all directions. The sun had baked the plowed land into a gray mass, with little cracks running through it. Even the grass was not green, for the sun had burned the tops of the long blades until they were the same gray color to be seen everywhere. Once the house had been painted, but the sun blistered the paint and the rains washed it away, and now the house was as dull and gray as everything else.

When Aunt Em came there to live she was a young, pretty wife. The sun and wind had changed her, too. They had taken the sparkle from her eyes and left them a sober gray; they had taken the red from her cheeks and lips, and they were gray also. She was thin and gaunt, and never smiled now. When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.

Uncle Henry never laughed. He worked hard from morning till night and did not know what joy was. He was gray also, from his long beard to his rough boots, and he looked stern and solemn, and rarely spoke.

Man, I think that's some of Baum's best-ever writing.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I know it was a story telling device, that's why I said "in universe". If you take it as a fantasy story would the brownness be what they actually saw as their world.

It would have been interesting if now that she has seen the value of home there were some touches of colour, perhaps on the cheeks of those she loved, when she awoke.

 

[propita]

Also are we to assume since Toto is at Dorothy's bedside after she wakes up that Miss Gulch was killed by the tornado?

Huh, I never thought that. I always assumed Toto got free in during the tornado and came home, and Miss Gulch was alive somewhere.

Miss Gulch.

The Dolores Umbridge of her generation.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

BUT if Miss Gulch is alive somewhere she will come back and get Toto

And we can't have that. I vote for being shredded by the tornado. Toto will find some bit of her in a field somewhere and bring it to Dorothy.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

I know it was a story telling device, that's why I said "in universe". If you take it as a fantasy story would the brownness be what they actually saw as their world.

And we answered your question by saying it was intended only as a storytelling device and not to be taken literally. People in Citizen Kane's world don't live in fisheye lenses, Dorothy's Kansas isn't literally sepia toned (although it's probably mostly sepia toned anyway).

Certainly Miss Gulch dying is not a new theory. Cracked goes over the theory in some detail.

Think about it: Before the tornado, Dorothy's aunt and uncle were pretty upset about Toto's impending execution, but that doesn't seem to be a problem at the end of the movie. Why? Because Miss Gulch is no longer around, probably having been crushed by a cow. The last time we see her is during the tornado when Dorothy sees a bunch of stuff flying by her window, including Miss Gulch herself, who transforms into the Wicked Witch before our eyes

But that's just part of the dream, right? Yeah, but the movie implies that Dorothy's stay in Oz was more than just a fantasy, and that there was some sort of connection between the characters that are played by the same actors in both worlds. For instance, the Wizard in Oz is played by the same actor as the fake fortune teller. Back in Kansas, Dorothy doesn't know that the fortune teller is a fraud: She follows his advice and almost dies in the process because she trusts him.

However, when she gets to Oz and meets the Wizard, he turns out to be a fake. If it was all just a dream, how did Dorothy know that the same guy was a fraud? It seems fair to assume that the Wicked Witches' deaths in Oz might be telling Dorothy something she doesn't already know about Miss Gulch in the real world. Namely, that she's dead.

Still don't believe us? Well, there's also the fact that the official website for the movie apparently agrees with us. Yeah, we probably should have started there.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

Yeah, I never really liked the fact that Toto's problem seems unresolved by the movie. It's nice to think that Miss Gulch is gone/dead, but the movie itself seemed to have forgotten about that issue by the end.

 

[Argus Skyhawk]

Anyway, here is my alternate version of a scene from the movie:

Dorothy: Oh, you are very bad man!
Wizard: No, I'm a good man. I'm just a very bad wizard.
Scarecrow: You're a "good man" who spent years defrauding the people of the Emerald City, so they would honor you as their leader.
Wizard: Okay, I'm not a great man but still I...
Tin Man: And then to cover up your deception, you sent a little girl to confront a powerful, homicidal witch... presumably hoping the girl would never return.
Wizard: I didn't think she would actually do it! I thought Dorothy would just give up and go home!
Dorothy: But I can't get home! That's why I asked you for help in the first place!
*Beat*
Wizard: I guess I am a bad man, aren't I.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Gulch was killed by a house.

 

[sojourner]

It's simple really. Dorothy is colorblind. When she hit her head during the tornado she dreamed in color of OZ. Upon waking she again saw the world the way she'd always seen it.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It's simple really. Dorothy is colorblind. When she hit her head during the tornado she dreamed in color of OZ. Upon waking she again saw the world the way she'd always seen it.

Ooooooooo that is great! I like in universe explanations. They don't contradict the real explanation, they are just interesting and when you have a fantasy film you can do what you like with it.

 

[Trekker4747]

Well, this seems timely and relevant.

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wka3yoC-cLA&feature=em-subs_digest[/yt]

 

[Dream]

I never liked the fact that they made Oz into a dream in the movie. Are you telling me audiences can't accept the fact that Dorothy just landed in a fantasy world?

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

As I recall it was left up to you, dear reader, in the first book to decide whether it was a dream or not. I may be wrong about that though. Certain in the gazillions of books that followed on from the first one (all of which I read) it was a real fantasy land.

I just saw it remastered in 3D in the cinema. I last saw it unremastered in the same cinema some years back.. and I had seen it endlessly as a kid. Watching it as an adult I'm always surprised by how short the trip to Oz actually is. No scenes of making camp etc.. seems to take a day though the characters talk about how long and far it was. LOTR it aint.

Is Glinda forbidden from killing the WW of the West? Because she could easily enough. I'm going to assume there's some magic prevention of her doing this, like maybe it will have some horrible consequence for her to do it personally. Though she is so lalala about the WW of the West that that it seems like she doesn't really care one way or the other. And she didn't exactly assign Dorothy to the task of MURDER, it happened accidentally.

Also. WTF IS THIS?!? This guy appears to have done dozens if not more trailers and mini episodes about Dorothy and Oz in Star Trek. They are all godawful. They are mysteriously ended with the words "Star Trek Natures Hunger".

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XluZ9MhZ6M[/yt]

If you like this trailer check out his Star Trek Meets the Wizard of Oz "Flying Monkey Battles" video.