Land of Oz
The Land of Oz is a magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.
For other uses, see Land of Oz (disambiguation).Oz
Oz consists of four vast quadrants, the Gillikin Country in the north, Quadling Country in the south, Munchkin Country in the east, and Winkie Country in the west. Each province has its own ruler, but the realm itself has always been ruled by a single monarch. According to Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz the ruler has mostly either been named Oz or Ozma. According to The Marvelous Land of Oz, the current monarch is Princess Ozma.
Baum did not intend for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to have any sequels, but it achieved greater popularity than any of the other fairylands he created, including the land of Merryland in Baum's children's novel Dot and Tot in Merryland, written a year later. Due to Oz's success, including a 1902 musical adaptation, Baum decided to return to it in 1904, with The Marvelous Land of Oz. For the next two decades, he described and expanded upon the land in the Oz Books,[2] a series which introduced many fictional characters and creatures. Baum intended to end the series with the sixth Oz book The Emerald City of Oz (1910), in which Oz is forever sealed off and made invisible to the outside world, but this did not sit well with fans, and he quickly abandoned the idea, writing eight more successful Oz books, and even naming himself the "Royal Historian of Oz."[3]
In all, Baum wrote fourteen best-selling novels about Oz and its enchanted inhabitants, as well as a spin-off series of six early readers. After his death in 1919, publisher Reilly & Lee continued to produce annual Oz books, passing on the role of Royal Historian to author Ruth Plumly Thompson, illustrator John R. Neill (who had previously collaborated with Baum on his Oz books), and several other writers. The forty books in Reilly & Lee's Oz series are called "the Famous Forty" by fans, and are considered the canonical Oz texts.[4]
Baum characterized Oz as a real place, unlike MGM's 1939 musical movie adaptation, which presents it as a dream of lead character Dorothy Gale. According to the Oz books, it is a hidden fairyland cut off from the rest of the world by the Deadly Desert.[5]
Characteristics[edit]
Oz is, in the first book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, distinguished from Dorothy's native Kansas by not being civilized; this explains why Kansas does not have witches and wizards, while Oz does.[6] In the third book, Ozma of Oz, Oz is described as a "fairy country", new terminology that remained to explain its wonders.[7]
History[edit]
Prehistory[edit]
The history of Oz before The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (often called the prehistory of Oz as it takes place before Baum's "histories") is often the subject of dispute, as Baum himself gave conflicting accounts. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the title character recounts that he was a ventriloquist and a circus balloonist from Omaha, and during one flight the rope for his parachute vent became tangled, preventing him from descending until the next morning, and he awoke to find that he was floating over a strange land. When he landed, the people thought he was a great wizard because of his ability to fly. He did not disabuse them of this notion, and with his new power over them, he had them build a city with a palace in the center of Oz. He also ordered them to wear green glasses so it would appear to be made entirely of emeralds.[30] However, in the later Oz books the city is depicted as actually being made of emerald or other green materials.[12] The Wizard was a young man when he first arrived in Oz and grew old while he was there.[39] Afraid of the Wicked Witches of the West and the East, who, unlike him, could do real magic, the Wizard hid away in a room of his palace and refused to see visitors. He lived in this way until the arrival of Dorothy in the first book.
In The Marvelous Land of Oz the prehistory was changed slightly. Glinda, the Good Witch of the South, reveals that the Wizard usurped the previous king of Oz Pastoria and hid away his daughter Ozma. This was Baum's reaction to the popular 1903 Broadway extravaganza Baum adapted from his book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, in which the Wizard took the role of the main antagonist and the Wicked Witch of the West was left out.[40]
The Wizard, however, had been more popular with his readers than he thought. In Ozma of Oz, he omitted any mention of the Wizard's having usurped the throne of Ozma's father,[41] but the largest changes occurred in the next book.
In the preface to Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, Baum remarks that the Wizard had turned out to be a popular character with the children who had read the first book and so he brought the Wizard back. During it, the Wizard relates yet another account of his history in Oz, telling Ozma that his birth name was Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs, which, being a very long and cumbersome name, and as his other initials spelled out "PINHEAD," he preferred to leave just as O.Z. The balloon part of his story was unchanged, except for the detail added by Ozma, that the people probably saw his initials on his balloon and took them as a message that he was to be their king. She relates that the country was already named Oz (a word which in their language means "great and good") and that it was typical for the rulers to have names that are variations of Oz (King Pastoria being a notable exception to this rule).
Ozma elaborates further, saying that there were once four Wicked Witches in Oz, who leagued together to depose the King, but the Wicked Witches of the North and South were defeated by Good Witches before the Wizard arrived in Oz. According to this version, the King at the time was Ozma's grandfather. This version of prehistory restores the Wizard's reputation,[39] but adds the awkwardness of both Ozma and her father having been born in captivity.
In The Tin Woodman of Oz Baum writes how Oz came to be a fairyland:
Defense[edit]
Oz is mostly a peaceful land and the idea of subversion is largely unknown to its people. Most military positions are only formal. This has caused many problems, such as in The Marvelous Land of Oz when the Emerald City (which was only guarded by an elderly doorman and one soldier who was the entire Army of Oz at the time) was easily conquered by the Army of Revolt led by General Jinjur. This army was in turn overwhelmed by another army of girls led by Glinda.
Security of Oz is mostly maintained by magic such as Glinda's spell making Oz completely invisible. Oz also has a natural barrier in the form of a desert that surrounds the land: anyone who touches the desert turns to sand. The Nome King has tried to conquer Oz on several occasions. A nominal army once existed, but it had an extremely large officers/privates ratio; other than its commander the Tin Woodman and one private, the portion of it seen in Ozma of Oz was composed entirely of cowardly officers. At the end of the book, it was said that there are three privates all in all, and it is unknown how many—if any—officers were left at home during Ozma's travel to Ev. The private seen in the book named Omby Amby, is later promoted to Captain-General.
In the book The Emerald City of Oz, there are 2 towns called Rigmarole Town and Flutterbudgets that are the defensive settlements of Oz.
In the movie Return to Oz, the mechanical man Tik-Tok is the entire Royal Army of Oz.
Attempts by outsiders to conquer the Land of Oz are frequent, particularly in the Oz books by Ruth Plumly Thompson. But these attempts are always successfully thwarted in the end, usually by Ozma or by forces sympathetic to her.
Recurring characters in the classic Oz series include:
A shorthand reference for a person living in Oz is "Ozite". The term appears in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz. Elsewhere in the books, "Ozmie" is also used. In the animated 1974 semi-sequel to the MGM film, Journey Back to Oz, "Ozonian" is in the script. The term "Ozian" appears in the Royal Shakespeare Company's stage adaptation of the MGM movie and in the work Wicked. "Ozmite" was used in Reilly & Lee marketing in the 1920s, a fact which has suggested to some critics that "Ozmie" may have been a typographical error.
Other media[edit]
The 1939 MGM film's Oz[edit]
The Land of Oz as portrayed in the classic MGM musical movie of 1939, is quite different from that portrayed in Baum's books. The most notable difference is that in the film the entire land of Oz appears to be dreamed up by Dorothy Gale (thus making it a dream world), although, Dorothy earnestly corrects the adults at the end that she was indeed there, and an image of Dorothy's falling farmhouse returning to earth is presented. The apparent message is that one should appreciate one's home, no matter how dull it may look or uninteresting its surroundings may be, for having a home and a family is not something that should be taken for granted. This contrasts sharply with the books, in which Dorothy and her family are eventually invited to move to Oz due to a bank foreclosure on the farm, showing both that Oz is a real place, and that it is a utopia compared to the prairies of Kansas.
There are many other small differences between the books and the movie. For example, when Dorothy arrives in Munchkinland the Munchkins are seen wearing colorful costumes, but in the book, Munchkins are said to only wear blue as blue is the official dominant color of the east. The first witch Dorothy meets in Oz in the book is the Good Witch of the North, a minor character that only had one other appearance in Baum's books but is an important figure of Oz nonetheless. In the movie, this character is conflated with that of Glinda, who is the Good Witch of the South and does not make an appearance until the very end of Baum's story. The character of Glinda in the books dresses in all white silk, as white is the traditional color for good witches, whereas in the film she is seen in pink.
It is also worthy of note that the Dorothy of the books is only a little girl who is no older than twelve-years-old. However, she is mature and very resourceful, only crying when faced with ultimate despair, whereas the older Dorothy of the movie (portrayed as a twelve-year-old by sixteen-year-old Judy Garland) spends several portions of the film crying and being told by others what to do. This is more consistent with Thompson's portrayal of Dorothy—Baum is known for his strong and independent female characters.[52]
The nature of the Emerald City is changed in the film. In the book, the city is not actually all green, but everyone is forced to wear green-tinted spectacles (ostensibly to protect their eyes from the glory and splendor of the luxurious city), thus making everything appear green. In the film, the city is actually green. The architecture of the Emerald City in the movie uses a much more contemporary Art Deco style than Baum could have imagined. In the book, a giant green wall studded in glittering emeralds surrounds the entire city, whereas in the movie there is only a gate opening.
Gregory Maguire's revisionist Oz[edit]
In his revisionist Oz novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men and Out of Oz, Gregory Maguire portrays a very different version of the Land of Oz. Maguire's Oz is not Baum's utopia, but a land troubled by political unrest and economic hardship. One political issue in Maguire's novels is the oppression of the Animals (Maguire distinguishes speaking Animals from non-speaking animals by the use of initial capital letters). There are many religious traditions in Maguire's Oz, including Lurlinism (which regards the Fairy Lurline as Oz's creator), Unionism, which worships the Unnamed God, and the pleasure faiths which had swept Oz during the time that the witches were at Shiz. An example of the pleasure faiths was tic-tok (where creatures were enchanted to tell secrets or the future and run by clockwork), and sorcery.
Maguire's presentation of Oz's geography is also tinged with politics. A large political prison, Southstairs, exists in caverns below the Emerald City. Gillikin, home of Shiz University, has more industrial development than other parts of Oz. Munchkinland is Oz's breadbasket and at one point declares its independence from the rule of the Emerald City. Quadling Country is largely marshland, inhabited by the artistic and sexually free Quadlings. The Vinkus (Maguire's name for Winkie Country) is largely open grassland, populated by semi-nomadic tribes with brown skin.
The musical Wicked, based on Maguire's first Oz novel, portrays an Oz slightly closer to the version seen in Baum's novels and 1939 film. The oppression of the Animals is still a theme, but the geographical and religious divisions portrayed in Maguire's novel are barely present.
In both the book and musical, several characters from the traditional Oz stories are present with different names. Glinda was called Galinda but changed her name. The Wicked Witch of the West is called Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the East is called Nessarose. In the musical, but not in the book, Boq becomes the Tin Man, and Fiyero becomes the Scarecrow.
Alexander Melentyevich Volkov's Magic Land[edit]
Alexander Melentyevich Volkov was a Russian author best known for his translation of The Wizard of Oz into Russian, and for writing his own original sequels, which were based only loosely on Baum's. Volkov's books have been translated into many other languages, and are better known than Baum's in some countries. The books, while still aimed at children, feature many mature political and ethical elements. They have been retranslated into English by Peter L. Blystone and partially by March Laumer, who used elements of them in his own books.
Philip José Farmer's Oz[edit]
Philip José Farmer portrays a very different Oz in his book A Barnstormer in Oz. The premise is that nothing after the first book occurred—Dorothy never returned to Oz, and instead grew up, got married, and had a son. Her son, Hank Stover, is the main character, a World War I veteran flier and the titular barnstormer. While flying in his Curtiss JN-4 biplane he enters a green haze and emerges in the civil war-stricken land of Oz.
Farmer portrays the land of Oz as a science fiction author, attempting to explain scientifically many of the "magical" elements of Baum's story.
Robert A. Heinlein's Oz[edit]
The main characters of Robert A. Heinlein's books The Number of the Beast and The Pursuit of the Pankera pass through many famous fictional worlds including those of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; Gulliver's Travels, specifically Lilliput; E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman universe; Asgard, connected to Heinlein's own Future History universe by the Rainbow Bridge for one specific reason in one specific location; and Ringworld; as well as some of Heinlein's own works, specifically those set in his Future History through which Lazarus Long moves; and of course the Land of Oz itself.
The Oz portrayed in the book is very close to Baum's Oz, although Heinlein does make an attempt to explain some things from the standpoint of a science fiction author. He explains that Oz is on a retrograde planet, where the direction of rotation relative to the poles is reversed, resulting in the sun seeming to rise in what would normally be the west.
Heinlein also explains that the population remains steady in Oz despite the lack of death because it is impossible for children to be born in Oz. When the population does increase through immigration, Glinda just extends the borders an inch or two in each direction, which makes more than enough space for all additional people.
L. Sprague de Camp's Oz[edit]
L. Sprague de Camp, like Heinlein, brings his own characters to Oz in his book Sir Harold and the Gnome King, part of the collaborative Harold Shea series. Unlike Heinlein, he does not attempt to explain Oz as science fiction, though he does deviate from the original corpus. He follows Thompson's Oz books, thus using her spelling of "Gnome" and her final fate of the character, but he postulates an incident that has removed the Ozites' immortality, with the result that both Ozma and Dorothy have aged and married by the time his story takes place.
Tad Williams' Otherland Oz[edit]
In the Otherland series, by Tad Williams, a virtual reality version of Oz exists, wherein real-world antagonists play sadistic versions of the roles of the Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion, in a twisted, martial, and post-apocalyptic version of Oz, populated both by characters from the novels, and a large quantity of male and female humans who go by the names "Henry" and "Em" respectively. The humans, computer-generated characters based on the lost minds of children drawn into the Otherland program, look forward to a messianic prophecy foretelling the coming of "The Dorothy", where a child would be born among them.
The Outer Zone (Tin Man)[edit]
2007 Sci Fi television miniseries Tin Man reinvents Oz as the Outer Zone (O.Z.), a parallel universe that was first visited by Dorothy Gale during the latter Victorian Era and is ruled over by her descendants. It is implied, by reference to centuries having elapsed since Dorothy came to the O.Z., that time has progressed at different rates in the O.Z. and "the other side". The re-imagined Oz is described as a place where "the paint has peeled, and what was once the goodness of Oz has become the horrible bleakness of the O.Z."[53] The scenic design of the O.Z. features elements of steampunk, particularly the "1930s fascist realist" decor of the evil sorceress's palace and the computer-generated Central City, analog of the Emerald City.[54]
Emerald City Confidential[edit]
The 2009 point-and-click adventure video game Emerald City Confidential reinvents Oz in a film noir style, with Dorothy Gale as a femme fatale, the Lion as a corrupt lawyer, and some other changes.[55]
Once Upon a Time[edit]
The Land of Oz appears in the TV series Once Upon a Time and is the focus of the episodes "It's Not Easy Being Green", "Kansas", "Heart of Gold", "Our Decay", "Ruby Slippers", and "Where Bluebirds Fly". It was also seen briefly in the episodes "Sisters" and "Chosen".
OZ: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting[edit]
In 2022, Andrew Kolb released OZ: A Fantasy Role-Playing Setting, designed for use with tabletop role-playing games, in particular 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. In this version of Oz, the kingdom is more akin to a city, closely resembling an art deco style in the vein of the 1920s. The city of Oz is broken up into a variety of districts, many of which can be found in the original novel, but adds certain modernizations including a monorail, a complex judiciary system, and a number of political factions.[56]
Miscellaneous[edit]
Talking animals[edit]
In Oz, animals such as the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger can talk, and all native animals appear to be capable of speech. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West emphasized the difference between Animals and animals. Animals (capitalized) are sentient beings that can talk. Several theories exist as to how animals gained the gift of speech.
The treatment of non-native animals was inconsistent. In the first book, the dog Toto never speaks, although brought to Oz; in The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Dorothy specifies that he cannot speak because he is not a fairy dog. However, in Ozma of Oz, the chicken Billina acquires speech merely by being swept to the lands near Oz, and in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, the same is true of the kitten Eureka and the cab horse Jim when reaching the land of Mangaboos, a similarly magical land. In Tik-Tok of Oz, Baum restored the continuity: Toto can speak, and always could, but never bothered to, because it was unnecessary.
An additional inconsistency is introduced with Tik-Tok of Oz: Hank the Mule cannot speak until reaching the Land of Oz, although he lands on the shore of Ev first, where Billina the chicken gained the ability to speak. This might be because Tik-Tok of Oz was originally a stage play version of Ozma of Oz; Dorothy was replaced by Betsy because he had sold the stage rights for Dorothy, and Billina was replaced by Hank because a mule could more convincingly be played by two people in a costume.[57] Hank probably could not talk because Baum already had two speaking comedy characters, the Shaggy Man and Tik-Tok. Thus Hank would fill a better niche as a visual comedy character, in the tradition of British pantomime. The part of Hank was also an analog to the part of Dorothy's cow Imogene, Toto's replacement on stage in the immensely successful 1903 Broadway version of The Wizard of Oz, a success that Baum sought to duplicate for the rest of his life.
There is one small kingdom in Oz where animals are unable to talk: Corumbia.[58]
Origin of the name Oz[edit]
A legend of uncertain validity is that when relating bedtime stories (the earliest form of the Oz books) Baum was asked by his niece, Ramona Baxter Bowden, the name of the magical land. He glanced at a nearby filing cabinet, which had three drawers, labeled A–G, H–N, and O–Z. Thus he named the land Oz. This story was first told in 1903, but his wife always insisted that the part about the filing cabinet was not true.[59] In Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, the name is translated as "great and good".[60] Several of Baum's fairy stories that take place in the United States were situated on the Ozark Plateau, and the similarity of the name may not be a coincidence.[61]
Legacy[edit]
In 2018, The Lost Art of Oz project was initiated to locate and catalog the surviving original artwork John R. Neill, W. W. Denslow, Frank Kramer, Richard "Dirk" Gringhuis and Dick Martin created to illustrate the Oz book series.[62]