Sunday, November 11, 2007

Oz......


The Wizard of Oz was on TBS last night. One of my favorite all time movies.

Some things I didn't know....
Differences from original novel (from Wikipedia):

"The film expands the Kansas section, creating several characters (the farmhands, Miss Gulch, and Professor Marvel) who do not appear in the book. It also interprets the Oz experience as a dream, in which many of the characters that Dorothy meets represent the people from her home life. By contrast, in the book, her adventures in Oz are unambiguously meant to be real."

"A notable visual change made to the film was the changing of Dorothy's Silver Shoes to Ruby Slippers, to make them visually dazzling against the yellow brick road on the Technicolor screens. Baum's original world was made dramatically more colorful overall; in his original story the different areas of Oz only had one color each, with the Munchkin country being entirely blue and the City of Emeralds being entirely green. This was originally done to save costs on printing illustrations.




The Wicked Witch of the West was much more cowardly in the novel, afraid of the dark, never left her castle, and carried an umbrella rather than a broom, for obvious reasons. The witch's skin was pale from lack of blood, but not green. She was also missing an eye, covered with a patch, with the other described "as powerful as a telescope". Her presumably blond hair (based on the original illustrations) was tied in three pigtails.



Perhaps the most severe change is that of Dorothy becoming a damsel in distress figure needing to be rescued by her male friends. In the novel, Dorothy administers the rescue of her friends after she has dispatched the witch. Her behavior toward the witch in the novel is much more aggressive; in the novel, the Silver Shoes can be taken off with no harm, and the witch trips Dorothy in order to be able to do this. Outraged, Dorothy deliberately douses her with the bucket of water, though still unaware that this will cause the Witch to melt."

Wow. Why haven't I read the original book? I think I will. And soon. Looks like I've really been missing something. A more aggressive Dorothy??? That would be cool.

For the longest time I didn't realize any of the movie was in color. When I was young, and yes, it's hard to imagine, my parents did not own a TV set. My siblings and I went next door to watch the movie. On a black and white TV. I was in my twenties before I realized most of the movie is in color.



Which Wizard of Oz Character Are You?





Dorothy
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1 comment:

Natalie said...

I love the Wizard of Oz too...I'll check to see who I am. Glad you enjoyed the shrimp! YUMMY. I think that batter would be great with vidalia onions too...