5 Reasons The Wizard Of Oz Is One Of The Most Progressive Books Ever

4. Ozma Is Arguably Transgender

Wizard of Oz Judy Garland
Buena Vista Distribution

This may be a stretch, but just hear it out before you start storming the comments section.

Ozma was a princess of Oz. When she was still an infant, she was taken to the witch Mombi, who turned her into a boy. Mombi then raised the boy, Tip, as her servant until he was approximately 10-12 years old, at which point he ran off on an adventure, where he befriended a wooden, pumpkin-headed man, a living saw-horse, a scarecrow king, a man made of tin, a giant bug, and a creature made of sofas, a broom, and a stuffed and mounted animal head. Oh, uh, spoilers for a hundred-year-old story. At the end of The Marvelous Land of Oz, Tip discovers his true identity, and agrees to undergo a transformation to become the Princess Ozma once more. While this is drastically different from what many in the transgender community go through, it's not hard to think we can all agree that it has a familiar ring.

Someone forced into a gender that wasn't theirs, raised to live in that mold their whole life, under the "care" of the person forcing that life on them, only to literally run away and find peace, happiness, and acceptance among a motley group of people who were different from everyone else around them. Finally, in accepting who they were, and undergoing a magical transformation, they found themselves.

While Ozma's circumstances are wildly atypical, you can at least agree with the reasons for this personal head-cannon.

Contributor
Contributor

I'm a writer, father, and student. I was born in the southern United States, and currently reside on the coast of Georgia. I am earning a Bachelor of Fine Art's degree in Creative Writing from Full Sail University.