Those are interesting observations Lee. I never thought about it like that before, but I think you may be on to something here. :)
I've always felt TWoO had a misogynistic tinge to it. With the exception of the Witch of the North, the women in the movie are not all that admirable. Miss Gultch was absolutely horrible, Aunt Em is cold and callous, The Witch of the West is evil, Dorothy is a naive girl who depends on men to take care of her.....
But then we must remember this story was written in the late 1800s and the movie was filmed in 1939. I've often wondered if the movie would be received in such a positive light had it been released in this day and age.
Dorothy is a naive girl who depends on men to take care of her.....
Dorothy is a naive girl who depends on men to take care of her.....
. . . what bothers ME about it is that Dorothy is so desperate to get back to a place that, let's face it, is rather bleak.
There's all kinds of different ways to interpret that movie. :)
I've long been interested in all the ways one can interpret TWoO, which is like America's fairy tale (as opposed to most fairy tales we're familiar with, which are European in origin). Here are a couple the many possibilities:
1) I once attended a historical conference where a professor presented a paper about TWoO as an economic parable full of symbols for economic trends and characters that were prominent at the time of its publication. In this scheme, Dorothy represented Everyman, the Scarecrow was the farmer, the Tinman was the factory worker, the yellow-brick road was the gold standard, the Emerald City was the greenback, and the Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan (don't ask me the logic of that last one -- I can't remember the reasoning). I wrote about this once in connection with the big annual Judy Garland celebration in Grand Rapids, MN, Judy's hometown.
2) I once read a book called Oz. It was about Dorothy, an awkward, unhappy orphan around the turn of the 20th century, sent to live with her aunt and uncle on an incredibly bleak, grim farm on the isolated prairie in Kansas. Aunt Em was distant and emotionally unavailable. Uncle Henry started sexually abusing Dorothy. She had a school teacher named L. Frank Baum, who took pity on her and fantasized about Dorothy escaping her depressing existence by escaping to a marvelous colorful land.
These chapters alternated with chapters about young Judy Garland, her drug struggles, etc., and chapters about a guy in present time who had AIDS.
TWoO also figured into my early writing career. The very first book I ever tried to write was TWoO (I didn't realize you had to come up with a whole new book of your own; I thought you could just write what you knew, a book you were already familiar with). I remember I was so young that I spelled "of," "uv." My dad gently corrected me, and I've never misspelled it since (at least that I know uv).
And I STILL think there is a slight misogynistic theme to the story, but that might just be me. :)
Judy Garland died when I was around 7 years old, and it didn't escape the news here nor my young ears. I remember asking my Mom how she died and Mom told me she died from taking too much aspirin. :-\
For years and years I believed that. I suppose Mom felt I was too young to understand how she really died.
Oh, and the flying monkeys were frightening as well.
The Cowardly Lion was William Jennings Bryan (don't ask me the logic of that last one -- I can't remember the reasoning).
Did the professor claim Baum was trying to make a coherent point, or was he just using things? Bryan was the big champion of free coinage of silver, famous for his "Cross of Gold" speach. I'm not sure what Baum would be saying by having Bryan follow the yellow brick road of the Gold Standard, unless Baum disagreed with Bryan's position. ???
The Gold Standard representation of the story
See also: Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Some scholars have theorized that the images and characters used by Baum and Denslow closely resembled political images that were well known in the 1890s, specifically the debate of the day regarding monetary policy: the "Yellow Brick Road" represents the gold standard, the silver slippers (which were ruby slippers in the film version) represent the sixteen to one silver ratio (dancing down the road). Many other characters and story lines represent identifiable people or circumstances of the day. The wicked witches of the east and west represented the local banks and the railroad industry, respectively, both of which drove small farmers out of business. The scarecrow represents the farmers of the Populist party, who managed to get out of debt by making more silver coinage. The return to bimetalism would increase inflation, thus lowering the real value of their debts. The Tin Woodman represents the factory workers of the industrialized North, whom the Populists saw as being so hard-pressed to work grueling hours for little money that the workers had lost their human hearts and become mechanized themselves. (See Second Industrial Revolution) Toto was thought to be short for teetotaler, another word for a prohibitionist; it should be noted that William Jennings Bryan, the fiery popular candidate (possibly the Lion character) from the Populist Party, was a teetotaler himself. Bryan also fits the allegorical reference to the Cowardly Lion in that he retreated from his support of free silver after economic conditions improved in the late 1890s. However, it has also been suggested the cowardly Lion represented Wall Street investors, given the economic climate of the time. The Munchkins represented the common people (serfdom), while the emerald city represented Washington and its green-paper money delusion. The Wizard, a charlatan who tricks people into believing he wields immense power, would represent the President. The kiss from the Good Witch of the North is the electoral mandate; Dorothy must destroy the Wicked Witch of the West—the old West Coast "establishment" (money) with water (the US was suffering from drought). Moreover, "Oz" is the abbreviation for the measuring of these precious metals: ounces.
Some biographers and scholars of Baum disagree, pointing to details of Baum's biography, his own statements and writing about the purpose of his book, and the lack of contemporary press discussing these perceived metaphors. The consensus is that the books are written solely for the pleasure of Baum's younger readers, to give them a sense of possibility and imagination.
Bryan also fits the allegorical reference to the Cowardly Lion in that he retreated from his support of free silver after economic conditions improved in the late 1890s.
Some of those are pretty funny, Bruce!
The munchkin screaming before the witch smoke actually appears -- I could swear I've registered that subliminally over my many viewings. I guess I just figured the munchkin saw something I didn't.
(http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/183djg6lgt1jrjpg/k-bigpic.jpg)
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/10/26/wizard-of-oz-movie-description/