Oz the Great compared to the Wizard of Oz

Oz the Great and Dorothy the Innocent ![2013-03-11-oz_header.jpg] ()
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 novel written by L. Frank Baum and is about the adventures of Dorothy, the Lion, the Tin Woodman, and the Scarecrow throughout their way through Oz in order to get what they want/need. However Oz the Great and Powerful is a 2013 film by Sam Raimi about Oscar’s adventures with his friends to become the wizard of Oz. Even though Oz the Great and Powerful is a different story of what happened before the book, the book and the movie are still very similar to each other. There are many ways one could compare these two works, but there is one that is the most important. One of these ways is how the movie focuses more on the three witches other than The Wonderful Wizard of Oz focuses on the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and the Lion. Those three extra characters both in the book and movie are both similar in letting the main character have friends but they are different because of their personality.

    In the new version, Oscar is accompanied by three female witch characters and in the book, Dorothy is accompanied by three male characters. All of these characters have made each bought structure to those two adaptations. To compare the characters in the book, Theodora is like the Scarecrow, Evanora is like the Tin Woodman, and Glinda is like the Lion. They all have secondary parts and at the end they change. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, all three of those main characters control different lands at the end (Baum). They also help Dorothy to become the person she is at the end of the book and to get to Kansas. This is the same as in Oz the Great and Powerful how the witches help Oscar get through Kansas. The one who sticks by Oscar, even at the end is Glinda and that is like how the Lion stuck through with Dorothy by coming with her to the Wicked Witch of the West. The Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow do their own thing in the movie and are similar because they each need some sort of body part. This is just like how both Theodora and Evanora are both evil in the movie and how they thought they were wronged by Oscar (Raimi). 

    Another similarity between the eight characters between The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Oz the Great and Powerful is how they journey throughout Oz. Both Oscar and Dorothy found their accomplices one at a time. Dorothy first found the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, then the Lion. In Oz the Great and Powerful, it was Theodora, Evanora, and Glinda. They both got to know each of the characters individually. In the book, Dorothy found out that the Scarecrow wanted brains because when he was on the pole, the raven always made fun of him, saying that he could never scare them without a brain (Baum). In Theodora’s case, she wanted Oz to have a wizard and she told Oscar that she was the good witch. The next character, the Tin Woodman, told Dorothy that he wanted a heart because he wanted to love the wife that he wanted to marry a long time ago. When Oscar met Evanora, she told him that she was also the good witch and to kill the wicked witch. Compared to the book, at the end, Dorothy and her friends were tasked by the wizard to kill The Wicked Witch of the West (Baum). That just means Oscar gave the task that he was given before from Evanora to Dorothy, except it was Evanora who was the bad witch. She also asked Oscar if he could show her his powers to prove he wasn’t a fraud. The last character that the two of them met on their adventure was the Lion and Glinda. The Lion told Dorothy that he just wanted to have courage because unlike the other beasts of the forest, all he does is run away from his enemies and roars very loudly meaning he is not courageous to him. Glinda was the one Oscar stuck with to the end and she told him that she was actually the good witch because she wasn’t the one her poisoned her father (Raimi).

    There are also differences between the characters that accompanied the main character(s) in the book and movie. One of these differences is how unlike in the book, all two of the witches have turned sides against the main character. The three male characters that followed Dorothy in the book stuck with her to the end because they were all searching for something. In Oz the Great and Powerful, Evanora turned against Oscar by telling Theodora that Oscar has betrayed her. She told Theodora Oscar had danced with her and also gave her the music box (Raimi). This caused Theodora to turn against Oscar and eat the green apple that her sister gave to her which made her to turn green with hatred. The only witch that did stick with Oscar and did believe in him was Glinda. The reason why she did this is because she needed him to defeat her sisters for killing her father. At the end of the movie, when Oscar finally defeats the two evil witches, Theodora goes to and rules the Winkie Country ruling Munchkin country (Baum). The difference between the movie and the book is in the movie, Glinda stays in the palace of Emerald City and in the book, Glinda just stays in her palace. 

    The second difference between the book and the movie characters is how the witches are portrayed in each stories and how they changed from when they first started. In the movie, the Wicked Witch of the West (Theodora) was good in the beginning of the book. She turned evil and green because of Oscar and Evanora. She shows her evilness in the movie by invading the Munchkin land and hurting Glinda (Raimi). In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, all she cares about is obtaining the silver shoes. Most of her powers come from the creatures she controls because she a has wolves, bees, and Winkies to do the dirty work for her. She keeps the Golden Cap in the book, which allows her to control the winged monkeys and obey her every command. When Dorothy and the Lion came, she starved the Lion and tripped Dorothy to try to take her silver shoes. This shows that from the movie to the book, the witch has changed because she has become more evil (Baum). Evanora in the movie was evil because she had tried to kill Glinda at the end. Unlike the book, the movie gives Evanora a role. In the book, Evanora is killed by Dorothy’s house and all you can see is her legs and silver slippers. As for Glinda, it was similar how she helped Dorothy and Oscar. She had bought both of them to the palace for different reasons but it helped Dorothy get home and Oscar plan his next move in killing the Wicked Witch. Glinda hasn’t really changed at all, the only thing different is that she has more scenes in the movie than in the book.

 Both The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Oz the Great and Powerful are two similar stories based off of different events. The movie events took place earlier than the book since it was just a prelude to the original. All of these characters in the book and the movie all accompany the main character in some way either by helping that character or going against them completely. For example, two of the witches in the movie did not like Oscar at all and unlike the book, all three of Dorothy’s friends stuck by her till the very end. Those three main characters in both the book and the movie made them what they are and without them the story wouldn’t be the same. It allowed the story to transition into one scene to the other. All those characters have different personalities and they gave both films meaning. Each of them have a good story to tell with different yet memorable characters and even though the movie was made after the book, it still explains what was going on well.