The Wizard of Oz

The Eternal Search for Contentment

Dorothy Gale from Hicksville, Kansas gets hit in the head with a window during a twister.  The resulting concussion (mixed with an inhalation of ergot spores that were kicked up into the atmosphere by the storm) led to a hallucination in which she meets a gay talking scarecrow, a gay robot, and a gay lion in a magical fairy land.

So, I love The Wizard of Oz, and I sat down and watched the Blu Ray disc with the Boy last night.  He really liked the gay lion.


The BD is gooooorgeous, the colors are so vibrant, and the B&W part is sepia-toned, which really helps the fantastic nature of the whole thing.  Unfortunately, I think they digitally edited out the suicide munchkin, because I didn't see him.

They go on a magical journey and it's one of those dealies where they find out that they always had what they were looking for and stuff.  You know how it goes.  Witches, wizards, little people, and flying monkeys.  Oh my.

I have a large place in the bowels of my cockles for The Wizard of Oz.  FRC Ruben was once 10 year-old Ruben, and 10 year-old Ruben played a munchkin, emerald city gentry, and the Gatekeeper in Sunnyvale Community Theater's production of The Wizard of Oz in 1989.  There was singing.  There was dancing.  There was spirit gum.

Growing up, I seem to remember that WOZ was shown like once a year in the Spring or something on CBS and it was this whole event.  My mom and I would get some Jiffy Pop and there'd be ice cream sundaes.


They don't do TV movie events anymore.  Remember when Spielberg chumped some network into showing Saving Private Ryan uncut with no commercials because it was important? I think that was the last one.  Three hours with no advertising revenue and a shitload of FCC fines when people can just click "Watch It Now" and stream to their networked flat screen have pretty much put an end to the whole thing.

WOZ is still as freaky and fantastic today as when I was a youngling.  For different reasons, like, when I was a kid I was all freaked out that there was this witch who lived in a big scary castle and had a bunch of green dudes in her army and a bunch of weird ass flying monkeys in her Air Force.

Now, as an adult.......well, I guess the same things still are freaky to me.........only now I see social statements.

Here's a question: in a kid's movie, the heroine has to kill the bad guy (or bad gal, as it were)?  Not only that, but little old Dorothy Gale from Hicksville , Kansas actually goes through with the murder plot?  Wow, that's really harsh.  Even Bowie didn't get killed in Labyrinth, and he had those weird balls and henchmen trolls that were 10 times more evil than the flying monkeys. 

And speaking of flying monkey attacks: when the Simeon minions swarm and attack our heroes in the haunted forest, they totally get after it.  They're all pouncy and rippy and flyey and kidnappy -- they take out some of the scarecrow and throw him over there and take out some more and throw it over there.  Just very violent and graphic -- if you're made out of straw, but still.

And then there's the blatant drug reference of the poppy fields that make everyone sleepy.  Still trying to decided if the poppies are meant to be a racist statement against the Chinese laborers in Northern California.  My initial suspicion is yes, but I like the movie too much to think too deeply on it.

WOZ will always be a classic.  Judy Garland is a wonderful murderous bumpkin, and the characters are whimsical to this day, if a bit far-fetched.  But children will get hooked and the love of this will remain with them.  There's a sense of loss in that these classic movies are no longer going to be the national viewing events that they once were because of DVR and Blu Ray and on-demand and the like (Plus, TBS gets its fingers in something and runs it in perpetuity -- who would've ever thought that we'd see Independence Day and Deep Impact as much  as we have over the last 5 years).

Nevertheless, the greatest movies of all time are the ones that can withstand the march of time, and the search for the Wizard is the eternal faustian search for contentment.  The story is a classic that will be studied in generations to come, and the film will always be a hallmark in cinema and fantasy.  Big ups.

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side note: anyone remember the made for TV movie about the author of The Wizard of Oz L. Frank Baum?  The movie starred the late great John Ritter