Jul 08, 2006 01:21 AM
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L. (Lyman) Frank Baum (1856-1919) wrote the famous book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Oz is divided into four "color-coded countries" - purple in the north, red in the south, yellow in the west, blue in the east. The capital and geographical center is the Emerald City. Dorothy is a little girl who is living with her uncle and aunt in the midst of the great Kansas prairie. A cyclone comes; their house is swept away with Dorothy and her dog Toto. Dorothy's house crushes the Wicked Witch of the East. From the Good Witch of the North she get's the dead witch's magical silver slippers. On the Yellow Brick Road she befriends the Scarecrow, who desires a brain, the Tin Woodman, who needs a heart, and the Cowardly Lion, who must find his courage. The Wizard promises to grant their requests, but only in the condition that they kill the Wicked Witch of the West. During their adventures their wishes are fulfilled. Back in the Emerald City, she discovers the Wizard is a balloonist from Omaha, brought to Oz by ill winds. Dorothy returns back to Kansas when she discovers that the silver shoe was enough for her to return.
The first of the Oz books was made into a musical in 1901, but Baum was determined to see his stories also on the screen. The Patchwork Girl of Ozwas made in 1914, and Baum himself participated in the project. Then he produced only two more Oz stories, His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz, and The Magic of Cloak of Oz.
In Wizard of OzDorothy is knocked unconscious during a Tornado. She wakes up in Munchkin Land where the good witch Glinda gives her a pair of ruby slippers and refers her to the omnipotent Wizard. She starts the journey on the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City and meets a scarecrow in search of brain, a tin man seeking a heart and cowardly lion in need of courage. The Wizard agrees to help them if they secure the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. When Dorothy and her dog Toto are captured, her three companions try to save her and the witch is destroyed. The wizard proves to be a phoney but her friends have found the qualities they sought through their own endeavors. Dorothy is then told to click her slippers together and utter the words 'There is no place like home' and is returned to Kansas. When the book insisted that Dorothy actually travelled to Oz, the film reveals that the whole adventure was only her dream.
The film can be interpreted in many ways. It is a search for happiness at the end of the Yellow Brick Road, in Oz it represents Hollywood, to which teenage girls dream of running, in hopes of breaking into movies, Dorothy's journey can be seen as a young girl's last childhood experience, and when she chooses to return home to Kansas, she has matured into a young woman; or has abandoned her childhood world of imagination. Baum wanted the children to see that the traditional American values of integrity, self-reliance, candor, and courage would make them succeed despite obstacles.
This Wizard of the Oz series is a yet another favourite book of mine. The adventure and Dorothy’s helpful mind in helping a friend and this book takes us to a wonderful world of imagination.
