Last Sunday at our UU church, the theme was the spiritual journeys in The Wizard of Oz. Early in the service we reenacted the story, accompanied by a wild interpretation of the film’s music by Bobby McFerrin. All in about 8 minutes if you can imagine that! Wacky and fun.

There’s a lot any storyteller can learn from this story. It’s been used as an example in Debra Dixon’s workshops on Goal, Motivation and Conflict and analysed in terms of the Hero’s Journey.

Readers and/or viewers love it, for the fun but also the universal themes: misfits trying to find their place, the common insecurities of feeling one is not smart/kind/brave enough, coming of age, seeking something and being made to face our worst fears.

My family and I aren’t purists about our own Oz obsession–we like ruby slippers better than the silver shoes, for instance–but we’ve also read all the Oz books by L. Frank Baum and a bunch of the other Royal Historians of Oz. We’ve attended Oz events and in the past I’ve stayed up late to make a Princess Ozma of Oz costume for Halloween (not easily found at Target). 🙂 Besides the classic film, we also love “Return to Oz” with Fairuza Balk starring as Dorothy in a tale based on elements from The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz.

We love Oz not just for the characters but because it’s a world of its own, like Middle Earth, Star Trek or Regency England. Regency fans often love other shared worlds so now I’m wondering how many Oz fans we have out there. Unless you live with some remote tribe somewhere (with Internet access if you’re reading this!) you’ve seen the movie, but have you read any of the books? What do you think of the movie adaptations? Have you ever attended an Oz event or dressed up as an Oz character?

Which Oz character do you relate to most closely? I’ve always felt an affinity to the Cowardly Lion myself. 🙂

Which other shared worlds do you enjoy visiting and what makes you love them?

Elena, the rather large Munchkin in the purple hat
www.elenagreene.com

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This past weekend we attended the Eurocar 2007 show at the Lorenzo State Historic Site in Cazenovia, NY, arriving in our vintage Mini of course.

Built in 1807 by John Linklaen (of Dutch origin), house is furnished with items from the Regency through the Victorian eras. There’s a virtual house tour on the website. A treat is the carriage house with a mini museum including a collection of antique carriages and sleighs, a few close to “our” time period. It’s definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.

I toured the house with my children last year but this year we had the pleasure of participating in a “Victorian Fashion Show” in which the presenter dressed my oldest daughter as if she were going for a drive. Some of the things she said made me wonder but I’m by no means an expert on period clothing, especially Victorian. I’m curious to learn what some of our clothing experts think.

Here’s my daughter after donning drawers, chemise (tucked in–is that right?) and corset. The corset itself I know to be inaccurate, because it happens to be the same modern one I wear under my Regency gown. It weirded me out a bit to see it on my daughter! She laced it in front, too, which isn’t how this corset is designed to be worn and I thought most corsets still laced in the back during the Victorian era. I think maybe it was just easier to do it that way. The point was made that corseting was used to achieve a particular look. As it was 85 degrees out and humid, I’m grateful she did not tighten it too much!

The next layers included petticoat, hoops, another petticoat and bustle pad. The presenter said they might wear as many as 10 petticoats and that the full weight of the clothing might be something around 40 lb, which seems staggering to me. If true, this seems quite brutal, especially in summer.

The other thing she said, as she completed my daughter’s toilette with dress, shawl, bonnet and parasol, was that women were not supposed to show any skin other than the face and hands. Hence the long sleeves and high neck of the gown. By this point I was worrying I’d have to sprinkle water on my kid to revive her, but she did look cute!

Comparing to the Regency (check out
Kalen’s dressing the Regency heroine page) the initial layers of clothing aren’t very different. But without the profusion of petticoats, the hoops, etc…, the Regency lady’s clothing load would be far lighter. And at least she was allowed to show some neck and arm, allowing some body heat to escape if necessary!

As I said, I’m not sure everything in this presentation was precisely correct but it does generally match what I’ve read about the Victorian era. I like to be very active but I’m also a bit prone to heat exhaustion, so I’d have a lot of trouble putting a heroine into this sort of clothing. If I ever wrote a Victorian heroine, she’d have to be a rebellious, Bohemian type and flout at least some of these clothing conventions!

How about you? Can you get over these sorts of things when reading/writing Victorian set romance? Any interesting sites you recommend visiting that are closer to home for most of us than England?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Hi! It’s me today, back to the land of the living. My kids were sick early this week which is why Megan kindly covered for me on Wednesday. Thanks again, Megan!

Anyway I want to continue the travel theme started by Diane and Cara. I’m not going anywhere remotely exotic this summer (a cottage on Lake Erie doesn’t count, does it?) but I do love travel. While the British Isles are my favorite destination, I enjoy stories that take characters to different settings, even if sometimes those setting aren’t places I’d actually want to go for real. (I’m averse to heat stroke and political unrest.)

Mary Jo Putney has written some of my favorite Regency (or thereabouts) stories with unusual settings: SHATTERED RAINBOWS, which includes Peninsular War and Waterloo scenes and ends on a fictional island called Skoal and THE CHINA BRIDE. The interesting thing I noticed about these books is that in each, the timeline of the story is rearranged so the first scene takes place in England. I’ve always wondered if this was done for dramatic purposes or, perhaps, to reassure readers hesitant about exotic settings.

I say this because many times I’ve heard that settings outside the British Isles don’t sell, readers don’t like them as well, etc… I can already hear members of our Risky community protesting!

But MJP isn’t the only one who’s made a success of exotic settings. Loretta Chase’s RITA winning THE SANDALWOOD PRINCESS starts in India. MR IMPOSSIBLE, my favorite so far in the recent series (NOT QUITE A LADY is still in my TBR pile) is set in Egypt.

(Note: this illustration is from a delightful book I found on Project Gutenberg titled “A Museum for Young Gentlemen and Ladies”, 15th edition, published 1799.)

Anyway, it seems to me that the historical market may be opening up to more unusual settings. Amanda’s upcoming story, A NOTORIOUS WOMAN, is set in Renaissance Venice and Janet’s FORBIDDEN SHORES on a fictional island in the West Indies. (Brava to both of you!)

So, Riskies and friends, do you like exotic settings? Any favorites? Any you’d like to “visit” that you haven’t before?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

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