Looking At The Film: The Wizard Of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L.Frank Baum has been an excessively popular fairy tale among the kids and adults. It has provided us with great plays and musical comedies. As most of us do not tend to relate a fairy tale with the political movements happening around us, Henry Littlefield was the first to write an outstanding article “The Wizard of Oz: Parable on Populism” in which he made a bold inference that the Wizard of Oz was a book that portrayed the United States of America as it entered the twentieth century. He argued that the story was perhaps a metaphor for the Populist movement. After doing much research on both the Wizard of Oz and Littlefield’s article I can say that the children’s fairy tale by Baum was indeed a parable on Populism.

The Wizard of Oz is a classic known by all. The plot is fairly simple. Poor bored Dorothy is sick of her normal boring life on her Aunt and Uncles farm in Kansas and decides to run away to a more exciting life. Her plans are changed when she meets a fortune teller who convinces her to go back home. Unfortunately, as she is headed back home a horrible storm starts and she and her dog Toto are blown away, along with her house. When she lands, she comes outside to see that she has landed on a person with red shoes. She is met by tiny people and a witch called Glinda who tells her that she has landed on and killed the Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy tells Glinda she wants to go home, and Glinda tells her if she follows the yellow brick road she will end up in the Emerald City where the Wonderful Wizard of Oz can help get her home.

The placement of a prop or altering the way the light shines on a scene, however insignificant they may seem, are ways that the director can select and control meaning in a film. Such is in The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939), specifically during the scene where Dorothy (Judy Galand) has been locked in the Wicked Witch of the West's (Margaret Hamilton) castle room by herself; many aspects of mise-en-scene are noticeable. Many of the elements of the scene she is in contribute to her state and other aspects of the movie. The setting and props of the film all seem to centralize to where she is and how she got there. The light focus' just on Dorothy but also amplifies the intensity of the situation she is in. The behavior of

The Wizard of Oz is an early film but editing is used quite a bit. First off, the absence of color in the beginning and the ending of the film. This sets an overall feeling of Dorothy being home. Next the film turns to color once Dorothy dreams of being in a different world, the color, yet again, set an overall mood for Dorothy in this new world “Over the rainbow.” The first steps of Dorothy being in the world of The Wizard of Oz gives off an example of inside and outside editing. The shot begins with a close up of Dorothy’s face and the camera slowly moves out to show everything else around Dorothy, which was the start of the yellow brick road and Munchkin land. After the viewer see all of that, the camera moves back in to Dorothys face when she says that they are not in Kansas anymore. One editing transition used a lot in The Wizard of Oz is the fade-in and dissolve. Another is cross-cut, two events occurring at the same

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.

Stories have deeper meaning than what they appear. Life events such as the government, economy, or something happening to an individual can inspire them to express themselves through writing. In the original story of “The Wizard of Oz”, it tells a tale far more than people realize. The story portrays the government during the time period and hidden symbolism within the story and characters.

A technological disadvantage that the movie had was the absence color. In the novel, Miss O?Shaughnessey?s hair is described as ?darkly red.? Her red hair helps to develop a devilish theme that goes along very well with her intentions and her personality. This is also missed in the movie.

Frank Baums, The Wizard of Oz is arguably one of the most popular films made. Even though it was released in 1939, nearly three-quarters of a century ago, the film continues to entertain audiences and speak to them in a personal way. The question that comes to the mind when analyzing this film is: What is it about this film that gives it such timelessness? When reflecting on the film’s timeless qualities, it seems clear the plot is one of the things that enable it to maintain its relevance. Primarily, the plot of The Wizard of Oz is timeless because it is such an excellent example of the heroic journey, both in literally and cinematically. This journey of self-awareness is a metaphor for growth, which is something we all search to discover

What most individuals can 't seem to decipher is that The Wizard of Oz referenced several late 1800’s political issues and ideas. Whether these references are true or not is difficult to say.

“I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!” is one of the most famous quotes from “The Wizard of Oz”. I recently watched the Wizard of Oz two weeks ago in my bedroom on my TV. I saw the Wizard of Oz seven times before that because it is such an great movie.

Ahead of schedule in the book, we perceive how Baum was affected by shading. It likewise creates the impression that he may have needed to explicitly make references to the United States in his book too. "At the point when the meet Glinda, she is portrayed in the shades of the national banner, as a lady with "rich red" hair, a dress of "unadulterated white," and blue eyes." It shows up as though the relationship of Glinda with the shades of red, white, and blue was not a minor occurrence. Glinda assumes an essential part in the story, keeping in mind she is a witch, she is a "decent" and intense witch. She likewise assumes a vital part toward the end of the story when she can help Dorothy accomplish her fantasies. Oz, the assumed capable one,

According to Film Art, it consists of “setting, costume and makeup, lighting, and staging” (Bordwell 115). In “The Wizard of OZ” these aspects of Mise-en-Scene all come together to make up a spectacular viewing experience. Created in 1939 and directed by Victor Fleming, “The Wizard of Oz” was one of the first successful Technicolor films. Since this film was shot primarily in color, it gave the directors and costume designers many new opportunities to use color in ways that they hadn’t been able to before. The main point I will be demonstrating is how the filmmakers effectively used color and costuming to convey certain feelings and messages throughout the film.

In the film, The Wizard of Oz (1939) by Victor Fleming creates an overall theme/lesson for the audience through the use of sound, editing, mise en scene, cinematography. The film scores lyrics by E.Y. Harburg and music by Harold Arlen, “Over the Rainbow”, and “We're Off to See the Wizard” are the most pronounced scores that promote optimism. The editing transitions of the film is from sepia to technicolor distinguish the settings for Dorothy, in the beginning and end of the film is in sepia to give the feel of poverty, hardships, and despair of Kansas farmers; then in vibrant technicolor for “Oz” the fantasy land of hopes and dreams; which also gives the mise en scene element of the two settings. The universal themes presented in The Wizard

While there are many themes that L. Frank Baum writes about in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that focuses on a young, maturing girl named Dorothy Gale; that is living in a grey world and then suddenly her life is full of color after a cyclone. Throughout the story, Dorothy Gale is reminded that the land of Oz is beautiful and much more interesting that Kansas ever will and it takes her awhile to realize it along her adventurous plan. The two themes that stand out throughout the story is the childhood to maturity that Dorothy progresses in and a twisted way that makes you see the virtue in the story, also known as the disability of it all. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is not all just a children's fairytale. Although the land of Oz is depicted as

“There is no place like home”, a quote from L. Frank Baum in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum was an American writer that was part of the populist movement during the Realism Era (1850-1914). L. Frank Baum was a great influence and probably the most important fantasy American writer for that time period.