“Oz the Great and Powerful” Rekindles the Notion That Women Are Wicked

[ismnotwasm]

(I had no idea that Frank Baum was a influenced by feminism, and I read allll those books when I was a kid. I have them on my reader, think its time for a re read. Anyway--fascinating article)

Dorothy Gale—the girl who went to Oz—has been called the first true feminist hero in American children’s literature. Indeed, she was condemned by many readers, including children’s librarians, for daring to have opinions and act on them.
My grandmother introduced me to the Oz books as a child, and I have always seen her as a real-life Dorothy of sorts. Born in 1908, she loved travel and speaking her mind and–gasp–she preferred to read and write poetry than do dishes and cook. As a young woman, she did not take like a duck to the water of motherhood, and indeed seemed not to have liked it at all. To this day, she is referred to by the wider family as “abandoning” her two sons in favor of books and travel, though in fact her only abandonment was that of the traditional domestic role.

My grandmother was, in some ways, the “anti-mother” or “wicked witch” detailed so brilliantly in Crafting the Witch: Gendering Magic in Medieval and Early Modern England. That book, written by California State University at San Marcos’ associate professor of literature and writing Heidi Breuer, explores how magical, positive female figures such as Morgan le Fey morphed into the Wicked Witches that now dominate depictions of magical, powerful women—including those in the current film Oz the Great and Powerful.

The new Oz film does not include the brave and self-reliant Dorothy, nor any other character that I would identify as having my grandmother’s feminist spirit. The film speaks neither to the many strong female characters that populated L. Frank Baum’s books nor to the feminist, progressive leanings of its author. Instead, it trades in the notion that women are indeed wicked—especially those women not “tamed” by a male love interest or father figure, as well as (horror of horrors!) those women who lack nurturing, motherly characteristics.

In the film, Oscar Diggs is the one who journeys to Oz, not Dorothy, and this provides the basis for a much more traditional, or should I say regressive, story. Rather than, as in the original Oz book, having a female save many men and prove the male leader to be an ineffectual fraud, this time around we have an oafish male functioning as the love interest for various characters, transforming from ineffectual Oscar to the great and powerful Wizard and leader of Oz.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/03/14/oz-the-great-and-powerful-rekindles-the-notion-that-women-are-wicked/

[seabeyond]

1. isnt this so interesting. we see such a backlash to feminism. and an in your face

conditioning from our media. the difference being, in this time of history we have the progressive thought to recognize it at the time and call it out.

the pendulum.

[redqueen]

2. I've read a few good articles about how the movie is so not like the more feminist-friendly books.

Very interesting stuff.

[hlthe2b]

3. I collected the old editions for quite a while. Beyond beautiful illustrations, they portrayed women

in quite a different light-- a strong, independent and very positive light. The originals from the 1920s or so were reprinted in the "white" editions when I was a little kid. I remember one kindergarten teacher reading from them.

If I had young kids, I would definitely go to this old classic series (and many don't realize there was an entire series of "Oz" books) to begin to instill a more equitable view of women and girls... Besides, they were fun.

[Helen Reddy]

4. Sometimes I believe that

Ms. Magazine rekindles the idea that women are wicked.

Not a big fan.

[ismnotwasm]

5. It's ok

All corporate though. I think they're not sure how to reach the largest demographic, so they tend to go all kinds of directions. I respect them for what they were back in the day.