"A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others."-- The Wizard of Oz
It sounds charming at first, doesn’t it? It sounds charming, and sweet, and ever so true. It’s okay: you can say yes; I thought it sounded lovely at first, too. But stop for a moment and think about it. "A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others." Have you realized what the implications are of that statement?
You see, ever since I’ve come to love Wicked (the musical; unfortunately, I was unable to find in myself any fondness for the book), I find myself unable to think of The Wizard of Oz in any other terms. That is, the Wicked Witch will never again be the bad guy for me; she will always be the beautiful heroine Elphaba. Dorothy has been ousted from her position as protagonist, and I’ll never be able to think of her as anything other than that whiny silhouette I saw at the Kennedy Center.
So, returning to my original topic, I repeat the Wizard’s statement: "A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others." As I first read it on my friend’s wall, I didn’t think such a noble sentiment fit the Wizard at all. Then, I thought about it for a moment and realized that it fits him perfectly. I don’t think the Wizard gave a fig for anyone in Oz but himself, yet everybody in Oz thought he was the best thing to happen to them since the brilliant idea of putting marshmallows in hot chocolate came along. He was the Wonderful Wizard – complete with a wonderful heart.
Elphaba tried to help all sorts of people. Doctor Dillamond. Galinda (one time was not long after Loathing, remember!). The Lion. The Wizard (remember the monkeys?). Many Animals, probably none of whom she’d ever met before. The Flying Monkeys. Nessa. Boq. Fiyero. She loved most of them probably more than some people do anyone in their entire lives: she sacrificed her reputation and very nearly her life for them. By the “end” of her life, though, she could’ve counted on one hand the people who loved her. So, she was the Wicked Witch – heartless.
Unfortunately, it would neither be quite fair nor quite true to say the opposite – that a heart is judged by how much you love, regardless of how much you are loved by others; but I think it would be true to say that it ought to be. We humans are rather stupid at times; some bad people have been able to fool an awful lot of us into loving them without loving any of us in return. But, some good people have managed to love an awful lot of us without our ever so much as noticing them. That’s why that quote isn’t noble and sweet: it’s saying what matters isn’t how much you love, but how good your PR is. I’m afraid I can’t say that’s not how the world works, but I’m pretty darn sure that that’s not how it should work. So you keep your quote from the Wizard of Oz – I’m going to go listen to Defying Gravity.
PS: The title line is taken from a line from the musical Wicked by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz.
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