The Wizard of Oz does have a special place for Americans and there’s a reason for that… The movie is adapted, rather closely, from the novel by L. Frank Baum. Baum set out, and succeeded in, writing an American Fairy Tale. Children’s literature of the day was really pretty European. The Brothers Grimm (bowdlerized versions), Water Babies and Alice in Wonderland were the biggies in 1900. Oz was a very American thing with slang and contemporary humor. The film of 1939 was a long way from being the first adaptation but it had a couple of remarkable advantages: It was in color and the sepia framing sequences evoked a timely sense of the depression era. The imagery of the witches is wholly in line with American images of the Halloween witch, that has bent and commercialized European tradition almost out of recognition. In addition to its American roots, the movie has worn well because:
1) It is a brightly colored and very slick production.
2) The music and songs still feel pretty timeless.
3) It tells a good story and the humor still works.
4) Americans have a whole complicated connection to Judy Garland as a tragic figure. She is also a gay icon. The phrase “friend of Dorothy” goes back to the ‘40s as code for a gay man. (Presumably a derivation of “Friend of Bill W.” – The AA code phrase).
Personally, I would love to have a version even closer to the novels, but the somewhat overly dark, Return to Oz was not a great success. The current tendency does seem to be in that direction still, with the impact of Wicked and stuff like Oz the Great and Powerful.
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Heisenberg (6730)
5 years ago
Thanks for the awesome reply.
That explains a lot of what I asked. I am really impressed and enlightened from it.
Let me say it again, thank you.
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brux (14837)
4 years ago
Yeah, that answer was lightyear's beyond your ability to understand for yourself. Maybe you should learn a lesson from preemptively calling something crap that you learn is not later on. If you are so film-flam flippity-floppity you should think twice about why you post your questions in such a way. If you just want human attention, then give it to others.
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