Friday, March 26, 2010
The Wizard of Oz
I chose to write my research paper on the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. I chose this movie because it is something that everyone has watched at least once, and most are very familiar with the characters and sayings from it. However, what most don’t know is that The Wizard of Oz actually parallels to U.S history. The movie is based on a children’s fantasy book, which satirizes and stereotypes modern society. The movie compares the wicked witch to the American government, Dorothy to the naïve American people, the Scarecrow to the American farmer, and the Tin man to industrialization. In my paper I plan to show how these characters relate to individuals during the early 1900’s as well as today, and why these images and the story continues to be a part of American Culture. In America today I find it fascinating that we still have the stereotypes of this movie’s characters. Like Dorothy, Americans are always wishing for a better life. Farmers are still classified as ill-mannered and foolish like the scarecrow. While the modern man, or Tin man, is still battered by industrialists trying to make their fortune. I think the cultural issue I am addressing is how and why the American image and lifestyle has repeated itself over the last hundred years.
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I think you have a lot to go on here Melissa. Personally I never knew the Wizard of Oz paralleled U.S. history. I think that you will have a lot of information on how they relate, but I think you should also discuss the impression that this film left on the U.S. Did it open up Americans' minds on to the different stereotypes of the world, or did life just go on as usual after the film was made? I think it might also be helpful to explain how many people caught the relationship between real individuals and the characters in the film. This is a great topic though, I think writing your essay will be a breeze just because I'm sure many scholarly sources have written about this topic.
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