THE WIZARD OF OZ ANALYSIS 1 Abstract The Wizard of Oz has stood the test of time and is still relevant in today's society. The plot reveals a coming of age story with invaluable life lessons. With songs like "We're Off To See The Wizard", "Ding-dong! The Witch Is Dead!", "If I Only Had A Brain!", and "The Merry Old Land Of Oz!" it s a no-brainer that it ranks in the top of the genre category of the musical. Made in the Golden Age of Hollywood, the movie showcases technological advances in sound and color. The technical composition is a classic time stamp of its time. In 1939 the debut was a success in the box office but The Wizard of Oz barely broke even financially due to the high cost of it's making. Only time would tell the legendary role The Wizard of Oz had on history. With Americans going through trying times like the Great Depression of the 1930's and the beginning of World War II (1939-1945), it's no wonder that just like Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats were a beacon of hope to the citizens that Hollywood would make a movie that is a beacon of hope to the viewers. The socio-political impact of the film's release and reception have a direct correlation with the surrounding circumstances of the time period the film was created in. I chose to analyze The Wizard of Oz because I feel that it is a movie you can take a life lesson away from no matter how many times you watch it. In 2006, 67 years after it debuted, the movie became relevant in my life when the company I worked for, used it's lessons to train leadership skills. The company used the book The Oz Principle by Roger Connors, Tom Smith, Craig Hickman. In my opinion, the Wizard of Oz is the best movie of all time.
THE WIZARD OF OZ ANALYSIS 2 The Wizard of Oz Analysis The Wizard of Oz's plot is the way the filmmakers unfold what we see and hear in the movie through diegetic and non-diegetic events. First, we see a young girl named Dorothy who lives on a farm in Kansas with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Miss Gulch comes to the farm to present an order to take Toto to the sheriff for biting her. She puts Toto in a basket that goes on the back of her bicycle. As she rides off, Toto escapes and runs back to Dorothy. Dorothy takes Toto and runs away. She crosses paths with Professor Marvel. He tricks her by looking into his crystal ball to see Aunt Em sick. Dorothy rushes home to be met by a tornado. Unable to get in the storm shelter, she takes refuge in her room. A window comes out of the tracks from the wind and knocks her unconscious. She starts dreaming. When the house stops spinning, Dorothy ventures out into the world of Oz. The good witch of the North, Glinda shows Dorothy the house landed on the Wicked Witch of the East killing her and freeing the Munchkins from her reign. The Wicked Witch of the West sees her sister is dead. Meanwhile, Glinda puts the ruby slippers on Dorothy. The Wicked Witch of the West threatens Dorothy and Toto. The good Witch of the North suggests Dorothy finds the wizard of Oz in Emerald City so he can tell her how to get back to Kansas. She starts her journey down the yellow brick road. Soon she crosses paths with a scarecrow who thinks he has no brain. He joins Dorothy in her journey in hopes the Wizard of Oz can give him a brain. They come across some spellbound apple trees and manage to escape even getting apples in the process thanks to the Scarecrows manipulating plan. Next, Dorothy finds the Tin woodman who was so rusty from rain he couldn't move. They oil him so he can move again. He tells Dorothy his dream is to have a heart. He joins their journey in hopes the wizard can give him a heart. The Wicked Witch of the West tries to set the scarecrow on fire unsuccessfully. As they walk through the dark forest worried about lions, tigers, and bears, the cowardly lion jumps out and scares Dorothy, scarecrow, and the Tin man. They find out he is looking for courage and he joins them to see if the wizard of Oz can
THE WIZARD OF OZ ANALYSIS 3 give it to him. The Wicked Witch of the West puts a sleeping spell on the poppy field they have to cross to get to Emerald City. Toto, Dorothy, and the lion fall asleep. Glinda the good witch makes a spell which makes it snow. This awakens everyone. They make it to Emerald City's gate to have to talk the Gatekeeper. Since he had an Aunt Em he sympathizes with Dorothy and lets them in. Greeted by the carriage driver, he takes them to tidy up. The wicked witch of the West flies above to write surrender Dorothy which sends everyone into a panic. Dorothy and the others request to see the Wizard. Once Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion get in he declines to help them until they bring back the broomstick of the wicked witch. The four leave in an attempt to retrieve it. The witch sends flying monkeys who carry Dorothy and Toto back to the castle while tearing apart the scarecrow. The witch can't take the slippers unless Dorothy is dead so she flips the hourglass over and promises Dorothy's death when time runs out. Toto escapes finding the scarecrow, tin man, and the lion to take them back to the castle. By snatching three guards, they put on the uniform and sneak into the castle to free Dorothy. After Dorothy is freed they get cornered. The witch successfully sets the scarecrow on fire. To save her friend, Dorothy throws a pail of water on scarecrow which accidentally hits the witch causing her to melt. The guards give Dorothy the broomstick to show appreciation of their release. The four return to the wizard with the broomstick. While he is talking, Toto pulls the curtain back to reveal the man behind the scene. Seeing the disappointment, he gives scarecrow a diploma, a medal of valor for the lion, and a heart shaped watch to the tin man. He proposes to take Dorothy home in a hot air balloon revealing that is how he got to Oz. The wizard is also from Kansas. He leaves the scarecrow, tin man, and the lion rulers of Oz. As the balloon is about to take flight Toto runs after a cat. Dorothy chases after aim. The balloon leaves without her in it. Glenda comes back to reveal the slippers have the power to take her home. Dorothy clicks her heels and repeats "There's no place like home." She awakens in her bed surrounded by Aunt Em, Uncle Henry, Hank, Hickory, Zeke, and even Professor Marvel.
THE WIZARD OF OZ ANALYSIS 4 Dorothy is so happy to be home she didn't mind that no one believed her adventures in Oz. She was where she belonged. The Musical Genre The definition of genre is the categorization of narrative films by the stories they tell and the ways they tell them (Barsam & Monahan, 2010). The Wizard of Oz uses songs like "We're Off To See The Wizard", "Ding-dong! The Witch Is Dead!", "If I Only Had A Brain!", and "The Merry Old Land Of Oz!" to help the characters express themselves. The singing and dancing are the tall tell all sign that the narrative has the characteristics of the genre type the musical. Personally, I feel that the singing and dancing gives it a more of a fairy tale story feel. My favorite song in the movie is in Munchkin Land where the munchkins are celebrating while singing '"Ding-dong! The Witch Is Dead!". The technical composition of The Wizard of Oz (1939) is a classic example of the studio system during the Golden Age. MGM was one out of five major studios. The organizational structure of the studio system was called the producer unit system. Irving Thalberg was the general manager of MGM at that time. Under him would be an executive manager, production manager, studio manager, and individual production supervisors (Barsam & Monahan, 2010). Mervyn LeRoy produced The Wizard of Oz. Leroy had brought on Victor Fleming as the director. The stars in the movie were Judy Garland as Dorothy, Margaret Hamilton as Miss Gulch and the wicked witch of the west, Ray Bolger as Hunk and the scarecrow, Jack Haley as Hickory and the tin woodman, Bert Lahr as Zeke and the cowardly lion, and Frank Morgan who played Professor Marvel, the wizard, the gatekeeper, the carriage driver and the guard. Two technological advances made it possible to create a classic movie like The Wizard of Oz. First, I credit the invention of sound in 1927 because without that we would not have the genre of the musical. The second technological advance that the movie used was the use of Technicolor. The Kansas scenes were shot in black and white with the Technicolor camera which was
THE WIZARD OF OZ ANALYSIS 5 printed in amber and brown tones called sepia (Scarfone & Stillman, 2013). Technicolor in 1938, had not been perfected yet but the technology had been around since as early as 1920. Shooting the film in color, made it more cumbersome and expensive. 150 arc lamps were used which made it hot on set and used a lot of electricity. The Wizard of Oz used the most electricity of any film up to it (Raabe & Kinske, 2005). The Oz scenes were shot in studio with a matte painted backdrop with props in the foreground. The Wizard of Oz was ahead of its game when it came to special effects. The tornado in Kansas was the first effect we see in the movie. Buddy Gillespie was in charge of making a tornado. He tried a water vortex, a rubber cone, and then the cloth tube which was successful. The funnel was a thirty-five-foot elongated canvas sleeve. A crane supported the cone and even rotated. The base was attached to another car. Combined with real earth and dust, wind fans, and cotton clouds the effect was a realistic tornado (Scarfone & Stillman, 2013) When Glinda appears in the bubble, that was done using light and double exposure. The wicked witch's melting was a use of a trap door. The Wizards floating head was another special effect using a rubber mask. The horses of a different color were dyed with a vegetable dye pigments (Scarfone & Stillman, 2013). The filming of the movie in the studio, the technological advances in sound and color, and the special effects that were beyond their time which makes The Wizard of Oz a classic! The Wizard of Oz has an amazing role in history. More than one billion people have watched the movie, making is the most watched movie of all time (Woodhouse, 2013). In 1900 Lyman Frank Baum wrote and published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which became the bestselling children's book. On January 26, 1934, independent film producer Samuel Goldwyn bought the rights from Baum's oldest son, Frank Joslyn for $40,000 (Woodhouse, 2013). This production at first went in the books as a loss of around $1 million dollars. Costing $3,017,000 and only earning $2,052,333 in the United States and $964,000 abroad (Harmetz, 2013). Some accolades in 1939 were the best picture produced for a family, multiple top ten lists, and voted
THE WIZARD OF OZ ANALYSIS 6 one of the greatest and most enduring films of all times. In 1978, the American Film Institute named it one of the ten best American films ever made. It's known as one of the twenty-five most important American films by the Library of Congress in 1989. In the American Film Institute poll in 1998, it ranked number six out of one hundred best American films. Still in 2011 internet voters ranked it number 2 for the category Best Film of All Time (Scarfone & Stillman, 2013). The Wizard of Oz will forever be ingrained in my memory as the best fairy tale to come out of Hollywood. To understand the socio-political impact of its release and reception we have to remember the history of the 1930's. With Americans going through trying times like the Great Depression of the 1930's and the beginning of World War II (1939-1945), it's no wonder that just like Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chats were a beacon of hope to the citizens that Hollywood would make a movie that is a beacon of hope to the viewers. The beginning of the war had negative effects on the money making power abroad since it wasn't released in countries directly affected by the war (Scarfone & Stillman, 2013). In 1930's the farmers were lacking education in how the economy through supply and demand (http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/media/program.html). This may be portrayed through the scarecrow insinuating farmers don't have a brain. I believe that the movie was an escape from the hardships of the times and just a little reminder home is where the heart is. The sociopolitical impact of the film's release and reception have a direct correlation with the surrounding circumstances of the time period the film was created in. I chose to analyze The Wizard of Oz because I feel that it is a movie you can take a life lesson away from no matter how many times you watch it. A coming of age story. Dorothy who acts childish in the beginning like walking on the pig pen and accidently falling into it. By the end she has a change of heart where she appreciates the people around her that love and care for her. It is also a story of hope and perseverance. If you have the courage to follow the yellow
THE WIZARD OF OZ ANALYSIS 7 brick road no matter what obstacles you may face, you'll always find your way. In 2006, 67 years after it debuted, the movie became relevant in my life when the company I worked for, trained leadership skills from the book The Oz Principle by Roger Connors, Tom Smith, Craig Hickman. Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, or the lion who expects the wizard to solve their problems for them. In the end Glinda reveals that Dorothy had the power to get home on her own. What I take from this is if I hold myself accountable I have the power to solve my own problems and roadblocks. The Wizard of Oz has taught me the right way to live and I can only hope that my children will get as much out of a children's movie as I have.
THE WIZARD OF OZ ANALYSIS 8 References Barsam, R. & Monahan, D. (2010). Looking at movies. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Fricke, J., Carroll, W., & Wilhite, T. (2013). The wonderful world of Oz. Camden, Me.: Down East Books. Harmetz, A. (2013). The Making of The Wizard of Oz. Chicago Review. Raabe, M. & Kinske, D. (2005). Memories of a Munchkin. New York: Back Stage Books. Scarfone, J. & Stillman, W. (2013). The official 75th anniversary companion. [Place of publication not identified]: HarperCollins. Woodhouse, H. (2013). The essential Wizard of Oz. Ithaca, NY: History Company.