Adventure Girls: Dorothy

This is a new series of posts (subjects) I'm going to do, called "Adventure Girls"."Adventure Girls" are about different heroines from fairytales, story books, folklore and legends.
They're girls who've been on exciting adventures, and many of them had to survive or overcome their fears. Tough girls, and always seeking quests.
Some have been led down scary sinister paths, or taken to other lands outside of their control, but soon regained their courage to get what they want.
Many of these girls are pretty famous favourite characters from fairy stories. Others are not so well known but whose stories of adventure and magic have been around for a long time.
The inspiration of doing this new project is an extension from other projects of mine, covered here on this blog, with the titles "Power of the Goddess" (focusing only on Norse and Germanic goddesses) and "Fairytale Gromoire" (there are 8 of those altogether).

Adventure Girl Part 1 = Dorothy
Full name - Dorothy Gale
Appears in - "The Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum
Pets - A dog named Toto
Other info - Farm girl and heroine.

This girl appeals to a lot of young people and children (girls mainly) in a lot of ways. She's tough, for enduring so many dangers and befriending scary looking characters, facing a vile evil witch and helping others. Dorothy is most famously known for wearing a pair of magic shoes. In the fantasy musical "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), Dorothy (played by Judy Garland) wore a pair ruby slippers with hidden untapped powers. Originally in the book, those magic shoes were made of potent silver.

This girl was almost killed at the beginning of the story. Like other adventure girls, these heroines meet death. It's how she was sent to the land of Oz. A tornado whisked her there as she was huddled inside her house, until the house crashed landed upon a witch. The witch wore a pair of magic shoes, and was already a presence in the town of Munchkins, ready to cast a wicked spell over them. Dorothy accidently killed the witch but the witch's sister wanted the magic shoes and take revenge.  There had been two evil wicked witches, the dead witch of the east, whose magic shoes Dorothy inherited. And another, the wicked witch of the west. The good witch, possibly a witch of the north (who appears as Glenda in the 1939 film), gave Dorothy the shoes and a kiss of protection. That would've helped Dorothy on her journey. But instead, Dorothy faced more problems.

Dorothy's quest was to seek a wizard, who lived in the Emerald City, that would help her return home. To get there, she must walk along a road made of yellow bricks. She met a talking scarecrow, a man made of tin, and a lion without courage. These characters went along the road with Dorothy as they too wanted to see the powerful wizard. During the film, all of them make it to the Emerald City but then an intoxicating field of poppies sends them all to sleep. Gradually they are woken and finally enter the city gates, at first blocked by a city guard. When they all eventually meet the wizard, he's a tyrant head floating above a high emerald throne. The wizard is so frightening that they do as he commands, and sends them away to locate the witch of the west. Flying monkeys carry Dorothy to the witch's castle, and again, by accident she kills the second witch with a bucket of water. 

And so it goes on. The film didn't include everything that the original book had within. There were further adventures and more strange and weird characters.

There is a very occult feel to the "Wizard of Oz". It contains references to alchemy, magic and folklore. For instance, the paganism is subliminal and indirect, both using Celtic, Norse and Native American traditions. For example, whether deliberate or not, or it was the author's subconsiousness or plan, it's not too obvious. The little dog Toto is actually a wolf pup nicknamed "Totem". The Emerald City is a desired object, the Emerald Tablet, or Smaragdine Tablet, and Oz the wizard is possibly based on a god such as Hermes or Odin. The yellow brick road isn't a gold rush influence but cryptic clues for reaching the Emerald City, the Grail of Oz.

Dorothy is a modern rural heroine of fairytales and folklore. Although she's one of the favourite heroines admired by a lot of kids, there is a true life tragedy to her. The author read a news report about a real girl named Dorothy Gale, who was killed by a tornado in Irving, Texas, in 1879. Dorothy is also the name of Baum's neice who died during infancy. In a way to cope with the grief, Baum created his character Dorothy as a strong and lively teen heroine.

Actresses who played Dorothy Gale:
Anne Loughlin (1902)
Bebe Daniels (1910)
Dorothy Dwan (1925)
Judy Garland (1939)
Joy Dunstan (1976)
Diana Ross (1978)
Fairuza Balk (1985)
Zooey Deschanel (2007)
Matreya Scarrwena (2014)

More links:

Dorothy Gale Oz Wikia

Pix "Dorothy Gale" by Jessica Oyhenart-Ball