The beginning of “The Wizard of Oz” like most movies, sets up the remainder of the film. In the first couple of scenes we are introduced to everyday characters who play a role in Dorothy’s life, it is critical to note that these characters while in Kansas are just everyday people she encounters, in Emerald city the characteristic they uphold carry over as the personal insecurities Dorothy has within herself. Dorothy must take the journey to Emerald city in hopes of finding her way home, while also facing personal insecurities that are reflected by some peculiar friends she encounters along the way. Within the first couple of minutes into the movie we are introduced to some of the struggles Dorothy faces in regards to her home life. After trying …show more content…
In the world of Oz things are viewed in color almost to reflect a happier place, although even in the most appealing places there are flaws Dorothy must face within this marvelous world of Oz as she finds her self-identity within individual characters that represent a part of Dorothy’s feelings in regards to her identity. These experiences in Kansas were stored in her memory and now in the emerald city she must face similar experiences through her journey to see the Great Wizard of Oz. Dorothy by defeating the wicked witch of the west manages to make it home while also teaching her friends the scarecrow, tin man and lion that they never lacked the ability to love, be intelligent or have courage they had those traits all along inside of themselves. Once Dorothy returns to Kansas the film continues its ending scenes in black and white to show Dorothy’s reality. Now having gone through some learning experiences she doesn’t view her home life as bad as she use to do to the self-reflective journey she had on her way to emerald city to learn about herself. Now she views herself in a different and more positive light then when she is first seen in the opening scenes of the
Along the Yellow Brick Road, she meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. Each is searching for something to complete their quest for illumination, a brain; a heart; and courage, respectively. In occult symbolism, Mystery Schools teach students that one must rely on oneself to obtain salvation. Given this, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and even Dorothy, must rely on themselves to find what they desire. At the end of the movie, Dorothy defeats the Wicked Witch of the West, attaining illumination. Waking from her deep sleep at home, she has successfully combined her physical and spiritual life. Dorothy is now comfortable with herself again, as this quote
The narrative begins with Dorothy, who lives on a farm in a black and white setting presuming the absence of vitality and the insufficiency of a place that was in poverty at the time. However, when Dorothy is picked up by a twister and wakes up in the Land of Oz, she finds herself in a completely opposite environment full of life, beauty, and color filled with new found opportunities. On her quest to Emerald City, Dorothy is presented with a few characters who are The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, and The Scarecrow who all feel like they need something more to complete them and they all seek out the “all powerful” wizard to obtain the things they want. The items they yearn for were a brain, a heart, and courage. Three things that we learn to utilize with experiences we go through. The characters eventually realize that they have always had what they have been longing for after the many obstacles they came through on their journey. In the end, Dorothy says, “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't
In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the characters all turn out to have what they have been searching for all along (the lion was brave, the scarecrow could think, the tin man could feel, and Dorothy could have returned home at any time.
Frank Baums, The Wizard of Oz is arguably one of the most popular films made. Even though it was released in 1939, nearly three-quarters of a century ago, the film continues to entertain audiences and speak to them in a personal way. The question that comes to the mind when analyzing this film is: What is it about this film that gives it such timelessness? When reflecting on the film’s timeless qualities, it seems clear the plot is one of the things that enable it to maintain its relevance. Primarily, the plot of The Wizard of Oz is timeless because it is such an excellent example of the heroic journey, both in literally and cinematically. This journey of self-awareness is a metaphor for growth, which is something we all search to discover at some time in our lives.
After coming back from jail and going back to Washington, she turned toward the church again, because she felt the need to connect to God again. “Certainly I felt again and again the need to go to church to kneel, to bow my head in prayer...I put myself in the atmosphere of prayer- it was an act of the will,” (85). She gradually began to realize that her mind, body, and soul can be brought into harmony through the peace she gets from practicing her faith. When Dorothy decided to become a nurse and help out victims of the war, she began to question the way of life and her thoughts began to change about religion. “I felt that it was necessary for man to worship, that he was most truly himself when engaged in the act,” (93). It was almost as if she found her true self when she went to
In relation to occult symbolism, the above quotes have illustrated these features. Toto, the inner voice, led Dorothy along her trek . Glinda, the guide, gave Dorothy the resources to lead her in the direction to what she ultimately desires, a way to return to Kansas. Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion searched for a want or need, while supporting Dorothy. In whole, each of these characters displayed good behavior in assisting the young girl in her exploration to illumination and enlightenment. “Like Dorothy’s journey, ours lead to a better self-understanding and, hopefully, to wisdom. But what does “wisdom” mean? I suspect it consists precisely in having discovered the brightness, the enchantment inside everything we have encountered all our lives.”
Shot 1: Wide shot. View behind Dorothy in black and white. Dorothy opens the door to the color world of Oz. She steps out into Oz and stops. Straight on shot, camera moves into Oz first through the door, followed by Dorothy appearing again in the foreground. Light symphonies playing magical music, birds are singing in the background.
...s. The Scarecrow represents farmers, agricultural workers, ignorant of many city things but honest and able to understand things with a little education. The Tin Man, He represents the industrial worker whose heart has been torn out by the evils of factory work and industrialism. W.J. Bryan embodied the role of the cowardly lion. Bryan was a very loud and booming public speaker but was viewed as a coward because he did not support the Spanish-American war. OZ is the US. The emerald city is Washington D.C. filled with greenbacks and the wizard is the president. Dorothy and her “party” follow the yellow brick way, or gold standard, to find the wizard and fix her problem. When all along they way to fix her problem of how to get back home was to tap her ruby red shoes which were silver thus in the original book thus representing the Populists push for a silver standard.
In her travels Dorothy meets the green people of Emerald city, the yellow winkies, and the blue munchkins. Each of the three different types of people reacted to Dorothy and her people differently, the munchkins were warm and welcoming, the people of Emerald city were cautious and courteous and the yellow winkies were curious and helpful. The distinction in color was made because each color represented a defining characteristic, the people of Emerald city represented greed as they were not only green, the color of money, but they were also heavily isolated from the rest of the people of Oz; the people of Emerald city lived in the richest city as seen with the jewels that surrounded the houses as such they did not openly welcome strangers nor did they treat them kindly a sign of disdain for outsiders, they represented the higher class in society, or the richest class. The yellow winkies represented hard workers, and the working to lower class as they were not only very skilled at every craft but their enslavement to the much more powerful which represented the constant oppression of the less powerful, or poorer class in society. The blue munchkins represented the middle class, not necessarily know for wealth or for being poor, they are kind and strive to be successful as seen with Boq one of the richest munchkins. Each of the different people of Oz and
Sometimes, the hardest parts of life can make one a better person in the long run, it just takes time. In the novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy learns the importance of being independent and brave. By going on the journey to Oz, she runs into many challenges throughout the novel that help her grow into a hero at the end of the novel. In the story, Dorothy lives a normal life, but then there was a twister that hit her house and flew her away into a different land. This land was called, munchkin land. Here, Dorothy was welcomed, then she tells the princess she wants to go home and the princess tells her the only way to get home was to follow the yellow brick road to Oz. So she follows the road and runs into many obstacles, but in the end, Dorothy ends up talking to Oz and getting home safely. Dorothy grows into a hero because she had to face her fear of defeating the witch and makes it back home, while also helping out the scarecrow, tiger, and the tin man and she has to learn how it is important to be independent.
The first major connection in The Wizard of Oz was the Scarecrow. The scarecrow was used to symbolize the farmers and their struggles in America in the 18th century (Foner, Eric 636-640). The scarecrow made of straw was vulnerable with no brain. The scarecrow had little control over the circumstances he was facing just as the farmers did in the 18th century. The western farmers had issues with overproduction and when prices fell farmers suffered ended up losing their farms (Foner, Eric
The Wizard of Oz the movie demonstrated all three stages Joseph Campbell's theory of the hero’s journey. The first stage or known as the departure of the hero. The hero in the movie is Dorothy. Dorothy’s call to depart is to run away from home to protect her dog Toto from being taken away from her inferior neighbor. While running away Dorothy comes upon Professor Marvel, a fortuneteller. Professor Marvel tells her that her Aunt Em is in danger and needs her assistance back on the farm. When returning to the house a twister hits the ground. As the winds started to get heavier the hero’s house moved across the air uncontrollably, but then she leaves home and enters a new world of talking animals and colorful objects. In the new world of the Oz
After the witch’s threats, the Scarecrow and Tin Man vow to stay with Dorothy. This is when Dorothy feels a familiarity with the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. They are not afraid of the wicket witch. They continue to walk, with the sound of the forest in the back ground, but Dorothy is afraid of meeting wild animals in the forest. Suddenly a lion appears, noisy and acting ferocious; he wants to fight them all. Initially, they are afraid, but Dorothy hits the lion and chastises him; the lion begins to cry and thinks his nose is bleeding. Dorothy calls him a big coward, he agrees and says he even scare himself. They suggest the Wizard of Oz could give the lion courage. He calls himself a dandelion. They head to the wizard to get a heart, a home, a brain, and coverage. The wicked witch of the west is behind the scene making a poison and puts it in the beautiful land scape of miles and mile of flowers. This is an area Dorothy must cross to get to the emerald city. Dorothy and company can now see The Emerald City in the distance. They began to walk across the colorful flowers towards the Emerald City and they can again see the yellow brick road. Dorothy suddenly becomes dizzy and sleepy, her and mentors and allies offers to pull her alone, but Dorothy and Toto and the lion falls asleep. The Tin Man and Scarecrow wants to carry Dorothy when realizing that
When the film begins on the farm in Kansas, the scene is shot in black and white, creating a sepia tone of colour to represent the country dust in the air adding to the effect of the ordinary unsaturated colour of the Kansas landscape. In contrast to the Kansas setting, lighting is profoundly used by the director to enhance the overall emotions of the film. Fleming uses a combination of the set, lighting techniques, and colour to create a magical place with very bright colours and deep focus lens to bring the land of Oz to life. In the scene where Dorothy enters Oz, the lighting is positioned between Dorothy and the foreground plants. The director uses the three point lighting technique so both Dorothy and the colour plants are highlighted but no shadows visible. This shot was done with a background of the black and white house behind Dorothy. The Land of Oz is filled with beautiful colours to create the illusion of a happy world that enhances the feel of fantasy. The allusion of contrasts between the real world and the land of Oz support the central theme there’s no place like home. In this way, the director enhances the picture of the film by the use of colour to reflect a mood experienced by the character in the different places. This colour transition used by the director, incorporates two completely different Mise en scene
Dorothy is a very motherly figure to the two other girls, Katherine and Mary, but she is also a very motherly figure to the whole west wing computing group. The director shows us the many obstacles that Dorothy must overcome to reach her goal which is to become supervisor and have the same pay as one. One of the main obstacles for Dorothy to overcome is racism. As Dorothy, the very determined woman she is, she does not care about what other people think and just wants to have a good paying job. In the library scene in Hidden Figures, Dorothy is looking for books with her two sons and she happened to be in the “White section” whilst looking for a book on computers, she runs into a white lady, and the first thing the lady says is “We don’t want any trouble here.” This is a perfect example of the racism Dorothy must overcome and how her self interest is pushing her through all this racism she is receiving for no reason. In this scene the director uses lighting to make us further our understanding about the time. The lighting on the side of the bookshelf that Dorothy is on, is a very bright and welcoming type representing good and the kind heartedness of Dorothy. On the other side where the white woman is, it is very dark and shady as if the director is trying to convey evil and how the white woman is very closed minded and doesn't see that Dorothy is just a regular human being.