The Wizard of Oz

"Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first
person she meets, then teams up with three complete strangers to kill
again."

This is the laughable definition of the plot which has been making the
rounds, which I would credit if I knew the original source. Since my
local theater is doing its own production of "The Wizard of Oz"
(Friday was opening night) I'm fast becoming an expert on both the
movie and stage play, and decided to have another look at the book,
which I read once, twenty years ago. The movie of course took some
liberties, and the moviemakers can be credited with many moments of
brilliant inspiration, but book and movie are remarkably similar, even
more so than I remembered. The stage play also includes things from
the book the movie doesn't. The description of the Tin Man's story is
more graphic, and no one knew from the movie alone that the witch's
slaves were called "Winkies," as it is never mentioned there.

Above description aside, I must ask who else here finds the plot a bit
unsettling? I know it's scorned by the same groups who burn Harry
Potter and that some parents won't let their kids see it because of
the witch and so on. The witch, however, is MEANT to be evil, and has
a MOTIVATION for acting as she does--her desire to obtain the magic
slippers. The character I've found overall the most disturbing, for
many years if not since childhood, is the Wizard himself, an admitted
"humbug" who nevertheless describes himself as a "good man." Is anyone
else bothered that he sends our heroes on essentially a suicide
mission--to destroy the Wicked Witch of the West--and, after their
initial surprise and annoyance at him on completing this monumental
and near-impossible task, they quickly forgive him upon receipt of
basically cheap consolation prizes? It was well known that the Witch
would, at the least, enslave anyone who entered her territory, and
more than likely she would eliminate the foursome (Toto, too) as they
were of little use as slaves and there was the matter of those
slippers!

The most Judy-Garlandish of the two girls alternating playing Dorothy
in our production must cut her engagement short due to joining the
military, giving all her remaining performances to the other girl
(both wonderful!) and I can't think I'm the only one to see the
parallels. A figure of dubious credentials (Oz, government officials)
sets himself up in a position of authority over young and
inexperienced travelers (a little girl, a dog, a man who'd spent his
life on a pole, another who'd stood rusting for years, and a lion
who'd spent his life cowering in a forest--not a terribly worldly-wise
bunch) on a difficult and dangerous mission to destroy someone he sees
as an enemy. He then rewards their faithfulness with various trinkets
they find pleasing. (In the book, the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman are
cut open to receive their gifts and the Lion has to drink his, so they
are all internalized--ew, glad they didn't do that in the movie, let
alone onstage--messy business.) The military aspects of the prizes are
unmistakable in the movie: a scroll, a cross which says "Courage,"
(Germany and England were handing out crosses as medals in the 19th
Century, but these didn't come into use in America until 1918), and
most significantly the Tin Man's heart, when George Washington
established the Purple Heart in 1782, which came into use again in
1932 and has been awarded ever since to any member of the armed forces
wounded in action against an enemy. As the song aptly says, "Oz never
did give nothin' to the Tin Man, That he didn't, didn't already have."
Anyone who understands the rest of the lyrics to that song deserves a
prize of some sort themselves.

Could there be significance in these choices and the way in which they
were presented as when the movie was filmed, World War II had already
started but the United States had not entered it yet? Am I the only
one to see these implications, or do I just have waaay too much time
to ponder deep inner meanings while waiting for my parts to come up?

For you Narnia fans out there: does anyone find the illustrations of
the mice helping the Cowardly Lion, and the flying monkeys tying him
up, more than a bit Aslanish?

On the lighter side: what is your favorite Oz quote? At home our
catchphrases were always "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog,
too," "Poppies to make them sleep," and "I'm melting!" all Wicked
Witch lines, and only the third is anything like what she says in the
book. The theater group has taken to, "Pay no attention to that man
behind the curtain," also not in the book, but which comes in very
handy when something goes wrong! (Our most exciting moment so far came
during a full dress rehearsal when a bit too much smoke was used in
the Wizard's chamber. It looked way cool, but set off every fire alarm
in the building and one of the flying monkeys was carried off with a
case of the wheezes. THAT won't happen again!)