Classic Movies: The Wizard of Oz (1939)

The Wizard of Oz (1939): A children musical or a cultural symbolism of the 1930s United States?

The Wizard Of Oz is one of the rare works that in every era can reflect the situation and the time that it was produced. This is true for the novel written by Lyman Frank Baum in 1900, 1939 MGM movie and for the later editions.

Moreover, it is one of the first technicolor movies to be ever produced.

While this article will not cover all the unique parts of the 1939 edition musical movie, it’s a take on how The Wizard of Oz is a must-watch for movie geeks.

Colors  of The Wizard Of Oz

There are many ways to show a change in movies, but as we see in the movie The Wizard of Oz(1939), MGM studios used a certain technology and embedded it into the narrative to show the change.

Specifically Technicolor technology.

Technicolor usage in the Wizard Of Oz (1939)

Wizard of Oz(1939) is one of the earliest examples of colored movies. In it, color and greyness are not only a core element of the visual side.

While the movie changes from black and white to color in the middle, this change is also a symbolic change of the narrative. The whole script of the movie is integrated with this dichotomy of color and black&white.

As Dorothy and her friends enter Emerald City, there are a couple of lines and scenes about the horse whose color constantly changes.

There is also an issue throughout the film, the bad characters in respect to Dorothy are usually ugly and the good ones are always smiling and beautiful/handsome. Moreover, the bad ones are generally dressed black or darker and the good characters are more colorful.

The Wicked Witch of the West(bad) Vs. Dorothy (good) 

Time and Place – the US in the 30s

The symbolism of the Western Expansion was the electric cables from east to west, and even before Dorothy explains where they are, the empty land with few houses and the big electric cables suggests that we are in the midwest of the US.

The release date has a lot in hand. The Great Depression was 10 years back but its effect were still there in the 30s. Everyone dedicated themselves to the work with the increasing number of factories and the struggle in the midwest continued. 

Furthermore, like in  Modern Times(1936), there is a sense of endless work and no wasting time.

We can see this for Dorothy’s Family(her aunt, etc.)  working all the time and their emphasis on the reason of that. When Miss Gulch says to the aunt “Now you are seeing reason”, it shows a clear indication of the reason and the new age through work and machination. 

While Dorothy is a young and innocent person in the midwest, Miss Gulch is not only portrayed as bad but also she has lawful documents to take the dog, which can be interpreted as bad people often can manipulate the law to use it for their interest.

Miss Gulch

Especially considering the government’s taking place more and more in the rural places, it also symbolizes the time of western midwest is gone, as the times bringing places like the midwest to the levels of the East.

West on the other hand is the future and the land of opportunity. From the beginning of Western Expansion to even today, state of California is seen as a land of opportunity. This also can be seen in the movie The Grapes of Wrath (1940), especially for the people who live in the midwest, this idea of utopic California gives the endless opportunity to the people and also the land of the film industry. People can see this resemblance as Dorothy enters the land of Oz, everything becomes colorful like the life in Los Angeles in the eyes of the people in that era.

The golden road that leads to Emerald City

On the road to the Oz, yellow brick road also can be interpreted as the road to California, since the symbol of California has been the gold for ages. With this connection, Emerald city is also the symbol of Los Angeles.

The tin man is heartless and this immediately brings the idea of the harsh working environment of the Industry.

With the influence of just watching the Modern Times(1936) prior for the audience or considering the conditions of the workplace at that era,  the tin man is a symbolism for the industry as the expectations, work conditions, and the bosses generally seen as heartless. 

Symbolism and Dichotomies

The movie starts with a black and white rural area with hard-working people. A clear midwest representation in the 30s.

Midwest representation in the movie

On the other hand, the land of Oz is a place of joy and opportunities. A clear indication of this is color. The land of Oz is colorful both literally and figuratively.

Moreover, like many people, Dorothy tries to immigrate to west, specifically to California, or in this case, she is trying to reach Emerald City.

Not only she tries to reach Emerald City, but also a heartless tin man( the industry), a brainless scarecrow( uneducated farmers), and the cowardly lion (William Jennings Bryan).

Dorothy and companions

Moreover, the promise soon is revealed as phony.

The wizard, respectfully representing the government or the bureaucracy is actually a phony using propaganda and illusions for his own gain and power.

The phony Wizard

Realizing the promise and the land of opportunities is not what she hoped, Dorothy is relieved to return to her aunt and to midwest.

Overall

The usage of color is very creative in The Wizard of Oz(1939).

Instead of shooting a colorful film, MGM created a movie around this technology.

They did not only used it but played with it. Not only the strategic usage of color, but also nearly every scene can be decoded for numerous symbolism in it. Even after years, there are many still trying to decode all messages. If you are a movie geek, this movie is one of the must-watch of the old classics.

Sources:

Griswold, Jerry. “There’s No Place but Home: The Wizard of Oz.” The Antioch Review, vol. 45, no. 4, 1987, pp. 462–475. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4611799. Accessed 20 Mar. 2021.

A Technological History of Motion Pictures and
Television, ed. Raymond Fielding (Berkeley and Los Angeles: 1967), p.
54.

Elements of Color in Professional Motion Pictures (New York: 1957).