Winged monkeys

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"The monkeys caught Dorothy in their arms and flew away with her": illustration by W. W. Denslow in L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900

Winged monkeys (often referred to in adaptations and popular culture as flying monkeys) are characters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, of enough impact between the books and the 1939 movie to have taken their own place in popular culture, regularly referenced in comedic or ironic situations as a source of evil or fear.

[edit] Details

In the original Oz novels, these were just what the name implies: intelligent monkeys with wings. They were controlled by a golden hat, initially worn by the Wicked Witch of the West who used it to set the monkeys upon Dorothy and her friends. At one point they destroy the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman entirely, leaving them scattered across the landscape. In return, the Wicked Witch is allowed 3 wishes that leave her entirely responsible for any mishaps or misconceptions.

In the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, the monkeys are apparently intelligent enough to obey commands, but do not speak, as in the book. This makes them seem considerably more "animalistic" and less benign. They kidnap Dorothy and dismantle the Scarecrow, but do nothing to the Tin Man or the Cowardly Lion, leaving them free to put the Scarecrow back together and rescue Dorothy. There is no mention of any three wishes in the film. Nikko (the head monkey) is shown again after the Witch orders him to throw a basket containing the dog Toto in the river (an order that Dorothy prevents him from carrying out), with the Witch as she angrily throws down the hour glass after the trio rescues Dorothy, and once more after the Witch has been melted. There is only a brief glimpse of the Golden Cap in the film: after Dorothy and the Lion reawake after Glinda breaks the spell on the poppies conjured by the Witch, she is seen watching them in anger in her crystal ball. Nikko hands her the Golden Cap and she utters the "somebody always helps that girl" line, before throwing the cap across the room angrily. The reason for this brief appearance comes from a scene deleted from the final film. In the script, after the Witch conjures up the poppies that puts Dorothy, Toto and the Lion to sleep she orders Nikko to fetch the Golden Cap so she can summon the Winged Monkeys and they can take the Ruby Slippers from the sleeping girl. However, she never gets a chance as the spell is broken before she can. Why the Witch doesn't use the Golden Cap to summon to monkeys when she sends off into the Winkie Forest to capture Dorothy and Toto is unknown. In the film, the cap looks almost identical to the original artwork by Denslow in the book.

In the film version of The Wiz, the African-American rock adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, the Flying Monkeys are a motorcycle gang, whose leader is named Cheetah, after the Tarzan character. Their metal wings are part of their motorcycles, but these apparently dissolved with the witch's other magic, as they are absent when carrying Dorothy and her friends back to the Emerald City.

An account in the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz explained that the hat was made and imbued with power by a princess named Gayelette. When she was to marry a man named Quelala, the monkeys played a prank on him. Angry, she made the cap, and gave it to Quelala as a wedding present. Quelala merely ordered the monkeys to no longer play pranks, but somehow, the cap fell into the hands of the Wicked Witch. After her death, Dorothy used the cap three times, and finally gave it to Glinda, who ordered the monkeys to carry Dorothy's companions back to their homes in Oz, and then to cease to bother people, and then gave them the cap as their own, to free them.^[1]

They were never included in any of the subsequent Oz books, although they are mentioned in The Land of Oz, and Alexander Volkov's Oz - based series briefly feature them once more (and they are also mentioned once more).

[edit] Depictions in modern fiction

In Gregory Maguire's revisionist novels Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and Son of a Witch, the flying monkeys were created by Elphaba (the Witch) as part of her experiments on the nature of the soul and what distinguishes non-speaking animals from intelligent, speaking Animals. In these novels, most of the flying monkeys cannot speak, but Elphaba's favorite (named Chistery) has a distinctive speech pattern characterized by the repetition of similar-sounding words.

Also, in the new miniseries, "Tin Man," flying monkeys get a new name, Mobat, a portmanteau of monkey and bat.

[edit] Political interpretations

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Some critics interpret The Wizard of Oz as a political allegory suggest the Winged Monkeys represent African-Americans, oppressed by an overbearing force and who are relieved to be free of that bondage when the evil force is terminated. Others^[who?] see them as hired Pinkerton Agents who worked for the Trusts in the 1890s and hounded labor unions. (L. Frank Baum made an explicit reference to Pinkerton agents in a later book, "Lost Princess of Oz", p 211)

[edit] References in popular culture

• Winged monkeys have appeared in The Simpsons, Montgomery Burns owns a few of them, though they are unable to fly. He attempts to send them to attack Homer Simpson and Mindy Simmons, who are charging room service to the company, but because they can't fly, the monkeys all plummet to their deaths. Burns exasperatedly tells Smithers to have his scientists "continue the research".
• Flying monkeys are mentioned in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a demon species. Andrew Wells summoned a group of them attack a Sunnydale High drama club production of Romeo & Juliet.
• In the movie Jumanji, monkeys see a television in a TV shop that at the moment is showing the winged monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.
• In the 1973 movie Hunter, actual footage from the Wizard of Oz movie is used to brainwash a race-car driver, terrorizing him until he screamed the line "Stop the monkeys! Please stop the monkeys!"
• The music video for "Heretics & Killers" by Protest The Hero opens with a shot of the front page of a newspaper stating 'The Witch is Dead: Flying Monkeys Out of Work'. The remainder of the video features the bandmembers dressed as the Flying Monkeys, trying (and failing) at various jobs, begging on the street, getting thrown out of a bar, and rocking out.
• United States Naval Academy midshipmen refer to West Point cadets as woops because of the similarity between the cadet's gray, high collar uniforms with those of the flying monkeys.
• A Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon in Nashville, TN honors flying monkeys on the basis of a local legend.^{[clarification needed]}
• A pair of large flying monkey statues from The Wizard of Oz overlook the city of Burlington, Vermont. They sit atop the One Main Building located on the waterfront of Lake Champlain. Architects inspired by the duo have copied the flying statues and incorporated other monkeys into a new structure on the waterfront near the One Main building. The Monkeys originally sat on top of a now closed water bed store, aptly titled " Emerald City Waterbeds", which was also in Burlington VT. The flying monkeys have become a must see for tourists and are one of Burlington's most beloved distinguishing landmarks.^{[citation needed]}
• Flying monkeys appear in Fables (Vertigo), both at the Farm and Bufkin, an administrative assistant.^{[clarification needed]}
• Bat-winged monkeys called "mongbats" appear as monsters in the Ultima fantasy computer role-playing games from Origin Systems.^[2]
• The 2007 Sci Fi television miniseries Tin Man depicts a re-imagining of Baum's world of Oz, including bat-winged monkeys called "mobats" that are the familiars of the sorceress Azkadellia.^[3]
• In the Disney film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, at the climax of the film one of the gargoyles, Laverne, is seen commanding a flock of pigeons, reminiscent of the winged monkeys. She uses the same dialogue and arm movements of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz, and the same background music plays.
• Flying Monkey Beer is produced by a microbrewery in Olathe, Kansas, a city south of Kansas City, Missouri.
• In the television series "Two and a Half Men", episode 6 of season 1 is called "Did you check with the captain of the Flying Monkeys?", and the phrase is actually said by Charlie. In episode 6 of season 3 ("Hi, Mr. Horned One") Evelyn makes Charlie, Alan and Jake wear Flying Monkey costumes, while she's dressed herself as the Wicked Witch of the West.
• The Winged Monkeys appear in the Robot Chicken episode "Cannot Be Erased, So Sorry" voiced by Seth Green. When the Nerd, Eric Draven (whom the Nerd imagined in place of the Scarecrow), Optimus Prime (whom the Nerd imagined in place of the Tin Man), and Lion-O (whom the Nerd imagined in place of the Coward Lion) storm the Wicked Witch's castle, she sicks the Winged Monkeys on them. While the Nerd beats up some of them, he advises Lion-O to keep saying "Thunder" until the Sword of Omens' blade reaches them and has Optimus Prime keep transforming to attack the Winged Monkeys. One Winged Monkey commits suicide by hanging himself after learning of existence from Eric Draven.

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