The Wizard of Oz
Everyone must know this timeless classic. It used to play around March on tv when I was a kid....I have a vague memory of Danny Kaye hosting the presentation while my older cousin Joanne made sure everybody kept quiet while we watched the movie....It was a yearly event....
Recently my dear friend had her computer repaired, it basically got a new Brain, and we thought of the Scarecrow, which made me think of the Wizard of Oz...
Since then, in the age of Videotapes, DVD's, on-demand pay-per-view, what have you...the Wizard of Oz can be seen at anyone's convenience at any time, which takes away a bit of that yearly magic...
But be that as it may...there is a certain magic that I noticed in the movie itself, in the story itself...
Dorothy, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, The Lion, and even the Wizard Himself were searching....searching for something....just to be complete, to be whole, to feel as though their lives were somehow complete...
Dorothy - A lonely girl, stuck on a farm in Kansas who runs away, when, her dog Toto finally comes back, her only link to love and affection (her aunt and uncle are emotionally distant)...her only choice is for her and Toto to get out of there...
The Scarecrow - All through, he wants a brain, but it is He who comes up with all the bright ideas, like when he knows how to get apples, or comes up with the plan to storm the witch's castle, or sees how to cut the rope, thereby subduing the castle guards...
The Tin Man - He needed a heart....Though he was the most empathetic and kindest characters all along, always crying at the most inconvenient time, but never crying for himself, only for the welfare of others...
The Cowardly Lion - A Bully at first, with much bravado, until Dorothy slapped him on the nose, and then he cries and admits his cowardice...he only wanted Courage...
But later on, after Dorothy was captured.."Okay..okay...I'll do it for Dorothy! I don't care if I get killed!"....
Then all three of them take out the guards....
And then they finally meet the Wizard, and all their initial fears come back again...until the Man Behind the Curtain is revealed.
It is then, that this Wizard is only a carnival barker who got lost himself, but has the wisdom to recognize that our heroes had these things all along...
The Scarecrow was always smart.
The Tin Man always had a heart.
The Lion was always brave.
Dorothy always had a home.
That black and white bit at the end always gets to me...
"There's no place like home"
Recently my dear friend had her computer repaired, it basically got a new Brain, and we thought of the Scarecrow, which made me think of the Wizard of Oz...
Since then, in the age of Videotapes, DVD's, on-demand pay-per-view, what have you...the Wizard of Oz can be seen at anyone's convenience at any time, which takes away a bit of that yearly magic...
But be that as it may...there is a certain magic that I noticed in the movie itself, in the story itself...
Dorothy, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, The Lion, and even the Wizard Himself were searching....searching for something....just to be complete, to be whole, to feel as though their lives were somehow complete...
Dorothy - A lonely girl, stuck on a farm in Kansas who runs away, when, her dog Toto finally comes back, her only link to love and affection (her aunt and uncle are emotionally distant)...her only choice is for her and Toto to get out of there...
The Scarecrow - All through, he wants a brain, but it is He who comes up with all the bright ideas, like when he knows how to get apples, or comes up with the plan to storm the witch's castle, or sees how to cut the rope, thereby subduing the castle guards...
The Tin Man - He needed a heart....Though he was the most empathetic and kindest characters all along, always crying at the most inconvenient time, but never crying for himself, only for the welfare of others...
The Cowardly Lion - A Bully at first, with much bravado, until Dorothy slapped him on the nose, and then he cries and admits his cowardice...he only wanted Courage...
But later on, after Dorothy was captured.."Okay..okay...I'll do it for Dorothy! I don't care if I get killed!"....
Then all three of them take out the guards....
And then they finally meet the Wizard, and all their initial fears come back again...until the Man Behind the Curtain is revealed.
It is then, that this Wizard is only a carnival barker who got lost himself, but has the wisdom to recognize that our heroes had these things all along...
The Scarecrow was always smart.
The Tin Man always had a heart.
The Lion was always brave.
Dorothy always had a home.
That black and white bit at the end always gets to me...
"There's no place like home"
posted by Olias at 1:12 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home