Sep. 29th, 2009

vovat: (Default)
  • 08:14 So, @huggythuggy, are you going to change Spike's name to "Gochiefs"? #
  • 08:35 Video: Back in 1980, there was an election tie-in where kids could vote for whether the rabbit could get... tumblr.com/xpy3ajywl #
  • 13:58 Photo: (via kidskidskids) tumblr.com/xpy3aojq4 #
  • 14:27 @renlong So are you now fascinated with Boris Yeltsin? #
  • 14:27 @eehouls Kelsey Grammer is a Republican? I thought that was just Sideshow Bob. #
  • 14:30 1. Hey-hey, kids, I'm talking Krusty. 2. Hey-hey, here comes Slideshow Mel. Again: here comes SIDESHOW Mel. #
  • 14:43 Photo: I always felt bad about the stages where you HAVE to do this to get to a secret exit or something. ... tumblr.com/xpy3ap6bn #
  • 14:54 Photo: bronz-age: tumblr.com/xpy3apc77 #
  • 14:57 RT @comicgoodness Baby?s Ultrasound Totally Looks Like Venom #comics bit.ly/LBZH8 #
  • 14:57 @Clamanity I wouldn't have drunk it in the first place. I hate coffee. #
  • 15:02 @twobitme Looks like SOMEONE is getting a visit from the Secret Service, if they haven't already. #
  • 16:49 The library we visited today had a sign outside saying they weren't responsible for children left after closing. Does that happen often? #
  • 16:52 @DVDBoxSet Would a flying carpet be acceptable? #
  • 17:18 Photo: Truth in advertising!  I guess the three continents would be Europe, Africa, and Asia, although I... tumblr.com/xpy3arhra #
  • 18:18 Photo: Very subtle anti-Semitism tumblr.com/xpy3asfdn #
  • 19:21 Photo: snuh: tumblr.com/xpy3atfky #
  • 19:36 Photo: regardless: tumblr.com/xpy3atobr #
  • 20:04 Photo: “I only warn ONE child, though.  The rest get no warning whatsoever.” mudwerks: tumblr.com/xpy3au5b3 #
  • 21:29 Photo: The Tin Woodman and Tik-Tok are definitely keeping well-polished. bohemea: tumblr.com/xpy3avlcv #
  • 21:57 Photo: Do you think Disney would be able to get away wi
    th a child cartoon elephant getting drunk in a movie... tumblr.com/xpy3aw2k6 #
  • 22:36 I wonder what the Colonel would think of KFC serving grilled chicken. #
  • 23:37 Photo: tumblr.com/xpy3axqca #
Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
vovat: (Woozy)
As we've already seen with Jack Pumpkinhead, Princess Langwidere, and the Scoodlers, heads that can be removed without resulting in death are pretty common in the Oz series. Bill Campbell already covered the topic on his own blog, but I have some elaborations and other examples to add. As mentioned in that post, one of Baum's first uses of the theme was in The Magical Monarch of Mo (originally known as A New Wonderland), in which the Second Surprise is called "The Strange Adventures of the King's Head." In this tale, the nasty Purple Dragon bites off the head of the King of Mo, and his subjects make substitutes out of candy, dough, and wood. The Dragon decides to make further trouble by putting the king's head on a woodchopper's shoulders, resulting in an identity crisis for the poor guy. Everything is eventually sorted out, however, with the heads restored to their proper owners.



The people of Mo are able to lose their heads and survive because they're functionally immortal, and the same eventually applied to the Ozites, with the first mention of this being in Road. Even before that, however, there were hints that the people of Oz were more resistant to decapitation and dismemberment than anyone in the Great Outside World. This is demonstrated by Nick Chopper, who explains in Wizard that he had all of his body parts gradually replaced with tin ones, which worked just as well. At the time, there's no indication as to what happened to his old flesh parts, but that information is revealed in Tin Woodman. By that time, Baum had thought out the immortality thing in more detail (although he still left plenty of unanswered questions), and decided that the cast-off parts would still be alive. The Tin Woodman has a conversation with his old head, which the tinsmith Ku-Klip keeps closed in a cabinet. The smith used the head of his other tin creation, Captain Fyter, in making the Frankenstein-like Chopfyt. The idea that a still-living head can be replaced by another one results in some interesting identity issues, and Tin Woodman is the book that does the most with that concept.



Ruth Plumly Thompson's Grampa also uses a lost head as a plot device, with the beginning showing influence from the Mo story. During a bad rainstorm, King Fumbo of Ragbad's head actually blows off, and Prince Tatters and the soldier Grampa go to search for it. In the meantime, the baker cooks a replacement head for the hapless monarch. Without giving too much of the story away, I think I can say that Tatters and Grampa succeed in their quest, and Ozma helps to attach the head more tightly than before.



This post isn't intended to be an exhaustive list of disembodied heads in the Oz series, but I do feel I should mention the Headmen from Silver Princess. These inhabitants of Headland, a small rocky area in the northeastern corner of Oz, are heads with giant ears that they use to fly around. When strangers intrude in their territory, they try to decapitate them (or, from their point of view, "debodicate" them). Their leader is described as an "ugly little Mugly," and Who's Who in Oz actually lists his name as Mugly. This probably wasn't Thompson's intention (I know she used the term "ugly mugly" in at least one other Oz book), but since the character is otherwise unnamed, I guess that's as good a name as any.

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15 161718192021
22232425 262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 3rd, 2025 04:25 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios