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The Wizard of OZ: A cautionary tale for girls?

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serious crayons:

--- Quote from: David In Indy on May 24, 2009, 02:47:11 pm ---Dorothy is a naive girl who depends on men to take care of her.....
--- End quote ---

Hunh, I don't look at it that way at all. Dorothy was the leader of her little group in Oz, and without her bravery and determination they'd still be hanging around wishing they had brain, heart and courage. All the male characters were missing something, including the Wizard, who was rather clueless and ineffective. Dorothy was the only complete person. They turned to her because THEY needed something, but without them she would have forged on alone until she achieved her goal.

I also don't think Aunt Em is supposed to come across as cold and callous -- I think she was supposed to be loving. But maternal figures in those days were more stern.

On the other hand, 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.

David In Indy:
There's all kinds of different ways to interpret that movie. :)

However, it remains one of my favorites! They used to show it once a year on TV when I was little and I always looked forward to watching it. Except I remember the witch scared me. I didn't like to hear her cackle. Oh, and the flying monkeys were frightening as well.

They STILL scare me a little. :laugh:

LauraGigs:

--- Quote from: serious crayons on May 24, 2009, 11:10:11 pm ---. . . 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.
--- End quote ---

I think that place in Kansas parallels Lightning Flat in a lot of ways.  Jack was desperate to get "anywhere but Lightning Flat" according to the story.  And straying too far from the herd (the sheep, Earl) always had a danger to it.  BBM can be interpreted as a cautionary tale against caution (Ennis's) but also against being overly adventuresome, like Jack.

Lynne:
I don't have any great insights at the moment, but I just want to say this is a terrific thread - what a unique concept to ponder!  Thank you FriendLee.

serious crayons:

--- Quote from: David In Indy on May 24, 2009, 11:18:30 pm ---There's all kinds of different ways to interpret that movie. :)
--- End quote ---

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).

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