I’m too young to remember it so I have had to rely on the accounts of people who were there to authenticate this story. When I was a baby, lying down on a table, the doctor performing the procedure clumsily dropped his hemostats which came centimeters away from gouging out my eye. This was in the days before lawsuits and settlement offers, so the doctor simply finished the procedure, apologized profusely and sent me on my way. The result was a tiny but deep scar under my right eye: I love that scar because it is from my childhood and is a part of me. “The Wizard of Oz” is America’s foreskin-cutting-tool-inflicted-under-eye-scar. Now, for me to say that people only like this movie for sentimental reasons would be grossly unfair to such a well crafted film, However, there was definitely a “style over substance” approach taken with this movie and why the hell not? It was clearly meant to be a kid’s movie anyway, so any major depth would have been lost on the initially intended audience.
The opening credits roll over a dreamlike clouded background, both foreshadowing the events of the film (a storm and a dream sequence) as well as further invoking the concept of a child’s boundless imagination. The sepia tint of the film perfectly captures the dreary, colorless Kansas farm where the story is set, especially combined with sets that depict a horizon of nothingness. Rural life is depicted as especially unappealing to the chief character Dorothy (Judy Garland). She is ignored by her adoptive Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, constantly harassed and threatened by her cranky, spinster neighbor Ms. Gulch and her closest peers are the hired hands on the farm and her dog Toto.
As Dorothy daydreams about leaving her home while singing “Over the Rainbow” (this is where the grim realization sinks in that we are dealing with a musical) the wind begins to kick up and her song is interrupted by ominous music as Ms. Gulch approaches on her bike in an attempt to take and kill Toto, prompting Dorothy to eventually run away from home to keep him safe. Upon watching this scene, it is impossible to ignore the fact that this sequence was stolen, almost verbatim, to create one of my favorite scenes “Star Wars” where Luke, also an orphan living with his aunt and uncle on a farm in a desolate place, yearns for a more exciting life elsewhere while music expresses his sadness.
Not long into her journey, Dorothy encounters a kind-hearted trickster who calls himself Professor Marvel who performs a phony fortune telling for her, convincing her to return home. All the dark imagery leading up to this point (the cloudy, almost murky sky, the dark, gloomy music the wind blowing the cloth on Marvel’s covered wagon) finally culminates in the big dramatic tornado which in many ways serves as more than just an event in the film, but also a plot device and an antagonist. As Em. Henry and the farmhands scurry for the storm shelter, but Dorothy just misses them and is forced to seek refuge in the storm-battered house. The bridge between 1939 and the silent era 10 years prior is very evident as many of the older actors really enhance the believability of this otherwise cheesy scene with their physical acting.
Dorothy is hit on the head with a pane of glass and knocked unconscious, setting up what would one day become one of the most convenient plot tricks in cinema- the dream sequence. Of course it was less obvious at the time, but this is the point where the plot is allowed to get as outrageous as possible because it is occurring in a fantasy world. The images that swirl around outside the window of the house as it is lifted by the storm and hurled across the sky indicate that Dorothy’s real life and fantasy life are going to have many parallels, the most obvious being Ms. Gulch and her weird bicycle transforming into a witch riding a broom.
If “The Wizard of Oz” had achieved nothing else in terms of revolutionizing the film industry, the scene where Dorothy emerges from the farmhouse to the Land of Oz and the scenery transitions from the drab sepia tone to full blown color. Now, the amazing part here is not the use of color, as this was by no means a new technology, but the integration of the two as well as the contrast. The scope of colors and the boldness the green in the grass, the blue in the water and the yellow of the road make the film almost appear 3-dimensional. The importance of the colors is stressed in much of the dialogue at this point- Dorothy learns about the ruby slippers owned by the wicked witch her falling house accidentally kills, the Emerald City where the Wizard of Oz lives and the yellow brick road leading to it.
In a short amount of time the framework for the remainder of the film is set. Glinda the Good Witch explains to Dorothy that she is a hero among the residents of Oz for killing the Wicked Witch of the East- however it doesn’t win her any favor with her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton- in the other half of her dual role as Ms. Gulch and the Witch). There is a very rushed feeling to this middle section, introducing Dorothy’s travel companions the Scarecrow, The Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion (all played by the respective farmhands they represent) are brought into the fold in rapid succession, like literally seconds in some cases.
“A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others” (The Wizard of Oz, “The Wizard of Oz”)
Silly little songs like “We’re Off to See The Wizard,” “Courage” and “If I Were King of the Forest” are used to endear the flawed characters to the audience in lieu of character development, as is the case for musicals in general. To the film’s credit though, it does manage to remain visually stimulating throughout the extended song-and-dance numbers and at one point when the Wicked Witch dispatches her flying monkeys to attack Dorothy, manages to be legitimately intimidating. Midgets are used to great effect to play the Munchkins in the early Oz scenes, but when dressed as flying monkeys they are downright frightening. I can’t imagine watching this as a child and not getting scared.
Despite the Witch gaining the upper hand on Dorothy and her sidekicks, good ultimately prevails over evil when Dorothy kills her by throwing a bucket of water on her. The Wizard, who it turns out is no wizard at all, just a conjurer of cheap tricks (just like Professor Marvel) explains to Dorothy and her friends that the things they want most (a brain for the Scarecrow, a heart for the Tin Man, courage for the Lion and the ability to go home for Dorothy) have all been within reach the whole time. Dorothy wakes up back home in Kansas with all her loved ones holding a bedside vigil and she recognizes all the farmhands as the characters they were in Oz, doubtless to take the sting off the sad goodbye they all have prior to Dorothy’s awakening.
Though it is never mentioned, I have to assume Ms. Gulch is killed in the tornado, since she died in Oz and one of the last things we see is her being swept up in the twister (in Dorothy’s hallucination but nonetheless she was obviously out riding her bike when the storm hit). Also, it would just be a major hole in the storyline if she was alive since she would probably just come and take Toto away again. However, I’m not sure what the moral or lesson would be other than maybe bad people get what is coming to them, though this fate seems a bit extreme, though the Munchkins do sing a song celebrating someone’s death so apparently the value of human life is lesser in Oz- which REALLY reinforces the theme that it is a parallel of Kansas. Also, I sense perhaps there is a bit of Biblical symbolism implied as well but I can’t really finger any other than perhaps following the yellow brick road being a metaphor for a path of righteousness. However, since the yellow brick road leads to a false prophet that may not be the case after all.
People adore this film because of the fact that it represents youth, fantasy and escapism. I freely admit I am probably the only person who didn’t watch it is a child, but I acknowledge that everyone else did and that this movie is an important part of their childhoods. I do not personally enjoy the movie but I also do not fault it or take anything away from it in terms of artistry and legacy. As I said earlier, this is by no means the first color picture, the first musical or the first literary adaptation to a movie. But in some odd way I actually think these facts help this movie’s legacy more than hurt it. It’s easy to be the first feature length animated movie (“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”) or the first X-Rated Best Picture Winner (“Midnight Cowboy”) and make this list- it is another to take already existing elements of movie-making and still be able to stand out.
