10 Movies That Relied On Deus Ex Machina

To start things off, the first deus ex machina in The Wizard of Oz is when the Wicked Witch is defeated by pouring water on her, as this is such an unexpected sudden weakness for her to have and conveniently saved the characters, resulting in her minions releasing them. This was slightly mitigated in the book, as the witch always carried an umbrella.

The finale shows Dorothy finally preparing to leave Oz in the Wizard’s balloon. However, Toto jumps out, so she runs after him as the balloon flies away. It looks like she is stuck, but Glinda the Good Witch tells her to tap her heels together three times and say "There’s no place like home" and suddenly she wakes up at home, wondering if it was all a dream.

The ‘it was all a dream’ ending trope is so unsatisfying for the viewer, because it basically negates everything that has happened in the plot and character development up until that point. Glinda telling Dorothy that she had the power to return home all along, means that everything in the film was a waste of time.

When asked why she didn’t tell Dorothy earlier, she claims Dorothy would not have believed her and had to learn it for herself. The book deals with this plot hole a bit better as Glinda does not appear until the end, so did not have the opportunity to tell her earlier.