Summary
Dorothy wanders through the magical village, filled with small huts, flowers, and a shimmering river. "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," Dorothy says. As she turns around, a number of small munchkins pop up out of the flowers and watch her. "We must be over the rainbow!" Dorothy says, excitedly, as a large pink bubble begins floating towards her. Out of it emerges a beautiful woman with a crown and a wand, who asks Dorothy, "Are you a good witch or a bad witch?" When Dorothy introduces herself and tells her that she's not a witch, the woman asks if Toto is the witch.
"I'm a little muddled, the munchkins called me because a new witch has just dropped a house on the Wicked Witch of the East," the woman says, pointing to Dorothy's house, which, sure enough, fell on a witch, whose feet are still poking out from beneath the house. On the feet are a pair of ruby red slippers. The woman introduces herself to Dorothy as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North. "I've never heard of a beautiful witch before," says Dorothy.
Glinda tells Dorothy that she has freed the munchkins from the Wicked Witch of the East, and is now the national heroine of Munchkinland. Glinda sings to beckon the munchkins out of the trees and bushes surrounding them. The munchkins join in the song, welcoming Dorothy to their town and celebrating the fact that the Wicked Witch is dead. Dorothy rides in a carriage as the munchkins sing for her. After a trumpet flourish, the mayor of Munchkinland comes out to welcome Dorothy and to confirm that the Wicked Witch is indeed dead.
The Lullaby League sings to Dorothy, then the Lollipop Guild. The munchkins erupt into a rousing song about how Dorothy is now a local celebrity. Suddenly, in the middle of their song, a giant flume of orange smoke erupts, revealing a green-faced, evil witch: the Wicked Witch of the West. As the munchkins scream, the witch goes and examines her dead sister, crushed by the house, and scolds Dorothy for killing her. "She's worse than the other one," Glinda says to Dorothy.
Glinda reminds the Wicked Witch about the ruby slippers on her sister's feet, but as the Witch goes to examine them, Glinda magically puts them on Dorothy's feet. "Give me back my slippers, I'm the only one who knows how to use them!" the Wicked Witch says to Dorothy. Glinda advises Dorothy to be careful with the slippers, as they must contain very powerful magic, and the Wicked Witch threatens to get Dorothy sooner or later, before disappearing in a fiery blaze.
Glinda advises Dorothy to leave Oz as soon as she can, telling her that the person who would know how to get her home is the "great and wonderful Wizard of Oz" who lives in the Emerald City. She then points Dorothy in the direction of the Emerald City, reminding her to never let the ruby slippers off her feet. In order to get to Oz, Dorothy must "follow the yellow brick road," and the munchkins sing a rousing song to encourage her in her journey. She waves goodbye and makes her way down the yellow brick road.
When she reaches an intersection, Dorothy doesn't know which way to go, when suddenly a scarecrow begins talking to her. When Dorothy asks him if he knows the way, he tells her, "That's the trouble, I can't make up my mind. I haven't got a brain. Only straw." Dorothy introduces herself, and the Scarecrow tells her that he's uncomfortable on his pole, so she helps him down by bending the nail. He falls to the ground, losing some straw, but insists that it doesn't hurt. The Scarecrow then tells Dorothy that he's bad at scaring crows, and so feels deficient. "What would you do with a brain if you had one?" Dorothy asks him, and he sings a song about what he would do if he had a brain.
Dorothy tells the Scarecrow that she's going to the Wizard of Oz in hopes of him helping her return to Kansas, and the Scarecrow asks if he could come with her and try and get some brains. Dorothy agrees and they make their way down the yellow brick road.
A little ways down the road, we see the Wicked Witch of the West hiding behind a nearby apple tree, unseen by Dorothy and the Scarecrow.
Analysis
The world of Oz contrasts sharply with the sepia-toned environment of Kansas from which Dorothy is coming. As soon as Dorothy opens the door, she finds herself in a whimsical and lush town, filled with large flowers, tall stalks and vines, a glistening river, not to mention a village full of colorfully dressed munchkins. They sing and dance for her benefit, celebrating her arrival and the death of the Wicked Witch of the East. As Dorothy notes, she is not in Kansas anymore.
The art direction, casting, choreography, and music that bursts out in Munchkinland transports the viewer to this uncanny and imaginative realm. Every detail, from the stockings worn by the Lollipop Guild to the harmonies sung by the Lullaby League to the gigantic set pieces in the background, show the viewer that the world of Oz is unlike anything they've ever seen before. Munchkinland is the stuff of pure imagination, the world "beyond the rainbow" to which Dorothy has so wished to travel. Director Victor Fleming creates a visual and musical feast to immerse viewers in the wonders of Oz and bring us along on Dorothy's journey with her.
As otherworldly as Oz is, it contains parallels with the Kansas of Dorothy's home. Not long after getting celebrated by the munchkins of Oz, Dorothy is introduced to the Wicked Witch of the West, who is angry about Dorothy's murder of her sister, and is set on revenge. The Wicked Witch is played by Margaret Hamilton, the same actress who portrays Elvira Gulch, and the parallels between the two characters are immediately obvious. The Wicked Witch threatens Dorothy much in the same way that Miss Gulch did, and even makes a point of threatening Toto as well. Thus, even though Dorothy was able to escape the drudgery of Kansas, she once again finds herself threatened by a vengeful witchy woman.
Another parallel to Kansas appears in the character of the Scarecrow, played by Ray Bolger, the same actor who plays Hunk the farmhand. His song about his struggles not having a brain also mirror the advice that Hunk gave Dorothy about Miss Gulch. On the farm, Hunk told her to use her brain in order to deal with her problems with the neighbor. In Oz, Hunk has transformed into a scarecrow, who bemoans the fact that he doesn't have a brain.
The Scarecrow struggles with feeling like a misfit, a deficient, a failure, just as Dorothy felt like there was something missing from her life at the beginning of the movie. He confides to Dorothy that he doesn't feel like a good scarecrow because he's unable to scare away crows, which is his only job. Dorothy comforts him, telling him that if he were to dance and sing in Kansas, he would be very effective at scaring away crows. The two of them share a feeling of incompleteness; Dorothy, in spite of wanting for so long to get away from her humdrum life, now wants to return to Kansas, and the Scarecrow wants very badly to have a brain. The two of them are brought together by their shared feeling of lack.
