My Mental Oz

I've been meaning to do this for a while, but now I've finally had the motivation to actually do it.

Basically, I thought it would be interesting (for me at least, not necessarily you) to give you an idea of how I envision each province of Oz and a few other things.

Now, you may not agree, and if that's the case, I'd like to hear your opinion! Also, many of my mental images may differ from the information we're given in different sources; and that is mainly a result of me seeing the musical before reading the book and having seen The Wizard of Oz 1000 times before seeing Wicked.

For example, I know the Vinkus in the book is largely grasslands and desert. But again, I saw the musical before knowing anything of the book; and although I have the grasslands in my mental "Vinkus"- because it's also featured on the musical map, I still see the Vinkus as I first did upon watching Wicked.

I also have to stress that I haven't actually been to most of these places, so my mental images mostly come from pictures I've seen and movies/TV shows, etc. Also, the pictures used aren't exact, obviously. Just to give you an idea.

So, here we go:

Munchkinland:

Munchkinland is a tricky one, because I actually have two sources. One of course, is The Wizard of Oz movie, as Munchkinland is the first place in Oz we see. Although The WoO mostly forms my basis for Munchkin City itself, combined with sort of just the typical country town.

For the rest of the province, I mostly envision where I've been living the past 3 years- the Australian countryside. Lots of green, lots of farmland, lots of sheep.

And to be honest, maybe a little bit like The Shire from Lord of the Rings.











The Governor's Mansion:

The Governor's mansion is the sole exception to this picture, and it's very similar to what I picture for Gilikin, as you'll see in the next paragraph.
Basically it's a big white house. And for some reason, it's always on the top of a hill.

This is the Governor's Mansion in Alabama. LOOK AT THAT STAIRCASE!!! *swoon*
(I have this weird thing about staircases. Love them)

Gilikin:

My vision of Gilikin comes from certain American states. You know the big plantation houses? That's what I picture. Like Gone With the Wind kind of stuff. Very green, lots of trees....





The Emerald City:

Basically, early 1900s New York, but green. I watch a lot of movies set in early 1900s New York. Or just early 1900s.



The Vinkus:

Again, I know- deserts and grasslands. What do I picture? Germany. Why? Excellent question. I don't know.





Kiamo Ko:

There's some really pretty German castles, and that's how I picture Kiamo Ko.



Shiz:

For Shiz, I mostly think of the big Ivy League colleges- namely, Harvard. Very old and lots of stone work....



Quadling Country:

Quadling Country was a hard one, and one I've only written once so far. All I knew about Quadling Country in the beginning was "marshland" and they were poor. This is what I think of.





The Glikkus:

The Glikkus is a place I haven't written yet. All I knew about that was this is where they mine the Emeralds for the Emerald City, and aside from Australia the only place I know Emeralds come from is Russia.

So, yeah, I tend to think of Russia.






I think that's everything... there's also Ugabu of course, but that's disputed and I haven't written that either so I don't think about it much.

An Amazing Story

Ok, this was only recently brought to my attention, but I thought it was amazing.

I love funny coincidences, and this was just too good not to share.

In 1940, a film was made by the name of The Shop Around the Corner.

This movie starred Frank Morgan, who of course was the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz, which had been released the year before in 1939.

In 1949, a musical adaptation of this film was produced called In the good old summertime, starring none other than Judy Garland, who of course, was Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.

Of course, The Wizard of Oz gave us Wicked,

and around the same time Wicked came out (the book) came another adaptation of The Shop Around the Corner, called You've Got Mail.

And this movie, of course was the inspiration of my Wicked fanfiction by the same name (You've Got Mail).

So, how crazy is it that I would be inspired to write a Wicked fanfiction, by a movie that was based off another movie starring one Wizard of Oz star and that had an adaptation starring another?

I'm a big believer in signs, and I can't believe how amazing this one is! Of course, you may all think I'm crazy and that it's not interesting at all. But I'm just fascinated.

Munchkin Pirates?

I've loved The Wizard of Oz since I was 5 years old. My video is so worn out that when Dorothy's in Kansas before the tornado comes, the picture goes in and out; so I had to buy the DVD a few years ago.

My favourite character was always the Scarecrow (so seeing Wicked made me very happy for that reason), but my favourite scene- even more than where Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, was the Ding Dong! The Witch is dead scene.

That's also my favourite song... just because it's fun and because we're new to Oz still in that moment, all the colour is amazing.

I've used bits from this scene in 2 different Fiyeraba's, Falling In and Taking Chances (OK, one is sequel to the other, but it's still a separate story!)

So, you can imagine my excitement when Rachel and Kurt sang this song on Glee. And maybe it was the arrangement, but I noticed something I'd never noticed before so had to go look up the original lyrics.

The part I want to draw your attention to is this:

"She's gone where the goblins go, Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out."

Specifically, I'm curious about the "Yo-ho" part. 


I only know one type of person who ever says "Yo-ho"

So, my question is (yes, this question was born whilst I was at work, and I am very tired and kinda hypo, but go with it).

Are Munchkins' pirates? Or did whoever write the lyrics just get stuck on what to rhyme "go" or "below" with?

Thoughts?