I think there’s a definite temptation for people, when faced with something child-friendly and innocent, to want to find something dark and disturbing beneath the surface. That could be part of why it seems popular to want to make dark Oz stories. There was even a comic series actually CALLED “Dark Oz.” Wicked and its sequels were also pretty gritty when compared to the original books. I mean, Gregory Maguire essentially made the Wizard of Oz into Hitler. On the other hand, is L. Frank Baum’s Oz really as light as it’s sometimes thought? There was apparently a tagline in use back when Baum was writing that said none of his books ever sent a child to bed with troubled dreams, but I’ve occasionally explained something from an Oz book that other people unfamiliar with the stories found disturbing. I think it has a lot to do with context, with the way Baum wrote making it hard to take even the messed-up stuff too seriously. But what about a movie adaptation, which of course would leave out most of Baum’s words? I think Return to Oz is a good example here, as it’s a film that’s been touted as quite faithful to Baum, and also that scared a lot of people. Now, part of this was totally within the control of the filmmakers, and due to conscious choices on their part. Baum never had Dorothy faced with electroshock therapy; in fact, she was on vacation when she made her second trip to Oz. There was no occasion in the books when the Emerald City was turned to stone and the Yellow Brick Road destroyed.
Even some elements that did come from the books had their more disturbing aspects played up.
The Wheelers come across as more deranged in the movie than in Ozma of Oz, and the book never said that the heads belonging to Princess Langwidere (combined with Mombi in the movie) had come from people she beheaded. Still, is there any way to show a woman changing her head and NOT have it look kind of scary?
It’s hard to say, and there are plenty of other weird characters and incidents in later books that could be terrifying if portrayed realistically on screen. How about the cannibalistic, head-throwing Scoodlers, who might be more frightening than funny on film?
I don’t know. What scares people is very much relative; I’ve been really disturbed by some things that weren’t meant to be scary, and not at all bothered by things that were. I think my main point here, however, is that the heartaches and nightmares weren’t necessarily left out of Baum’s books, but rather simply presented in a way that made them much less nightmarish. When interpreted in another medium, they might be more likely to send a child to be with troubled dreams.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
Categories
- A. Lee Martinez
- Adventism
- Advertising
- African
- Age of Exploration
- Albums
- Alchemy
- algonquin
- Alquerque
- Altaic
- Amanda Palmer
- American Civil War
- American Dad
- american revolution
- Amish
- Anabaptists
- Anglicanism
- Animal Crossing
- Animals
- Animism
- Arabian
- Arabian
- Arrested Development
- Art
- Arthurian Legend
- Astronomy
- Atticus Gannaway
- Australian
- Authors
- Awards
- Aztec
- Babylonian
- Baha'i Faith
- Beatles
- Beatrix Potter
- Belle and Sebastian
- Ben Folds
- Big Bang
- Bill Campbell and Irwin Terry
- Biology
- Board Games
- Body Image
- Book Reviews
- Breath of Fire
- Brentford Trilogy
- British
- Bronze Age
- Buddhism
- Byzantine Empire
- C.S. Lewis
- Calvinism
- Camilla Townsend
- Camper Van Beethoven
- Capitalism
- Captain N: The Game Master
- carl barks
- Carolyn Mark
- Carribean
- Cartoons
- Castlevania
- Catharism
- Catherynne M. Valente
- Catholicism
- Celebrities
- Celtic
- Chanukah
- Characters
- Checkers
- Chess
- China
- Chinese
- Chris Dulabone
- Christian Science
- Christianity
- Christmas
- Christopher Moore
- Chronicles of Chrestomanci
- Chronicles of Kazam
- Chronicles of Narnia
- Chrono Trigger
- Climate
- Cold War
- Colonization of America
- Comics
- Communism
- Concerts
- Confucianism
- Conspiracy Theories
- Coptic
- Corporations
- Cracker
- craig shaw gardner
- Crusades
- Cults
- Current Events
- Daniel Handler
- Dave Barry
- David Tai
- Dennis Anfuso
- Diana Wynne Jones
- Diane Brzozowski
- Dice
- Dick Martin
- Dirk Gently
- Discworld
- Disney Afternoon
- Dominoes
- Donkey Kong
- Douglas Adams
- Dr. Seuss
- Dragon Quest
- Dreams
- Drugs
- Easter
- Eastern Orthodox
- Economics
- Education
- Edward Einhorn
- Edward Lear
- Egyptian
- Eloise Jarvis McGraw
- elvis presley
- England
- Environmentalism
- Eric Shanower
- Ethnicity
- Etymology
- Evolution
- Fairy Tales
- Families
- Family Guy
- Feminism
- Final Fantasy
- Finnish
- Focus on the Foes
- Food
- Fox News
- France
- Frank Black
- Frank Black/Black Francis
- Fred Otto
- French
- Fundamentalism
- Futurama
- Games
- Gender
- Genetics
- German
- Germany
- Gina Wickwar
- Global Warming
- Gnosticism
- Golden Sun
- Great Depression
- Greek Mythology
- Greek Philosophy
- Halloween
- Harry Potter
- Health
- Hellenistic Greece
- Heroes of Olympus
- Hinduism
- Historical Personages
- History
- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Hittite
- Hmong
- Holidays
- Holy Roman Empire
- hopi
- Hugh Pendexter
- Humor
- Iberian
- In Memoriam
- Inca
- incryptid
- India
- Introspection
- Inuit
- Iran
- Islam
- J.R.R. Tolkien
- Jack Chick
- Jack Snow
- Jainism
- Japan
- Japanese
- Jared Davis
- Jasper Fforde
- Jeff Rester
- John R. Neill
- Jonathan Swift
- Judaism
- Kane Chronicles
- Kelly Hogan
- Kid Icarus
- Kirby
- Korean
- L. Frank Baum
- Language
- Lewis Carroll
- Libraries
- Live Shows
- Lutheranism
- madeleine l'engle
- Magic
- Magic Items
- Magnetic Fields
- Magnus Chase
- Mahjong
- Malaysian
- Mana/Seiken Densetsu
- Maps
- March Laumer
- Marcus Mebes
- Marin Elizabeth Xiques
- Mario
- marissa meyer
- Marxism
- Mathematics
- may day
- Mayan
- Medicine
- Mega Man
- Melody Grandy
- Mennonites
- Mesoamerica
- Mesopotamia
- Metroid
- Middle Ages
- Middle East
- Minus 5
- Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- Monarchy
- Monkees
- Monopoly
- Monsters
- Monty Python
- Mormonism
- Mr. Show
- Muppets
- Music
- Mystery Cults
- Mythology
- Names
- Native American
- Navajo
- Neil Gaiman
- Neko Case
- Nellie McKay
- New Church
- New Pornographers
- New Year's Day
- Norse
- Nursery Crime
- Nursery Rhymes
- october daye
- Once Upon a Time
- Onyx Madden/Jim Nitch
- Oz
- Oz Authors
- Pac-Man
- Pachisi
- Pacific
- Passover
- Percy Jackson
- Persian
- Peter Clarke
- Phantasy Star
- Phil Lewin
- Philippine
- Philosophy
- Phyllis Ann Karr
- Piers Anthony
- Pixies
- Places
- Playing Cards
- Plays
- Poetry
- Pokémon
- Politics
- Popeye
- Power Rangers
- Prejudice
- Presbyterianism
- Protestant Reformation
- Punch-Out
- Rachel Cosgrove Payes
- Rasputina
- Rastafarianism
- Ray Powell
- Real Time with Bill Maher
- Relationships
- Religion
- Renaissance
- Revisiting Disney
- Rick Riordan
- Robert Rankin
- Robyn Hitchcock
- Rocky and Bullwinkle
- Roman
- Roman Empire
- romani
- Ron Baxley Jr.
- Russian
- Ruth Plumly Thompson
- Santeria
- Satanism
- Scandinavia
- Science
- Scientology
- Scottish
- seanan mcguire
- Search Terms
- Self-Esteem
- Semitic
- Sesame Street
- Seventh-Day Adventism
- Sexuality
- She and Him
- Shinto
- Sikhism
- Sims
- Slavic
- Snobbery
- Socialism
- Songs I Don't Care For
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- South American
- Space Program
- Spanish
- Spiritualism
- Sports
- Stan Freberg
- Star Trek
- Star Wars
- Stephin Merritt
- Stratego
- Street Fighter
- Super Mario Bros. Super Show
- Switzerland
- Taoism
- Technology
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Television
- Terry Pratchett
- Thanksgiving
- The Colbert Report
- The Daily Show
- The Flintstones
- The Jetsons
- The Simpsons
- The Sims
- Theosophy
- They Might Be Giants
- Thursday Next
- Tiles
- Tom Holt
- Tori Amos
- Toys
- Trials of Apollo
- Ultima
- Uncategorized
- United Kingdom
- Urban Legends
- Ursula K. LeGuin
- Valentine's Day
- Video
- Video Games
- Voodoo
- VoVat Goes to the Movies
- Wayward Children
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Welsh
- Wicca
- William Shakespeare
- Winnie-the-Pooh
- Wizards & Warriors
- Xanth
- XTC
- Year in Review
- Yoruba
- Young Fresh Fellows
- Zelda
- Zoroastrianism
Blogroll
- 1UP's Retro Gaming Blog
- Adventures in Nerdliness
- Alan Cook's Weblog
- Back of the Cereal Box
- Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness
- Comics I Don't Understand
- Comics Make No Sense
- Dare I Read?
- Disney Weirdness
- Dwindling in Unbelief
- Eclectic Banana
- Electronic Cerebrectomy
- Hungry Tiger Talk
- No Smoking in the Skull Cave
- Oz and Ends
- Power of Babel
- Press the Buttons
- S.P. Maldonado's Oz Art
- Slacktivist
- The Oz Enthusiast
- The Royal Blog of Oz
- There's More to Oz Than the Yellow Brick Road
- Trixie's Treats
- Unreasonable Faith
- Verities and Balderdash
- Wannabe Wonderlands
Celebrity Blogs
Comics
More Stuff from Me
Meta
Twitterpated
- Wally #catsofinstagram instagram.com/p/Cn-HzdKOUDa/… 1 hour ago
- @Iheartnoise @edzitron @TheGnarrator How conveniently ambiguous. 22 hours ago
- RT @VikkyVixie: IT'S DAISY!!!!! #vikkysart #princessdaisy https://t.co/nvH18l69L2 22 hours ago
- RT @HoshiNoKotta: Rosalina 🌟 rare morning drawing 😌 #Rosalina #fanart https://t.co/VKivItZnQN 22 hours ago
- RT @MNateShyamalan: new harry potter game looks WILD https://t.co/bRUwRFFUJv 22 hours ago
I think the big thing that makes something dark is the idea that the bad guys are winning. In Return to Oz, Dorothy finds Oz already conquered by Mombi and the Nome King. Wicked depicts Oz in the grip of an evil Wizard. The Dark Oz comics (which I have read some of) also begin with the Nome King and Mombi in charge of Oz.
Any individual element is then judged on how it relates to that scenario. Removable heads = body horror in a villain, but it can easily become a comedic trait on a comedy character, or heroic on a hero.
Victories by villains tend not to last too long in the canonical Oz books, do they?
Great article!
I think Return to Oz turned the horror up so much since the humor was downplayed, possibly as you said due to the lack of Baum’s narration.
But Baum was wrong about his stories being devoid of nightmares.
The first thing that popped into my head was Scoodlers when I saw this article, so I smiled when you mentioned them.
The witch’s minions, the Wooden Gargoyles, Gwig’s death, the Scoodlers, the wrestler in the Nome Caverns in Rinkitink in Oz, the emotionless Jinjin, the Phanfasms and Growleywogs and the Patchwork Girl’s appearance in her title book all disturbed me as a child…but I thoroughly enjoyed it! We all need a bit of fear and suspense and I think Oz gave me just the right amount as a kid.
One scene that always creeped me out for some reason was when Ojo finds the house that night where Scraps is thrown outside. What was going on there? Nothing was ever explained and as child it stuck with me…was it a haunted house in Oz?
There needs to be a certain amount of danger to make the stories exciting. It is perhaps a little less so when you know things will work out all right in the end, but I’m sure that makes it easier to readers to handle.
That house scene is pretty disturbing, and I have to wonder what Baum was thinking of when he wrote it. In the film version of Patchwork Girl, that scene is simply used as a showcase for special effects.