Malicious Monday: The Wicked Witch of the West

This is the scariest hand-shadow game ever!

I know we've been overloaded with this ruby slipper lusting, green skinned diva, with the fantastic musical Wicked and with last season's Once Upon a Time, but it's the first Monday of October. We need to blog about the baddest witch to ever graze the silver screen, and little kids nightmares, The Wicked Witch of the West. 

The movie I'm referring to is, of course, The Wizard of Oz from the year 1939. I know Oz was a series of books before Hollywood ever touched it, but when someone talks about Oz, most people think of the 1939 musical. It's so ingrained in our society and pop-culture how could you not? I know when someone talks about Dorothy, my mind immediately goes to Judy Garland's masterful portrayal of a gingham-clad farm girl who's swept up in a tornado and goes on a magical journey. I'm getting off track, we're here to talk about Dorothy's nemesis, The Wicked Witch.

You gave my sister's red sparkly shoes to a farm girl?!?!

Margaret Hamilton, like most actors in the movie, played duel roles in Oz. She played the evil, dog hating Mrs. Gulch in Kansas and then The Wicked Witch of the West in Oz. Margaret Hamilton, herself, wasn't a witch at all. She was just an ordinary girl from Ohio who always wanted to be an actress. Despite her dreams, Hamilton did as her parents wished and attended college, later becoming a kindergarten teacher (A little ironic... don't you think?). 

Hamilton's career as a film actress took off due to her "homely" looks. She was often cast as the typical New England spinster woman who wasn't down with the ways of the kids. She worked as much as possible, but unlike other actresses of the day, she never signed with any one studio. 

Hamilton wasn't the original choice to play the now iconic villain role. Some other beyotch named Gale Sondergaard was offered it. Long story short, she was supposed to play a glamorous Wicked Witch, Sondergaard turned down the role, so they went with an ugly witch. 

Hamilton had a rough go of it on the set of Oz. She suffered third degree burns from her Munchkin Land exit. She was in the hospital and at home recuperating for 6 weeks. Hamilton never sued the studio in fear that she would never work in Hollywood again. She came back to the set, but under one condition "NO FIRE!". MGM apparently had an extremely hard time handling their special effects. Betty Danko, who was a stunt double for Hamilton, suffered extreme burns on her legs that permanently scarred her.  

Enough about that for now, let's talk about the movie. The movie opens in a gray scale, drab Kansas where Dorothy and her doggie, Toto, are running. It's revealed the reason why they're running is because Toto got into the garden of the town's bitch, Miss Gulch. Dorothy tries to warn her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but they're too busy messing with chickens or some shit. So typical isn't it? I mean, adults almost never listen to the kids in movies, especially fantasy and horror films. I know that if I ever have a kid and he/she tells me that there's someone coming after them, you better believe I'm gonna be ready for some shit to go down! When adults don't listen to children, bad shit happens! A monster comes out of the closet, people die or in this situation, an evil bicycle riding bitch comes to get the family dog so she can have it killed. 

Miss Gulch comes riding up on her bike with a sheriff's order and a wicker basket of death to take Dorothy's dog. She claims Toto bit her, and even if that's true, the dog weighs like maybe 5 or 6 pounds at the most! Don't douche-nozzle! So the little terrier bit you? OMG! That's horrible! Someone call the F.B.I.! Miss Gulch, you sound like a dipshit. Anyway. Dorothy is rightfully devastated and Miss Gulch rides off with the little dog in her wicker basket of death. 

"Aunte Em! This bitch be crazy!!!"

"I'm gettin' the FUUUUCK outta here!"

Toto escapes and runs back to Dorothy. The only logical thing for Dorothy to do now is runaway! She packs a bag and starts to run off with Toto until she runs into the "fortune teller" who tells her Aunt Em is sick. Dorothy is mortified and runs back to her farm just in time for a tornado to make a visit. Dorothy is knocked uncosious in her room and wakes up with her room. She realizes that her house has been sucked up into the cyclone. She sees Miss Gulch outside her window riding her bike in the tornado, when suddenly she turns into a broomstick flying witch. Then all of a sudden BOOM! The house drops and Dorothy is in the magical land of Oz. Munchkin Land to be exact. 

It isn't long before Glinda the Good Witch of the North comes down in a flying bubble and tells Dorothy that she's accidentally committed murder. When her house fell from the tornado, it landed on top of The Wicked Witch of the East. All that's left are her black and while stocking clad legs sticking out from under the house and her ruby slippers on her feet. Because Dorothy killed the witch, she's now a national heroine and a parade and corigraphed musical numbers are held in her honor. 

Glinda... you're not helping.

The party doesn't last long though... BOOM! The Wicked Witch of the West appears amidst a ball of fire (Take that Gilnda! Your flying bubble ain't shit!)! The witch reveals she's pissed at Dorothy because her house killed her sister. Glinda further exsasperates the situation when she magically transfers the ruby slippers from her dead sister's feet on to Dorothy's. 
The Wicked Witch vows revenge: "I'll get you my pretty! And your little dog too!" BOOM! She's gone in a blaze of fire again. 

#ByeFelicia

"There they are and there they'll stay."
Glinda, gurl, you're not helping this situation.

Glinda then reveals that the only person who can help her get back home is the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. Then she's all like; "He lives SUPER far away in the Emerald City, and even though I'm a magical witch who can fly in bubbles, I can't help you get there. PEACE!"

Dorothy goes on a journey down the yellow brick road where she meets a Scarecrow, a Tin Man and a Lion, all needing something from the Wizard. They get to the Emerald City, but not before The Wicked Witch threatens them with violet apple trees, fire and poisonous poppies. 

Once they finally get to see the Wizard, he refuses to help them until they bring him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. AWESOME! Send an innocent farm girl, a man made out of straw, and man made out of tin and a cowardly lion to help fight the most powerful sorceress in all of Oz. That seems like the BEST IDEA EVER! Dumbass!

Dorothy and her crew end up having to go through this spooky forest where the Witch launches an all out attack on them. Her flying monkeys distract her friends while they grab her and Toto and bring her back to the Witch's castle. 

"Son of a bitch! AGAIN!?"

Once there, the Witch tries in vain to get the ruby slippers off Dorothy's feet. The Witch then orders one of her flying monkeys to take Toto in the all too familiar looking wicker basket of death, and drown him in a river. Toto escapes, but after he does the Witch gets even more angry and pulls out an hourglass. She says that once it runs out, she'll kill Dorothy. 

In the meantime, Toto finds Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion and leads them back to the witches castle where they infiltrate it and rescue Dorothy... kinda. The Witch realizes whats going on, and has an awesome scene where she orders her guards to 'not kill them right away, let them think about it.' She then throws the hourglass down and it bursts into flames. Fortunately, our heroes use this as a distraction to runaway. 

The Wicked Witch and her army finally corner them in her castle where the Witch decides to kill all of Dorothy's friends right in front of her before she finally kills her. The Witch sets the Scarecrow's arm on fire. It a fir of panic, Dorothy conviently finds a bucket of water and throws it on him and hitting the Witch with some as well. Water turns out to be the Witch's greatest weakness and she melts. 

We all know the rest of the story. Dorothy takes the broomstick to the Wizard, he's revealed as a fraud, but he gives her friends what they want. Dorothy then clicks her heels and goes home where she wakes up in the dull, gray Kansas surrounded by her family and friends. I guess we're supposed to assume Miss Gulch died in the tornado? It doesn't matter, we have a happy ending and Judy Garland's career was set to SUPERSTAR status! 

If you really dissect the Wicked Witch of the West... is she really that bad? Okay, yeah she's pretty evil, but she just wanted her dead sisters shoes! It raises so many questions! Why did Glinda give Dorothy the shoes? Glinda knew the Wicked Witch would do her absolute worst to get them back! In my mind it was all a political move by Glinda and The Wizard to get the Wicked Witch out of the way. Dorothy was unknowingly a political pawn in their sick little game! In the Broadway Musical, this is somewhat hinted at. In Wicked we learn about Elphaba and why she was considered "wicked." It was fun, and I LOVED it, but I'm not talking about that bitch! I'm talking about the movie version! 

I'm getting off track here. In reality you can look at the Witch under two separate lights. Under one, Dorothy got knocked on the head too hard and had a vivid dream of Oz. Her imagination cast the people in her real life as imaginary characters to help her along her way. Mrs. Gulch was cast as the Wicked Witch. Think about it; the evil bicycle riding woman was trying to take a child's dog away to have it killed! This is terrifying for a kid! This is why Dorothy imagined Mrs. Gulch's bicycle as a broom, her skin an ugly green and her hat more pointy. 

These things must be handled delicately... and by things I mean your murder.

The other option is that... well. it was all real. Dorothy really did go to this place. Either way it's an amazing film, (My favorite actually) and the sweet, funny, child-loving Margaret Hamilton secured her place in cinema and pop-culture history portraying the relentless Wicked Witch. 

Welcome to my crib! 

Either way, you're not necessarily supposed to view Oz with gray areas. Like most children's stories, there is good and then there's evil. We're not supposed to question it, though i always did when I was younger. I felt like a villain as a child. I was the outcast who no one really liked or wanted to play with. My skin might as well have been green just like the Witch's skin. I was different and always have been. For that, I've been ridiculed and cast away. 

I'm getting too deep here! Whether you feel bad for her or not, she meets her gruesome and possibly deserved fate. Because she was so wicked and corrupt, pure, innocent water was the only thing that could kill her. Dorothy unknowingly splashes the Witch with the dreaded liquid and she melts into oblivion. 

After her pivotal role in Oz, Margaret Hamilton went the rest of her life being feared and stigmatized by children. She was often approached by kids who asked her why she was so mean to Dorothy. In reality, Margaret Hamilton was the complete opposite of her infamous role. She donated to many children's charities and gave lectures at schools to interact with children. She even appeared on Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street as herself, showing children how she wasn't really the mean ole' witch, but an actress playing a part. 

That being said, she played a hell of a part! I personally was never scared of the Witch in Oz. I loved her! I dressed up as the Wicked Witch for Halloween, like 5 times in a row. It was so much fun to be wicked! Idina Menzel, the Broadway actress who originated the Wicked Witch role of Elphaba in the musical Wicked, sited Margaret Hamilton several times in interviews as one of her greatest influences for her Tony winning role.

It's not easy being green.

Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West was ranked No. 4 on the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Best Movie Villains of All Time, making her the top ranking female villain.

Those shoes are mine betch!

For more information of The Wizard of Oz click here

For more information on Margaret Hamilton, click here

You can purchase The Wizard of Oz at the TCM Shop.