The Wizard of Oz : Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

As we saw, this movie's portrayal of Kansas sucks! It was a Dreary Desolate Wasteland that was literally Devoid of Color! Not only that, Twisters came by like once a week, and people like Ms Gulch went riding around on Bikes, threatening Dogs! She would ditch Oz for that place?

Oz was like the Coolest place ever! It was Colorful and Beautiful, filled with Wonderful People, Talking Scarecrows, Good Witches floating around in Pink Bubbles, Munchkins, and Flying Freaking Monkeys! Who in their Right mind would leave sucha Place? Especially with both Wicked Witches dead and that Charlatan of a Wizard taking off! Oz was just entering a Golden Age of Peace and Prosperity! Way better than the Great Depression settings she was returning to!

Also she goes and uses her magic red shoes to ditch The Truest Companions she will ever find! Like seriously can any of you imagine better friends than The Scarecrow, Tin Man, or Cowardly Lion? They were like the Nicest Sweetest Dudes Ever! She says herself they are the Best Friends anyone ever had! But Nooo, she had to go throw it all away to go back to Dull Depressing Kansas! It broke my heart to see her leave them Sobbing like that!

I guess she wanted to be around to spend her life with her family but Who was she kidding? Aunt Em and Uncle Henry were practically on Deaths Door! They had at best, 2 years of living left! So she goes back to see them slowly wither away and die and then will be stuck taking care of that Pitiful excuse for a Farm? Makes no sense whatsoever to me! Oz Rocks! Kansas Sucks!

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Can I give you some shocking news? It was portrayed as a dream. Do you need reviving?

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

You don't really buy that Dream Crap do you? That was Executive Meddling at it's Worst! And anyway whether it was a Dream or not, this does not change the Fact that she wanted to go back to Dreary Dull Land/Kansas throughout the whole movie!

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Even if Auntie Em and Uncle Henry only had "two years" left (incidentally, both Charley Grapewin and Clara Blandick lived a considerably longer time than that, post Oz,) it would still be two years with the people she loved as parents. That was why she wanted to go home.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

I see your Point!

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Why go home though? Why not have them brought to Oz?

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?


Why not have them brought to Oz?


In the books she eventually did.

She went to Oz several times then returned back to Kansas to be with her family because they considered themselves simple farm folks and didn't want to leave their farm. They had taken out a mortgage to rebuild the farm after the cyclone took it away to Oz.

In the books when they eventually lost their farm because they couldn't pay the mortgage Dorothy brought Aunt Em and Uncle Henry with her to Oz and they all lived in Princess Ozma's castle in the Emerald City from then on. Dorothy was also made a Princess of Oz.

(knock,knock,knock) Penny (knock,knock,knock) Penny (knock,knock,knock) Penny

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

The dream was studio meddling, but the writers managed to bring it off well. And it's not that she wanted "dreary Kansas." It's that she realized happiness comes from within, no matter where you are.

Plus, Oz isn't perfect either. The inhabitants are kinda oblivious, there's violent trees with bad gangster accents, and you know never know, there could be other witches down the line!

“Hate speech is the modern term for heresy."--Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

But they DID all go back to Oz to live in permanently in the 6th book, Emerald City of Oz, and just in time because they were being foreclosed on the farm, and in Oz they never had to worry about money, their health, or dying, ever again.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Well that's the book. This is the movie.

“Hate speech is the modern term for heresy."--Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Very good point Novastar! Bringing them to Oz is a much better Solution! I like that Line of thinking!
Are the other Oz books good? I have only read the First.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Very good, and very funny, Mr. Baum clearly loved his puns, most people in Oz have one for a name.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

"The Emerald City of Oz" is the punniest.

Don't eva let nobody tell you you ain't strong enough

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

The books are on my Wishlist! :)

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?


The books are on my Wishlist! :)


All 14 of the original Baum Oz books are now in the public domain and all 14 can be downloaded from The Gutenberg Project for free.

You can read them on a tablet or computer.

Here are all the L. Frank Baum books on the Gutenberg Project site, including a 15th OZ book called Little Wizards Stories of Oz and some non-Oz books.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/42



I don't know what they have to say. It makes no difference anyway. Whatever it is, I'm against it.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

I've often wondered the same OP.

Especially since upon returning to Oz, she knows that Ms Gultch has papers that are going to put Toto down. Does she not care about her dog?

The best explanation I can come up with is that she's tired of a life of crime. She kills the first person she meets in Oz and everyone is terrified. This power gets to her head where she then goes on a crime spree with three strangers including taking the magical slippers that are family heirlooms clearly not belonging to her, stealing apples, trespassing, carrying firearms without a permit, and eventually even killing again.


Perhaps, she, like many others that have violent lifestyles simply wished for a way out that wasn't a bodybag.


I am the prophet of the IMDb Mod Gods. They act when I call.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

You just won the Prize for Best Reply Ever! Congratulations!

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Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Absolutely! Bravo! That reply is sheer genius and comedy gold.




"I am always happy to engage in POLITE discourse."

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

If they did a contemporary version of The Wizard of Oz, I'm sure Dorothy would say, "Thank God we are not in Kansas anymore." She would probably conclude that the Wicked Witch of the West, however bad she might be, is still better than Brownback.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Overall, I like the movie's Kansas better than the book's. Baum repeats the word "gray" several times in the book's first few paragraphs, because that's what the Kansas prairie is like. The wind and sun have turned the prairie and the house gray, and hardship has turned its inhabitants just as dull and gray as their surroundings. Uncle Henry is grim and mostly silent and "did not seem to know what joy was." Aunt Em has been changed from a pretty young wife to a grim, unsmiling older woman who, when Dorothy first came to live with them, was "so startled by the child's laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy's merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at." Only Toto prevents Dorothy from turning as grim and gray as everything else, which is good, because there don't seem to be any neighbors for miles around--the house is totally isolated. No wonder Em and Henry packed up and moved to Oz with Dorothy!

The movie's Kansas, however, is a bit dull (well, sepia-toned, anyway) but seems a more pleasant, homey place. There's a community outside the farm, and Dorothy is implied to go to school so there are other kids around. There are the three farmhands who have a lot of affection for Dorothy and act as unofficial uncles. Aunt Em can be stern and no-nonsense, and occasionally be preoccupied with the problems of the farm, but she's still the kind of woman who'll give her farmhands just-fried doughnuts even after she's scolded them, and is clearly devoted to Dorothy. And Uncle Henry has a sly sense of humor ("Oh, she bit her dog, eh?") So I can see wanting to return to this Kansas over the book's version.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

I must admit and tell you that my favorite scenes in the film are the Kansas scquences....

Yep, and while I love the lightness of Oz in all it's stylized 1938 sets, songs, and rich color, I'm with Dorothy all the way. "Most of it, was Beautiful"...But, I want to go home to MGM's Kansas. Why? ~ of course it's longing and love for the only family one has known...(no matter how old) I want to be there for them as they have always been for me. And, if Uncle Henry is a bit ineffectual and Em is a tad crotchety...I don't care a lick! I love them all the more for it!

But even beyond these feelings, I actually Love the Kansas scenes for the way they look. The richness of the sepia tones, the stormy electric skies, The softness of the hay upon which Over the Rainbow is first melodically sung.

Maybe it is the song, the way that only she can sing it. The way the heavens part as soulful rays of sun peer through the clouds. The way the air feels and smells just before a storm...

Now I realize it could be that I prefer the Kansas scenes because I know it's the beginning of the film and the whole adventure is still ahead of me. My heart skips a beat with my first glimpse, as she hurriedly runs into frame with Toto on that dusty, but oh so comfortably familiar road. "She isn't coming yet, Toto!"... Maybe also it's personal, I grew up not with biological parents, but a Ma & Pa not unlike Uncle Henry and Aunt Em.

So, while I love Oz, my heart will always be in Kansas.~

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

I could never understand it. What did she think she was going back to? She had major problems waiting for her back home that were not going to go away. If someone had the resources and determination to have my pet killed, I too would get the hell out of town and stay gone until the situation changed, one way or another.



"I am always happy to engage in POLITE discourse."

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Maybe she figured that, if she could defeat the Witch, she could defeat Miss Gulch.

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

Yes, that is possible. But it would have made sense if she had said, 'We need to face our problems, not run away from them' and perhaps told the Cowardly Lion how he had inspired her with his courage. But instead she made it sound like she had run off for adventure, which she later regretted as she found she was overcome with homesickness.




"I am always happy to engage in POLITE discourse."

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

HEre's a simpler answer....what wouild Dorothy do ,where would
she live and how would she overall survive if she stayed in OZ?

Glinda only helped her when she had to on the way to the Emerald City.

Scarecrow ,Tin Man 7 The Lion could only do so
much and they could barely help themselves when she met them.

Live with the Munchinkins? No.

Emerald City? Really the only possibility but soemone would have to have the patience to teach her a trade of some osort (to do for 2 hours a day then go home. ) .

All these people are vitual strangers ,but as gruff as Em & Henry can be ,they are her blod kin. Aswell as our 3 resident farm hands ,that are like older brothers.

They could do more for her than anyone in Oz ,once
she grew up a bit and learned more about life from them all.





Go for it or just be a gopher!
(MR.) happipuppi13 🐕 *arf,man!*

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

You are seriously overestimating how long the residents of Emerald City work.


We get up at twelve and start to work at one
Take an hour for lunch and then at two we're done
Jolly good fun


Follow the lines. They don't even work one minute.


Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

It might help to know that the original novel was actually meant to be a political allegory. Yes, sounds strange, but here is what I have read:

1) "Dorothy" represents the voter, c. 1900 - an election year.

2) "The Scarecrow" represents the American farmer.

3) "The Tin Man" represents the American worker / craftsman.

4) "The Wizard" represents William Jennings Bryan. Bryan was a well-known
lawyer who ran for President at the time, but lost. The novel
may have been hinting that Bryan was a 'wanna-be', just like
the Wizard. By rejecting "Oz" and returning to her boring, but
familiar, Baum may have been suggesting that American voters
do the same - by rejecting Bryan as a 'wanna-be'.

If you are going to ask who the Lion represents, I dont recall reading
an answer to that, sorry. You can draw your own conclusions with this,
I suppose.

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Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

No matter how bad it was it's still no place like home. Oz was dreamland why would you think otherwise?

Re: Why in the World would Dorothy want to go back to Kansas?

no kidding Id take oz over any place in a minute let alone a place like kansas
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