I used to get the heebie-jeebies when the witch appeared in the crystal ball, first taunting Dorothy, then turning to face us, the viewers, and cackling evilly.
Flying monkeys never bothered me that much.
I knew a prosecutor who once referred to the cops assisting him with a case as his winged monkeys. They were unamused.
I’m not sure what you’re asking. If you mean out of universe, I think it is precisely because people are aware of the other books, if only vaguely. The existence of sequels set in Oz would indicate that it wasn’t just a dream. Plus, I don’t know how well known it was at the time, but I know that the whole point of the dream setup was to ease people into a fantastical story. Plus there’s the fact that the framing story doesn’t resolve: Toto has not been saved, yet the movie presents it as a happy ending, suggesting something must’ve happened to Miss Gulch after all.
If you mean in-universe, however, then the answer seems to be “No one does.” I see no sign at the end that anyone, including Dorothy herself, thinks it was anything more than a dream. Only in the “sequel” is it anything else, and those all seem to be set in a different universe than this movie.
The sequel, Return to Oz, makes it clear that no one believes Dorothy and even think she’s insane and gives her shock treatment to try to “cure” her – but that it was true.
When she finally escapes and returns, Oz is a wasteland, with all the residents turned to stone, and things like the Wheelers and princess Mombi and the Nome King, who are individually far more frightening than anything in the 1939 movie. The theories about Glinda are cute compared to what Mombi and the Nome King.
The movie was very good, but got bad reviews because it wasn’t up to the original’s cheerfulness (which is missing the point).
Miss Gulch is dead. The house fell on her.
If you watch the scene where she’s riding her bicycle, and she morphs into a witch, she’s wearing the ruby slippers, and her hair is down. In other words, she morphs into the Witch of the East. (Even if that weren’t the case, the Witch of the West dies too, by the end.)
She doesn’t survive the cyclone, and so Toto is no longer in danger.
At least, this is what I choose to believe.
One of my favorite movies too! Exceedingly well done, and scarier than a lot of so-called horror films.
[Joe Kenda] My, my, my. [/JK]
That is generally my takeaway, too. But, if it was all a a dream, then I believe even her being in the cyclone was part of the dream, and definitely finding the dead Witch was in the dream. So we never saw what if anything happened to Miss Gulch.
That’s kinda my point on that part–because we want Toto’s situation to be resolved, we interpret that part as not being a dream, even though the text never gives us that bit of uncertainty. In the text, the entire Oz experience was a dream, and Dorothy just passed out in the fields before she got home.
At least, as I remember it. It’s been a long time.
You can be dreaming, and still on some level, aware of noises around you, and incorporate them into your dream.
I think it is supposed to be fact that the house did get lifted up into the cyclone, and so it’s possible it landed on Miss Gulch, and Dorothy heard someone say that, so it ended up in her dream, or hallucination, or whatever was happening while she was knocked out.
After all, she incorporated the faces of people she knew, and if you are going with the “It’s all a dream” theory, that last thing she did before the cyclone was try to go back home after starting to run away, and getting separated from her family by the cyclone, because the air pressure kept her from being able to open the cellar door. The last motivation on her mind was reuniting with her family, so that what she dreams or hallucinates about.
I’ve seen this film dozens of times since I was a child, and I’ve always thought that the filmmakers made it very clear at the end that the house never actually got lifted up by a cyclone.
The movie ends in the real world, and Dorothy discovers that the whole adventure was just a dream. In the real world, houses that are lifted up by a cyclone don’t come back down in one piece. They come down in pieces as kindling.
It always seemed obvious to me at the end that the filmmakers were indicating that Dorothy had been struck by a piece of debris from the cyclone and knocked unconscious. She then had a dream in which she incorporated people she knew from her life in Kansas.
(Which I also always thought was a complete cop out. That’s probably why I always preferred the books. There was no “just a dream” B.S. at the end in the books. In the books, Dorothy really did go to Oz.)
You are factually correct, and having lived in Indiana (where we call them tornados, but they’re the same thing), I know this, but I am willing to chalk it up to “didn’t do the homework.” There essentially is no weather in California, other than the occasional rain. Sure, there are climate events, like earthquakes, and pretty serious fires, but what people in California don’t know about weather outside of California is laughable.
The book even mentions that the house has been rebuilt. BOOK SPOILER (FWIW): Dorothy has been gone for months, and returns home to a new house.
I once saw a TV show set in Indianapolis (written and produced in California), where a plot point was that a family had gone to a parking lot carnival on Christmas eve. Yeah, those are real fun when it’s 25’F.
PS: agree on “complete cop-out,” and “books are better.”
To be honest, though, many, if not most people who live in cold-weather climate areas get acclimated to it…or they’d never leave the house for months on end.
I have personal experience with this. When I was very young, my father joined the U.S. Army as a physician, and our family moved to Germany from Houston, Texas. I’d never seen snow before. I remember going to the Nürnberger Christkindlesmarkt at Christmastime, and I seriously thought I was going to freeze to death.
Now I live in New England and picked up downhill skiing a few years ago. While skiing I’ll spend hours outside in freezing weather. If the weather is as warm as 25’F, I won’t even bother putting on a fleece layer.
I didn’t say we don’t get acclimated. We still don’t want to ride rides when it’s cuddle-by-fire-drink-hot-chocolate weather.
My wife is a native New Englander, and she feels the same way about skiing. She also says winter is for cuddling by the fire with hot cocoa, not spending the day outside on the slopes.
Not a skiier myself-- I’ve done my share of winter hiking, and such.
But no matter how “acclimated” you are-- I don’t care if you are a polar bear swimmer-- it is not the weather for parking lot carnivals. They are mostly metal, and are going to be freezing to the touch, riding them fast, creating a breeze in December weather is the last thing you want, and the machines are just not going to run as well, and be more prone to both breaking and breakdown in very cold weather.
As another Indianapolis-area dweller, I agree. No carnivals in December.
Just touching metal while outside is a bad idea. I change my own oil, unless for some reason (like a long trip) the car need a change from the week before Thanksgiving until more-or-less Purim (Mid-March, for you goyim). I will change or plug a tire in the cold, or put the spare on, if it’s a rear, but if it’s toast, take the tire in ang fix iftand take the time in to get it fixed but that’s about all I will do until I get an enclosed garage I can chahge my tire. take about 10 minutes.
While i’m on buying used tires (not retreade, those are shiite. bti some people who can afford to dpo so benefit greatly from retreads, Someone with four tire from a reputable brand, when one blows, wants all the soldiers to take the Hobsons choice horse/