wizard of oz movie review essay

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As a child I simply did not notice whether a movie was in color or not. The movies themselves were such an overwhelming mystery that if they wanted to be in black and white, that was their business. It was not until I saw "The Wizard of Oz" for the first time that I consciously noticed B&W versus color, as Dorothy was blown out of Kansas and into Oz. What did I think? It made good sense to me.

The switch from black and white to color would have had a special resonance in 1939, when the movie was made. Almost all films were still being made in black and white, and the cumbersome new color cameras came with a “Technicolor consultant” from the factory, who stood next to the cinematographer and officiously suggested higher light levels. Shooting in color might have been indicated because the film was MGM's response to the huge success of Disney's pioneering color animated feature, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937).

If “Wizard” began in one way and continued in another, that was also the history of the production. Richard Thorpe, the original director, was fired after 12 days. George Cukor filled in for three days, long enough to tell Judy Garland to lose the wig and the makeup, and then Victor Fleming took over. When Fleming went to “ Gone With the Wind ,” King Vidor did some of the Munchkin sequences, and the Kansas scenes.

There were cast changes, too; after Buddy Ebsen, as the Tin Man, had an allergic reaction to the silvery makeup, he was replaced by Jack Haley . Musical numbers were recorded and never used. Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch of the West) was seriously burned when she went up in a puff of smoke. Even Toto was out of commission for two weeks after being stepped on by a crewmember.

We study all of these details, I think, because “The Wizard of Oz” fills such a large space in our imagination. It somehow seems real and important in a way most movies don't. Is that because we see it first when we’re young? Or simply because it is a wonderful movie? Or because it sounds some buried universal note, some archetype or deeply felt myth?

I lean toward the third possibility, that the elements in “The Wizard of Oz” powerfully fill a void that exists inside many children. For kids of a certain age, home is everything, the center of the world. But over the rainbow, dimly guessed at, is the wide earth, fascinating and terrifying. There is a deep fundamental fear that events might conspire to transport the child from the safety of home and strand him far away in a strange land. And what would he hope to find there? Why, new friends, to advise and protect him. And Toto, of course, because children have such a strong symbiotic relationship with their pets that they assume they would get lost together.

This deep universal appeal explains why so many different people from many backgrounds have a compartment of their memory reserved for “The Wizard of Oz.” Salman Rushdie, growing up in Bombay, remembers that seeing the film at 10 “made a writer of me.” Terry McMillan , as an African-American child in northern Michigan, “completely identified when no one had time to listen to Dorothy.” Rushdie wrote that the film's “driving force is the inadequacy of adults, even of good adults, and how the weakness of grownups forces children to take control of their own destinies.” McMillan learned about courage, about “being afraid but doing whatever it was you set out to do anyway.”

They're touching on the key lesson of childhood, which is that someday the child will not be a child, that home will no longer exist, that adults will be no help because now the child is an adult and must face the challenges of life alone. But that you can ask friends to help you. And that even the Wizard of Oz is only human, and has problems of his own.

“The Wizard of Oz” has a wonderful surface of comedy and music, special effects and excitement, but we still watch it six decades later because its underlying story penetrates straight to the deepest insecurities of childhood, stirs them and then reassures them. As adults, we love it because it reminds us of a journey we have taken. That is why any adult in control of a child is sooner or later going to suggest a viewing of “The Wizard of Oz.”

Judy Garland had, I gather, an unhappy childhood (there are those stories about MGM quacks shooting her full of speed in the morning and tranquilizers at day's end), but she was a luminous performer, already almost17 when she played young Dorothy. She was important to the movie because she projected vulnerability and a certain sadness in every tone of her voice. A brassy young child star (a young Ethel Merman , say) would have been fatal to the material because she would have approached it with too much bravado. Garland’s whole persona projected a tremulous uncertainty, a wistfulness. When she hoped that troubles would melt like lemon drops, you believed she had troubles.

Her friends on the Yellow Brick Road (the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion) were projections of every child's secret fears. Are we real? Are we ugly and silly? Are we brave enough? In helping them, Dorothy was helping herself, just as an older child will overcome fears by acting brave before a younger one.

The actors (Jack Haley, Ray Bolger , Bert Lahr ) had all come up through a tradition of vaudeville and revue comedy, and played the characters with a sublime unself-consciousness. Maybe it helped that none of them knew they were making a great movie. They seem relaxed and loose in many scenes, as if the roles were a lark. L. Frank Baum's book had been filmed before (Oliver Hardy played the Tin Man in 1925), and this version, while ambitious, was overshadowed by the studio's simultaneous preparation of “Gone With the Wind.” Garland was already a star when she made “Wizard,” but not a great star--that came in the 1940s, inspired by “Wizard.”

The special effects are glorious in that old Hollywood way, in which you don't even have to look closely to see where the set ends and the backdrop begins. Modern special effects show *exactly* how imaginary scenes might look; effects then showed how we *thought* about them. A bigger Yellow Brick Road would not have been a better one.

The movie's storytelling device of a dream is just precisely obvious enough to appeal to younger viewers. Dorothy, faced with a crisis (the loss of Toto), meets the intriguing Professor Marvel ( Frank Morgan ) on the road. She is befriended by three farm hands (Bolger, Haley and Lahr). Soon comes the fearsome tornado. (What frightened me was that you could see individual things floating by--for months I dreamed circling around and around while seated at the little desk in my bedroom, looking at classmates being swept mutely past me.) Then, after the magical transition to color, Dorothy meets the same characters again, so we know it's all a dream, but not really.

There are good and bad adult figures in Oz--the Wicked Witches of the East and West, the Good Witch Glinda. Dorothy would like help from her friends but needs to help them instead (“If I Only Had a Brain,” or a heart, or nerve, they sing). Arriving at last at the Emerald City, they have another dreamlike experience; almost everyone they meet seems vaguely similar (because they’re all played by Morgan). The Wizard sends them on a mission to get the Wicked Witch's broom, and it is not insignificant that the key to Dorothy’s return to Kansas is the pair of ruby slippers. Grownup shoes.

The ending has always seemed poignant to me. Dorothy is back in Kansas, but the color has drained from the film, and her magical friends are mundane once again. “The land of Oz wasn't such a bad place to be stuck in,” decided young Terry McMillan, discontented with her life in Michigan. “It beat the farm in Kansas.”

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film Credits

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

101 minutes

Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale

Charley Grapewin as Uncle Henry

Clara Blandick as Aunt Em

Margaret Hamilton as Miss Gulch/Witch of West

Billie Burke as Glinda, Good Witch

Frank Morgan as Marvel, Wizard, etc.

Pat Walshe as Nikko

Ray Bolger as Hunk/Scarecrow

Bert Lahr as Zeke/Cowardly Lion

Jack Haley as Hickory Twicker/Tin Woodman

Screenplay by

Noel Langley
Edgar Allan Woolf
John Lee Mahin
Florence Ryerson
L. Frank Baum
Harold Arlen

Directed by

Victor Fleming

Produced by

Mervyn LeRoy
Blanche Sewell

Photographed by

Harold Rosson

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The Wizard of Oz Movie Review

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The Wizard of Oz Essay (Movie Review)

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The well-known movie called “The Wizard of Oz” was released in 1939. The film is recognized as a musical fantasy. It is based on the novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” written by Frank Baum in 1900. The film has millions of admirers all over the world. The creators of “The Wizard of Oz” applied a number of memorable and genius special effects, used Technicolor, musical effects and complicated artistic make-up for the characters, all of these techniques were ahead it their time and made the film an outstanding piece of cinematographic art and a recognizable work of the American popular culture.

The main characters of the film are a young girl called Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto. Dorothy lives in Kansas on the farm with her aunt and uncle. The conflict begins when Toto bites the neighbor and is taken away from his owner. Clever Toto manages to escape, and Dorothy runs away from home with him to save her favorite pet. The girl’s farmhouse gets into a tornado and is carried to the Munchkinland located in the world of Oz where Dorothy and Toto meet Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.

The house accidentally kills a Wicked Witch of the East, so her sister, the Wicked Witch from the West, threatens Dorothy, while she becomes the new owner of the dead Witch’s magic ruby slippers. Glinda tells Dorothy to go to the Emerald City following the yellow brick road to find the powerful Wizard of Oz, who can help the girl come back home. On her way to the City, Dorothy meets the Scarecrow, who needs the brain, the Tin Woodsman, who has no heart and the Cowardly Lion, who lacks courage.

They all are hoping for the Wizard’s help. Yet, the powerful Wizard of Oz sends them to another quest; the friends need to fetch the Wicked Witch’s broom. During their trip to the Witch’s castle, the Scarecrow demonstrates his wit, the Tin Woodsman shows kindness and sensitivity, and the Lion turns out to be brave. Dorothy’s friends already have the qualities they seek, but they do not realize it. The adventure at the Wicked Witch’s castle leads to the Witch’s death after she sets the Scarecrow on fire.

Trying to put out her friend, Dorothy accidentally splashes water at the Witch. As a result, the wicked old lady melts, and Dorothy gets the desired broom. After the company of friends returns to the Emerald City the Wizard of Oz gets exposed by Toto and turns out to be a simple middle-aged man, the big burning head and other appearances of the Wizard turned out to be special effects. The Wizard presents the Scarecrow with a diploma.

The Tin Woodsman gets a heart-shaped watch and the Lion – a medal for bravery. Dorothy finds out that her magic ruby slippers can carry her and Toto back to Kansas is she says, “There is no place like home.” The girl says the spell and finds herself on her bed at the farm hours surrounded by her family. Through the course of events happening in the film, it is noticeable that all the unusual characters Dorothy meets in the World of Oz resemble the people from her hometown – relatives, neighbors, farmworkers.

The special effects used in the film are multiple and innovative for their time. The first effect the audience sees is the tornado. The artificial tornado was fashioned with the use of muslin cone. The “tornado” was over thirty feet tall. The filmmakers added fans, dust, and smoke to make the scene look realistic and dangerous. The tornado was the most expensive and complex effect of the film; it took the creators several months of planning, testing, and designed to achieve their goal finally — the next special technique used in “Wizard of Oz” in Technicolor.

When Dorothy’s house crashed in the World of Oz, the girl opens the door and comes into a colorful word from her sepia-tinted hometown. Colored films were very rare at that time, the technology of Technicolor first appeared in 1922 and had been improved and upgraded decade after decade. The next fascinating special effect shows itself when the Wicked Witch spells “Surrender Dorothy or die” with the black smoke in the sky. The phrase was spelled with special paint in a tank of water.

The camera has shot the tank from below; this is why the man who was writing the phrase had to spell it backward and upside down. It took him two months of practice to learn how to do it. It is also interesting to know that the snow of the scene with the poppy field was white gypsum. The actors were told to hold their breath because the powder was extremely dangerous if inhaled.

The film “Wizard of Oz” was not only an outstandingly complex creation with an interesting storyline, talented actors and innovative special effects and make-up; it also was a great representation of American special culture, history, and specialties. First of all, the movie features a tornado, a recognizable natural happening typical for the areas of Kansas. The farm community represents the United States before the industrialization. The rapid and shocking journey to a new world that happens to Dorothy symbolizes the beginning of the twentieth century.

Dorothy’s symbolic phrase “We are not in Kansas anymore” announces that the old times are over. The shift to Technicolor happens when Dorothy travels to the World of Oz, her old-fashioned colorless home that reminds of the Great Depression opens its door to a new world, new adventures, and new friends. Dorothy and her friends’ quest symbolizes the American dream where a person achieves what they wish for only using hard work.

Watching the film from the perspective of a modern person living in the world of highly developed computer technologies that allow the film industry create all kinds of scenes and effects through programming is really fascinating because it gives the viewer a chance to fully appreciate the enormous effort the movie makers of the end of the 1930s took in order to create this outstanding masterpiece. Learning about various techniques and innovations the team working on “The Wizard of Oz” had to come up with is truly impressive.

A contemporary viewer has a stereotype that old films have awkward and primitive special effects that do not allow the audience to take the film seriously, but “The Wizard of Oz” proves this belief wrong. To my mind, the makers of this film are the ones who should be called wizards. Their unusual thinking and creative minds presented the American popular culture with a piece of art that still makes generations of people proud.

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IvyPanda. (2020, March 30). The Wizard of Oz. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-wizard-of-oz/

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“The Wizard of Oz”: Movie Analysis

The Scarecrow is a character that shows his optimism even in situations with minimum available information about possible outcomes. For example, he is optimistic about two roads that he has never put his foot on and believes that “it’s pleasant down that way, too” ( The Wizard of Oz, 1939). Even though his self-efficacy is extremely limited at the beginning of the movie, later, the Scarecrow shows hope by promising Dorothy to help her meet the Wizard regardless of whether he will be awarded a brain or not.

Dorothy is optimistic about returning home and does not lose her hope even after encountering the Wizard who turns out to be a fraud. Her sense of hope and optimism is persistent throughout the movie and especially evident in the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow . Dorothy ranks high on the scale of self-efficacy because she strongly believes in her ability to help others and return home.

The Tin Man’s optimism and hope are evident in his willingness to pursue the goal of obtaining a heart. The character shows a significant self-efficacy by using his powers to defend those that are weaker than him.

The Cowardly Lion does not score high on the scale of optimism. He also does not have hope throughout most of the movie. Taking into consideration that he is constantly scared of everything, his sense of self-efficacy is extremely low.

It can be argued that Dorothy’s optimism is portrayed realistically. She is extremely determined to return home and in the process of pursuing her goal inspires others with her optimism. Moreover, in her journey to the Emerald City, Dorothy uses optimism as an instrument for attaining her dream.

The Cowardly Lion’s pessimism about not being brave does not allow him to notice that he displays brave behavior a couple of times throughout the movie. For instance, by jumping across an abyss with his friends on his back, the lion turns pessimism into courage. The same can be said about the Scarecrow who says that he is “not afraid of anything—except a lighted match” ( The Wizard of Oz, 1939).

Taking into consideration the fact that out of four friends the Cowardly Lion was the one who did not display optimism at the beginning of the story, it can be argued that he experienced the most substantial shift in his optimistic thinking as the movie progressed. I think that by consuming a magic liquid provided by the Wizard, he was able to obtain courage which served as the impetus for the transformation of his character.

Judging from the fact that the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion spend the majority of their time in the pursuit of things which they never had, it can be said that they are future-oriented. Dorothy and the Tin Man, on the other hand, are past-oriented because they place the strongest emphasis on returning to the status quo.

I believe that Dorothy is a character that best represents my style of thinking. Just like I am, she is future-oriented and does not lose her hope in the face of uncertainty. While being an idealist who believes in lofty ideas, she manages to rationally and methodically calculate steps necessary for returning home. However, unlike Dorothy, I can have better control of short-term objectives and use all available resources for reaching them.

The analysis has helped me to better understand the main character traits of the protagonists of The Wizard of Oz movie. It also provided me with invaluable insight into the nature of optimism.

LeRoy, M. (Producer), & Fleming, V. (Director). (1939). The Wizard of Oz [Motion picture]. United States: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

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The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Wizard of Oz is one of a very few shared experiences that unite Americans as a culture, transcending barriers of age, locale, politics, religion, and so on. We all see it when we are young, and it leaves an indelible mark on our imaginations. We can hardly imagine not knowing it. It ranks among our earliest and most defining experiences of wonder and of fear, of fairy-tale joys and terrors, of the lure of the exotic and the comfort of home.

Artistic/Entertainment Value

Moral/spiritual value, age appropriateness, mpaa rating, caveat spectator.

The story is the classic American fairy tale, written in 1900 by L. Frank Baum (and followed by numerous sequels). As befits an American fairy tale, it contains nothing of royal weddings or births, princes or princesses, magic carriages or knights-errant, as one finds in classical European folklore. Instead, we have a young heroine from a Kansas farm, an ominous cyclone, a cornfield scarecrow, a newfangled sort of metal-work man, and an Omaha-bred sideshow huckster in the role of a wizard-king. (Just the sort of wizard-king you’d expect a Yank writer to come up with.)

Yet there’s also continuity with older, non-American tales and images: wicked witches, good queens (Glinda, who in the book lives in a palace and in the film wears a crown, and also the book’s Queen of the Field Mice), and a lion (not a New World beast). The "quest" structure of the story, too, is shared with many older fairy-tales.

Like all fairy tales, this one has suffered countless attempts by critics and commentators to explain its meaning and power. Countless interpretations have been advanced, of the book and of the film, from almost every conceivable angle: political, economic, religious, feminist, Freudian, you name it.

But is there any "explaining" this story? Baum himself, in his introduction to the book, professed that it "was written solely to pleasure children of today." Yet even Baum seemed not to understand what he had done. His express intention was to create "a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out." The conventions of traditional fairy tales — the "stereotyped genie, dwarf, and fairy" — were to be eliminated, "together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incident devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale." Such moralizing, Baum felt, was now superfluous: "Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident."

Leave aside for a moment Baum’s touching faith in the moral adequacy of "modern education," and the notion that the goal of children’s stories should henceforth be entertainment only. Who that has read the book as a child, or to a child, or seen the film, can agree that the story "dispenses with all disagreeable incident" and does away with "the heartaches and nightmares" of traditional fairy-stories? Just how far removed from "stereotyped" dwarves and elves are Baum’s "Munchkins" and "Winkies", and how much difference is there between a fairy and a "good witch"?

To be fair, Baum did manage to abolish any sense of a "fearsome moral" to his tale: Unlike such tales as "Little Red Riding Hood" or "Goldilocks," in which it may be possible to identify some particular point at which the heroine makes some sort of mistake or error in judgment, and to see how her subsequent peril is related to her actions, in Baum’s book Dorothy does nothing wrong and still has frightful things happen to her. In that sense, Baum did succeed in divorcing the fearsome from any obvious moral. (Not that this is necessarily a fault; after all, we aren’t always responsible for our own misfortunes — and traditional fairy-tales can reflect that too; for example, "Cinderella" and "Hansel and Gretel.")

In any case, in Victor Fleming’s film the story reverts to old-style "fearsome morals." Dorothy runs away , without so much as a thought to her family’s feelings; and that is why she’s in the house when she ought to have been in the storm cellar. Thus, with perfect fairy-tale symbolism, Dorothy is whisked far away from home only after having already decided to leave home, and her initial inability to anticipate her family’s feelings is the cause of all Auntie Em’s subsequent worry and sorrow, so grievous to Dorothy throughout the film.

That the film also provides a naturalistic explanation for Dorothy’s adventure — viz. a dream following a blow to the head — doesn’t really affect this moral dimension. Whether in Oz or dangerously injured, Dorothy is really unable to return to her worried family, a circumstance connected to her decision to run away.

Actually, the decision to run away appears to be Dorothy’s second mistake. The first (pointed out by one of her uncle’s hired hands, played by Ray Bolger, who’s also the Scarecrow) is that Dorothy repeatedly chooses a route home from school that takes her past the house of Elmira Gulch (Margaret Hamilton, also the Wicked Witch of the West) — a choice she knows sometimes results in Toto chasing Miss Gulch’s cat.

This, of course, precipitates the conflict that leads to Dorothy running away. (The movie never ties up this subplot, by the way: Miss Gulch presumably still has the sheriff’s order for Toto’s destruction. Assuming, of course, that her midair transformation into the Witch was just a dream after all…)

But Dorothy’s route home from school is in the back-story, and much less important than her running away. It is this latter decision that’s responsible for all of Dorothy’s extraordinary and sometimes frightful experiences.

Some of Dorothy’s experiences are indeed so frightful that they can still make grown-ups shudder decades after their childhood viewings of the film: the first, horrible appearance of the Witch in the middle of the Munchkin celebration; the menacingly alluring poppy field; the changing of the guard outside the Witch’s house (with that spooky, wordless chant); the blazing, roaring vision of "Oz the Great and Terrible" (a phrase Stephen King shrewdly played on in his horror novel Pet Sematary ); the crystal-ball vision of a worried Aunt Em suddenly dissolving into the mocking visage of the Witch; the sand running swiftly out of the Witch’s grotesque hourglass; and, perhaps most of all, those terrible, blue-faced Winged Monkeys, swooping down upon the four companions, scattering the Scarecrow’s straw and carrying Dorothy up, up, and away.

Not all of these elements come from the original book — and, of those that do, not all carry the same emotional weight in the book — but Baum’s story is full of dreadful things left out of the film: a monstrous giant spider with foot-long fangs and a wasplike neck so slender that the Cowardly Lion is able to swat its head off; the violent origin of the Tin Woodman, which involves repeated catastrophic injuries repaired each time by a local tin-smith until nothing human remains; a showdown between the Tin Woodman and a pack of killer wolves in which the Tin Man with his spinning axe decapitates each foe in turn like a martial-arts swordsman bloodily dispatching a long queue of attackers.

How could Baum have imagined that his story "dispenses with all disagreeable incident"? More importantly, why do we introduce our children to stories (in book or in film) with such nasty and frightful elements?

Part of the answer, surely, is that the stories with dark elements seem also to be, paradoxically, the most joyous and wondrous stories. The film’s Winged Monkeys and Wicked Witch may be hauntingly unforgettable — but so are a host of magical moments: the first glorious Technicolor views of the Munchkin wonderland; the arrival of Glinda; the meeting of the beloved Scarecrow; the first sight of the Emerald City skyline; the emotional Kansas reunion with its famous closing line; and, of course, the song-and-dance numbers, every one a classic: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead," "We’re Off to See the Wizard," "If I Only Had a Brain," etc. "Disagreeable incident" there may be, but also "wonderment and joy" in glad abundance.

But that only pushes the question back a step: Why must the most delightful stories also have frightening and disturbing elements? Did Baum have the right idea about jettisoning such things, even if he retained them in practice? Would it be better to raise children on stories that know nothing of tragedy and heartache, and let them confront the fallenness of the world when they’re older and more mature?

C. S. Lewis, in his essay "On Three Ways of Writing for Children," suggests not. For one thing, children well understand that bad things really happen — that they are "born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil." In his day Lewis noted the shadow of the atomic bomb and the Soviet secret police; today’s children have global terrorism, not to mention the usual bullies, skinned knees, pets dying, and so forth.

We can’t hide these things from our children. What we can do, Lewis points out, is show them the other side of the coin: "Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage… By confining your child to blameless stories of child life in which nothing at all alarming ever happens, you would fail to banish the terrors, and would succeed in banishing all that can ennoble them or make them endurable."

Far from allaying their fears, overzealous efforts to shelter children from unpleasantness create the alarming impression that they can’t handle difficult realities — that badness is too overwhelming for them. By contrast, allowing them to confront evil and adversity in an imaginative context makes it far more manageable than attempts to brush it under the carpet.

It can also be a form of catharsis, helping children exorcise the pain and confusion of such adversities as they have already had to face. (For that matter, adults too can benefit from the cathartic effects of movies that are suspenseful or frightening on a grown-up level.)

Obviously there’s a limit to what a child ought to have to deal with at any particular age. Yet one need only observe children at play in any backyard or playground to realize that children demand imaginary adversity . Shelter them from witches and guns and dinosaurs, and they’ll invent edgy scenarios for themselves as best they can — often to the consternation of well-meaning parents or teachers who don’t understand the essential value of such play.

The Wizard of Oz is a textbook case in point. Dorothy, though not one of Lewis’s "brave knights," is a child-hero akin to Jack the Giant-Killer. Like Jack, she faces difficulty and adversity with admirable pluck and resiliency. She sticks up for her friends in the face of danger, swatting the lion who tries to bite her dog (before she learns of his timidity) and standing up to the Wizard and even the Witch when they bully her companions.

Dorothy rescues the Scarecrow and the Tin Man from literal immobility, and the Lion from a kind of figurative, emotional paralysis. With American "can-do" spirit she galvanizes them into action, inspiring them to hope that seemingly hopeless situations may admit of solutions. Even when her three companions must come to her rescue in the Witch’s castle, it’s Dorothy herself who actually does in the Witch (accidentally of course, like the Witch of the East, to avoid any possible moral issues).

Just as Mark Twain’s Connecticut Yankee made the heroes of Arthur’s court look like simpletons, these three fairy-land "grown-ups" seem almost like children next to this Kansas girl. Yet Dorothy, far from feeling superior or full of herself, is entirely concerned with others. Even when she runs away it’s more out of concern for Toto, combined with childish lack of foresight, than any real selfishness. And, far from pitying herself in her stranded state, she feels only sorrow for the grief she has caused Aunt Em.

Dorothy’s three companions, like Dorothy herself, each have a single, simple motivation drawing them to the Emerald City and the Wizard of Oz. All of them want something, and believe that what they seek can be found only there.

The Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion are each identified with a longing for a particular human quality — namely, intelligence, feeling, and courage. Each of the three friends is convinced that he lacks utterly the quality that he deems most essential. Yet, in the end, though the Wizard is unable to make any actual difference in them, they all seem absurdly pleased with the results.

That Dorothy actually had the means of returning home all the time, had she but known it, is explicitly stated in the film. What isn’t so obvious is that her three friends also each possess what they are looking for.

The Scarecrow, who believes himself to be brainless, is in fact the cleverest of the companions, and is the default problem-solver in both the film and the book. The Lion proves capable of truly valiant deeds, though he believes himself a coward (apparently because he thinks of courage as feelings of fearlessness, rather than the ability to do what is necessary whether one feels afraid or not). As for the Tin Man, so far from being heartless, he may be the most sensitive character in the history of film.

The journey of the three companions thus turns out to be another case in point of the wholesome humanism of The Little Engine that Could : Believe in yourself, and make the most of your gifts and resources, rather than sitting around wishing "if I only had" this or that (better looks, lucky breaks, more money, etc.).

At the same time, this humanistic moral isn’t taken to an individualist or materialist extreme. The Scarecrow and the Tin Man could never have freed themselves without Dorothy’s intervention, which was in turn contingent on the cyclone — an act of God, as it were. This same act of God also providentially dropped the house foursquare on the Wicked Witch of the East, not only freeing the Munchkins, but also providing Dorothy with the magical slippers. And the slippers themselves aren’t something Dorothy possesses in her own right, but are a kind of supernatural gift, almost a sort of grace.

As important as Dorothy’s three friends are to the narrative, with respect to the central conflict they are not pivotal or cardinal characters. Dorothy is the story’s lone protagonist, the Witch is her antagonist, and Glinda, though she has comparatively little screen time, nevertheless has a cardinal role as Dorothy’s advocate and advisor.

These three strong female characters — Dorothy, the Witch, and Glinda — drive the story. The male characters, including Dorothy’s companions, have less pivotal roles. Even in Dorothy’s Kansas home, Uncle Henry only plays passive-aggressive games with Miss Gulch, but it’s Aunt Em who tells Miss Gulch to her face that she can’t tell her what she really thinks of her ("being a Christian woman").

One important effect of this all-female dynamic at the center of the plot is that it avoids the complications of a male-female dynamic in the central conflict. A fairy tale in which a female protagonist is beset by a male antagonist or defended by a male advocate — as, for example, Little Red Riding Hood is pursued by the male Wolf and defended by the male Hunter — can hardly avoid being viewed in terms of sexual symbolism (e.g., Wolf = man as predator, Hunter = civilized suitor).

The Wizard of Oz avoids such overtones, for the simple reason that the active players are all the same sex. Because they are all female, the story takes on a positive feminine character, without the drawbacks of self-conscious feminism found in many modern stories dominated by female characters. There’s nothing here, for example, of male-bashing, or even any negative male characters at all. Even Oz, the great humbug, isn’t meant to be disliked, as are the Witch and Miss Gulch.

In this story, the primary male role is neither man-as-predator nor man-as-suitor, but man as friend . Hunk, Hickory, and Zeke in Kansas, and the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion in Oz, are Dorothy’s friends and nothing else. And this befits a fairy tale that isn’t quite, as are so many others, a coming-of-age fable. The Wizard of Oz is not a tale about growing up, but only a tale about growing older; a tale that ends not, "And they lived happily ever after," but, "There’s no place like home."

"Home" here is not the heroine’s own home — a home of a new adult life with some male hero — but Dorothy’s childhood home. Dorothy begins by running away and longing romantically for a better life "somewhere over the rainbow"; by the end she has learned that her place is at home, with her aunt and uncle and friends… for now.

Along with the bonus features of previous editions, the new Blu-ray/DVD edition includes a slightly misnamed new documentary, “The Making of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ,” with a host of talking heads: historians John Fricke and Sam Wasson, composers Stephen Schwartz and Marc Shaiman, critics Leonard Maltin and Michael Sragow, Bert Lahr’s son John and archival interview clips with Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Buddy Ebsen, Margaret Hamilton and Mervyn LeRoy.

The Wizard of Oz [video]

Digitally remastered from the original negatives, painstakingly restored, The Wizard of Oz celebrates its 75th anniversary in style. Here’s my “Reel Faith” 60-second tribute to this beloved classic.

Over the Rainbow: The Wizard of Oz Turns 75

So many songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side? What was Kermit talking about? There’s only one song like that … and one movie that embodies the childhood magic Jim Henson wanted to evoke.

Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

Oz the Great and Powerful is brightly colorful, sincere and meant for children. That doesn’t make it good, exactly, but at least it’s basically the right kind of movie, which is saying something these days, alas.

RE: The Wizard of Oz

I often refer to your movie reviews and have a great deal of respect for your opinion. I recently read an article called “ The Occultic Wizard of Oz ” and was wondering what your thoughts were on The Wizard of Oz in light of this perspective. Could you please read the article and give me your opinion?

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The wizard of oz, common sense media reviewers.

One of the best family films ever made; has scary moments.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

A simple reminder that we can always find our way

Strong themes of perseverance and teamwork when fa

Dorothy is a fine example of courage under fire as

A female hero faces off against a female villain,

The Wicked Witch of the West is quite creepy and m

Dorothy calls Ms. Gulch "a wicked witch."

Educational Value

A simple reminder that we can always find our way home, and that with a little help, we can overcome our fears.

Positive Messages

Strong themes of perseverance and teamwork when facing challenges and fears and standing up for your friends. The central characters' friendship allows them to act selflessly and courageously. Other themes include integrity, empathy, and gratitude.

Positive Role Models

Dorothy is a fine example of courage under fire as she embarks on her potentially dangerous quest, aided by new friends. She stands strong against the Wicked Witch and ultimately defeats her. She's also compassionate toward the characters she meets in Oz and quick to help them. The other characters fight for each other and face their fears to help Dorothy.

Diverse Representations

A female hero faces off against a female villain, while men play nearly all of the supporting roles. Everyone in the cast is White. Over 100 actors with dwarfism are cast as the Munchkins, and all are dubbed with high-pitched voices. Glinda the Good Witch ties character to physical appearance when she says "only bad witches are ugly." The Wicked Witch of the West wears prosthetics to make her nose and chin larger. Behind the scenes, The Wizard of Oz credits Florence Ryerson, a female screenwriter, and Blanche Sewell, a female editor.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

The Wicked Witch of the West is quite creepy and menacing, as are her scary henchmonkeys and her abrupt arrivals/departures. Some kids may also be frightened during the twister scene and/or upset by Dorothy's separation from home and family. The trees that attack the friends are mean and vicious.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that the 1939 fantasy The Wizard of Oz is based on the L. Frank Baum book and stars Judy Garland as Dorothy. It has several scenes of peril, almost all of which involve the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) and her band of creepy flying monkeys. Most parents who've seen the movie before know that the plot includes a disastrous tornado and an enchanted forest full of red-eyed creatures and talking trees. By today's rating standards, this Hollywood classic is downright tame, but between the twister, the peril, and the witch's general menacing, murderous intentions, some younger or more sensitive kids could be frightened. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

Parents say (59)
Kids say (175)

Based on 59 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Based on L. Frank Baum's classic children's book, THE WIZARD OF OZ is a fantasy musical following Dorothy Gale ( Judy Garland ), a Kansas farm-girl whose best friend is her beloved dog Toto. Distraught over a mean-spirited neighbor's attempt to have Toto put to sleep, Dorothy runs away with her pet. On her way back home, Dorothy is caught in a twister, which knocks her out and seems to lift the entire farmhouse into the sky. After the house crash-lands, Dorothy and Toto step out far, far away from Kansas into a technicolor land. Suddenly, a multitude of munchkins and Glinda, a lovely good witch (Billie Burke), hail the confused Dorothy as a heroine for landing on the Wicked Witch of the East ("Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead," they sing). But when the dead witch's sister, the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) arrives on the scene, she demands that Dorothy hand over her sister's pair of magical ruby slippers, which are now on Dorothy's feet. Unwilling to give up the slippers, Dorothy starts on a mysterious trip down a yellow brick road to Emerald City, where she hopes to find the Wonderful Wizard of Oz -- the only person capable of returning her home. On her journey, Dorothy befriends a Scarecrow ( Ray Bolger ), a Tin Man ( Jack Haley ), and a Cowardly Lion ( Bert Lahr ) who desperately seek a brain, a heart, and courage, respectively. If they can reach the Wizard and outwit the vengeful Witch, all of their dreams may come true.

Is It Any Good?

Director Victor Fleming 's film is a masterpiece of early cinema. Not only does The Wizard of Oz have one of the most iconic leads and one of the finest examples of the hero's journey, which has influenced every epic quest tale from Star Wars to Harry Potter , but it's also a magical combination of drama, adventure, fantasy, and musical. It's a testament to the movie's universal appeal that many decades later, The Wizard of Oz is still culturally significant -- from Halloween costumes to sing-along-shows to remixes of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Garland, who was only 16 when Oz was filmed, is sublime as Dorothy, especially when she sings. Although contemporary moviegoers may be used to precocious young "triple threats" marketed by Disney and Nickelodeon, Garland was one of the first. Her impressively mature voice soars beyond the rainbow and into viewers' hearts. Beyond Dorothy, there's the amazing trifecta of theater-trained actors (Lahr, Bolger, Haley) who played her yellow-brick-road companions. Hamilton is deliciously evil as the green-skinned witch, and Burke is memorably comforting as the beautiful good witch Glinda. Everyone should experience The Wizard of Oz multiple times in their lives; it's simply a must-see film.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about elements of The Wizard of Oz that can be found in later films, including contemporary ones. What other popular movies follow a main hero and their supportive friends on an important journey?

Glinda the Good Witch says that "only bad witches are ugly." Can you really tell if someone is "good" or "bad" just by looking at them? Who else in The Wizard of Oz seems "good" or "bad" when Dorothy first meets them but turns out to be different?

How does the Scarecrow demonstrate his intelligence, the Tin Man his heart, and the Lion his courage? How does each one find what he needs within himself?

How do the characters in The Wizard of Oz demonstrate perseverance , teamwork , and courage ? Why are these important character strengths ?

How does Dorothy learn empathy , integrity , and gratitude over the course of her journey in Oz? How does she learn to be true to herself? What is she most grateful for by the end?

Movie Details

In theaters : August 25, 1939
On DVD or streaming : October 1, 2013
Cast : Bert Lahr , Jack Haley , Judy Garland , Ray Bolger
Director : Victor Fleming
Inclusion Information : Female writers
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Family and Kids
Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Adventures
Character Strengths : Courage , Empathy , Gratitude , Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
Run time : 101 minutes
MPAA rating : G
Last updated : May 18, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and Film Pages: 3 (672 words)
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The Wizard of Oz: A Timeless Classic Pages: 4 (1076 words)
Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum Pages: 4 (972 words)

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The Wizard of Oz (Film) Victor Fleming , Victor Fleming

The Wizard of Oz (Film) essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Wizard of Oz (Film) by Richard Thorpe.

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The Wizard of Oz (Film) Essays

Dorothy's changes: from novel to film anonymous college, the wizard of oz (film).

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is an American fairytale written by L. Frank Baum.The original story was adapted by director Victor Flemming in 1939 and created into a film. While there are many details from the original story that have been changed,...

Is Glinda the Real Wicked Witch in Oz? Timothy Sexton College

Like the gun that Scarecrow brings to a witch fight, one of the things that usually goes unnoticed about The Wizard of Oz is that out of all the major characters whom Dorothy encounters in the Technicolor dream world the only one without a...

The Wizard of Oz: Formal Success through Movement and Photography Eileen Mills College

The 1939 film The Wizard of Oz directed by Richard Thorpe has been a successful film for quite some time, although it wasn’t a hit at first. Formalist movies were relatively new and The Wizard of Oz took many risks when it comes to form. Movies...

The Wizard of Oz in Historical Context: Reel Life to Real Life Sukhprit Kaur 11th Grade

During the early 20th century, America faced a time of uncertainty and despair during the stock market crash in late 1929. People all over the country were unemployed and many were dying due to starvation and to malnutrition. Also, marriage rates...

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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

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Table Of Contents

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz , children’s book written by L. Frank Baum and first published in 1900. A modern fairy tale with a distinctly American setting, a delightfully levelheaded and assertive heroine, and engaging fantasy characters, the story was enormously popular and became a classic of children’s literature . However, by the late 20th century the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz had become more familiar than the book on which it was based.

Dorothy is a young girl who lives in a one-room house in Kansas with the care-worn Uncle Henry and Aunt Em; the joy of her life is her dog, Toto . A sudden cyclone strikes, and, by the time Dorothy catches Toto, she is unable to reach the storm cellar. They are still in the house when the cyclone carries it away for a long journey. When at last the house lands, Dorothy finds that she is in a beautiful land inhabited by very short, strangely dressed people. The Witch of the North informs her that she is in the land of the Munchkins, who are grateful to her for having killed the Wicked Witch of the East (the house having landed on the witch), thus freeing them. The Witch of the North gives Dorothy the silver shoes of the dead witch and advises her to go to the City of Emeralds to see the Great Wizard Oz , who might help her return to Kansas. The witch sends Dorothy off along the yellow brick road with a magical kiss to protect her from harm.

On the long journey to the Emerald City, Dorothy and Toto are joined by the Scarecrow , who wishes he had brains; the Tin Woodman , who longs for a heart; and the Cowardly Lion , who seeks courage . They face many trials along their route, but they overcome them all, often because of the Scarecrow’s good sense, the Tin Woodman’s kindness, and the bravery of the Cowardly Lion. At last they reach the Emerald City, where the Guardian of the Gates outfits them with green-lensed glasses and leads them to the Palace of Oz. Oz tells them that no favours will be granted until the Wicked Witch of the West has been killed.

The companions head to the land of the Winkies, ruled by the Wicked Witch of the West. The witch sends wolves, crows, bees, and armed Winkies to stop them, all to no avail. So she uses her Golden Cap to summon the Winged Monkeys. The Winged Monkeys destroy the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and cage the Cowardly Lion, but they bring Dorothy and Toto to the witch, who enslaves Dorothy. The witch wants Dorothy’s shoes, which she knows carry powerful magic. She contrives to make Dorothy trip and fall, so she can grab one of the shoes. An angered Dorothy throws a bucket of water at the witch, who then melts away to nothing. Dorothy frees the Cowardly Lion and engages the help of the now free Winkies in repairing and rebuilding the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, and the friends return to Oz.

Young woman with glasses reading a book, student

Oz does not summon them for several days, and, when he does admit them into his presence, he seems reluctant to grant their wishes. Toto knocks over a screen, revealing that Oz is only a common man. However, he fills the Scarecrow’s head with bran and pins and needles, saying that they are brains; he puts a silk-and-sawdust heart into the Tin Woodman; and he gives the Cowardly Lion a drink that he says is courage. He and Dorothy make a balloon to carry them out of the Land of Oz, but the balloon flies away before Dorothy can board; Oz leaves the Scarecrow in charge of the Emerald City.

At the suggestion of a soldier, Dorothy and her friends go to seek the help of Glinda, the Witch of the South. They encounter several obstacles but at last reach Glinda’s Castle. Glinda summons the Winged Monkeys so that they can take the Tin Woodman back to rule the Winkies, the Scarecrow back to Emerald City, and the Cowardly Lion to the forest to be king of the beasts. Then she tells Dorothy how to use the silver shoes to take her back to Kansas. Dorothy gathers up Toto, clicks her heels together three times, and says, “Take me home to Aunt Em!” She is transported back to the farm in Kansas.

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The Wizard of Oz

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An absolute masterpiece whose groundbreaking visuals and deft storytelling are still every bit as resonant, The Wizard of Oz is a must-see film for young and old.

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EMPIRE ESSAY: The Wizard of Oz Review

112 minutes

EMPIRE ESSAY: The Wizard of Oz

“Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.” From a TV column in the Marin Independent Journal, Rick Polito’s cheeky capsule of the world’s most beloved family film was posted on the internet and tickled ribs globally, because we all get it. We all saw The Wizard Of Oz when we were very young, and it scared the pants off everyone. This fantasy masterpiece is as bizarre as it is beguiling; more frightening than enchanting for younger children. Its malevolent hag, flying monkeys and Scarecrow dismemberment are bad enough, but the moment when the Wicked Witch sets the Scarecrow afire featured prominently in Empire’s Scariest Moments readers’ poll, alongside horror movies and shockers galore.

Oz creator L. Frank Baum aspired to “a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heart-aches and nightmares are left out”, but what he wrote is quintessentially the stuff of tiny tears and frights. This most famous of American fairy tales was published in 1900 and was the Harry Potteresque phenomenon of its time — prompting a hit stage musical, 13 more Oz books by Baum, 26 additional authorised stories completing the ’Famous 40’, and hundreds of non-canonical Oz tales. What the film brilliantly seizes on is that The Wizard Of Oz is one of the great world stories, not because of the wonderful things the wizard does, but because it’s the Odyssey myth for children. Amid the colourful characters and delightful songs, it plays on their most instinctual fears.

The opening sets a tone of fearful anxiety as Margaret Hamilton’s grim Miss Gulch pedals furiously in pursuit of Judy Garland’s farm girl Dorothy Gale and her little dog Toto, accompanied by the witch’s creepy seven-note musical theme (a compressed inversion of the cheery seven notes of We’re Off To See The Wizard). Auntie Em, Uncle Henry and the farmhands are too busy to listen to the agitated Dorothy, so kids, identifying, are immediately hooked. What follows is a parable of every child’s transition to adulthood: separation from all that is familiar and safe when the heroine is hurtled by a tornado into an unknown land. There she must find courage and friendship to succeed in her quest. It’s a bit limp that the goal is returning to that sepia home, where It Was All A Dream, but that — legacy of a poor 1925 film adaptation — was a firm foundation for the narrative structure and was thought to lessen the fantastical and frightening elements.

Things got scary on set, too, where the novel make-up and effects made for unusual accidents. Buddy Ebsen, originally cast as Scarecrow, amiably agreed to swap roles with dancer Ray Bolger and play the Tin Man. But he had an allergic reaction to the metallic make-up so extreme he nearly died, and was replaced by Jack Haley. (Ebsen can still be heard in the pre-recorded group vocals for We’re Off To See The Wizard.) The copper in Margaret Hamilton’s green make-up ignited in the fiery burst of smoke when her witch’s cape caught in the trap-door exit from Munchkinland, hospitalising her. Several ‘flying monkey’ actors fell long and hard from the piano wires suspending them. Even Toto didn’t escape unscathed, stepped on by one of the Wicked Witch’s guards and out for two weeks with an ankle injury while a stand-in terrier doubled.

When MGM bought the film rights in 1938 for $75,000, it was a huge deal. (Gone With The Wind cost $50,000.) Contrary to legend, although executives flirted with the idea of borrowing Shirley Temple from Fox, Harold Arlen and E. Y. ‘Yip’ Harburg set to work composing songs specifically for MGM’s own teen star, Garland. Garland, at 16, had to have her breasts strapped to appear more childlike, but her insecurities and wistful vulnerability suited the material perfectly. When she puts on the ruby slippers — silver in the book, but red was so much more dazzling in Technicolor — she takes a giant step towards maturity.

The adaptation went through 14 writers and five directors. Richard Thorpe was fired 12 days into the shoot. George Cukor stepped in, shooting nothing but shrewdly ridding Garland of blonde curls and baby doll make-up, before Victor Fleming took the helm. Garland remembered him as a kind man bellowing at her vaudevillian companions jockeying for prominence on the Yellow Brick Road: “Let the poor little girl in, you dirty hams!” When Fleming was pulled off to replace Cukor on Gone With The Wind, King Vidor finished the Munchkin sequence and black-and-white Kansas scenes.

Producer Mervyn LeRoy also directed odds and sods, and it is to him that the film’s authorship rightfully belongs, for controlling every aspect of the film from its casting to tricky effects like the tornado and the switch from black-and-white to Technicolor, while wrangling the notoriously rambunctious Singer Midgets. The production cost over $2.7 million and initial takings were a relatively disappointing $3 million. But the film never went away. It was regularly re-released theatrically, televised annually for years as a holiday event, and became the very first MGM title released on video (in 1980), by which time it was part of the fabric of childhood. Nostalgic parents who saw it as kids intuitively introduce it to new generations as a rite of passage.

Up against Gone With The Wind, Oz nabbed only three Oscars. But its imagery became iconic, its dialogue providing scads of universally recognised catchphrases. “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” was voted fourth most famous movie quote in the AFI’s poll. “There’s no place like home,” came 23rd. And Over The Rainbow topped their 100 Greatest Songs hands down. The euphemism ‘friends of Dorothy’ became a synonym for gay, not only because the film became a camp classic but because so many of the characters have double lives/roles.

The Wizard’s reach went far beyond the great desert that isolated Oz, with countless remakes, ripoffs, and reinterpretations. There were Russian, Japanese, Turkish and Muppet versions; black musical The Wiz; dark sequel Return To Oz, and sundry animations. There is a mountain of merchandise, a Nintendo game, and Wicked, Gregory Maguire’s satirical backstory of Oz’s witches, turned into a Tony-winning Broadway musical currently in the West End. There are websites devoted to the synchronicity between the film and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon, and even an autobiography of the movie’s terrier star Terry — I, Toto — ‘unearthed’ and published in 2001.

Salman Rushdie saw it for the first time in Bombay when he was ten years old and remembers, “It made a writer of me.” That is its triumph, that it continually feeds young imaginations with hopes and dreams and impossible possibilities as well as fears.

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‘The Wizard of Oz’: Film Review

By John C. Flinn Sr.

John C. Flinn Sr.

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THE WIZARD OF OZ, Bert Lahr, Judy Garland, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, 1939

‘The Wizard of Oz ,’ which springs from Metro’s golden bowl (production cost is reported close to $3 million), is likely to perform some record-breaking feats of boxoffice magic. Given a sufficient period of pre-release showings in selected major spots, favorable word-of-mouth on the unique and highly entertaining features of the film should spread rapidly. It’s a pushover for the children and family biz.

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THE WIZARD OF OZ

For Primary School Classes – Ages 5 – 12

SUBJECTS — Cinema; Drama/Musicals; U.S./1865-1913;

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING — Self-esteem; Friendship; Taking Care of Yourself; Breaking Out;

MORAL-ETHICAL EMPHASIS — Trustworthiness; Respect; Caring.

AGE : 5+; No MPAA Rating;

Musical; 1939; 101 minutes; B & W and Color. Available from Amazon.com .

Click here for a Learning Guide for secondary school classes .

Benefits of the Movie Possible Problems Parenting Points Selected Awards & Cast Helpful Background

Discussion Questions Social-Emotional Learning Moral-Ethical Emphasis Assignments and Projects

CCSS Anchor Standards Bridges to Reading Links to the Internet Bibliography

MOVIE WORKSHEETS & STUDENT HANDOUTS

TWM offers the following movie worksheets to keep students’ minds on the film and to focus their attention on the lessons to be learned from the movie.

Film Study Worksheet for ELA Classes ;

Film Study Worksheet for an Adaptation of a Novel ; and

Worksheet for Cinematic and Theatrical Elements and Their Effects .

Teachers can modify the worksheets to fit the needs of each class.

See also TWM’s Movies as Literature Homework Project .

Additional ideas for lesson plans for this movie can be found at TWM’s guide to Lesson Plans Using Film Adaptations of Novels, Short Stories or Plays .

DESCRIPTION

Dorothy Gale, a Kansas farm girl, is caught in a tornado and knocked unconscious. She awakens far from home in the magical Land of Oz with witches, wizards, little people, flying monkeys, and other fantastic beings. The movie describes her efforts to get back home, the characters she meets, and the life-lessons that she learns. At the end of the film, Dorothy awakens and finds that it was all a dream, but she has changed and grown — and so has the audience. The film is adapted from the popular children’s book by L. Frank Baum.

SELECTED AWARDS & CAST

Selected Awards: 1939 Academy Awards: Best Song (“Over the Rainbow”), Best Original Score; 1939 Academy Award Nominations: Best Picture, Best Color-Cinematography, Best Interior Decoration, Best Special Effects. Judy Garland received a special Academy Award for her performance. “The Wizard of Oz” is listed in the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress as a “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” film. This film is ranked #6 on the American Film Institute’s List of the 100 Greatest American Movies of All Time (2006).

Featured Actors: Judy Garland, Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Burt Lahr, Frank Morgan, Charley Grapewin, Clara Blandick, Mitchell Lewis, Billy Burke.

Director: Victor Fleming.

BENEFITS OF THE MOVIE

“The Wizard of Oz” is a classic musical, beloved by children and their parents for generations. The film is perennially popular because it explores many of the issues and fears that children ages 5 – 12 must confront as they mature. In addition, the film can be used in language arts classes. It is an example of the archetypal journey of the hero and displays several literary devices including the frame story, irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism. Finally, an argument can be made that the story told by the book is an allegory to the history of populism in the U.S. in the late 1800s. Teachers can ask their classes to prove or refute the theory as an alternative to the usual methods of teaching this period of U.S. history.

See also TWM’s Movie Lesson Plan for: The Wizard of Oz and the Hero’s Journey — Teaching the Journey and Its Archetypes Through a Children’s Classic.

Featured songs include: “Over the Rainbow,” “Munchkin Land,” “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead,” “Follow the Yellow Brick Road,” “If I Only Had a Brain/a Heart/the Nerve,” “If I Were King of the Forest,” and “The Merry Ole Land of Oz.”

POSSIBLE PROBLEMS

Some of the scenes with the Wicked Witch may frighten younger children.

PARENTING POINTS

Watch the movie with your child. At the end of the movie point out some of the similarities of the characters in the Land of Oz and the farm in Kansas. At another time, ask how Oz convinced the people of the Emerald City that he was, in fact, a powerful wizard? Did he really have magical powers?

HELPFUL BACKGROUND

“I feel wise, indeed,” said the Scarecrow.

Dorothy gazed thoughtfully at the Scarecrow

The original book cover.

This story is popular because it helps children work through the following fears and concerns of childhood.

Home is the center of a child’s life. But children know that somewhere beyond the safety of home, there is a world that is exciting and colorful, yet sometimes dangerous. What will happen if the child must leave home before he or she has grown up? Will the child be able to meet the challenges? Will he or she ever be able to find the way back home?
What about relationships with grown-ups? Adults are all-powerful to a young child but a child soon learns that this power has limits, as when Auntie Em and Uncle Henry couldn’t prevent Miss Gulch from taking Toto.
What do children do when adults ignore or cannot respond to their pleas for help?
How does a child learn what he or she needs to know to get through tough situations?
Can children ever triumph over evil adults?
What about appearances? How do you tell appearance from reality?
How does a child meet the challenges of becoming an adult?
How does a person act courageously when her or she is feeling very scared?

The state of Kansas is part of the Great Plains, which is a large plateau in the center of North America. The Great Plains extend for over 1500 miles from the Saskatchewan River in Canada, south to the Rio Grande and the Gulf of Mexico. The East-West measure is about 400 miles beginning at the Rocky Mountains and extending east. The natural vegetation is buffalo grass. The climate is hot in summer and cold in winter. The average annual rainfall is only 20 inches. The landscape is famous for its undisturbed monotony.

Tornados are one of the most violent storms in nature. They can occur anywhere in the world but most often strike in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. The speeds of the wind in a tornado range from 200 to 500 miles per hour. Since tornados generally destroy any instruments which record wind velocity, we have no direct data on the speeds of winds inside a tornado. Tornados take the form of a funnel made up of water, dust, and debris sucked up into the storm. Where they touch the ground, tornados can be only a few meters wide or they can be up to a kilometer wide. Damage to property results from the wind and from the extremely reduced pressure in the center. Structures explode if the air can’t get out of them fast enough. People are instructed to open windows and take cover if a tornado approaches.

There are significant differences between the book and the movie and they should be treated as separate works of art. The book is an excellent fairy tale that was very popular when it was published in 1900. The script for the film adds to and actually improves upon the story told in the book. For a description of the differences between the book and the movie see Wikipedia article on “The Wizard of Oz”

The Wizard of Oz can be used as an introduction to the interpretation of dreams. Going to Oz is part of Dorothy’s fulfillment of her wish to go “over the rainbow” but the events there and her strong desire to go home are the results of her fears of what will occur. The Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow are Dorothy’s transmutation of characters from real life into the dream. The same is true of the Wizard. Dorothy knows that Professor Marvel is a charlatan when she meets him, but she is grasping at straws at that point. He is the false path, as the Wizard was the false path to get home. Miss Gulch is, of course, personified in the Wicked Witches. Glinda is probably Auntie Em, or rather the Auntie Em that Dorothy wishes she were. The death of the Wicked Witches is from Dorothy’s wish that Miss Gulch would die.

Click Additional Helpful Background for; Developmental Issues Raised, Movie as a Work of Literature, and Allegory to History of Populism

Additional Helpful Background.

The film as fairy tale — developmental issues raised by the wizard of oz.

Children love this film because it touches on important questions, fears, and desires. These are core developmental issues that children must work out for themselves. The popularity of the story is due to the fact that these issues intrigue young people and resonate with the child inside us all.

They include, not in any order of priority, the following:

Home is the center of a child’s life. But children know that somewhere beyond the safety of home there is a world that is exciting and colorful, yet sometimes dangerous. What will happen if the child must leave home before he or she has grown up? Will the child be able to meet the challenges? Will he or she ever be able to find the way back home?
What about relationships with grownups? Adults are all-powerful to a young child but a child soon learns that this power has limits, as when Auntie Em and Uncle Henry couldn’t prevent Miss Gulch from taking Toto.
What is the nature of power? How do people get power over others?
How does a child meet the challenges of becoming an adult? Specifically, how do you act intelligently (the challenge faced by the Scarecrow); how do you act courageously when you are very scared (the goal for the Cowardly Lion); and how can you be a caring individual (the desire of the Tin Man?

“The Wizard of Oz” also contains some important moral lessons and opportunities for social-emotional learning. See Suggested Responses to Discussion Questions 4 – 6**** in the Learning Guide.

Through this story, we also see that if we want to go looking for greater purpose in our lives, we may want to avoid traveling “somewhere over the rainbow,” and look instead in our own home community. For some of us, “there’s no place like home,” no matter what wonders and adventures might await us in the big, colorful world. “The Wizard of Oz” and “ It’s a Wonderful Life ” are the major cinematic proponents of this view. There are many other movies that glorify the effort of young people to break out of the restrictions of their home environments and live in that brightly colored, exciting, and somewhat dangerous world beyond their home. Some of these movies can be found in the Breaking Out section of the Social-Emotional Learning Index.

THE MOVIE AS A WORK OF LITERATURE

The movie employs the device of a frame story. Events in Kansas, shown in black and white, come at the beginning and at the end of the film. They bracket and give meaning to the colorful, adventurous journey through Oz. The characters and occurrences in Kansas parallel and foreshadow the characters and occurrences in the main story. Dorothy’s dream transformed the three farmhands into the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion, and the Tin Man. It made Miss Gulch into the Wicked Witch of the West and Professor Marvel into the Wizard of Oz. When Toto bites Miss Gulch, the advice given by the farmhands foreshadows the personality of their parallel characters in Oz. The conflict with Miss Gulch foreshadows and is converted into the conflict with the Wicked Witches. The powerlessness of Auntie Em and Uncle Henry foreshadows the powerlessness of the Wizard to defeat the Wicked Witch of the West.

Irony plays an important role in the story. It is Dorothy, the innocent child who vanquishes the powerful Wicked Witches who terrorize Oz. It is Toto, the meekest creature of them all who exposes Oz, “the great and powerful.” It is the charlatan Wizard who gives legitimacy to the Scarecrow’s intelligence, the Tin Man’s caring, and the Cowardly Lion’s courage. Oz “the great and powerful” is really a somewhat pathetic old man who doesn’t even know how to work the baloon that he sails off in.

There are many symbols in the movie. Here are a few: the ruby slippers stand for the self-knowledge required to find happiness; the tornado is a symbol for the strong emotions felt by Dorothy when Auntie Em and Uncle Henry could not stop Miss Gulch from taking Toto (the storm abates with the death of one of the Witches).

ALLEGORY TO THE HISTORY OF POPULISM IN THE U.S. — LATE 1800S

Educators have used the book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, as an allegory for the history of the populist movement in U.S. politics in the late 1800s. The validity of the theory is disputed. See the Links to the Internet for sites reflecting the conflicting interpretations and The Annotated Wizard of Oz, Centennial Edition, Introduction, pages lxxxix and xc. Whether the theory is correct or not, it is an excellent way to teach: (1) the literary device of allegory and (2) the history of populism in the U.S. during the late 1800s.

A simplified analysis is that the populists championed a bimetal standard for the U.S. currency, i.e., one based on both gold and silver. With a gold standard, there was too little paper money in circulation. The bankers and industrialists of the day controlled gold and wanted a gold-based currency. This restricted the availability of money and hence, so the theory went, kept inflation and prices low. The populists believed that if a bimetal standard was adopted there would be more paper money and an increase in commerce, salaries, and prices benefitting farmers and workers.

The Quantity Theory of Money can be expressed as: MV = PQ where:

M = the quantity of money in circulation (M1).

V = the velocity with which money circulates in the economy. (This can be assumed to be a constant. It does go up slowly over time as the technology for clearing transactions through the banking system is improved.)

P = the average price level.

Q = real national output (GNP or GDP).

The Quantity of Money Theory of Price is a corollary to the Quantity Theory of Money and asserts that: P = MV/Q. This theory means that when the amount of money in circulation (M) rises, the average price level (P) will also rise.

The U.S. had been on the gold standard (i.e., all dollars issued had to be backed by gold and could be redeemed for gold) until the Civil War. After the Civil War, the issuance of currency was restricted and, in 1879, the gold standard was resumed. The U.S. economy throughout most of the late 1800s was expanding rapidly and there was a need for more currency. The 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act provided for increased purchase and coinage of silver. There were fears that the U.S. would switch from a gold to a silver standard and people began to hoard gold, depleting the Treasury’s supply. The populists believed that more money (M) would result in an increased average price level. This was to be accomplished through “bimetalism,” adding silver as a second metal on which the dollar was based.

The populists never came to power in the U.S. The most influential populist/bimetallist candidate for president was William Jennings Bryan. Nominated for president by the Democratic party on three occasions, Bryan never achieved the presidency, despite the fact that on one occasion he won the popular vote.

An allegory is “the representation of spiritual, moral, or other abstract meanings through the actions of fictional characters that serve as symbols.” Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, 1999. The analogies on which this allegorical interpretation is based (there are some variations among educators) are as follows:

Dorothy = the American people: plucky, good-natured, naive.

Toto = the Prohibition (Temperance) party. Prohibitionists favored the bimetallic standard but like any fringe group often pulled in the wrong direction. So they got to be a dog. (Toto is a play on “teetotalers.”)

Oz = the almighty ounce (oz) of gold.

The yellow brick road = a path paved with gold bricks that leads nowhere.

Dorothy’s silver slippers = originally the property of the Wicked Witch of the East, until Dorothy drops the house on the Witch. Walking on the yellow brick road with the silver slippers represented the bimetallic standard. (MGM changed the silver slippers to the ruby slippers to exploit the technology of Technicolor.)

The Good Witch of the North = New England, a populist stronghold.

The Good Witch of the South = the South, another populist stronghold.

The Wicked Witch of the East = Eastern banking and industrial interests. She is killed by Dorothy’s falling house because the populists expected that the Eastern industrial workers would vote populist, but this never really happened.

The Wicked Witch of the West = the West was where the populists were strongest. The only reason the West gets a Wicked Witch is: a) you need two bad guys to balance the two good guys, and especially, b) William McKinley was from Ohio, then thought of as a Western state. The Wicked Witch is sometimes identified directly with President McKinley.

The Munchkins = slaves of the Eastern banking and industrial interests, i.e., Eastern workers who didn’t vote for Bryan.

The Scarecrow = Western farmers. They were populists.

The Tin Man = Eastern workers. Populist mythology always looked to this group for support, but never found it in reality. Baum realized this (most populists didn’t) and shows the Tin Man as a victim of mechanization. He’s so dehumanized he doesn’t have a heart.

The Cowardly Lion = William Jennings Bryan.

The Emerald City = Washington, D.C. The color is suggestive of paper greenbacks.

The Wizard = President McKinley, but sometimes his advisor, Marcus Alonzo Hanna. McKinley and Hanna deceived the people. The Wizard promises Dorothy that he will be able to bring her back to Kansas with a balloon filled with a lot of “hot air.” Instead, it is the slippers, which Dorothy had all the time, that took her home. The Wizard’s gifts of courage, brains, and a heart are deceptions, although beneficial ones. Much of this section is quoted or derived from The Wizard of Oz as a Monetary Allegory by Robert F. Mulligan, Ph.D., Western Carolina University College of Business.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

After the film has been watched, engage the class in a discussion about the movie. Select a few of the questions set out below. Questions 1 – 8 track the list of childhood fears and concerns. Some are approached directly; others indirectly.

1. Dorothy was just a child, but she did make it home. What was in Dorothy’s mind that allowed her to get home?

Suggested Response:

There are several answers. She was careful to observe things around her. She found friends to help her. She was lucky. She was strong and in each situation did what she knew was right.

2. Why couldn’t Uncle Henry and Auntie Em stop Miss Gulch from taking Toto? Was this because they didn’t love Dorothy?

Miss Gulch had an order from the Country Sheriff, and Uncle Henry and Auntie Em had no choice but to obey that order. The fact that Uncle Henry and Auntie Em could not protect Toto, didn’t mean they loved Dorothy any less.

3. When Uncle Henry and Auntie Em couldn’t get Toto back despite the fact that Dorothy asked them to, what did Dorothy do? What do you think she should she have done?

Dorothy tried to run away, but Professor Marvel helped her realize that this was not the right thing to do. Dorothy came home to try to work it out, but then the tornado happened. In a sense, Dorothy’s entire time in Oz was trying to work out what would happen to Toto.

4. How does a child learn what he or she needs to know to get through tough situations?

This is part of growing up. Observe carefully. Act carefully. Try to think about what would be the best thing to do.

5. Dorothy killed the wicked witches. How did she do that?

Her house fell on one of them, and she threw water on the other.

6. What appearances in this movie are misleading?

There are many, including: the power of the Wizard of Oz; the ability of Professor Marvel to see into the future; the idea that Dorothy is a powerless little girl; the Scarecrow’s stupidity; the Tin Man’s lack of heart; and the Lion’s cowardice.

7. In this story, Dorothy, who was just a child, acted like a grown-up in many ways. Give two examples of actions that Dorothy took that were like grown-up actions.

There are a host of good responses. Almost any action taken by Dorothy while she was in Oz can be characterized as an action that is an adult-like response to Dorothy’s circumstances.

8. How does a person who is afraid act with courage?

Courageous people often feel fear. However, they know what they must do and they do it, despite their fear. If a child is interested in this question, it might be a good idea to read to them or have them read The Red Badge of Courage. See Learning Guide to “ The Red Badge of Courage “.

9. The Wizard gave the Tin Man a clock. Why did the Tin Man want to have a clock?

There is no one correct response. A good response will include the fact that the clock was to show that the Tin Man had a heart and cared for people. However, the Tin Man had cared for people all the time; it was just that he thought he didn’t and needed someone to reassure him that he did.

10. The Cowardly Lion received a medal for bravery from the Wizard. What did the medal really give to the Lion?

There is no one correct response. Good responses might include the fact that the lion was courageous before he received the medal. He just needed to see it himself.

11. The Wizard gave the Scarecrow a diploma from a university stating that he was a wise man. What changed for the Scarecrow once he had received the diploma?

There is no one correct response. The Scarecrow thought he was stupid because he had a head full of straw, and having the diploma gave him confidence that he was smart.

12. Ask the following questions in sequence:

Was there someone in Dorothy’s dream about the Land of Oz who reminded you of Miss Gulch? Who was she? Why did she remind you of Miss Gulch?
Was there someone in Dorothy’s dream about the Land of Oz who reminded you of Professor Marvel, the man who told Dorothy’s fortune with the crystal ball? Who was he? Why did that character in Oz remind you of Professor Marvel?
Were there people in Dorothy’s dream who reminded you of the farmhands? Who were they? Why did they remind you of the farmhands?

Suggested Responses:

The dream transformed Miss Gulch to a Wicked Witch, Professor Marvel into the Wizard of Oz and the three farmhands to the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man.

13. How does Dorothy change from the beginning to the end of this movie?

There is no one right answer. A good answer would include that she came to know her own strength and resourcefulness or that she grew in self-confidence.

14. Did Oz really happen or was it just Dorothy’s dream?

It was both a dream and an experience from which Dorothy could learn and grow. just like any story did not really didn’t happen, it showed us the different ways that people will behave in real situations. Not all stories do that, but good stories do.

SELF-ESTEEM

1. How did getting the diploma affect the Scarecrow?

He thought he was wiser and his belief in himself allowed him to give expression to his wisdom.

2. How did getting the medal for courage affect the Cowardly Lion?

Since he now thought he was courageous, he would act more courageously.

3. The Tin Man received a heart (a ticking clock) from the Wizard. How did that affect him?

Since he thought he was compassionate, he would be more likely to act in a kindly manner.

4. Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion were all very different. What does this story tell you about having friends that are different from yourself?

Each of the four brought different skills and strengths. Without the combination of these, they would not have made it to the Land of Oz. We have something to learn from everyone, especially people who are different than we are. Also, it would be really boring if everyone was the same.

TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF

5. If Dorothy had not had the ability to face all of the challenges presented to her in the land of Oz, what would have happened to her?

She wouldn’t have been able to return home.

BREAKING OUT

6. At the beginning of the movie, Dorothy lived in Kansas. She yearned to leave home and go “somewhere over the rainbow.” What did she learn about lands over the rainbow when she got there? Is this a realistic lesson or should people seek their destiny away from home?

There are several good responses to this question. One is that she finds that she is not happy because it is not her home and the people that she loves are not there. Another is that she finds that there are problems in the world over the rainbow that are just as bad or worse than what she faced at home. As to the last part of the questions, sometimes a person’s destiny requires that they leave their home and sometimes it does not.

MORAL-ETHICAL EMPHASIS (CHARACTER COUNTS)

Discussion Questions Relating to Ethical Issues will facilitate the use of this film to teach ethical principles and critical viewing. Additional questions are set out below.

TRUSTWORTHINESS

(Be honest; Don’t deceive, cheat or steal; Be reliable — do what you say you’ll do; Have the courage to do the right thing; Build a good reputation; Be loyal — stand by your family, friends, and country)

1. The Wizard, as Professor Marvel in Kansas, and in Oz, makes things appear different from what they really are. He lies to Dorothy in both places. In the movie, these lies are either harmless or for Dorothy’s benefit (as when he sends her home after looking into the crystal ball). What is the difference between these “white lies” and lies that are unethical?

Unethical lies are to get something the liar wants or to avoid something unpleasant. The lie hurts the liar, even if it goes undetected because it separates the liar from other people (often from people whom he or she loves) and makes the liar feel alone. It also lowers his or her sense of self-esteem. It puts the liar in the emotionally draining position of having to be vigilant about guarding the lie in future speech and action. Not only does a lie separate us from other people, the lie undermines our sense of unity with the Universe. All good moral or ethical codes have a spiritual component. This does not have to be religious in the sense of belief in a Supreme Being, but it must contain a sense of a relationship to others and to the Universal good. Acting in an immoral manner separates us from the Universal good and denies us the strength that comes from being in harmony with our sense of the Universe.

(Treat others with respect; follow the Golden Rule; Be tolerant of differences; Use good manners, not bad language; Be considerate of the feelings of others; Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone; Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements)

2. Dorothy met many different kinds of beings when she was in The Land of Oz. Other than the Wicked Witches, how did she treat them?

Dorothy treated everyone with respect and kindness: the Munchkins, the Witches’ minions, the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Man. Even after Dorothy knew the Wizard was a fraud, she treated him with respect. Even when Dorothy killed the Wicked Witches, it was by accident. Dorothy’s respectful and kind treatment of every other character helped her make it home.

(Additional questions are set out in the “Friendship” section above.)

(Be kind; Be compassionate and show you care; Express gratitude; Forgive others; Help people in need)

3. Why is home so important to Dorothy? Suggested Response: Home is where the people who love her live.

ASSIGNMENTS, PROJECTS & ACTIVITIES

1. Have students draw their favorite scene from the movie.

2. Have students draw a chart showing which characters from the farm were which characters in the Land of Oz.

Additional Assignments

4. Create a timeline showing Dorothy’s adventure from the film’s opening to her return home. Draw pictures, or copy photographs from Internet sources that show each phase of Dorothy’s journey. Identify what happens all along the way and pay special attention to any important lessons learned, either by Dorothy or her companions.

5. For U.S. history classes, ask students to write an essay agreeing or disagreeing with the theory that the book The Wizard of Oz is an allegory for the history of populism and bimetallism in the U.S. in the late 1800s.

See additional Lesson Plans Using Film Adaptations of Novels, Short Stories and Plays and Assignments for use with any Film that is a Work of Fiction .

CCSS ANCHOR STANDARDS

Multimedia: Anchor Standard #7 for Reading (for both ELA classes and for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Classes). (The three Anchor Standards read: “Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media, including visually and quantitatively as well as in words.”) CCSS pp. 35 & 60. See also Anchor Standard # 2 for ELA Speaking and Listening, CCSS pg. 48.

Reading: Anchor Standards #s 1, 2, 7 and 8 for Reading and related standards (for both ELA classes and for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Classes). CCSS pp. 35 & 60.

Writing: Anchor Standards #s 1 – 5 and 7- 10 for Writing and related standards (for both ELA classes and for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Classes). CCSS pp. 41 & 63.

Speaking and Listening: Anchor Standards #s 1 – 3 (for ELA classes). CCSS pg. 48.

Not all assignments reach all Anchor Standards. Teachers are encouraged to review the specific standards to make sure that over the term all standards are met.

BRIDGES TO READING

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a great book to read to a younger child or for children 8 – 12 to read on their own. L. Frank Baum wrote a total of 14 books with Oz characters. Their complete texts can all be found on the web at various places, including The Wonderful Website of Oz! Purchase these books at Amazon.com .

LINKS TO THE INTERNET

Websites and articles claiming that the story is an allegory about the history of populism:

The Crime of 1873 ;
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: A Money Reform Parable .

Websites and articles disputing the idea that Baum intended the story as a parable of the history of populism:

The Rise and Fall of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a “Parable on Populism” ; this is the article published in the JOURNAL OF THE GEORGIA ASSOCIATION OF HISTORIANS, vol. 15 (1994), pp. 49-63 that some take as the definitive response to the populism allegory theory.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In addition to websites which may be linked in the Guide and selected film reviews listed on the Movie Review Query Engine , the following resources were consulted in the preparation of this Learning Guide:

The Annotated Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, annotated with an introduction by Michael Patrick Hearn, W. Norton & Company, New York, 2000;
The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell (Cleveland; World, 1956);
“Oz is Us”, by John Updike, New Yorker, Sept. 25, 2000 pp. 84 et seq.

This Learning Guide was last revised and updated on August 24, 2013.

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Children's Theater

The Puppet Co. does ‘Wizard of Oz’ right and recaptures what it was

The show is faithful to L. Frank Baum’s 1900 version of the story and illustrator W.W. Denslow’s original character designs.

Take note, Hollywood: when we adapt beloved stories, we should say something new with them, and consider using a new medium. The Puppet Co. is doing it right.

For the story of The Wizard of Oz in the cultural lexicon, what was in L. Frank Baum’s 1900 version of the story is somehow what’s new, and that is the version The Puppet Co. is faithful to, down to puppets that are visually true to W.W. Denslow’s 1900 illustrated character designs.

That narrative sits in contrast to the beloved 1939 film, the storyline of which is arguably more well-known than the original book’s — and they are quite different . Through the changes made to abbreviate the frequently 200+-page book and 2-hour movie into a 1-hour children’s morning show, the story’s message has been distilled with even greater narrative power and efficiency than more familiar versions. This version — L. Frank Baum’s version — of the story distills the story down to discussing each character’s inner strengths, quietly joking to the audience throughout that these characters already have what they seek.

A major way this is done is through the handling of the climactic scene with the Wizard. The Wizard, played with magical whimsy by Lee Gerstenhaber standing at her full height but wearing an over-face piece that gives her bushy brows and a mustache, is a sympathetic character we can feel gratitude and amusement toward. In the 1939 film, the Boss Tweed-like Wizard tells the characters that he’s rewarding them for risking their lives as he instructed and hopes that they are satisfied while appearing to consciously know that he’s giving them, without their knowledge, mere material symbols for what they already have. In this version, the Wizard tells them that they already have what they came for, but he will do his earnest best to give them what he has; no conscious deception is taking place. He’s a fool, but an honest fool, as someone once said. The whole story’s narrative, reinforced by Gerstenhaber’s giddy performance and staying true to Baum’s writing, is more clearly about how these characters earned what they sought independently and ought to appreciate themselves, as opposed to a fable about avoiding charlatans. Therefore, the key theme of the story is maintained more in this version than the movie everyone likes for an ultimately more satisfying story.

This story beat and performance aren’t the only elements that enable this: the story can also be about the beauty inherent in the characters they may not recognize through the diversity in their appearance thanks to the range of visual artistry and puppetry skills at play. The Puppet Co.’s The Wizard of Oz is an award-winning Mainstage Legacy Production : all its puppets were created by The Puppet Co. founders and their collaborators, and all Mainstage Legacy productions are completely original and completed with in-house work. It has been produced numerous times, including in 2009 and 2014 . It even won a “Citation of Excellence” from the American wing of the Union International de la Marionette – USA: the highest honor for American puppetry. And no doubt, the skill in puppetry here is clear across designs and styles, under Christopher Piper, Allan Stevens, and MayField Piper’s work: the Scarecrow is a plush hand puppet, the Tin Man is constructed from metal, Dorothy is made out of wood, and the Lion is worn like a jacket as the puppeteer wears his head like a hat. The characters are all beautiful to behold, and despite their problems, they amaze and delight the audience: it is thus easy to register how they just don’t realize how incredible they are, reinforcing Baum’s story.

Numerous other puppets are worn as essentially foot-long bibs for diminutive characters, with arms controlled by the puppeteers, where their heads look hilariously huge in proportion as a result. This show truly is a celebration of creativity and visual arts: they are figuring out any method under the sun to communicate this story and laugh after laugh.

On top of the visuals, very rarely did the writing feel simplified for the enjoyment of a young audience, which is the magic of L. Frank Baum as well as the adaptation work of Christopher Piper. Any stilted simplification in the writing is that charming kind you know and love from classic children’s literature.

There are a few songs in this production, and they are unfortunately not the best. I understand that this show has a challenge on its hands: adapt L. Frank Baum’s book into an all-new musical production when whole Wikipedia pages exist listing ridiculously successful musical adaptations of the original story and new stories it inspired. But the songs in this production feel overtly half-baked. In contrast with the sheer excellence of the rest of the production, they are overtly underwhelming.

On top of that, there are a few fourth-wall breaks that reference the 1939 movie: for example, a character once starts singing, “We’re off to see the — oops!” Unless you’re commenting on the existing story in some way, sprinkled-in references often exist to remind audiences of another, usually more well-known show, and give the impression that you don’t think your show is good enough to get your audience’s attention without alluding to Another Thing. I’m not a 6-year-old who loves The Wizard of Oz and would enjoy hearing a reference to a favorite song, and I’m not here to rain on their parade, but as an artistic work, The Puppet Co.’s production has our attention and does not need to reference other works to get it.

Under Mollie Greenberg’s direction, the script, storytelling, puppetry, and jokes are utterly delightful, and just genuinely funny no matter your age. It’s hard to not look at a big goofy plush lion head and find it appealing, and it’s hard to look at a giant human head on a tiny foot-long Munchkin body and not laugh. It’s truly all-age entertainment — there’s never not something funny or beautiful to look at on stage. The story, about our world but a little more colorful, feels ideally suited for the puppet medium.

Running Time: Approximately 60 minutes.

The Wizard of Oz plays through August 4, 2024 (Thursdays and Fridays at 10:30 am, Saturdays and Sundays at 11:30 am and 1 pm), at the Puppet Co. Playhouse, 7300 Macarthur Blvd, Glen Echo, MD. Purchase tickets ($15 per person, under age 2 no ticket required) by calling 301.634.5380 or order them online.

Recommended for ages 4+. Helpful driving and parking instructions are here.

COVID Safety: Masks are strongly encouraged for all patrons age 2 and older

The Wizard of Oz Directed by Mollie Greenberg Starring Lee Gerstenhaber, Brigid Wallace Harper, Matthew Pauli, and Andrew Quilpa

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Jill Schary Robinson, Who Wrote of Her Hollywood Upbringing, Dies at 88

A screenwriter’s daughter, she grew up in the glittering world of privilege and its contradictions, which became rich material for her memoirs and novels.

Jill Schary Robinson sitting on what looks to be a couch and holding a book. She is smiling and wearing a purple turtleneck under a blue dress with flowers, green stockings and green boots.

By Penelope Green

Jill Schary Robinson, an author and journalist who limned her glittering, complicated Hollywood upbringing in much of her work, beginning with her wry 1963 memoir, “With a Cast of Thousands,” and who found fame for chronicling Hollywood’s darker side a decade later in “Bed/Time/Story,” died on July 19 at her home in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 88.

Her daughter, Johanna Simmel, confirmed the death. She did not specify the cause.

Ms. Robinson was the eldest child of Dore Schary , a playwright, screenwriter and studio mogul who was the head of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for a time. She grew up in an 18-room Tudor manor in swanky Brentwood — a Hollywood princess chauffeured to birthday parties with all the other Hollywood princesses and princelings, including Jane Fonda (who was an audacious, terrifyingly cool tomboy), Brooke Hayward and Daniel Selznick.

The Schary home was always brimming with movie people: Elizabeth Taylor came to dinner swathed in yellow chiffon and barely spoke. Marlon Brando brought his father. When Clark Gable visited, Jill was so overwhelmed that she spiked a fever (he sent her long-stemmed roses afterward). She was 17 when, at an event with her parents, Humphrey Bogart called her out for “being the only virgin in the room.”

Ms. Robinson was 27 when “With a Cast of Thousands,” an arch but loving look at her childhood and its oddities, was published. At the time, she was married to a Navy officer turned stockbroker, working as a copywriter for an ad agency, contributing to Cosmopolitan magazine and raising two children. A few years later, she was divorced, strung out on amphetamines, struggling with deadlines and disastrously in love with an alcoholic.

“Bed/Time/Story” (1974), her memoir of that period, was cast as a redemption tale of two catastrophically damaged people, Ms. Robinson and her second husband. It sold briskly — and landed Ms. Robinson both in People magazine and on the talk-show circuit. Annie Gottlieb, writing in The New York Times Book Review , said it was “among the great love stories.”

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The movie's storytelling device of a dream is just precisely obvious enough to appeal to younger viewers. Dorothy, faced with a crisis (the loss of Toto), meets the intriguing Professor Marvel ( Frank Morgan) on the road. She is befriended by three farm hands (Bolger, Haley and Lahr). Soon comes the fearsome tornado.
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Published: Jul 15, 2020. The movie I have chosen to talk about is titled "The Wizard of Oz". Over going each genre and carefully selecting which genre this movie falls under, I picked the Fantasy Genre. One scene in the film that sticks out to me in specific is when the character Dorothy meets the Scarecrow played by Ray Bolger.
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The Wizard of Oz Essay (Movie Review) The well-known movie called "The Wizard of Oz" was released in 1939. The film is recognized as a musical fantasy. It is based on the novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" written by Frank Baum in 1900. The film has millions of admirers all over the world. The creators of "The Wizard of Oz" applied ...
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The Wizard of Oz is one of a very few shared experiences that unite Americans as a culture, transcending barriers of age, locale, politics, religion, and so on. We all see it when we are young, and it leaves an indelible mark on our imaginations. We can hardly imagine not knowing it. It ranks among our earliest and most defining experiences of wonder and of fear, of fairy-tale joys and terrors ...
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