The Wizard of Oz

I had never watched The Wizard of Oz, as much as someone can go through life in this day and age without watching The Wizard of Oz; its omnipresence in American (and maybe in general anglophone) culture makes it perfectly possible to have never seen the film, and yet know everything about it: the Yellow Brick Road (thanks, Elton John), ‘don’t pay attention to the man behind the curtain’, Over the Rainbow, ‘Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore’, ‘fly, my pretties, fly’ (ok, the exact phrase is never spoken in the film, but still, how can you leave this out…), ‘there’s no place like home’. The biggest multiplex in my hometown is named after Oz. Even Lost took something from it. And in the time it took me to write this post, the Wicked Witch of the West has appeared in the latest episode of Agatha All Along.
And do you remember the time when the Internet wanted to persuade you to watch this film while listening to Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon? Because of course, it’s unthinkable that something big in culture could not originate from this film.
And I didn’t feel particularly confused when I watched the revisionist musical Wicked! in the West End a few years ago.

So, I had never watched The Wizard of Oz, but I felt I knew everything about it: the Lion, the Witch(es), no wardrobe, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the ‘wizard’ himself, the advice to look for what you desire within yourself instead of expecting someone to give it to you.
Did I really know everything?
Not at all.
I didn’t know there would be ten minutes devoted to the munchkins. I actually didn’t know much about the munchkins at all, except from one urban legend I learnt while browsing through Snopes twenty-five years ago.
I didn’t know the film would be mostly composed, almost with chronometrical precision, of ten-minute scenes.
I didn’t know that almost half of the film would be dedicated to introducing the main characters.

I didn’t know that the man behind the curtain ends up being a positive figure anyway: despite the deception he used to look powerful, it seems like he actually ruled a place where everybody was happy; plus, he understood that all he needed to make three creatures fulfilled was to give them some pieces of junk to represent their inner strength. Isn’t that more than the average ’leader’ cares to do today?

On the other hand, Dorothy as a heroine is quite underwhelming. Her only skill is kindness (nothing wrong with it, but it doesn’t make for a compelling character).
She makes friends because she decides to untie the Scarecrow ¹ and oil the Tin Man.
The gang manages to pass their trials with very little active effort: they ask for help, and Glinda takes them out of trouble; they cry in disappointment, and they get access to the Wizard.
And even when things get though, Dorothy saves the day by happenstance, as the unwilling result of another act of kindness.
I guess what the film wants to say is: be kind to people and they’ll help you along the way.

So, this movie doesn’t offer much in terms of thrill, or adventure. That felt pretty disappointing, even considering the source material is children’s literature. But then, did Snow White or Cinderella have much agency in their own stories? Isn’t Glinda just another Fairy Godmother?
I can accept this as a twentieth-century fairy tale (but I feel classical tales are much more interesting).

I suppose I had misunderstood the film message: these characters don’t necessarily have within them the virtues they aspire to; it’s true that the Scarecrow always had good ideas, and that the Tin Man always had feelings, but the Lion never shows any kind of courage (apparently, that happens in a part of the book that wasn’t included in the adaptation).

And then the explicit moral of the film really annoyed me.
Dorothy says: “if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard; because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with”.
Is it supposed to be a message of self-acceptance?
What it sounds to me, is that you shouldn’t aspire for anything you don’t already have. That you shouldn’t look for something that’s further away than your backyard.
It is probably a valuable message for a cautionary tale, telling little children not to wander around too much and stay close to home.
But why are so many adults and film critics still so much in love with this film today? It can’t be that it just links them with their childhood.

Maybe they manage to be enthralled by the ‘wonderful wizardry’ and not to pay any attention to the film behind the curtains.
For me, the only appreciation I could muster is for the technical side: yes, the film is colourful, and the makeup and special effects must have been amazing for their time. The way the on-camera transition from sepia tones to colour was achieved is ingenious and must have looked like pure magic.
But the story is so flat. I grew so uninterested that for most of my watch I kept focusing on the delightful Toto and wondering what the actor dog must have felt during all of this.

And, in contrast, I kept thinking of the animated Alice in Wonderland, and how much I love that film (to be honest I haven’t revisited it in some time), its manic atmosphere and crazy characters. But then again, I watched Alice in Wonderland as a kid, and I can still remember how the Mad Hatter made me laugh uncontrollably.
Instead, I came to finally meet The Wizard of Oz as a middle-aged man. As such, I guess I relate much more with the man behind the curtain and with his impostor syndrome than with ’little’ Dorothy and her friends. This is such a weird feeling. I guess if I watched Star Wars now for the first time I would identify with, I don’t know, Grand Moff Tarkin. Or most probably with the guy that gets choked by Darth Vader because he dares have an unpopular opinion.
Because, without a doubt, I do have unpopular opinions.

This post is my submission to this month’s IndieWeb Movie Club  , a spin-off of the IndieWeb Carnival. Thanks to James  for hosting and for giving me an incentive to finally watch this film!