He's a huckster and con man, but at no point do I recall him actually using his authoritarian power to do anything monstrous in Wizard of Oz. He appears to be completely laissez faire towards the lives of regular Ozians. I suppose his demand for Dorothy to bring him the Witch's broomstick is, well, kind of enlisting a young child for a s…
He's a huckster and con man, but at no point do I recall him actually using his authoritarian power to do anything monstrous in Wizard of Oz. He appears to be completely laissez faire towards the lives of regular Ozians. I suppose his demand for Dorothy to bring him the Witch's broomstick is, well, kind of enlisting a young child for a special forces mission, but beyond that and having an intimidating false front he doesn't do anything monstrous. Once he's revealed, he is avuncular and well-meaning. He certainly doesn't display any bigotry towards sentient animals. The point of the character is that he's a light satirization of government figures.
(In the original book, he does make everyone wear green glasses when entering the Emerald City because the City is not actually green, so I suppose that's more of an authoritarian move, but that's just economic stimulus!)
He's a huckster and con man, but at no point do I recall him actually using his authoritarian power to do anything monstrous in Wizard of Oz. He appears to be completely laissez faire towards the lives of regular Ozians. I suppose his demand for Dorothy to bring him the Witch's broomstick is, well, kind of enlisting a young child for a special forces mission, but beyond that and having an intimidating false front he doesn't do anything monstrous. Once he's revealed, he is avuncular and well-meaning. He certainly doesn't display any bigotry towards sentient animals. The point of the character is that he's a light satirization of government figures.
(In the original book, he does make everyone wear green glasses when entering the Emerald City because the City is not actually green, so I suppose that's more of an authoritarian move, but that's just economic stimulus!)