Another Classic Destroyed: ‘Wizard of Oz’ Remake Goes Woke, Plans to Include LGBTQ Representation
(headlineusa.com)
We / Are / OVER / The Rainbow...
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I have ALL the Oz books (and related areas around Oz) by all the original authors, and you could not find a word or hint or implication about sex or gender in the whole lot. Obviously a ripe area to pollute. BTW, the ones by Baum have a lot of commentary and under the radar satire besides his opinions about gold ( and I'm not totally convinced that the prevailing idea of it being a major theme is true). Mostly this is in characterization, for instance H.M. Wogglebug, T.E. is an ongoing spoof of intellectuals who are very proud of their attainments. He's a big bug, slang of the time for an important person, and that's just what he is, a big bug.
My third grade teacher introduced our class to Baum Oz books and I have never forgotten the wonderful character depicted in those stories....
I did not appreciate Baum at first. His books were still newish when my father was a child, and when my father passed along his precious books, Ruth Plumly Thompson had taken over his history of Oz and was embellishing it, so she was my Oz. She was a very witty writer, lots of puns, good story development, but eventually I realized what a great job Baum did with what had been a casual story.
Have you forgotten that Ozma of Oz was a boy named Tip when we first met her? Ozma was disguised in the body of the boy for her own protection. The boy Tip remembered nothing of his original gender. Tip had to agree to be turned back into a girl, so he/she could become Princess Ozma.
Have you forgotten that in almost every book someone has been changed from their original form and part of the story is to change them back? For instance, in *The Gnome King," Ozma and all her household have been changed into ornaments. In Rinkitink in Oz, Bill the goat is a prince. It's called a plot gimmick. Tip the HUMAN boy is disguising Ozma the FAIRY princess, it has nothing to do with her sexual identity or preferences, and the whole LGBTQ movement of today is all and only about who screws whom and how.