Emerald City

The Emerald City (sometimes called the City of Emeralds) is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).

Fictional description

Located in the center of the Land of Oz, the Emerald City is the end of the famous yellow brick road, which starts in Munchkin Country. In the center of the Emerald City is the Royal Palace of Oz.

In the first book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), the walls are green, but the city itself is not. However, when they enter, everyone in the Emerald City is made to wear green-tinted eyeglasses; this is explained as an effort to protect their eyes from the "brightness and glory" of the city, but in effect makes everything appear green when it is, in fact, "no more green than any other city". This is yet another "humbug" created by the Wizard.^[1] In this book, the Wizard also describes the city as having been built for him within a few years after he arrived.^[2] It was he who decreed that everyone in the Emerald City must wear green eyeglasses, since the first thing he noticed about Oz after he landed in his hot air balloon was how green and pleasant the country was.

In the second book, The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), however, the characters are required to wear the glasses at first, but halfway through the book, no more eyeglasses appear and no more mention is made of the brilliance, but the city is still described as green.^[3] This is continued throughout the series. The only allusions to the earlier conception appeared in The Road to Oz (1909), where the Little Guardian of the Gates wears green spectacles, the only character to do so.^[4] Furthermore, although at one point the character Tip describes it as being built by the Wizard, at another the Scarecrow explains that the Wizard had usurped the crown of Pastoria, the former king of the city, and from the Wizard the crown had passed to him. The book quickly concerns itself with finding the rightful heir to the crown of the city.^[5] Ozma remained the king's heir, though both she and the original king were transformed to the ruler of all Oz.^[6] However, the story reverted to the Wizard's having built the city in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz (1908), with the four wicked witches having usurped the king's power before the Wizard's arrival.^[7]

The Oz books describe the Emerald City as being built of green glass, emeralds, and other jewels. In the earlier books, it was described as completely green, but in later ones, green was merely the predominating color; the buildings were decorated with gold as well, and people added other colors to their costumes.^[4]

In the first book, one scene of the Emerald City is of particular note in the development of Oz: Dorothy sees rows of shops, selling green articles of every variety, and a vendor who sells green lemonade, from whom children bought it with green pennies. This contrasts with the later description of Oz, in which money does not feature. Interpreters have argued that the Wizard may have introduced money into the city, but this is not in the text itself.^[8]

The Emerald City of Oz (1910), the sixth book in the Oz series, describes the city as having exactly 9654 buildings and 57,318 citizens.^[9]

Sources

Baum may have been partly inspired in his creation of the Emerald City by the White City of the World Columbian Exposition of 1893,^[10] which he visited frequently, having moved to Chicago in anticipation of the event. W. W. Denslow, the illustrator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was also familiar with the White City, as he had been hired to sketch and document the exposition for the Chicago Times; Denslow's illustrations of the Emerald City incorporate elements that may have been inspired by the White City.^[11] The quick building of the White City, in less than a year, may have been an element in the quick construction of the Emerald City in the first book.^[2]

It is also likely that Baum's favored haunt, the Hotel Del Coronado, influenced its description in later books.

Interpretations

Scholars who interpret The Wizard of Oz as a political allegory see the Emerald City as a metaphor for Washington, D.C. and unsecured "greenback" paper money. In this reading of the book, the city's illusory splendor and value are compared with the value of paper money, which also has value only because of a shared illusion or convention. It is highly likely that the Hotel del Coronado influenced its description in later books, as well as in the artwork by John R. Neill.

Adaptations and allusions

In city nicknames and symbolism

David Williamson (whose brother-in-law wrote the Oz-inspired musical Oz (1976)) wrote a play called Emerald City (1987). The term is used as a metaphor by the character Elaine Ross, who describes Sydney as "the Emerald City of Oz", where people go expecting their dreams to be fulfilled only to end up with superficial substitutes and broken dreams. (Note that "Oz" can refer to "Australia" in colloquial Australian speech.^[12]) The 2006 Sydney New Year's Eve Festivities were entitled "A Diamond Night in Emerald City" also in reference to Williamson's play, and the "Diamond Night" alluded to the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2007.^[13] (The bridge was the centerpiece of the celebrations). Subsequently, "Emerald City" has occasionally been used as an unofficial nickname for the city of Sydney.^[14] The head office of the Sydney-based merchant banking and private equity firm Emerald Partners is located on top of the Museum of Contemporary Art building on the Sydney Harbour foreshore, at Circular Quay. The firm was named after Baum's book and the David Williamson play.

The American city of Seattle, Washington has used "The Emerald City" as its official nickname since 1982.^[15] There is also a drink known as "Emerald City" that is associated with the city of Seattle.^[16] Eugene, Oregon is also referred to as the Emerald City, and the region has been known as the Emerald Empire as early as 1928.^[17]

Muntinlupa City is nicknamed as the Emerald City of the Philippines by the Department of Tourism.

In films and television

• The Emerald City appears in the film The Wizard of Oz (1939).
• The Emerald City appeared in the film Return to Oz having been destroyed by the Nome King with all of its inhabitants turned to stone. When Dorothy enters she finds the city inhabited by Wheelers and ruled over by Mombi. Upon retrieving the ruby slippers from the Nome King, Dorothy uses their power to restore the Emerald City to its former glory.
• The Emerald City appears in The Wizard of Oz TV series. After the Wicked Witch of the West is resurrected by her loyal Flying Monkeys, she casts a spell on the Emerald City that tarnishes it.
• The HBO prison series Oz takes place mostly in the experimental unit Emerald City (colloquially EM City) of the fictional Oswald State Penitentiary, somewhere in New York.
• The Emerald City can be seen on the hit ABC TV show Once Upon A Time.
• A "Central City" is one of the chief settings of the 2007 Sci Fi television miniseries Tin Man, a re-imagining of Baum's world that alludes to many of the locales of Oz. For example, the "Outer Zone" (O.Z.) is described as a bleak rendition of the beautiful world of Oz.^[18] Central City is a completely computer-generated set, one of the largest for a television series of its time, according to the production designer, Michael Joy.^[19] Its scenic design features heavy elements of steampunk and pays visual homage to Blade Runner (1982), according to co-creator Craig van Sickle.^[20]
• In July 2014, Baby Gumm Productions presented Emerald City - A musical play at The Toronto Fringe Festival. The show is a jukebox musical that sees Dorothy and her friends in group therapy with Dr. Oz, Psychiatrist.
• The 2017 NBC TV series Emerald City.

In literature

In Gregory Maguire's revisionist Oz novels, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995) and Son of a Witch (2005), the Emerald City is a much darker place than in Baum's novels. It does have splendid palaces and gardens, but sections are also beset by crime and poverty. Son of a Witch introduces Southstairs, an extensive political prison located in the caves below the Emerald City. The green glasses worn by the citizens are often used as a way to stop them from seeing what is going on around them.

In video games

The video game Emerald City Confidential (2009) portrays the Emerald City as a film noir place with private detectives, widespread corruption, mob bosses, smugglers, and crooked lawyers. Set 40 years after the events of The Wizard of Oz, its described as "Oz, seen through the eyes of Raymond Chandler".^[21]

References