Film Review
The Wizard of Oz is a musical, fantasy, and adventure film based off the book, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” written by L. Frank Baum. The story is a Hero’s Journey which is a pattern of narrative that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development which describes the typical adventure of the hero. This film is said to be a good example of a Hero’s Journey because our hero Dorothy goes through all the stages of a Hero’s Journey, but did she really? According to IMDb the original film, “The Wizard of Oz” was produced on the 25th of August in 1939. From what IMDb said it was directed by Victor Fleming and George Cukor and written by Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Woolf. Also, some
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major actors are Judy Garland, playing Dorothy, Frank Morgan, playing the Wizard of Oz, and Ray Bolger, playing The Scarecrow. The Wizard of Oz is about a young girl named Dorothy who lives an ordinary life in a farm in Kansas until a tornado hits and she is brought to a world somewhere over the rainbow. In the new world she learns of the Wicked Witch of The West which terrorizes the world and in order to escape from this world and go home she must go into a journey to meet the Wizard of Oz by following the yellow brick road. During her expedition she meets many new friends with their own dreams like Dorothy, so Dorothy and her new friends continue their journey in order to accomplish their dreams. This film tells the story of Dorothy who lives in a farm in Kansas until a tornado hit and brought her to a magical world with good and bad witches. This world is a dreamlike place which depicts Dorothy’s perspective in the world around her. For example this world appeared to be a happy place for her like the farm but was then disturbed by the Wicked Witch of The West which was how she depicted Miss Gulch for trying to take Toto away from her. During the journey she meets Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion which are depictions of people who work at the farm with her. At the near end of the story Dorothy also meets the Wizard of Oz which is a depiction of Professor Marvel, a magician. The film is a colorful fantasy with adventure and a lot of singing and dancing. Something that stands out about the film are the unique characters and their characteristics such as The Scarecrow with no brain or The Cowardly Lion with no courage. So overall, this film is very unique, colorful and has a sense of friendliness in it unlike “Citizen Kane” a Film Noir which has a dark and sleazy feel to it. “The Wizard of Oz” as an adventure film uses a storytelling technique or pattern known as the Hero’s Journey.
This is because our main character, Dorothy goes through all the stages of a Hero’s Journey. There are twelve stages to a Hero’s Journey are, The Ordinary World, The Call to Adventure, Refusal to the Call, Meeting with the Mentor, Crossing the Threshold, Tests, Allies, and Enemies, Approach, The Ordeal, The Reward, The Road Back, The Resurrection, Return with the Elixir. Our hero Dorothy does most or all of the stages such as The Ordinary World which is her home at a farm in Kansas with her family and The Call To Adventure which happens when a tornado hits the farm and brings her to a new world she has never seen before. The film also uses thematic content such as tornadoes which is a storm that we also have in our world. In the Wizard of Oz they also have a law, which was what let Miss Gulch take Toto away from Dorothy in the beginning of the film. Something else related to the real world was that all the people called witches were female like in our world. The thematic content helps my experience and interpretation because it makes it feel a bit more normal and not peculiar, for example if witches were also male and Miss Gulch took Toto away just because she was mad and wanted to it would make the experience
confusing. So in conclusion “The Wizard of Oz” is about a Hero’s Journey because Dorothy goes through the stages of the Hero’s Journey. It also does well as a musical, adventure, and fantasy film because there is a lot of singing, dancing, adventure, and unique characters that wouldn’t usually appear in the real world such as color changing horses or witches. I do recommend the film if you want to get a good laugh because of how silly it is or sing along with the characters as they sing the same song over and over again. The film is also great if you want to learn about the Hero’s Journey pattern or see how it fits as a Hero’s Journey. So make sure you watch it because it’ll be worth it after all you don’t want to be the only one not knowing about such a classic.
Aspects of fairy tales are woven into many novels as a way to bring a sense of familiarity to the reader. Foster writes, “...we want strangeness in our stories, but we want familiarity, too. We want a new novel to be not quite like anything we’ve read before. At the same time, we look for it to be sufficiently like other things we’ve read so that we can use those to make sense of it,” (Foster 36). Fairy tales will be the same year from now and therefore hold the same familiarity to the reader. Evil stepparents, a magical fairy godmother, and the ultimate rescue to the castle are all component to the perfect fairy tale that is seen in many novels. J. K. Rowling’s infamous Harry Potter Series follows the journey made by the powerful, young wizard Harry Potter. While Harry Potter is not a fairy tale, it has many subtle attributes woven in throughout the novels. The first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, while not a fairytale, has many attributes woven throughout the novel. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone introduces the reader to Harry’s home life which compares to that of a fairy tale. Harry is mistreated by his step parents and wishes for his fairy godmother to save him, clearly showing the distinct evil and good characters like many fairy tales have. However, Harry’s fairy
The article briefly goes over The Wizard of Oz, both the film and the book, and discusses how they fit into Campbell’s hero’s journey. Emerson summarizes Campbell’s idea of the hero’s journey for the reader, then splits Dorothy’s journey into three phases. The first phase is her travels on the yellow brick road where in the film she meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion, and in the book Dorothy and her companions overcome natural obstacles. The second phase begins when they meet the Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City, who sets them on a trial before they can receive their respective gifts. The pinnacle of this trial is the face off with the Wicked Witch of the West, where she is defeated when Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her
Watching a film, one can easily recognize plot, theme, characterization, etc., but not many realize what basic principle lies behind nearly every story conceived: the hero’s journey. This concept allows for a comprehensive, logical flow throughout a movie. Once the hero’s journey is thoroughly understood, anyone can pick out the elements in nearly every piece. The hero’s journey follows a simple outline. First the hero in question must have a disadvantaged childhood. Next the hero will find a mentor who wisely lays out his/her prophecy. Third the hero will go on a journey, either literal or figurative, to find him/herself. On this journey the hero will be discouraged and nearly quit his/her quest. Finally, the hero will fulfill the prophecy and find his/herself, realizing his/her full potential. This rubric may be easy to spot in epic action films, but if upon close inspection is found in a wide array of genres, some of which are fully surprising.
Glenda starts to sing and invites all the munchkins to come out and meet Dorothy, who has save them from their shadow, the wicket witch of the east. Glenda, after welcoming Dorothy, points to an area that has caused excitement in this new land; Dorothy’s house has landed on and killed a figure whose feet can be seen from beneath the house. This was the wicked witch of the east, who has terrorized the land, the shadow, the villain, the evil one, and she is now dead. The Shadow archetype is a negative figure, representing things we don 't like and would like to eliminate. The shadow often takes the form of the antagonist in a story.” Ms. Gulch in Dorothy’s ordinary world is a person she wanted to be rid of. The only difference in the adventure
To conclude, The Wizard of Oz is a lively story. L. Frank Baum was a success in bringing this story to life through the use of color. The many descriptions of the gray Kansas, yellow brick road, and Emerald City aid the readers to imagine the tale through a very unique way. Color overall is a huge contribute to the way readers feel and think. Color plays the role of imagination and creativity in this piece of
To fully appreciate the significance of the plot one must fully understand the heroic journey. Joseph Campbell identified the stages of the heroic journey and explains how the movie adheres meticulously to these steps. For example, the first stage of the hero’s journey is the ordinary world (Campbell). At the beginning, the structure dictates that the author should portray the protagonist in their ordinary world, surrounded by ordinary things and doing ordinary tasks so that the author might introduce the reasons that the hero needs the journey in order to develop his or her character or improve his or her life (Vogler 35). The point of this portrayal is to show the audience what the protagonist’s life is currently like and to show what areas of his or her life are conflicted or incomplete. When the call to adventure occurs, the protagonist is swept away into another world, one that is full of adventure, danger, and opportunities to learn what needs to be learned. T...
In conclusion, the protagonist of The Wizard of Oz Dorothy Gale, is initially unsatisfied with her life on her Aunt and Uncle’s farm and dreams of a foreign land over the rainbow, where there are no worries or disasters. Although as the story progresses, Victor Fleming incorporates a wide range of
During 1939, The Wizard of Oz made its debut in the United States. Based off the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, the movie displays the mystical adventure of a young girl, Dorothy Gale. Beginning in Kansas on Dorothy’s aunt and uncle’s farm, the film focuses around Dorothy and her monotonous life. Shortly into the movie, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are swept away by a twister and dropped off in the magical Land of Oz. Here she meets the Good Witch of the North, Glinda. She advises Dorothy to follow the Yellow Brick Road and find the Wizard, who can grant Dorothy her wish of returning to Kansas. Along her path to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz lives, she encounters the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. Each
In 1939, the movie The Wizard of Oz made its debut in the United States. Based off the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, the movie displays the mystical adventure of a young girl, Dorothy Gale. Beginning in Kansas on Dorothy’s aunt and uncle’s farm, the film focuses around Dorothy and her monotonous life. Shortly into the movie, Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are swept away by a twister and dropped off in the magical Land of Oz. Here she meets the Good Witch of the North, Glinda. She tells Dorothy to follow the Yellow Brick Road and find the Wizard, who can grant Dorothy her wish of returning to Kansas. Along her path to the Emerald City, where the Wizard of Oz lives, she encounters the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion.
Throughout the hero’s journey she begins to notice how much family means to her and wants to get back to them as soon as she can. Dorothy is not the only one receiving something from the wizard, but the rest of her special friends do too. The scarecrow needs a brain, the tinman needs a heart and the lion needs courage, this shows the center most point of the quest for the hero and the special friends. After receiving the gift from the wizard, there is a brief moment of rest, peace and harmony and that is when Dorothy celebrates with her friends that she will be going back from and the scarecrow celebrates his brain, the tinman celebrates his heart and the lion celebrates his courage that the wizard granted them with. When Dorothy hugs goodbye to her new friends and clicks her red sparkly shoes three times, shows the final step or final achievement of the goal of the quest. The last stage of the hero’s journey is the return of the hero. Some never return, but Dorothy returns happily and safely. When Dorothy returns she learns that family is more important than anything else in
“Were off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of oz” One of the infamous phrases from one of the most well know classics of all time. The original movie titled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was made in 1939 by Frank Baum. This film featured stars such as Judy Garland, Jack Hayley and many others. This was not only a movie, it was a fantasy, and a musical storytelling adventure with unusual characters that shook the audience. This was one of the first films to make it to the big screen with color. Because of its success, this film has been remade many times with multiple different spins making it rhetorical. Over the years this film has become one of the best films of all time and is still watched today among all ages
Scene: This scene in the film comes just after the house has been picked up in the twister. Dorothy's house has been lifted up into the sky and suddenly dropped back down to earth in the middle of the Land of Oz. In the scene itself, Dorothy leaves her home to see that she is "Not in Kansas anymore," and finds the new and amazing world of the munchkin city in front of her. She also meets Gwendela the good witch as her journey in Oz begins.
“The journey of the hero is about the courage to seek the depths; the image of creative rebirth; the eternal cycle of change within us; the uncanny discovery that the seeker is the mystery which the seeker seeks to know. The hero journey is a symbol that binds, in the original sense of the word, two distant ideas, and the spiritual quest of the ancients with the modern search for identity always the one, shape-shifting yet marvelously constant story that we find.” (Phil Cousineau) The Hero's Journey has been engaged in stories for an immemorial amount of time. These stories target typical connections that help us relate to ourselves as well as the “real world”.
What makes a film interesting? What makes it stand out from other films? What makes it unique? The visual design aspects of color and lighting in a film play a major role in giving the film meaning and depth. A lot of thought goes into what colors and lighting should be used that will help convey a mood and theme central to the film. You wouldn’t see dark colors and lighting used in a children cartoon, instead you see bright color and bright lighting. And vice versa; most horror films don’t focus on bright colors and bright lighting. In The Wizard of Oz (Dir. Victor Fleming, 1939) , the director uses bright colors and lighting to portray the moods of happiness, joy and innocence in Dorothy’s life. In contrast, dark colors and lighting that go hand in hand with the evil parts of Oz portray the
The Wizard of Oz is a fiction story written by L. Frank Baum. The story has two main settings. The first setting is, Dorothy’s home, the Kansas prairies. The prairies are described as dry and gray. The second setting is the land of Oz. Oz is opposed from Kansas, it is colorful, bright, and full of joy. The Wizard of Oz has a grate theme or message behind the story. The message is that we all have good qualities in us, but it is up to us to use them.