Glinda: Living in a Bubble
Okay, so we’ve been sharing some various literally evil wicked witches, so I figured we had to give a good (?) witch a shout-out, and I had to go with Glinda the Good Witch of the North (Billie Burke) from THE WIZARD OF OZ.
She’s almost like a fairy queen, knowing how to make a grand entrance via the massive bubble. She’s the synthesis of several witchy characters from the book (where she’s really the Good Witch of the South), fused into one iconic figure with a sing-song kind of voice.
The Munchkins seem to love her, so she must be alright, and she basically sort of “Gandalf-helps” Dorothy through Oz (you know, kind of-but not-really helping that much, and disappearing at inopportune moments, only to reappear at key points when necessary). It’s hard to know how good Glinda really is, versus just having impeccable PR and/or terrifying the Munchkins into submission through timely, bubble-driven theatrics.
Still, she’s basically sorta there for Dorothy and pals, and is the most powerful sorceress in Oz, so there’s that. She’s your go-to if you’re incapacitated in a poppy field, and shares the secret Dorothy needs to be able to get home.
I think Glinda’s iconic portrayal in the cinematic Oz resonated above and beyond the character, herself. People like the idea of the powerful and just, likely because it’s such a rarity in real life, so it’s nice to think of an incorruptible (?) entity of supposed virtue out there to help out when you need them most. It’s sort of ironic (and perhaps revealing) that, unlike the other characters in movie Oz, Glinda isn’t represented by anybody in the black-and-white real world.
Wicked Glinda Quotes
“You always had the power, My Dear!”
“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?”
For More Witches, Wicked and Otherwise
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