them on the proper entrance procedure and shows them a box of spectacles with green lenses10, saying: 'But first you must put on the spectacles... Because if you do not wear spectacles the brightness and glory of the Emerald City would blind you. Even those who live in the City must wear spectacles night and day. They are all locked on, for Oz so ordered it when the City was first built, and I have the only key that will unlock them.'11 Whereas in the other territories outside of the City walls everything was painted, cladded, or clothed in the signature colour of the area, within the high walls of the City of Emeralds, every single thing is greengreen roads, green clothes, green skin, green lemonade. When Dorothy looks up, she notices that even "the rays of the sun were green."12 This is, of course, because of the spectacles, but even though the characters know that the glasses have tinted lenses, they are still overwhelmed by the effect. They buy into it completely and embrace the new reality of a total world of green. After the Wizard is discovered to only be a clever manipulator rather than one possessing magical powers, he explains the beginning of the City and the spectacles to the group of friends: 'Just to amuse myself, and keep the good people busy, I ordered them to build this City, and my Palace; and they did it all willingly and well. Then I thought, as the country was so green and beautiful, I would call it the Emerald City; and to make the name fit better I put green spectacles on all the people, so that everything they saw was green.' 'But isn't everything here green?' asked Dorothy. 'No more than in any other city,' replied Oz, 'but when you wear green spectacles, why of course everything you see looks green to you. The Emerald City was built a great many years ago, for I was a young man when the balloon brought me here, and I am a very old man now. But my people have worn green glasses on their eyes so long that most of them think it really is an Emerald City, and it certainly is a beautiful place, abounding in jewels and precious metals, and every good thing that is needed to make one happy...'13 When one wears the Wizard's spectacles, everything in view is green and therefore everything is of the City. Just as when Dorothy looked up at the sky and saw that it was green, the limits of the City are bounded only by the limits of site. The City of Emeralds exists as an extension of perception, a new reality defined by colour. The inhabitants are given new eyes with which to view the modern City and this view becomes one of collective subjectivity. The spectacles erase the traditional differences between exterior and interior, nature and the city, and the special and the mundane. While aiming to reproduce the forces of nature in a completely artificial way, the spectacles produce a world of complete virtual excess. What is especially interesting about this new treatment of perception is that the City now requires an audience for its existence. The Wizard is the only character within the City walls never seen wearing the green spectacles, which suggests that the privileged view in the Land of Oz is the one free from illusion. Without the illusion, however, one does not get to experience the spectacle. Even though the Wizard's identity is contingent on his ability to manipulate others through clever tricks- humbugs- the view he chooses is the natural one.
10 The ancient Egyptians crushed malachite, a deep-green mineral, into powder and wore it around their eyes to protect them from the sun's harsh glare. In a way, they are responsible for the first sunglasses. According to modern gem-lore, malachite is said to protect travelers who wear the stone. 11 Baum, 117 12 Baum, 121 13 Baum, 188