Wizard of Oz, The Meanings

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2008-11-10 10:21:35     Rating:

This classic is simply about discovering the power within. The protagonists all believe they are lacking something vital, only to realize that what they wanted was already their own. The film is full of irony (e.g. Dorothy travels to the Wizard with friends to acquire a way home, though she already had the slippers to do that, e.g. the Wizard is supposedly Great & Terrible but in actuality is an harmless old man) but the adventures had, and characters met along the way, is what makes this one so marvelously enjoyable.

Originally a book, the storyline was used for a movie with the rise of Soviet Russia and the tense times America was experiencing with the threat of communism possibly taking root in the western hemisphere. Dorothy is supposed to be the American citizen caught in the hardships of the Great Depression. Oz is supposed to be Soviet Russia. Dorothy wishes she was in Oz because of how wonderful she imagines it to be. When she gets there, she discovers its backwardness, wanting to return again to her home. Similarly, the USSR portrayed itself as grander than it really was. The American citizen might become sucked in, but he must realize that America is really much better. "There is no place like home." Anyways, that is the subliminal message the good, old US government was sending at that time through this great film.

Submitted by: anonymous
Added: 2009-07-11 15:36:06     Rating:

It's not about the USSR. This movie was made in 1939. It's about populism.

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