Line #9 YMMV/TheWizardofOZ


1	!![[Film/TheWizardOfOz The film version:]]
2	%%* AccidentalInnuendo: The Scarecrow telling Dorothy when she's trying to decide which road to take, "Of course, some people [[UsefulNotes/{{Bisexual}} go both ways.]]"
3	* AdaptationDisplacement:
4	** The movie adaptation is ''much'' better known than the Oz books. Some of the more recent books set in the Oz universe -- such as ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' -- even adopt a few of the movie's more iconic elements, like the ruby slippers and the Wicked Witch's green skin.
5	** Not only that, but even a lot of those that own the collector's edition Blu-Rays aren't aware of the prior adaptations of Baum's book that the Emerald Edition includes.
6	** This was actually exploited by 2013's ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful''. Legally, it's a {{prequel}} to Baum's original novel (which is in the public domain), but it was written with the idea that viewers would see it as a prequel to this movie (which is copyrighted by Time Warner courtesy of their ownership of MGM's pre-1986 catalogue).
7	** Merchandise that is not directly licensed through Time Warner is also hit by this, as Dorothy will be given the silver slippers from the books.
8	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
9	** A ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' article deconstructs the entire movie and makes you wonder whether or not ''Glinda'' is in fact the real villain here. The idea is that she is subtly manipulating Dorothy to serve as an assassin, setting her on a path that she knows will directly lead to her killing off all of the Witches who oppose Glinda, as well as end up making the Wizard decide to leave Oz forever. In the end, who is left and ready to assume control as the all-high overlord of Oz? ''Glinda!''. There is a less malicious AlternativeCharacterInterpretation of Glinda where she still is manipulating Dorothy to kill the Wicked Witch, however she isn't some tyrant. She is more of a ruler who wants this dangerous enemy gone.
10	*** "Join Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion as they journey to the Emerald City to ask the Wizard Of Oz for help with their various problems. Along the way, Dorothy murders a kindly old woman by dropping a house on her, liquidates another kindly old woman who wants nothing more than her rightful inheritance, and tricks the wizard into leaving the land of Oz, leaving only one magical power in charge, Glinda the evil witch of the north!" - Description of the film from the 35mm forum.
11	** For what it's worth: Glinda never actually ''says'' that she's a Good Witch--she only introduces herself as "The Witch of the North". It's ''Dorothy'' who retroactively calls her "The '''Good''' Witch of the North" after that point, apparently just assuming that she ''must'' be good. With that detail in mind, Glinda's moral alignment is very much open to interpretation.
12	** In hindsight, fans of the movie have been wondering whether the Wicked Witch really is as bad as she seems. A child came out of nowhere and killed her sister (or so she thinks, though Dorothy did not in fact cause her sister's death, she just happened to be trapped inside a falling house that did--something none of the Oz characters seem to understand, regardless of whether they view the death favorably or not--and in any case it it [[AngstWhatAngst doesn't seem to concern the Witch much]]) and then denied her the right to said sister's most powerful possession. So she has a legitimate gripe. This combined with the above interpretation [[UnreliableNarrator makes the movie quite interesting.]]
13	** Was it all in Dorothy's head or did the characters all just suspiciously look like family members and friends of hers? For that matter, if the people in Oz look similar to people in Kansas, is Oz some kind of parallel dimension?
14	** [[WordOfGod The filmmakers have confirmed]] that Dorothy's final line to the scarecrow – "I think I'll miss you most of all" – is a vestigial carry-over from an earlier draft of the script, one in which Dorothy and Hunk enjoyed a light-hearted romance back in Kansas.[[note]]This would have caused issues if filmed, given that Garland was 16 and Bolger 34 at the time of filming.[[/note]] If you aren't aware of this factoid, however (or if you would [[DeathOfTheAuthor rather ignore it]]), you can still find reasons for Dorothy's favoritism. The Scarecrow did, after all, know Dorothy longer than the other two friends did, and (due to their traveling together before meeting the Tin Woodman and Lion) did get more one-on-one quality time with her. Moreover, the Scarecrow was arguably the most instrumental in Dorothy's rescue and return home – without his plan to storm the castle (and likewise, his quick thinking to spring the FallingChandelierOfDoom on the Winkies), it is not likely Dorothy would have survived her quest at all. Long story short, the script rewrite isn't absolutely essential to explain Dorothy's farewell; she might have just been closest to the Scarecrow (though [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7cvknTB29Y&t=1m15s some have pointed out]] that it would have been a classier move to pull Scarecrow aside first).
15	** "Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first woman she meets, then teams up with three complete strangers to kill again." -- Rick Polito, in the TV listings for the ''Marin Independent Journal'', 1998.
16	** Is Professor Marvel an actual con artist trying to fool the gullible into thinking he has magical powers? Or is he simply the equivalent of a stage magician putting on an act for entertainment, and he only plays the fortune-teller role straight for Dorothy so he can encourage her to return home? The fact that his counterpart in Oz is a fraud gives an inkling that Dorothy comes away with the first impression, but it may just be her naivete at work.
17	** Did the Wizard even want the Wicked Witch's broomstick or was that just intended as an ImpossibleTask to get rid of Dorothy and the others so that he wouldn't have to answer their requests?
18	** The Wicked Witch of the West may have been a Fire-Elemental Witch, burdened with the baggage of anything to do with the "Fire Element", including the "Water Element" as its bane. That's why water melted her.
19	** When the Wicked Witch tells Dorothy that she only has until the sand in the hourglass runs out to be alive, does this mean that the Witch plans to come back and kill Dorothy when that span of time is up? Or if Dorothy hadn't escaped from the room, would she have just dropped dead as soon as the sand ran out?
20	* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Many people don't realize that Dorothy ''wasn't'' [[DawsonCasting supposed to be a teenager]]. Dorothy being at the cusp of adulthood adds a ComingOfAgeStory element to her character, as she initially wants to escape from her problems into a childish fantasy world, but by the end is ready to go home and grow up in the real world, similar to Wendy in ''Literature/PeterPan''.
21	* AluminumChristmasTrees:
22	** The scene where everyone panics on the farm and rushes to Dorothy's aid when she falls in the pig pen. Most these days see it as [[ComicalOverreacting unintentional hilarity]], and a girl Dorothy's size would be in no great danger, but those who have raised pigs on a farm would know the risk of pigs killing and trying to eat small children.
23	** While it's exaggerated as a WeaksauceWeakness, severe water allergy exists.
24	* AngstWhatAngst:
25	** The Wicked Witch of the West reacts two ways upon discovering her sister's death: wariness that Dorothy must be powerful to do that and thus a threat to her, and then eagerness to claim her sister's slippers. That her sister is dead doesn't seem to really concern her.
26	** There's also the fact that Dorothy's parents are never seen or mentioned. For a little kid with disappeared or deceased parents, she seems well-adjusted, and never asks her aunt and uncle about this circumstance. Of course it's likely that they died years ago, possibly when she was too young to remember, and Dorothy has had time to come to terms with the loss.
27	* AntiClimaxBoss: The Wicked Witch of the West is one of the most famous examples in film history. With her powerful magic and extremely smart scheming, you would think she would know better than to leave her sole weakness lying around. Nope, and then... "ImMelting".
28	* AssPull: Dorothy killing the Wicked Witch with a bucket of water, and her minions immediately going to Dorothy's side after the fact. Her weakness to it isn't even foreshadowed in the film, making it come off as an [[DeusExMachina extremely convenient way of defeating her]].
29	* AudienceColoringAdaptation: For many viewers, this movie is the main influence in the way in which they perceive anything related with the ''Franchise/LandOfOz'' media, from details such as Dorothy wearing ruby slippers instead of the silver ones from the book, as well the portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West as a green woman instead of having only one eye as she is originally described, to Glinda and the Good Witch of the North being combined into one character. The personalities of the characters in Oz-influenced media tend to reflect their movie personalities instead of the literary ones.
30	* AwardSnub:
31	** The only reason this movie didn't win the UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Picture in 1939 was because it had to compete with ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''.
32	** The film failed to receive any acting nominations for Creator/JudyGarland in Lead Actress, Creator/MargaretHamilton in Supporting Actress, or Creator/RayBolger, Creator/BertLahr, or Creator/JackHaley in Supporting Actor. Garland however did win a Juvenile Oscar, a special award given to younger actors for exceptional work at the time.
33	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
34	** "Over the Rainbow" may, in fact, be the most iconic song from any film, anywhere, ''ever''. Since it's #1 on AFI's "100 songs" list, that's probably as close as you can get to an official confirmation.
35	** "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead", the "If I Only Had..." trilogy, and "Merry Old Land of Oz" are wonderful.
36	* BaseBreakingCharacter: The Cowardly Lion is either the funniest character or the most annoying, due to Bert Lahr's affectedly dopey "Puh-huh-huuh!" shtick. It perhaps doesn't help for detractors that Lion doesn't really get any chance to demonstrate his actual courage the way Scarecrow and Tin Man are given chances to flex their respective intelligence and emotions (all the Wizard's gifts are meant to be a MagicFeather for the real strengths each of them already possessed), and his big musical number "If I Were King Of The Forest" is pretty underwhelming and forgettable compared to the other, far more iconic songs in the movie (barring the "Whadda they got that I ain't got?" exchange at the very end that occasionally gets a ShoutOut).
37	* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
38	** As Dorothy's house is being carried by the tornado, she sees several bizarre sights from her window--a coop of clucking chickens; an old lady in a rocking chair; a mooing cow; and two men in a rowboat. The people all exchange friendly waves with Dorothy and seem curiously blasé about being suspended in the sky. None of these people or animals are identified or ever mentioned again, and the entire sequence veers into absurd, borderline cartoonish territory that goes beyond even the fantastical elements of her later Oz experiences. It's actually the most truly dreamlike sequence in the movie. (The final sight she sees from the window--Miss Gulch riding on her bike before transforming into the Wicked Witch on a broom--is directly relevant to the story and therefore doesn't qualify as a BLAM. That said, it's the only moment that directly shows someone from her Kansas life becoming one of the Oz residents, a connection that otherwise is merely implied.)
39	** The Munchkinland Sequence consists of multiple small musical numbers that introduce multiple characters who give Dorothy various thanks and accolades for killing the Wicked Witch of the East. However, after Dorothy leaves for Emerald City, the Munchkins are never mentioned again or play any real role in the overall plot.
40	** "If I Were King of the Forest" is only set up with one comment from the Lion, who already sang his part of the standard IWantSong, making this follow-up seem a bit random as his companions don't get a follow-up in the same vein. While his desire to be "king of the forest" is stated more than once, the song mostly serves as a fun chance to briefly role-play that fantasy. It is quickly forgotten and only seems to kill time while the gang wait to hear back from the Wizard.
41	* BrokenAesop: The moral Dorothy learns during the film is that everything she wants is at her home in Kansas. However, while she did wish to travel the world, she wasn't dissatisfied with her life on the farm and she only ran away because she was scared Miss Gulch would kill Toto (although her interaction with the traveling mystic reveals otherwise as she confirms his guesses about her general unhappiness and alienation). This is rectified by the musical, for which the opening number is entitled "Nobody Understands Me," and Dorothy expresses her feelings of loneliness and being misunderstood.
42	* CrossesTheLineTwice: "Ding-Dong, the Witch is Dead" is a cheery and upbeat song...about someone ''[[LyricalDissonance dying and going to Hell]]''. It's easy to see why it's become a MemeticMutation.
43	* DesignatedHero:
44	** There is sometimes a criticism about Glinda the Good Witch. When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up to claim her now dead sister's magic shoes, she gives them to Dorothy, who was just some random girl who showed up instead of, say, hiding them from her, and this is to assume that [=WWotW=] wanted them for some sinister, magic purpose. After she essentially forced a random teenage girl into a tug-of-war between two witches for seemingly no reason, she sends Dorothy to talk to the wizard. When she gets there, the wizard tells them that they need to take the witch's broom before he will do anything for them. As it's pointed out, they need to kill her to do this. After they kill the witch and come back with her broom, the wizard's method of getting Dorothy back to Kansas fails (sort of) and she is left with no way to get home. That is, until Glinda shows up and tells Dorothy that ''at any point'' she could have just used the slippers to wish herself back. When she is rightfully asked why she did not tell Dorothy this, Glinda attempts to {{handwave}} the issue by saying she would not have believed her. Except, yes, she would have. Dorothy is in a dangerous world with witches and the way out is on her feet. Considering how acid-trippy the place was, would there be ''anything'' you wouldn't believe at that point?
45	** There is even a [[http://www.cracked.com/article_18881_5-reasons-greatest-movie-villain-ever-good-witch.html?wa_user1=5&wa_user2=Movies+%26+TV&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended Cracked article]] detailing how she is the best villain in film history, as well as a ''Series/MadTV'' [[https://youtu.be/6exm2Hi28Xw skit]] where Dorothy is utterly outraged at Glinda's actions and tells her off.
46	* DesignatedVillain: The Wicked Witch of the East. We never find out what exactly she does that is so evil, just that everyone calls her "Wicked" and the Munchkins are happy when she dies.
47	* DracoInLeatherPants: The Wicked Witch of the West being played by the [[MeanCharacterNiceActor kind and loving]] Margaret Hamilton really helped people see her in a more flattering light than intended. And ''Wicked'', which many people have taken as actual canonicity with this movie, giving the witch AdaptationalHeroism (''especially'' in the musical adaptation).
48	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
49	** [[PunchClockVillain The Palace Guards]] for some in spite of [[OneSceneWonder their limited screen time]], especially the ones who protect the outside of the witch's castle, given their catchy chant.
50	** The Munchkins in general, due to being enormously kind to Dorothy after accidentally killing the Witch of the East and having very catchy songs. Especially the Lollipop Guild and the Coroner, who are so popular that they're still referenced to this day!
51	** The movie effectively made the Cowardly Lion into an Ensemble Dark Horse of the entire ''Oz'' franchise. Previous adaptations like the 1902 musical had greatly reduced his role, and the sequel books reduced him to an almost minor character. In Creator/LFrankBaum's lifetime he was much less of an iconic character than the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. But thanks to Creator/BertLahr's screen performance, he's become every bit as iconic as they are.
52	%%* EpilepticTrees: [[Music/TheDarkSideOfTheMoon Dark Side of]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Side_of_the_Rainbow the Rainbow]].
53	* EvilIsCool: Let's see. Extremely powerful magic? Check. Avenging her deceased sister who recently got killed? Check. [[EvilIsHammy Hamminess in each of her appearances?]] You know it. [[NearVillainVictory Comes extremely close to defeating the heroes?]] Double check. The Wicked Witch of the West isn't one of the most iconic villains of the 20th century for nothing.
54	* {{Fanon}}:
55	** Among fans of this movie who are actually familiar with Creator/LFrankBaum's books, it's become generally accepted that [[http://jimhillmedia.com/mb/images/upload/Yellow-Brick-Road-starting-.jpg the red road]] briefly glimpsed in Munchkinland, which leads in the opposite direction from the Yellow Brick Road, is the road to Quadling Country.
56	** It's popularly theorized that the witch seen flying past Dorothy's house during the tornado sequence is actually the Wicked Witch of the '''East''' in her last moments before being flattened, which would make this the only time in the film that she's fully seen onscreen. As evidence for this, fans point to the fact that she's apparently wearing high-heeled shoes that resemble the ruby slippers, and her dress appears white or grey rather than black (although that might just be because of the lighting).
57	* FantasyGhetto: The [[ExecutiveMeddling executives at MGM]] insisted on changing the ending of the film to make it clear that [[AllJustADream the Land of Oz only existed in Dorothy's imagination]], thinking that no one could ever take a genuine fantasyland seriously. To this day, while no one would ever deny the movie's popularity or influence, many people would argue that it "doesn't count" as a fantasy film because the supernatural events are explained away as a dream.
58	* FirstInstallmentWins: Thanks to most adaptions being based on the first book only, you might be hard pressed to find people who are aware that there are other books.
59	* HarsherInHindsight: Scarecrow and Tin Man desperately trying to wake Dorothy up from a deep sleep in the poppy fields is harder to watch knowing about Judy Garland's problems with drug addiction, which she had already begun before filming this movie and became worse afterwards, leading to her dying of an overdose.
60	* HilariousInHindsight:
61	** At one point in the Tin Man's song, his feet stay in place while the rest of his body leans dangerously far forward. This predates Music/MichaelJackson doing this move in his landmark video for "Smooth Criminal" by fifty years.
62	** In a time when the instrumental score of a movie was written and recorded before filming, it was the usual practice to insert public domain music that general moviegoers would be unable to recognize or identify when the score was found to be too short for the film's runtime. ''The Wizard of Oz'' was no different, and for the time of release, it worked. It still works for the most part today, with one noticeable exception, thanks to a [[WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}} certain Disney film]] released one year after it. Nowadays, when you watch the scene where the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion manage to get inside the Witch's castle and run up the stairs to find Dorothy, you stop and think "Hold on! That's ''Chernabog's'' music!"
63	** One idea dropped from the script was that Dorothy and Hunk would be in a romance. This idea was exploited by Creator/AlanMoore in his infamous graphic novel ''Lost Girls''.
64	** A central part of the movie is how much the villain wants to take the heroine's ruby slippers. In 2005, one of the few remaining pairs of original ruby slippers was actually stolen while on loan for display to the Judy Garland Museum. Is everyone after these shoes?
65	* HypeBacklash: Fairly unsurprising given it is one of the most beloved movies of all time, a lot of people get completely confused why such an admittedly simple movie with campy acting and unimpressive special effects gets such praise heaped upon it. It was even on ''Premiere Magazine'''s 20 most overrated movies of all time list.
66	* ItWasHisSled
67	** The "Wizard" isn't actually a wizard at all. The phrase, "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," becoming part of the cultural lexicon, along with dozens of movies and cartoons parodying this specific scene, certainly help in contributing to this.
68	** Oz was all Dorothy's dream. Much like the Wizard's reveal, parodies from the likes of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' make this scene universally known.
69	* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Despite having less screentime, plot significance, and vile ambitions, Almira Gulch is far more hated than the Wicked Witch of the West, who's just way too fun, hammy, and deliciously evil to truly hate. Besides, there's no such thing as over-the-top evil witches in real life. But grouchy, strict, and contemptible neighbors? We've all met them at least once in our lives.
70	* LGBTFanbase: The film, like Creator/JudyGarland's work in general, has long enjoyed a huge following among gay men. Or, rather, [[UnusualEuphemism Friends of Dorothy]]. In particular, gay audiences drew heavily parallels between the film's plot and their own thoughts and experiences, particularly Dorothy's FamilyOfChoice-esque friendship with a group of outcasts, the struggles the heroes face against the Wicked Witch of the West, and the film's BeYourself message. It probably doesn't hurt that [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz the original book]] eventually got [[Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz a sequel]] where the hero is literally [[spoiler:a girl trapped in a boy's body]] who eventually gets her happy ending by [[spoiler:becoming her true self by changing her gender]]; for understandable reasons, this has also made the Oz saga very popular with transgender people.
71	* MemeticMutation: Being one of the most famous movies (if not ''the'' most famous movie) ever produced, it goes without saying that much of its dialogue has become a permanent part of the English-speaking vernacular.
72	%%** "It's a twister! It's a twister!"
73	** "Ding Dong! (The Witch is Dead)" has pretty much become the standard song to play whenever someone hated dies (or when a hated politician is voted out of office/ends their term). It even reached No. 1 on the UK music charts after UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher's death!
74	** "Toto, I've a feeling we're NotInKansasAnymore."[[note]]A SignatureLine that Dorothy says upon entering Oz, often parodied to signify anything that's a sharp (usually more whimsical) departure from everyday life.[[/note]]
75	** "Pay no attention to that [[TheManBehindTheCurtain X behind the Y]]!"
76	%%** "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"
77	%%** "I'll get you, my pretty. AndYourLittleDogToo"
78	%%** We're OffToSeeTheWizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
79	** "Friend of Dorothy" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Due to Creator/JudyGarland's open support of the LGBT movement at a time when gay rights were non-existent in the United States, gay men took to calling themselves Friends of Dorothy as a codeword, making this a meme OlderThanCableTV. The Navy did eventually catch wind of this term, but didn't know the context, and started looking for this "Dorothy" woman in the hopes that she would rat out homosexual sailors. [[CaptainObvious They didn't find her]]. Maybe they should've looked over/overlooked the rainbow.[[/labelnote]]
80	** Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh MY!
81	* MemeticTroll: Glinda doesn't just tell Dorothy from the start that Dorothy's ruby slippers have the power to bring her back home. In-story, the justification would be that, had Glinda told her, Dorothy wouldn't have gone through her travel and grown up with it, but most people like to attribute it to Glinda just wanting to screw with her. Interestingly, [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole this is actually an error from the adaptation]], since the film [[CompositeCharacter combines two characters from the book]]: Glinda the Good Witch of the South and the Good Witch of the North. The one from the North tells Dorothy to go to the Wizard, and after the Wizard flies off in his balloon, everyone suggests that she visit Glinda, who is the one to tell her that she [Dorothy] had the power all along.
82	* MoralEventHorizon: The last evil act the Wicked Witch of the West does is insisting that, "The last to go will see the first three go before her...and her mangy little dog, too." The only one "her" can refer to is Dorothy, so she's the one with that [[SarcasmMode privilege]]. The Witch's liquidation immediately after this disgusting bit of wickedness is most satisfying -- in particular since it came directly from setting the Scarecrow on fire.
83	* MovementMascot: There are gay men in the US historically referring to each other as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friend_of_Dorothy friends of Dorothy]]", where the Dorothy in question may or may not be this one.
84	* NarmCharm: The film has become such an icon in pop culture that the campy acting, obvious backdrops, and plentiful AssPull moments do nothing to detract from the experience.
85	* OlderThanTheyThink:
86	** Movie fans are often surprised to learn that ''The Wizard of Oz'' is based on a book that was published in 1900 and the book had ''sequels'' published over the span of 50 years.
87	** Similarly, many fans of the movie are unaware that it is actually the ''third'' film adaptation of the book to hit theaters. The first was a [[Film/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz1910 short film that came out in 1910]], and the second was a silent movie starring [[Creator/LaurelAndHardy Oliver Hardy]] that came out in 1925.
88	** The film's ending, with the heroine waking up in her bed, surrounded by the real world counterparts to the people she encountered in a magic land, seems to be an allusion to ''Theatre/TheNutcracker''. Of course, in that story, it was meant to imply that the magic land was real...
89	** News of a 2013 3D theatrical and Blu-Ray re-release caused a massive stir amongst Cinaphiles over whether this is {{s\|eriousBusiness}}acrilege, toned down by the fact that the Blu-Ray comes with a 2D disc. However, Warner had previously experimented with showing ''The Wizard of Oz'' in 3D, as a 2009 "4D" tourist attraction -- except, this attraction only applied the treatment to about 10 minutes' worth of clips.
90	** The [[WesternAnimation/TheWizardOfOz1933 1933 Wizard of Oz animated short]] marked the first time Dorothy is depicted with SmallTownBoredom.
91	* OnceOriginalNowCommon:
92	** Back in 1939, the idea of a fantasy world ''on film'' (as opposed to books like those by Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs or Creator/JulesVerne) was presumed to be very novel to film audiences -- so much so that the studio took issue with it (see ExecutiveMeddling). However, countless other works featuring fantasy themes and motifs have been released since ''The Wizard of Oz'' came out.
93	** The movie somewhat zig-zags it. On one hand, it's ''definitely'' shown its age (the backgrounds and special effects were more comparable to what you would see on ''stage'' than an actual ''film''), but on the other, it was so far ahead of the curve that [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd James Rolfe]] has mentioned meeting people who were ''shocked'' to find that the movie was made in the ''thirties''. Part of this can be attributed to its popularity in UsefulNotes/TheFifties.
94	** While the film as a whole is generally considered timeless, the transition from monochrome to color generally isn't considered anything special by modern audiences' standards, when it was a groundbreaking feat back in 1939 for the film to [[DancingBear be in color at all]], and as such, the BaitAndSwitch aspect of it is not considered surprising any longer.
95	* OneSceneWonder: The coroner of Munchkindland sings one of the most famous lyrics of "Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead" with some memorable rhyming.
96	--> ''As coroner''\
97	''I must aver''\
98	''I thoroughly examined her''\
99	''And she's not only merely dead''\
100	''She's really most sincerely dead!''
101	* ParodyDisplacement: The now-iconic outfit of the Witch would have been recognizable to older members of the audience as a black-colored parody of what a "church lady" or catechist would wear in particularly old fashioned and conservative churches, reinforcing the image of both The Wicked Witch and Almira Gulch as examples of people in positions of authority gone bad.
102	* SacredCow: This is one of the most beloved, if not ''the'' most beloved film known throughout the world. Certainly it's one of the few films that nearly everyone has seen at least once. Even if fans aren't above affectionately mocking it, it's still a bona fide classic that finds a new audience every generation.
103	* SignatureSong: Every song in the film has entered the cultural consciousness to some degree, but "Over the Rainbow" is one of the most famous songs ''ever''. It also became this for Creator/JudyGarland's entire career.
104	* SpecialEffectsFailure: Many of these can be forgiven since it ''was'' made in TheThirties.
105	** The set backgrounds look enthralling to a younger viewer, but no adult would be fooled. This is an unfortunate consequence of the film being characterized by its use of Technicolor, as it glaringly shows up the scenery as solid walls. ''Especially'' on Blu-Ray. The ''WesternAnimation/EarthwormJim'' cartoon even did a ParodyEpisode poking fun of this, by the characters all running into the walls as a RunningGag.
106	** You can actually see (in full view) the Tin Woodman unwinding the balloon's rope holding it down.
107	** When the Guard to the Wizard's Chamber starts crying in sympathy over Dorothy's missing her Auntie Em. You can clearly see his OcularGushers falling from his eyebrows, not his eyes.
108	** When Dorothy falls into the pig pen, she emerges with ''no dirt on her clothes''.
109	** You can see plastic that's often used for water in some shots in Munchkinland.
110	** And then there's the Wicked Witch of the West disappearing after her first scene. Once she lets out the cloud of smoke, she can be seen going down a hidden trapdoor, which is obscured by said cloud.[[note]]: Margaret Hamilton was in fact severely burned by the pyrotechnics involved during said exit.[[/note]]
111	** While the costuming for Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr themselves looks very impressive for the time, [[ObviousStuntDouble their wide-shot doubles are wearing much less sophisticated suits and makeup]]; compare the shot of a rather lumpy Tin Man and a scruffy-looking Lion are climbing up the cliff face to the immediate cut of Haley holding on to Lahr's tail. When the Tin Man is dropped to the ground and has to be helped back up, the stuntman's white undershirt is clearly visible above his aluminum tights.
112	* {{Squick}}: Narrowly averted. The script originally called for Dorothy and Hunk (the Scarecrow) to be ''in a romance'' during the Kansas sequences, but this was dropped. Now recall that Dorothy is only supposed to be about 12 in the film. It was in the script late enough that the Oz section still retains some subtle ShipTease between Dorothy and the Scarecrow, and her final goodbye to the Scarecrow where she says she will miss him the most is a direct holdover from the abandoned subplot.
113	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: "If I Were King of the Forest" is very similar to "Things," a song Arlen and Harburg wrote for Lahr several years earlier in the Broadway revue ''Life Begins at 8:40'', especially the patter section:
114	-->''From the birth bed to the grave,''
115	-->''Aren't we all of them a slave?''
116	-->''What makes all the oceans wave?''
117	-->''Things! ah, Things!''
118	* ToughActToFollow: Other ''Literature/LandOfOz'' adaptations have historically proven unsuccessful, and this film is a major reason why. It's so [[AudienceColoringAdaptation thoroughly defined the idea of what Oz looks like]], and so significant as a SacredCow, that any other adaptation is going to immediately be throwing itself into comparison with it, and is ''very'' likely to be assumed to be [[AdaptationDisplacement an out-and-out prequel or sequel to this film]]. The only story to completely break away from the stigma is ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'', which is anything but a straight adaptation of the material, with just about everything else doing somewhere between "middling", "AcclaimedFlop", and "[[BoxOfficeBomb outright bomb]]."
119	* UnintentionallySympathetic: The Wicked Witch of the West. While, yes, she is evil and certainly up to no good, the fact that Dorothy killed her sister ([[AccidentalMurder by accident]], but still) and took her sister's ruby slippers with her, never considering to take them off and give them to their rightful owner, can evoke sympathy in some viewers. The fact that her [[ImMelting famous death]] is also quite gruesome just adds to it.
120	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome:
121	** The twister scene still holds up quite well even by today's standards. [[ShownTheirWork Multiple funnel clouds of different types are seen in the distance.]] [[DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud The wind is proving destructive long before the tornado itself gets close.]]
122	** The scene where Dorothy steps out of her house and into Oz is ''still'' breathtaking, especially if you have the good fortune to see it on the big screen. On paper, shifting from sepia to full-color film doesn't ''sound'' terribly impressive, but...just watch for yourself.[[note]]The way that scene was done is itself pretty impressive, since they obviously couldn't alter the colors by computer. The inside of the house was painted sepia-tone, and the "Dorothy" who opens the door is actually Judy Garland's double, with a sepia-dyed dress and makeup (note how the inside of the house is in fairly heavy shadow in this shot to help hide this). She steps out of the way to show Oz in all its colorful glory, and then Judy Garland in normal color steps into the frame.[[/note]]
123	** The Wizard's throne room, with the green hologram of his head, along with the smoke and flame generators, still remains impressive, if not terrifying.
124	* ValuesDissonance:
125	** Just before our heroes are attacked by the flying monkeys, Scarecrow can be seen clumsily carrying a revolver. Modern family movies rarely even show firearms in a ''negative'' light, if at all.
126	** "[[BeautyEqualsGoodness Only bad witches are ugly]]." That's body-shaming, Glinda. Not helped by Hollywood's historical accusations of enforcing narrow beauty standards by TypeCasting anyone whose appearance they consider "imperfect" as a villain or comic relief.
127	** The munchkins (the ones who weren't children, at least) were credited as "The Singer Midgets". This was long before the word "midget" was widely considered derogatory and the more politically correct terms like "little person" or "person with dwarfism" entered the public vernacular.
128	* VindicatedByHistory: Perhaps one of the most famous examples. While not a flop when it came out, it wasn't seen as particularly special either and was overshadowed by ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'', which nabbed the Best Picture Oscar from it that year. Regular telecasts throughout the 1950s and beyond made it a staple among Baby Boomers, who then passed it onto their children and by the end of the 20th century, it had become a childhood staple. Today, it's one of the most famous ''and'' most beloved movies ever made, with many saying it's significantly better than ''Gone With The Wind'' (which has a far greater share of ValuesDissonance. Say what you will about this film, at least it didn't romanticize the Antebellum south).
129	* TheWoobie: Dorothy when Miss Gulch takes Toto away, when she fears that Aunt Em might be [[DeathByDespair dying]] because she ran away, and especially when she's imprisoned by the Witch.
130	----
131
132	!![[WesternAnimation/TheWizardOfOz The animated series]]
133	* NightmareFuel:
134	** In the episode "Fearless", the Witch is disguised as a gypsy in an amusement park. After Dorothy and the others leave, the park ''completely changes''; the guests are her winged monkeys and all the rides are gone. This happens in only a few seconds, but it's very memorable and a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for the animators.
135	** In the episode "Not In Kansas Anymore", the Witch tricks Dorothy into going home by making her think Aunt Em is ill. However, she instead creates a ''fake'' Kansas for Dorothy, posing as Em in order to get the Ruby Slippers. When the illusion is dispelled, she retaliates by ''blowing up Dorothy's house''.
136	** "Dream A Little Dream" is about this trope, as the Witch invades the Lion's dreams to coax the others into following her. Cue the Lion having nightmares.
137	* RetroactiveRecognition: Scarecrow is voiced by [[Creator/DavidLodgeAmericanActor David Lodge]] who’d go on to voice [[Anime/{{Naruto}} Jiraya]] and [[Anime/{{Bleach}} Kenpachi Zaraki]] among many other roles. This was among his first voice acting roles.
138	** This was also Liz Georges’ first major starring role years before she did the voice of [[WesternAnimation/{{As Told by Ginger}} Courtney Gripling]].
139	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: With the vast array of characters and locations in the Oz books you’d think more elements would be utilized. The show, for the most part opts for its own original elements that loosely tie to the movie; never referencing the books beyond a nod here and there. Though this may be a case of AdaptationDisplacement as the 1939 movie is far more well known than the book series.
140	----
141
142	!![[VideoGame/TheWizardOfOz The 1993 Game]]
143	* LowTierLetdown: The Tin Man is by a wide margin the worst character in the game. He can't use projectiles, duck, or ''jump'', and in a sidescrolling platformer, this renders him effectively useless except as a spare health bar to take hits. His only positive is that he's the only character with two melee attacks.
144	* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem [[VideoGame/TheWizardOfOz adaptation]] has a lot of clunky controls and gameplay, most notably with trying to jump on platforms only to fall through them (you had to land virtually dead center or you're not going to land), and a very unbalanced cast of characters.
145
146	!![[Pinball/TheWizardOfOz The pinball table]]
147	* ObviousBeta: Some aspects of the original game software are clearly incomplete, most notably some incomplete bonuses and the missing {{Wizard Mode}}s. Various software updates have addressed the issues, however.

Context YMMV / TheWizardofOZ