Thread by @Iron_Spike

Remember that time that tumblr literally just made up that green skin was anti-Semitic, and refused to be told anything to the contrary? Because they absolutely *needed* something to object to, that day?

Good times.

Here's a little film history, for you folks.

Here's the set of The Addams Family TV show. Pretty wild, right?

But it's worth remembering the show was shot, and originally aired, in black and white. So, viewers would have seen it like this.

So, why make it a weird pastel mishmash?

Because that pastel mishmash was the set designers and dresser working AROUND the limits of the medium. If the final product is going to be black and white, they were, understandably, preoccupied with *values.* Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a color.

To make every item and wall and piece of furniture stand out, instead of melt into the background or other objects, they made sure values were well-balanced. And sometimes, that meant a wall had to be pink. No big deal.

This was done in black and white films too, of course.

A tried and true old trick of the trade? If you wanted an actor to appear CORPSE pale, just dead-body pale, and have that translate well in black and white film?

You painted them green.

Maybe you see where this is going.

So yeah, the 1930s, "Frankenstein" movies, starring Boris Karloff.

Let's get this absolutely straight: He is pale. He is supposed to be pale. All contemporary promotional imagery depicts him as having a realistic skin tone.

But at some point, a color photo of Boris, in his full make-up, made its way out of the studio and into the wild. Maybe it was for a screen test, maybe it was mailed to a filmland rag. I don't know. But in the color photo, he was, of course, green.

So now? To most people? To this very day? Frankenstein is fuckin' green.

It's seriously just as simple as that.

But ANYWAY, I'm telling you all this cuz it's relevant to what comes next.

This was the 1930s. And Hollywood was trying something pretty new: FULL COLOR FILMS.

In 1939, this was released. Maybe you've heard of it.

A feature of "The Wizard of Oz" that is honestly pretty lost of most modern audiences is what an absolute MIND-BLOWER it was meant to be that the movie went from the palette on the left, which every 30s moviegoer were accustomed to, to the palette on the right.

It's not just color, it's SATURATED. It's practically an ocular assault.

We modern folks 100% don't appreciate how otherworldly this must have made the movie seem.

And here's where we get to the crux of tumblr's non-argument for green skin = antisemitism.

Yeah, you knew it was coming.

So, let's talk context.

This film premiere, again, in 1939. And, let's not forget, The Wicked Witch of the West was a hallucination, had by Dorthy, loosely based on the antagonistic Miss Gulch.

Here she is. And a 1939 audience would have parsed this without missing a beat.

Miss Gulch had CLASSIC "Spinster Face."

In 1939, being a spinster was a horrifying fate for many women, who relied on marriage for money and protection. Those who went uncoupled were often depicted as devastatingly unhappy, shrewish, and miserable. And I'm sure some were.

A woman her age, prefixed "Miss?" It was crystal clear.

But even if you missed that, the face would have given it away.

But there's MORE.

In a profound demonstration that the "You're only angry cuz you're not getting laid" dismissal of legitimate concerns and grievances is nothing new, many Suffragists were depicted as big-nosed, pointy-jawed, wart-afflicted spinsters.

And even with all these hints and outright FOGHORNs defining Miss Gulch's character, these was ONE MORE THING.

She's on a bicycle, y'all.

The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939.
Women's Suffrage became law, nationally, in the US, in 1919.
Women riding bikes being a sign of rebellion was from 1900.

Context is EVERYTHING.

Miss Gulch, before she says a word or does a single thing, is instantly defined as a shitty, angry, shrill, unreasonable, contrarian, and lonely woman, who probably just hates Dorothy because she's young pretty. She BROADCASTS this.

She's ALREADY a witch.

Her transformation into the Wicked Witch doesn't make her Jewish, ffs. It's a bombastic exaggeration of her already-there "ugly" old maid features. Her nose grows, but so does her chin & her wart. She becomes CARTOONISHLY shrewish & shrill, instead of just, y'know, a mean bitch.

And bringing it back around? She's green because it makes her look TERRIBLE.

She's awful, inhuman, grotesque. And she's no soft, desaturated, Boris Karloff green, she's TRAFFIC LIGHT green. It was a SHOCK. This would be a LOT of moviegoers' first time seeing ANYTHING like this.

And again, this is utterly LOST on modern viewers. Y'all are USED to seeing her green.

2019 you is making inaccurate, hair-trigger assumptions by cherry-picking certain features and ignoring others.

1939 you would have been screaming "OH JESUS CHRIST, SHE'S GREEN!"

There is absolutely subtext to Miss Gulch/The Wicked Witch. And the movie SLAMS YOU OVER THE HEAD with it. The scene where, trapped into the tornado, her bike transforms into a broom and she rides it away, cackling?

y e a h .

The intent is clear. Couldn't be clearer.

And to close?

There was no secret, coded, winkin' bigotry in Wizard of Oz.... because they wouldn't have had to FUCKING CODE IT. They wouldn't have BOTHERED.

This came out a year later.

And this, a year after that.

Missing from the remake, I'm told. How 'bout that.

Where y'all are getting the idea Hollywood, the industry launched by "The Birth of a Nation," would have to be sneaky-sneaky about their EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE bigotry is beyond me, but here we are, I guess.

And to bring it all full circle: That's Judy Garland.