Anybody else HATED the Wicked Witch of the West's backstory? - Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) Discussion

[–] PrimeMinisterOfTheSinister 11 years ago

Nope. You're the only Human Being on Planet Earth that thinks that. Congrats on being one of a kind!

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[–] e3e34ifj (1912) 3 years ago

ik this is 8 years ago, but go fuck yourself. i fucking hate people who answer this question like this. no, we arent asking if we are the only person in the entire world. we asking if anyone else ON THIS SITE agrees with us. fucking chode. 8 years later and i bet you're still a virgin.

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[–] PhineasAppleby 11 years ago

I'm never thrilled with the humanizing of a great villain. Her actual changed surprised in the sense it wasn't poor Theodora being forced into being wicked. I think her wickedness was already inside of her and the apple merely erased any good that might have existed.

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[–] Wildstyle26 11 years ago

Well, you can ignore this version. This film is based on the Oz novels, but the author is putting his own spin on the world of Oz.

As someone said, in the novels, the witch is scared of the dark, and hardly appears. The 1939 movie gave her a bigger role that what she had. But, that's just their film. They based their movie off the novels, but like this film creator, they took their own liberties with it.

Examples
In the novel, the slippers are silver. The director said the used ruby red because it popped more with the technicolor, and stood out.

Ms. Gultch wasn't in the books. She was a completely new creation for the film.

The whole Toto being taken away storyline wasn't in the books.

Oz was real, where in the film, it's all a dream, happening after she's knocked out.

I don't think the books ever said the witch was green either. That was another product of the 1939 MGM film.

This film was the same. This is how they wanted the witch to be in this version. Hell, if wanted, they could find a way to bring Theodora back to the side of good, and have Evanora be the big bad witch. Wishful thinking.

But, I liked her story. It was tragic. The true Theodora had a temper, but was genuinely a good witch, who wanted to help Oz be saved. But, she was very naive, thus became a pawn to Oz and Evanora.

She's forced into her wickedness, and now, there's no good left. She''s not naive anymore, but pure evil, damned to a fate of being melted away by a bucket of water. I kinda like that this big bad horrible witch started out as one of the sweetest people that wouldn't hurt a fly.

You don't feel sorry for the wicked witch. But can't help feel bad for Theodora, because he true self is corrupted, and she's killed because of her sister.

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[–] WhoopsieThree-D 11 years ago

Yeah... it was a weak and underdeveloped backstory. One of the most iconic villains in cinematic history became that way because of a guy whom she had fell head over heels for in less than 24 hours, then basically ate some instant evil because she was that hung up on him. Really?

Logan, buddy. It's me, Deadpool! I shot youuuuuu....

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[–] Wildstyle26 11 years ago

To be honest, Oz was Theodora's 1st everything. He took all her firsts in one night.

I believe it was a crush.

But, it being her first, and being a complete blow out upset her. Lots of girls would feel angry, or hurt.

People grieve in different ways. And hell, Theodora was only upset a few hours. She was crushed. She moved too fast, and got with the wrong guy. And chances are, she would have gotten over it. People don't get over something horrible happening in 2 hours. But, while her grief was fresh, and just hit her, Evanora swooped in, manipulated her more, egged her on, then gave her an evil apple.

Theodora only had a few hours to be upset, if not just one hour. So, of course her hurt was at it's strongest there. Because it was still fresh.

Now, she accepted the apples, because she thought it was take away her heartache, and she wouldn't care about what happened. But again, this hurt is fresh. It's just happening over the course of an hour. She just didn't wanna be sad anymore.

She didn't know her sister was evil, or that the apples would make her evil. When she found out those 2 things, she was horrified.

I can understand if people think the whole love/jilted part is corny. But, Theodora didn't become wicked and evil because of that, at least not willingly. People act like when she found out about Oz, she went crazy and started killing or something. Oz upset her. She became wicked because of her sister.

Even when she was upset about Oz x Evanora, and Oz x Glinda, she just broke a mirror, and it seemed that was due to herself. When she cries, she says "You fool, serves you right", before smashing the mirror.

So, she was apparently upset with, and ashamed of, herself, because as Evanora told her, Oz didn't say she'd be his Queen. She just assumed it, and treated is as fact. So, she realized she moved fast, and assumed too much too soon.

So, while upset that Oz didn't want her, I think alot of her anger, and hurt was with herself for allowing herself to fall into that position. Falling for all the flattery and nice words she'd never heard, then it turns out, all they were was just that. Nice words with no feeling. Thus she allowed herself to be used and thrown out, as opposed to taking things slower.

Oz wasn't worth perusing at all, by any woman. Clingy, or Indifferent So, it's made worse when a naive girl fall for the bad boy, because she's easier pray. So, even if Theodora didn't move so fast, Oz still wouldn't have wanted her. But, she didn't know that. It seems she blames herself.

Theodora seemed like the perfect pray. A beautiful girl who's naive, and, possibly, has low self-esteem

And when she bit the apple, and her eyes were opened, she was horrified. So, even with what happened with Oz, she didn't want to be wicked, nor kill anyone. She transformed unwillingly.

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[–] mark-maples 11 years ago

You got it!

Wasn't me

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[–] smoke0 11 years ago

I like your interpretation, too bad it wasn't apparent in the movie. The only thing I got out of the whole mess was that good girls don't do it on the first date and the guy is never to blame for what happens.

Revenge is a dish that best goes stale.

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[–] Wildstyle26 11 years ago

Well, I would think a good girl doesn't willing get with a man known for sleeping with and dumping women (Glinda). If a guy wants sex, fine. get a cheap slut or whore. Surely those women aren't serious. Leading people on, then they get pissed. ya deserve some bad things to happen.

Theodora was a good girl. Too good, which made her naive and rash. And Oz and Evanora both took advantage of her-for different reasons of course.

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[–] RenegadeBS 11 years ago

Seemed like a hurried version of Anakin turning into Vader to me. Hollywood is systematically converting our iconic evil villains into dumb kids with puppy love!

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[–] mdavis9 11 years ago

Because this movie isn't just building on top of the original 1939 movie and the original book, its also building on Wicked, the play. All of these things are part of the zeitgeist surrounding the Wicked Witch of the West, and they try to balance them. I thought some of the dialogue could of used a little help, but I thought that was actually the strongest part of the movie.

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[–] gallae 9 years ago

Though the MGM film also cut a 1/4 of the original story as well. The China Girl and China Country at least did appear in this film.

Laura Ess

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[–] tay-15 11 years ago

Maybe I didn't mind the story (since it's far-fetched fantasy in the first place), but Kunis was a bit disappointing in the role. She's certainly attractive but playing the witch is the type of role you could really take off with, and she didn't.

The bear does not quit. The bear will not die.

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[–] Darwinskid 11 years ago

I did not hate her back-story or Kunis' performance but I thought her relationship with Oz was too rushed for it to be truly effective.

I have an unbelievably long ignore list.

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[–] b_natrl88 11 years ago

I didn't necessarily *hate* it, but I do think it could have been developed more. I agree that Mila didn't do a very good job with this character; she was very stiff and dull...it was like she was reading her lines off of a script in her hand.

I also agree that James Franco's performance held this movie back. He was very hammy throughout the movie. Also his character wasn't really developed that well either. It's like the director didn't know who they wanted Oz's character to be: a greedy scam artist or a compassionate underdog.

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[–] LawrenceJoseSinclair 11 years ago

AGREED -- about halfway through I thought the only real actor in this beautifully drawn but poorly acted film was Rachel Weisz - no wonder, she's always excellent and has one well-deserved Oscar already; can't ever see Kunis getting one, she's still at tv level, so is Franco, he belongs on a worn out detective or crime show, doesn't he? This film was screaming for DEPP, imo.. or someone even edgier - is there anyone out there that can act besides DDay Lewis and Ryan Gosling?

My only regret in life is that I'm not someone else - Woody Allen

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[–] JackHammer69 9 years ago

Perhaps this young gent, Jack Huston.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1658935/?ref_=tt_cl_t12

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[–] regalheartlioness 8 years ago

I don't know...I remember the first time I really got my heart broken, and if someone came along with a real magic apple right when it happened and said, "Eat this, and you won't feel like this anymore", I probably would have taken it. It might have even occurred to me that it could be poison, and I still would have said, "Gimme that."

Now, I'd just deal with it and move on. This was her first, though, and it her sister got to her when the hurt was still fresh.

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[–] sONOMArEturns (1268) 5 years ago

Absolutely. The movie was perfectly alright in its first half, maybe even a little bit of fun at times. It wasn't anything special, but I wasn't getting the hate. That immediately changed once Kunis bit the green apple (green? Get it? Because she's also green?). The idea of the classic Wicked Witch Of The West's origin story just being some edgy emo high school broken heart is incredibly stupid. Her heart was only broken for, like, five minutes! When I watch the original Wizard Of Oz, I don't see some angsty heart-broken bimbo who would be perfectly fine had James Franco not done...wait, what did he do again?

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