The Wonder behind The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

A place with munchkins, witches, wizards, and a girl name Dorothy trying to get home to Kansas, in other words, Oz. This 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz is in the top 100 American Film Institute (AFI) list because of the many themes, symbols, and motifs. According to Thomas C. Foster the author of How to Read Literature like a Professor and Reading the Silver Screen,certain aspects make stories more understandable. In his books, he teaches us how to interpret and find these features in literary works. In How to Read Literature like a Professor it focuses more on the plot while the Reading the Silver Screen focuses more on the techniques of the film.

One of the Great Classics of the last 100 years has been The Wizard of Oz. Nearly everyone has seen it and if they haven’t seen it, they’ve heard about it. The Wizard of Oz has been considered a vividly imaginative work of fantasy in both its book and movie form. When the movie came out in 1939 America had its eye turned to the rest of the world as World War 2 unfolded yet it still captured the attention of many with its use of the new technology Technicolor and its fantastic story. At the time no one had ever considered it to be anything more than a work of fantasy, however as the years have gone by people have begun to notice certain aspects of the movie that relate to a time and eventually a movement that developed earlier in American history.

Children today have access to many forms of literature, some of which are books made into movies. As the children become older, comments such as “the book was way better” or “the movie didn’t even come close to matching the book” or “the movie and book are the exact same, so save time and just watch the movie” are heard once children begin to make connections between the book and the film. It is important to me, as a future teacher, to be able to address such comments from my students and, in turn, help them understand why and how movies can either help or hinder the book’s original value and message. To help me prepare, I will compare a children’s film to the literary work that came from it.

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 uses film form by using similarity and repetition. With Dorothy being the main character, she is always reappearing in the film. As well as all of the characters, The Tin Man, The Lion, and The Scarecrow, have similarities to Dorothy. Each of them need something, Dorothy needs to go back home, The Tin Man needs a brain, The Scarecrow needs a heart, and The Lion needs courage. The film also progresses from the beginning to the end, as well as the characters. Dorothy starts at one spot, follows the yellow brick road and eventually makes it to her destination to see The Wizard of Oz, gets what

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 book, written by L. Frank Baum in 1900, was the inspiration behind the movie the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The problem, though, is that the movie does not follow the book at all. Most of the movie plays off the ideas and characters in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, while following a general plot of Dorothy’s quest to the Emerald City. The biggest, and most important difference between the book The Wizard of OZ and the movie edition is that in the movie, Dorothy is simply dreaming, and in the other, she was carried to the land of OZ because of the tornado that swept through Kansas. The Wizard of Oz the movie portrays the story as a dream that Dorothy is having, with people in her life showing up as characters in the dream. This is a clever twist on the story plot, and it provides a little more entertainment, for the viewer, than the first chapter of the book, which gives a dull description of the Kansas prairie.

In 1939 one of the most memorable film was released, The Wizard of Oz. In 1978 The Wiz, an urban reimaging of the exemplary novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz put an African American vibe to a film. The novel turned into films follows the adventures of Dorothy, a girl who embark on an adventure in strange and fantastical land just wanting to go back home. In this essay I’m going to plot each film and compare the main character of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and the Wiz and discuss how the design and music differ from each film.

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.

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

The Wizard of Oz has been a popular and symbolic film throughout our previous history. Both the book and movie have been recognised as classic literature for children and adults alike. Although they share the same concept, there are a few important differences between the novel and the film.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a fictional adventure/fantasy that was written by L. Frank Baum in 1965. L. Frank Baum was born near Chittenango, New York in 1856. Frank grew up with a heart condition so he couldn’t play physically like other children so he developed a creative side, so he decided to write stories.

There always seems to be some discrepancy when a film is adapted into a movie. Often times, crucial scenes, or even characters, can be left out in order to satisfy the directors’ and screen writers’ visions. Unfortunately, such changes can clearly be seen in the film adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The movie leaves out characters such as the Witch of the North and the queen of the field mice, but adds characters such as Professor Marvel and Miss Gulch. However, while many changes were made, there are still a few instances where this “fairy tale” novel almost directly translates into the film. One scene in particular that is closely mirrored to the novel is when Dorothy first meets the scarecrow. This scene is nearly an exact word for word adaptation including dialogue, vivid visual images for the viewer, and how point of view directs the attention of the audience.

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

In 1939, Victor Fleming made a film version of L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” However, both the novel and the film focuses or touches on the same moral, it features the protagonist Dorothy who resides in Kansas the farm, along with her aunt Em and uncle Henry as well as her dog Toto. Both Baum’s novel and Fleming’s 1939 film adaptation the setting is in Kansas which is described as a small farm which Dorothy lives in which in Baum’s novel is picturized as gloomy, grey and dull. Throughout Fleming’s adaptation of Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” there are a number of differences which presents itself in a direct manner on screen as well as similarities. The variety of changes in the film’s adaptation tends to take