Dorothy Gale

Dorothy Gale is the protagonist of the broad Oz novels and the 1939 film adaptation. Her first appearance was in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She's portrayed by Judy Garland in the 1939 film.

Why She Rocks

 * 1) Judy Garland does an incredible performance as the character, to the point where she won an Academy Juvenile Award for it. Plus she was 16 at the time, but with her breasts bound and flattened, they made her look younger then she actually was.
 * 2) She's extremely optimistic and friendly, always tending to look on the bright side of most situations.
 * 3) She and her Oz teammates and excellent companions to each other, as shown when they were nothing but loyal to each other.
 * 4) Her solo song, "Over the Rainbow" became of the most iconic songs in the movie, and film history in general.
 * 5) Despite being friendly most of the time, she's shown to brave, protecting and dependable when the plot calls for it
 * 6) when both the Scarecrow and Tin Man are too scared to fight the Lion, not only is she not afraid, she also gave him a smack in the snout for trying to hurt Toto.
 * 7) when the Wizard makes the Lion faint, she came to his defense first.
 * 8) when, the Wicked Witch set the Scarecrow on fire, she picked up a nearly bucket and put him out (which also accidentally drowned the Witch who was standing nearby).
 * 9) But above all, she managed to last the entire movie, and still keep her innocence and friendly nature.

Trivia

 * A couple of Dorothy's lines had become iconic enough over the years to get tropes name after them.
 * And You Were Thereis a trope where characters in a story different from the central story will be played by actors from the main story. Often this is a sign of symbolism or because the characters have traits similar to the actors.
 * But You Were There, and You, and You is a subtrope of the above where a character tells a story or has a dream of an unrelated event where people they already know fill in for the roles of the story.
 * Not in Kansas Anymore is based on Dorothy's famous phrase and used to express the realization that the character is in a completely unfamiliar (or indeed otherwordly) place.