1. Kessie says:

    Nice analysis! It made me almost want to go watch it again. Except I think of the scene with the flying monkeys and its possible effects on the psyche of my kids. And I changed my mind.

  2. When I was in school I had a worldview curriculum* which required me to watch and analyze this film, with a somewhat different message in mind from yours.  The curriculum posited that the Wizard is a sort of god-figure, and the moral of the story is that God’s a sham, and we all have the intelligence, courage, love, etc. we need inside of us already and have no need of God.  So ever since then that is how I’ve seen this film!  Hence I strongly dislike this movie, although that might also be due to my distaste for the “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” song…

    Regardless of the difference between my curriculum and your post, I thought your analysis was interesting and quite good!  🙂

    — Bethany

     *The curriculum is David Quine’s “Starting Points” (followed by “World Views of the Western World,” the high school curriculum).  The teaching style and actual design of the books is lacking sometimes, IMHO, but it taught me a TON, and started a lifelong fascination with philosophy, theology, and worldviews.  It was my favorite subject all through junior high and high school.

  3. Ryan says:

    I never though there was an old version of wizard of Oz back then. Who were the great stars who played the main characters of the story? I hope they’ll be able to remake one in the future.

    -Ryan

  4. Fred Warren says:

    Bethany,
    That’s not an unreasonable approach to interpreting this film, though it seems to run counter to the filmmakers’ pains to tell us, via Dorothy and the Wizard, exactly what it all means.  And the Wizard did give them something they needed and didn’t have (confidence), but not in the way they expected.
    Of course, the great pitfall in any attempt to analyze a work of art in isolation from its creator(s) is the tendency to find what you expect to find, and I’m subject to the same bias. Since I approach this from a Christian worldview, I’m going to pay attention to images that resonate with that, and glean lessons that reinforce it. I’m an optimist besides, so I’m going to bend over backward to find positive elements.
    I think it’s possible for two people to look at a work of art and walk away with two very different impressions of it, both valid. It’s not that truth is relative–it’s more like looking into the same house through two different windows. The kitchen may be beautiful and the master bedroom a wreck.
    Fred
     

  5. D.M. Dutcher says:

    It was interesting to read the book for the first time, and I plan on rewatching the movie soon. I’m not so keen on Wicked, though. It’s going to be interesting to see you try and get a Christian take on that book. 

  6. Fred Warren says:

    I’m not so keen on Wicked, though. It’s going to be interesting to see you try and get a Christian take on that book. 

    There’s actually quite a lot to talk about…the question of who or what is controlling events in Oz is an undercurrent throughout the entire story, and religion plays a prominent role as well.  Both issues were completely absent from the original novel and the movie. And there’s the central question of what exactly “wickedness” is and whether the Witch was born wicked, chose to be wicked, or was molded into wickedness by forces beyond her control.

    Finding positive themes that align with a Christian worldview, though, is more difficult, and it’s not a book I’d recommend for family reading.

  7. Galadriel says:

    I saw a trailer of this film–oh man, it looked absolutely terrible. 

What do you think?