The Wizard of Oz? Is he good, or is he wicked?

[vovat]

If you read the entire Oz series, the overall answer to that question of Dorothy's from the MGM movie is definitely "good." But L. Frank Baum seemed to be toying with another possibility early on. Even though the Wizard refers to himself in the first book as a very good man, but a very bad wizard, the stage play made him a bad man as well. If what I've heard of this play is correct, the Wizard stole the throne from King Pastoria, who later returns and tries to have all of the Wizard's supporters, into which group he places Dorothy and her companions, executed. On top of this, a nobleman named Sir Wiley Gyle is trying to steal the throne for himself. Complicated, huh? Most of these elements were never incorporated into future books, the main exception being the name Pastoria for the last King of Oz. In The Land of Oz, it's rumored that the Wizard took the throne from Pastoria, and verified by Glinda's lie-detecting pearl that he brought Pastoria's daughter Ozma to the Wicked Witch Mombi. When the Wizard returns in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, and he and Ozma exchange accounts of Ozian history, she makes no mention of the Wizard's involvement in her disappearance. Instead, she says, "Mombi was still my grandfather's jailor, and afterward my father's jailor. When I was born she transformed me into a boy, hoping that no one would ever recognize me and know that I was the rightful Princess of the Land of Oz." The simplest reading of this suggests that not only was Ozma born into captivity, but her father Pastoria was as well. It doesn't explicitly say that, though, and the only way to make it work with what we're told in other books is to assume that there were gaps in between her capture of these three successive generations of royalty. But since Ozma was around for the questioning of Mombi in Land, why didn't she bring up the Wizard's part in this? We could simply assume that Baum changed his mind, and while that makes sense given his general mode of operations, it's not much fun. Maybe she didn't want to bring up the charges against the Wizard in the presence of his friends, but planned to question him about them later. Given her treatment of Dorothy's kitten Eureka in the same book, however, I'm not sure Ozma was that tactful at the time of this story. The Lost King of Oz, which introduces Pastoria as a character in his own right, confirms that he did rule Oz, and that the Wizard did give his daughter into Mombi's keeping (and now feels guilty about that), but that Pastoria was already out of the picture before the Wizard did this. There's a very clever apocryphal story, Hugh Pendexter's "Oz and the Three Witches," that has the Wizard telling the whole story of his rise to power to Ozma and Glinda, and eventually being exonerated of his crimes.

Despite the Wizard's reformation in the books, however, the idea of his being a bad guy hasn't been totally forgotten. In Wicked and its sequels, the Wizard is a Hitler-like dictator who murders with impunity and takes away the rights of talking animals. His portrayal as an outsider who has no respect for the inhabitants of a newly discovered land might actually be closer to that of the conquistadors and other European explorers in the Americas. A wicked Wizard, who refers to himself as a very bad man but a very good wizard, also shows up in an alternate version of Oz in Paradox in Oz.

Comments

[suegypt.livejournal.com]

Ever since the cartoon depicting Ronald Reagan as the Man Behind the Curtain, I've seen the Wizard as evil. The kind of evil that disguises itself in folksy downplaying of intellectual acumen, that says, "Aw, shucks, I'm just like you, see? I say gubment and nuke-yoo-ler," then takes away some population's rights in the dead of night ("It's the mandate you gave me"). The kind that finds out which way the wind blows (clever analogy, eh, eh?) and makes coalitions with the people who are poised to take power, and makes it look like it's their idea to put him at the head. After that accomplishment, the rest is maintenance and smokescreen. Reagan was the first, but W eclipsed him, IMO.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean. The comparison of political figures to the Wizard of Oz is a long-standing tradition, with the phrase "man behind the curtain" often used. In fact, it actually predates the curtain, since it was a screen in the original book, and there were comparisons between politics and Oz before the movie came out.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't a young, inexperienced, and recently sex-changed Ozma investigating the Wizard's past involvment in her captivity make for an interesting story? It may be that her mistakes in the early part of her rule over Oz could parallel mistakes made by the even more inexperienced Wizard, who suddenly goes from carnival worker to ruler of a magical land.

[vilajunkie.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting story idea! And something I had never really thought of before. Especially since I rarely think of Ozma as transgendered.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

My friend bitterfic has written several stories relating to Ozma being transgendered, and she makes a good case for the pairing of Ozma and Dorothy. I wonder what would happen if Ozma, having been a boy through much of her youth, got some time on a psychiatrist's couch?

Maybe I'll do something with that Ozma and Wizard story someday. It sounds like it could be turned into a darker fic along the lines of "Wicked", only more in keeping with the original canon.

[kevenn.livejournal.com]

I've always been fascinated by explorations of Pre-Wizard Ruled Oz. I don't know why, but Pastoria's rule and history has always been endlessly interesting to me

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I have to say that, contrary to some readers, I never really thought too much of Ozma having spent time as a boy. I mean, I thought it was clever, but didn't put much thought into the psychological aspects. Depending on Tip's age at the time of his restoration to Ozma, though, it's possible that he'd started going through adolescence as a boy. March Laumer had Ozma admit to an unrequited crush on Dorothy.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

The impression I get from the books is that Pastoria's reign was a turbulent time in Ozian history, with the King himself not strong enough to keep the country together. There's definitely some untapped story potential there.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I never spent much time thinking about it either, and I doubt Baum did. As you say, it was a clever plot twist, which is probably all Baum had in mind. But I'd guess Tip was at least 10-12, and maybe older -- it wasn't established in canon, was it? -- which means he very much could have been in the throes of adolescence at the time. And we all know how those throes could be!

In that case, it would hardly be surprising if Ozma developed a crush on Dorothy; the bigger question would be how Dorothy would respond.
I'm not afraid -- if I did the Ozma-Wizard tale, I'd dive into that topic, too. Okay, I'm not *much* afraid.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I never spent much time thinking about it either, and I doubt Baum did. As you say, it was a clever plot twist, which is probably all Baum had in mind.

I think it was probably inspired by all the actors playing different gendered roles in the theater in those days. After all, Baum DID write Land with a follow-up to the Wizard stage show in mind.

But I'd guess Tip was at least 10-12, and maybe older -- it wasn't established in canon, was it?

I don't think so. When Dorothy first sees Ozma, though, she thinks they're both about the same age, and I would guess that Dorothy was around nine or ten at that point.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Hm ... but Dorothy goes back to the real world a few times, and yet later in the books it's Ozma who seems to be older.

Yes, the reveal of a boy to be a girl would have worked well with the theater of the time.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Hm ... but Dorothy goes back to the real world a few times, and yet later in the books it's Ozma who seems to be older.

Yeah, I can only assume Ozma chose to age a few years, at least in appearance.

Yes, the reveal of a boy to be a girl would have worked well with the theater of the time.

And, of course, the transgender issue is probably viewed differently by modern readers because now it's something people actually go through. Back then, a girl turned into a boy was just as much a thing of fantasy as a prince turned into a goat.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Maybe Ozma decided she would be taken more seriously as a ruler if she was a beautiful teen, rather than a cute preteen.

We've talked before about how a lot about Oz looks different to today's reader than it would have when the books first came out. That's one of them, and good point -- these days a boy really *could* be turned into a girl.