Great Character: Glinda (“The Wizard of Oz”)

Since the kids are heading back to school, this month’s theme: Mentor. Today in his regular weekly guest post, Jason Cuthbert looks at Glinda from the classic 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, screenplay by Noel Langley & Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf, adaptation by Noel Langley, based on books by L. Frank Baum.

When it comes to the fantasy and adventure genres, before the protagonist character can complete their expedition thoroughly, there is usually a wise, experienced and compassionate mentor character to guide them on their way. They are the physical version of a digital GPS service to get journeymen and women of the movies acquainted with their foreign fish-out-of-water surroundings. Therefore, a good-hearted mentor definitely comes in handy. Jake Sully had Neytiri in Avatar and in The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has Glinda the Good Witch (Billie Burke) to get her on her way to see the Wizard for a magical road map back home to Kansas.

The Wizard of Oz plot summary from IMDB:

Dorothy Gale is swept away to a magical land in a tornado and embarks on a quest to see the Wizard who can help her return home.

The 1939 Academy Award-winning yellow brick road trip on foot — The Wizard of Oz — made a twinkling star out of teenaged actress Judy Garland in her Dorothy role, and also employed a crazy amount of screenwriters — 19 in total. The credited scribes include: Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, Edgar Allan Woolf and L. Frank Baum. Director Victor Fleming also apparently had four additional uncredited directorial assistants helping behind the scenes as well. But aside from Dorothy’s famous sidekicks that included her dog Toto, The Cowardly Lion, The Scarecrow and The Tin Man, Dorothy would have been utterly lost and in need of an Emerald City green card for citizenship if it wasn’t for her magical mentor Glinda the Good Witch.

Traveling by way of a small glowing spherical orb, Glinda appears just after Dorothy crash lands into Emerald City and is still figuring out where exactly she is. The unique color-coded transition from the sepia tone imagery in Kansas to the pastel color cinematic bag of Skittles that is Emerald City gives us the same overwhelming entrance to this new land that Dorothy is having. From Glinda’s golden crown and starry staff to her shimmery ballroom gown, she has the visual appearance of a figment of Dorothy’s dreams, a luminous character that could look like a tourist wherever she is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQLNS3HWfCM

With her motherly nurturing words and her grandmotherly soothing tone, Glinda earns Dorothy’s trust almost instantly. Glinda never loses her cool and never appears surprised or alarmed by any of the unusual occurrences that take place. Glinda’s ability to instill confidence and piece-of mind into Dorothy breeds hope for a healthy return back home to Kansas for the frightened and confused farmer’s niece.

GLINDA: Only bad witches are ugly.

Even when the shadowy side of witchcraft rears its ugly barf green head in the form of the Wicked Witch of the West to ruin Dorothy’s destiny, Glinda remains composed and in complete control. She serenely wields her power without fear or forceful aggression.

GLINDA: (to the Wicked Witch of the West) Rubbish! You have no power here! Begone, before somebody drops a house on you, too!

Like any classic movie mentor, Glinda the Good Witch trains her loyal pupil and supplies her with the necessary tools to navigate through the perils of this unpredictable voyage. No ninja swords, light sabers or boxing gloves, just a pair of ruby slippers with heals made for clicking to empower Dorothy with the ability to make her grant return.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IErqIMLwtQ

Maybe Glinda the Good Witch had the power to just fast-forward Dorothy and Toto on a first class, non-stop flight directly to Kansas all along, without the aid of the Wizard. But what we do know for a fact is that Glinda, like a good mentor, had a valuable lesson to teach Dorothy — self-empowerment. In a sense, Glinda was aiding Dorothy in her coming-of-age rites of passage quest from self-centered adolescent to an appreciative, family-orientated young woman.

GLINDA: (to Dorothy) You don’t need to be helped any longer. You’ve always had the power to go back to Kanas.

For her saintly role model example of womanhood, her peaceful meditative demeanor, her glorious guidance and her sparkling fantastical fashion sense — Glinda the Good Witch is one glistening GREAT CHARACTER.

Lest we forget, Glinda is also a font of information, providing wisdom to Dorothy about her ruby red slippers, the yellow brick road, the Wizard of Oz, Emerald City, and the disposition of the various local witches.

All you Wizard of Oz fans, join us in comments to discuss. And thanks once again to Jason! You may follow him on Twitter: @A2Jason.

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