When the witch flies over the emerald city and skywrites “Surrender Dorothy” in the sky, is she telling Dorothy to surrender or is she telling the people of the Emerald City to surrender Dorothy to her?
Or am I just thinking too much about a silly movie?
Zev Steinhardt
Zev - *squints are you being serious?
I always wondered about that, too. I think—in the absence of a comma—she was telling the people of Oz they’d better surrender Dorothy to her if they know what’s good for them.
You’re thinking too much.
It is my understanding that it’s an imperative – she’s ordering Dorothy to surrender.
Of course, her failure to punctuat this properly (viz., there should be a comma after “surrender”) makes this less than clear.
(You know, some might consider the OP a spoiler … 
)
I always thought she was telling Dorothy to surrender to her.
I never thought she was telling the people of Emerald City to surrender Dorothy to her, but that’s certainly another take on it.
I’ve seen “WoO” at least 50 times (probably more, actually) and like to consider myself something of a trivia expert on it.
Woo hoo! Four-way multi-post!
Wow, I’ve been part of a two-way simulpost, but never a four-way.
I think I need a cigarette.
zev_steinhardt, I think you would enjoy a Martin Scorsese movie called After Hours.
To say more would be to spoil.
I’m thinking that the witch was sending cryptic anagrams to mess with the greenies. The smarter/nuttier folks of the Emerald City would instantly recongize the significance of the Witch’s TRUE adolescent purposes:
SHERRY TURNER DO DO!
I’m sure Sherry got the message…
I always though she was telling the people of the Emerald City to surrender Dorothy to her.
Wouldn’t it be Dorothy, surrender if she was trying to get Dorothy’s attention?
It can be read to encompass both meanings. She is telling Dorothy to give herself up and telling the citizens of the Emerald City that if Dorothy doesn’t give up on her own they’d better turn her over if they know what’s good for them.
Dammit! You said no spoilers! Now I know that the witch can fly, the city Dorothy is looking for and that she made it!
No sense in watching the movie now! 
Fagjunk Theology: Not just for sodomite propagandists anymore.
Only as a young child who could barely read the word “surrender” did I imagine that the message was directed specifically to Dorothy.
Clearly, this was an ultimatum to the people of the Emerald City.
I wonder if Dubya ever considered having some skywriters fly over Baghdad spelling out “Surrender Saddam.” Of course, if he had, he’d probably have had it written in English.
Don’t worry, you can always check out Star Wars.
I think it would be pretty funny to lock on to the witch while she stops to make a comma- don’t know why, but it struck me as funny.
I think we should insist that the meaning be taken as an ultimatum, regardless of the witch’s original intent. These witches are corrupting the langauge, I tells ya.
I always took it as a command to Dorothy. But now that you mention it, I just don’t know… 
Of course the people of Oz are pretty reactive to it, and automatically start looking for Dorothy. So perhaps it is a message to them.
I thought she was demanding that the people surrender Dorothy.
Of course, the aerobatics of making a comma would cause her to pull some serious G-forces…
I don’t think there’s a comma key on a smoking broom keyboard. But it’s a helluva question. One that deserves a second look!
In the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC is the Mormon Temple, seen here from the Beltway (I-495). A railroad trestle crosses over the Beltway, and just as you’re driving under it, you look up and see the Temple, similar to how the photog here saw it, and then you notice that someone has painted across the bridge, “Surrender Dorothy.”
I always thought she was exhorting the people of the Emerald City to turn Dorothy over to her. Clearly the OP is not the only one who has given this some thought!