Not Your Mother's Wizard of Oz

Title:  Not Your Mother's Wizard of Oz

Name:  Heidi Lorenzen

Personal Response to Film:

The Wizard of Oz was a staple of my childhood, it was a film that I watched frequently.  Growing up, I was the kind of person who needed a television on in order to fall asleep; the movie that I would watch at night would be the same movie every night for probably a week.  The Wizard of Oz was my choice often because I loved the story of it.  I always imagined myself as Dorothy, have the opportunity to travel "over the rainbow" and meet the Great and Powerful Oz.  The extremely bright colors and lovable characters are two of the aspects of film that made me love the movie.  Dorothy seemed to me to be "the girl next door" as if I could actually be her.  This idea drew me in and fascinated me; it's probably one of the reasons I watched it so often.

Summary of Critical Article:

Henry Littlefield, author of The Wizard of Oz:  Parable on Populism truly disrupts any thoughts of the Wizard of Oz movie that you watched as a child.   Littlefield draws a parallel between Lyman Frank Baum's original book of the story to the current events in America at the time.  Some of the most important parallels Littlefield draws are between the main characters of the story book.  "Led by naive innocence and protected by good will, the farmer, the laborer and the politician approach the mystic older of national power to ask for personal fulfillment" (Littlefield, 1964, p. 57).  According to Littlefield, the general American population can relate to Dorothy; "Dorothy is Baum's Miss Everyman. She is one of us, levelheaded and human, and she has a real problem" (1964, p. 52).  The Scarecrow is the farmer from the above quote; disputing thoughts of Midwestern farmers as ignorant and irrational, Baum designs the character to emerge "...as innately a very shrewd and very capable individual" (Littlefield, 1964, p.53).  Secondly, the Tin Man parallels the laborer.  Henry Littlefield argues that the original Tin Man, who had been a human that was turned into tin by "Eastern influences on honest labor," which "...dehumanized a simple laborer so that the faster and better he worked the more quickly he became a kind of machine" (1964, p. 52).  Finally, the politician (according to Littlefield) is represented by the Cowardly Lion.  According to research done by the article's author, Henry Littlefield, Baum was a supporter of a politician named William Jennings Bryan; Littlefield argues that Baum's Cowardly Lion represents Bryan.  As the Wizard represents America's leaders (presidents who are elected persons rather than having to been born in a royal family), he can help to fulfill the wishes of the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion by helping them view themselves more objectively and solving their own problems.  When it comes to Dorothy though, he is unable to grant her wish of going home because Littlefield finds that "...Baum poses a central thought; the American desire for symbols of fulfillment is illusory. Real needs lie elsewhere" (1964, p. 57).  The Wizard of Oz Littlefield addresses is a very different one than I watched as a child, though it is intriguing to examine his parallels.

Response to Critical Article:

As stated above, The Wizard of Oz that Henry Littlefield brings to light is a very different story than the movie that I watched growing up.  Littlefield brought up details down to the water that melted the witch being a "precious commodity which the drought-ridden farmers on the great pails needed so badly, and which if correctly used could create an agricultural paradise..."  (Littlefield, 1964, p. 56).  Henry Littlefield, simply put, had a different view of the story than I did as a child.  I find it fascinating, but truthfully, I also find it to be "head-spinning."  While I was reading the article written by Littlefield, I could not help to think "why was this guy reading this far into the story?!"  A quote by Baum in Littlefield's article states "The story of 'the Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was written solely to pleasure children of today" (Littlefield, 1964, p. 58) and after all of the connections Littlefield makes, I'd like to just agree with Baum.

Consideration of Critic’s Use of Critical frameworks/concepts:

Littlefield utilized a historical framework to find deeper meaning and connections to historical events, characteristics and groups of people.  Using the historical framework, Littlefield assumed that Baum's choices of theme, characters and story line was influenced by the world around him.

Film Analysis:

The pivotal scene of the film that contains many film techniques is the scene in which Dorothy's house lands in Munchkin land.  At the start of the scene, we see Dorothy's back with a wide angle camera shot to see her open the door to the colorful Munchkin land.  When walking through the door, the camera is straight-on with Dorothy as the focus.  The music is a light orchestra sound, with birds chirping.  As she looks around, the camera is in a close-up shot of Dorothy; it then changes to a long-shot to sort of show Dorothy's view of the foreign land she finds herself in.  The lighting in the scene is very bright, as well as the colors used which is a drastic change from the sepia color of the beginning of the film.  Dorothy entering Technicolor

References:
Littlefield, H.  (1964).  The Wizard of Oz:  Parable on Populism.  American Quarterly, 16 (1), 47-58.