Day 19: The Wizard of Oz

Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson, and Edgar Allen Woolf, 1939

Armature: We all are searching for something we already have. Or, we must appreciate the things we have. Or, the things we want are in our own backyards.

7 STEPS GO:
1. Once upon a time Dorothy lived on a farm in Kansas with her family and her dog Toto.
2. And every day Dorothy was not listened to or appreciated by the people she lived with, and she wanted to run away.
3. Until one day, Dorothy is whisked away to the land of Oz, where she is told to find the Wizard in the Emerald City if she wants to find her way home.
4. Because of this, on her travels Dorothy meets a Scarecrow, a Lion, and a Tin Man who also want to see the Wizard.
5. Because of this the Wicked Witch of the West kidnaps Dorothy, but she is saved by the Scarecrow/Lion/Tin Man.
6. Until finally they reach the Wizard, who helps them find the qualities in themselves they are looking for. Dorothy goes home.
7. And ever since that day, Dorothy has appreciated her home as what she wanted all along.

What I realized while reading this screenplay was just how much of it is not that meaningful. What I mean is that this story has been so cherished and idolized and classicized that everything about it seems "special" in the media these days. Dorothy's red slippers? BEAUTIFUL! INNOCENCE! The Wicked Witch? MISUNDERSTOOD! The land of Oz? HAS A TON OF MYTHOLOGY BEHIND IT! I mean, heck. I come from the state of Kansas. There are books and musicals written about this world.

But the thing is, not much of it is really *that* special. Rather, the things that people usually remember about this story are more of what I like to call "necessities of the plot." Perhaps it's true that L. Frank Baum originally wrote this story about the economic crisis in America or something, and all of the characters were originally symbols of socio-economic classes. Apparently the slippers were originally silver, and stood for the silver standard. There was a grande metaphor behind everything. But in the screenplay, the story is not about the economy. The story is about four people searching for things they already have. All the decoration on top is really just... decoration, that is merely there to enhance the story's point.

Let me give a specific example. Dorothy's red slippers have been hyped up so much in our culture that I thought they were supposed to symbolize something. I thought they were red because they stood for her heart, or something romantic like that. But really the slippers are just a plot device. Dorothy only has them to give the Wicked Witch a reason to want to kill her. The Wicked Witch only needs to want to kill her so that Dorothy can get kidnapped, and realize how much she really wants to be home. This also gives the Lion, the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow an opportunity to use their supposedly-missing skills of courage, heart, and intellect in order to rescue her. Dorothy doesn't even need the slippers to get home; she's able to do that by desiring it, once she learns that home is what she really desires. So all the hype about the red slippers? There is nothing actually that significant about them. They only exist so that the witch's-castle-rescue-scene has a reason to exist. At least, that's what it seemed like to me.

This story is quite good. It's simple, it's elegant, and it's rather clever. But I think American culture has warped it in our minds a little bit, to cherish it for the wrong reasons. I don't think people love its message as much as they appreciate the dressing. Which is too bad.