Personal Response
When I was a child I always loved watching The Wizard of Oz. Every summer my
cousins and I would take out the VHS copy kept at our cabin up north and watch
it at night. At the time the movie was tied to fond memories I shared with my
family and I never thought critically about the film. One thing I do remember
was that I hated the black and white portion of the film. I found it
uninteresting and I would often fast forward until Dorothy arrived in Oz. As I
reflect back on it now, I don’t remember specifics of the plot either. I
believe I just enjoyed spending time with my family on our yearly vacations and
the movie was just something that reminded me of that memory. After watching
the film in class, I was able to experience it as an adult for the first time;
and although the feelings of nostalgia came back, I was able to learn things
about the film I hadn’t noticed in the past. For example, the color seems
exaggerated and unrealistic. I’d never paid attention to this as a kid, however
I now believe this was a purposeful, stylistic choice. The new technology
introduced in the film played an important role in its popularity. I believe
the director chose such bright colors for two reasons: One, Oz was a
fantasyland. It was supposed to be unrealistic and imaginative. The bright colors played into that idea and
enhanced the setting. The second reason being that the color itself was meant
to be showcased and used to awe audiences. Exaggerating that feature made it
more apparent and increased the affect it had on audiences.
Summary of Critical
Article
In the article, "There's No Place Like Home: The Wizard of
Oz" Griswold addresses the fascination with Oz and compares it to the
United States. He states that similar to Oz, the United States is a place
people travel to in hopes of achieving dreams. Dorothy herself could be
considered an immigrant in the Land of Oz (at least temporarily). In addition
to this, Griswold compares America to Oz geographically. He states that the
West, where the Munchkins live, is similar to the Dutch settlers in
Pennsylvania (Griswold, 1987, p. 463).
Griswold also focuses in on what he believes is the biggest
message in the film, “There’s no place like home.” Griswold states that people
often feel the need to escape and to run away from their problems the way that
Dorothy did in the film. He believes Baum tried to reinforce the idea of
confronting problems instead of avoiding them.
Response
As I was reading the article I was very
surprised by the comparisons Griswold made. While I am not entirely familiar
with immigrant settlement, I did understand the comparisons he made and was
inclined to agree with him. My response
to his analysis of the moral conveyed in the film was a more natural connection
for me to make. I also thought about Dorothy running due to fear and the other
characters confronting their fears being the only way they would be able to
overcome them. This article both
introduced new ideas for me and also cemented some of the conclusions I’d came
to on my own.
Critical Frameworks
After reading the article,
I believe Baum focused heavily on the United States and portrayed a mirror
image of our country through a fantasyland on screen. I found this to be
incredibly clever and brought about a new layer to the film. I also thought
about symbolism used in the film and my mind kept going back to The Emerald
City. The color was a huge part of the entire movie, but also this city in
particular. Then I thought about what the color green represents in America,
money. I believe these two ideas made an impact an emphasized our fixation with
wealth in the U.S..
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