Scarecrow (Oz)


The Scarecrow is a character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W.W. Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely naïve. Throughout the course of the novel, he proves to have the brains he seeks and is later recognized as "the wisest man in all of Oz," although he continues to credit the Wizard for them. He is, however, wise enough to know his own limitations and all too happy to hand the rulership of Oz to Princess Ozma and become one of her trusted advisors, though he typically spends more time having fun than advising.

Character biography

In ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz''

In Baum's classic 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the living scarecrow encounters Dorothy Gale in a field in the Munchkin Country while she is on her way to the Emerald City. He tells her about his creation and of how he at first scared away the crows, before an older one realized he was a straw man, causing the other crows to start eating the corn. The old crow then told the Scarecrow about the importance of brains. The "mindless" Scarecrow joins Dorothy in the hope that The Wizard will give him a brain. They are later joined by the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. When the group goes to the West, he kills the Witch's crows by breaking their necks. He is torn apart by the Flying Monkeys and his clothes thrown up a tree, but when his clothes are filled with straw he is back again. After Dorothy and her friends have completed their mission to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, the Wizard gives the Scarecrow brains. Before he leaves Oz in a balloon, the Wizard appoints the Scarecrow to rule the Emerald City in his absence. He accompanies Dorothy and the others to the palace of the Good Witch of the South Glinda, and she uses the Golden Cap to summon the Winged Monkeys, who take the Scarecrow back to the Emerald City.
His desire for a brain notably contrasts with the Tin Woodman's desire for a heart, reflecting a common debate between the relative importance of the mind and emotions. Indeed, both believe they have neither. This philosophical debate between the two friends as to why their own choices are superior; neither convinces the other and Dorothy, listening, is unable to decide which one is right. Symbolically, because they remain with Dorothy throughout her quest, she is provided with both and need not select.

Later Oz books

The Scarecrow appears in other Oz books, such as The Scarecrow of Oz. His reign as king of the Emerald City ends in The Marvelous Land of Oz when General Jinjur and her Army of Revolt oust him in a coup. He manages to escape the palace and joins Tip and his companions in seeking the aid of Glinda the Good. He spars with H. M. Woggle-Bug T. E. on the value of education. Although he claims to be educated himself and to value education, he finds the Woggle-Bug's learning rote and without wisdom. Although he cannot eat, he tells Billina that she might be better cooked and generally seems to favor the use of animals as food, sometimes making snide remarks to that effect to his animal companions, although he himself only gathers nuts and fruit for his traveling companions, such as Dorothy and Tip, to eat.
By The Road to Oz he is acknowledged, at least by the Tin Woodman, to be "probably the wisest man in all Oz," and this is the caption of an illustration, suggesting that the reader take his comment at face value. Dorothy herself, in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, praises the Scarecrow's wisdom and says the Scarecrow seemed just as wise before the Wizard gave him brains as after. In The Emerald City of Oz, the Scarecrow lives in a house-shaped like an ear of corn in Winkie Country. In The Scarecrow of Oz, the Scarecrow travels to Jinxland, where he helps Cap'n Bill, Trot and Button-Bright overthrow the villainous King Krewl. In Glinda of Oz the Scarecrow serves as Regent to Ozma of Oz, demonstrating that he is Ozma's third in command. Mostly all he does is play croquet until Ozma's advisers, including himself, band together for a rescue operation.
In The Royal Book of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson, Baum's authorized successor as "Royal Historian of Oz", Professor Woggle-Bug accused the Scarecrow of having no ancestry, so he returns to the pole at the cornfield where he was once hung. Sliding down it and descending underground, he first encounters the Middlings and then the Silver Islands, whose people believe themselves to be the ancestors of the Chinese. Apparently, when Emperor Chang Wang Woe defeated the king of the Golden Islands in battle, the king hired a sorcerer to sneak into the palace and transform the Emperor into a crocus, which later sprouted into a bean pole, preceding a prophecy that the first being to touch the bean pole would become possessed by the spirit of the Emperor. As it turned out, the first thing to touch the pole was the straw-stuffed human, which would become the Scarecrow. This account is not consistent with the Scarecrow's story in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz of becoming aware of each sense as the relevant organs were painted on his head.

Scholarly interpretations

Economics and history professors have published scholarly studies that indicate the images and characters used by Baum and Denslow closely resembled political images that were well known in the 1890s. The Scarecrow, like other characters and elements in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was a common theme found in editorial cartoons of the previous decade. Baum and Denslow, like most writers, used the materials at hand that they knew best. They built a story around them, added Dorothy, and added a series of lessons to the effect that everyone possesses the resources they need if only they had self-confidence. Although it was a children's book, of course, Baum noted in the preface that it was a "modernized" fairy tale as well.
Those who interpret The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a political allegory often see the Scarecrow, a central figure, as a reflection of the popular image of the American farmer— although he has been persuaded that he is only a stupid hick, he possesses common sense, logic and a quick wit that needs only to be reinforced by self-confidence.
The blackface minstrel star Fred Stone was the first to play the Scarecrow on stage, and he brought his minstrel style of performance to the role of the Scarecrow. Baum was delighted with Stone's performance, and he wrote subsequent Oz books with Stone's minstrel-style in mind.

In popular culture

Television

  • In the 1961 animated TV series Tales of the Wizard of Oz, and its sequel, the 1964 NBC animated television special Return to Oz, the Scarecrow was voiced by Alfie Scopp.
  • In an episode of The World's Greatest Super Friends titled "Planet of Oz," Aquaman temporarily became the Scarecrow after a tornado took him, Superman and Wonder Woman to Mister Mxyzptlk’s Planet of Oz.
  • In a 1981 episode of Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Shaggy is dressed as the Scarecrow after a tornado took him, Scooby, and Scrappy to "Ahz", a direct spoof of Oz with a different spelling by its enunciation.
  • Jackson Browne performed this character in the 1995 television special The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True. The Kansas farmworker Hunk does not appear in this production. Browne sang a folk music tempo of If I Only Had a Brain and the bridge verses sung by the Scarecrow in Nathan Lane's longer version of If I Only Had the Nerve.
  • In the 1996 The Oz Kids, animated cartoon, the Scarecrow now rules the Emerald City and has a son named Scarecrow Jr. His son is smart and knows everything just like him. Scarecrow Sr. is voiced by Andy Milder.
  • The 2003 Strawberry Shortcake cartoon's fourth season has the episode Berry Brick Road, where the titular protagonist gets whisked to the land of Oz. The Scarecrow returns as her first companion, now being played by Ginger Snap and sharing his voice actor with the latter. The Scarecrow's appearance has been changed to look like Ginger Snap, sporting long pigtails that reach his waist and a jacket just like the one she wears for her default outfit.
  • In the 2005 ABC television movie The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, Kermit the Frog plays the role of the Scarecrow. Kermit's other role was himself. Before Dorothy's journey, he organizes a talent scout for a star for a new show. After Dorothy's return, he hires her.
  • In the 2007 Sci Fi television miniseries Tin Man, the Scarecrow is re-imagined as the character named "Glitch". Formerly a chief adviser to the queen of the Outer Zone named Ambrose, he resists her usurper, the evil sorceress Azkadellia and has his brain removed by the physician as a reeducation measure. In the series, he wanders the O.Z. searching for his brain and becomes a companion of the protagonist, a girl named DG.
  • In the 2007 VeggieTales episode The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's, the Scarecrow and his Kansas counterpart from the 1939 film were played by Mr. Lunt the Gourd.
  • A commercial for GE smart-grid technology, which first aired during the Super Bowl XLIII, featured a computerized Scarecrow dancing clumsily on a radio tower singing "If I Only Had a Brain".
  • In the 2017 live-action series Emerald City, a more modern retelling, the Scarecrow equivalent in the series is "Lucas" and is an amnesic man who is rescued by Dorothy when she finds him being crucified at the start of her journey. In the course of the story, it is revealed that he is actually Rowan, the husband of Glinda, with his amnesia the result of a spell Glinda casts so that he couldn't betray her secrets if he was captured, but the restoration of his memory puts him and Dorothy at odds, as his devotion to Glinda leaves him incapable of recognizing Dorothy's real objections to Glinda's extreme methods to train younger witches. Psychologically torn between his memories as Rowan and his new relationships as Lucas, he eventually forces Dorothy to stab him to stop himself strangling her, culminating in Dorothy leaving him strung up like a scarecrow to symbolically reflect his desire to have never met her. Despite this, he appears in Kansas in the season finale, accompanied by Toto, to ask Dorothy to return with him to Oz.
  • The Scarecrow appeared in the Once Upon a Time episode "Our Decay", voiced by Paul Scheer. Many years ago, Zelena the Wicked Witch of the West targeted him for his brain as part of her attempt to create a time-travel spell. Before she can remove Scarecrow's brain, Dorothy and Toto arrived where they managed to get away from Zelena. With help from Hades who enchanted a bicycle that was found at the remains of Dorothy's house, Zelena was able to locate where Dorothy and Scarecrow are hiding. After magically freezing Dorothy, Zelena successfully removed Scarecrow's brain and was about to show it to Hades only to find that he is not there.
  • Scarecrow appears in the 2017 animated television series Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, voiced by Bill Fagerbakke.
  • Scarecrow appears in Lost In Oz, voiced by Stephen Stanton.
  • Although not a direct adaptation to the literature itself, the 2013 Super Sentai series, Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger features the Deboth Army's members being themed after the characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The then-Funfilled Spy Luckyulo is designed with the motif of the Scarecrow, who also shares his airheadedness and naivety to his source of inspiration. In Power Rangers Dino Charge, he was adapted as Curio.