We're discussing the concept of home in Sunday School, and we're having a very interesting discussion about it. The article we read today talked about 1939's The Wizard of Oz (8.2 stars, #135).
If you need the synopsis, where have you been?
I'm not much of a Wizard of Oz fan. I was born and raised in Kansas, and it's practically law that every girl in Kansas must have TWoO memorized. I've always had problems with the whole movie.
Namely, every Kansas girl seems to be Dorothy if she goes out of the state. When I went to Washington D.C. when I was 17, if I wasn't getting backwards Kansas jokes from everyone ("Do you have electricity? Do you have paid roads? Do you still have Indian attacks?" I'm serious), I was getting Dorothy jokes. And the other girls were too.
One time, while she was at work, my Mom got a call from a telemarketer or someone like that from out of state. Upon hearing that Mom was a female Kansan, he asked her if she has found her Yellow Brick Road. Mom said that Dorothy had to leave Kansas to find her Yellow Brick Road.
I also have never understood the aesop about home in TWoO. At the end of the episode, Dorothy says that she'll never leave home again. Really? You're never going to leave home again? I think eventually Auntie Em was going to kick you out of the house.
Now, Kansas isn't a bad place to grow up and to live. It's a wonderful place. I think Kansas is beautiful. So I can understand the desire to want to settle there. And, trust me: I can understand the desire to leave home and find my own dreams, only to realize that those dreams weren't all that terrific.
But, as the article I read today said, Dorothy figures that it's better to stick with the safety and security of her Kansas farmhouse. But, that life isn't very imaginative. In fact, it's pretty boring (according to the movie. Kansas is in sepia tones!). Oz is Technicolor, chaotic, adventurous, and it could be scary. And Dorothy rejects that life for the safety, security, and sepia of Kansas. "If I'm ever looking for my heart's desire, I'll find it no further than in my backyard." It's a nice concept, but it's very limited.
Now, a lot of people I knew in high school settled down in my hometown. They live in the same zip code as their parents. My cousins are some of those (although Todd and his wife briefly moved to Wichita.) I have a 4-hour drive to get to my hometown, but I still live in the Midwest where I'm comfortable. And I'm not going to ever pursue my teenage dream of being an actress, because at 33, I'm too old to start it up now. Plus, I'm pretty sure that life isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
But, my heart's desires aren't found in my backyard. It's getting out and meeting new people. It's the idea that, although I'm alone, I'll never be lonely.
What will happen, say, 15 years from the time of TWoO, and Dorothy is an adult and her aunt and uncle do die? What will happen then? Her only form of adventure was that of a fevered dream. It's very limited.
Also, Dorothy's problems aren't over. Miss Gulch probably wasn't killed in the tornado, so she's still after Toto for getting into her flower bed and thinks the dog is a menace. What's going to happen when Miss Gulch comes back for Toto in a couple days? (According to Wikipedia, Miss Gulch has disappeared in the tornado at the end of the movie. And, Dorothy is told about that when she wakes up. Funny. After all these years of watching this movie, I must have missed that line all the frakkin' time!)
I'm taking a cynical view of this movie. I'll admit it. I've seen it so much that it's hard to separate the feelings I've had about it all my life from a clear, honest look at it. But, let's now talk about things that this movie does well.
It's absolutely beautiful. It's in Technicolor. It was MGM's most expensive movie up to that point (so much so that it was considered a box-office failure), and its production values are awesome. Although the Wicked Witch never frightened me, those stupid flying monkeys still scare me. Something about their faces. Mom said that the first time I watched this movie, I was three years old. I had no problem with the Witch, but at the scene where the flying monkeys swoop down, tear out the Scarecrow's stuffing, and take off with Dorothy and Toto, Mom said I started screaming, and she had to turn off the movie. I watched it again the following year, although I didn't scream, I buried my head under a pillow until those nasty monkeys were off the screen.
And they still freak me out.
I love the music. Nobody sings like Judy Garland. Even her own daughter—although she sounds like her mother, and she's an incredible singer—nobody sings like Judy Garland. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is still one of my favorite songs (Did you know that this song was initially cut from the final film? It was deemed too sad. Judy Garland does sound like she was crying while recording this song. But, it's beautiful, and the song works so well). For a while in high school "If I Only Had a Brain" was my own personal theme song. I had the words written on a sheet of paper, hung in my locker.
I don't hate this movie. Not at all. I do think it's overrated, but my negative feelings about this movie are more because of the identity it has to Kansans. If Dorothy was from, say, North Dakota, I don't think my negativity toward this movie would be that strong. Does that make sense?
I'm in the minority here, because can I mention all the AFI honors now?
#10 on AFI's 100 Years, 100 Movies
#43 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Thrills
#4 on AFI's 100 Heroes and Villains (Villain)—The Wicked Witch of the Witch
#82 on AFI's 100 Greatest Songs "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead"
#1 on AFI's 100 Greatest Songs "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"
#99 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!"
#23 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes "There's no place like home!"
#4 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movie Quotes "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
#3 on AFI's 100 Years of Musicals
#26 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Cheers
#1 on AFI's Top 10 Genres "Fantasy"
Until next time.
Kat