The wizard of Oz Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The wizard of Oz - Essay ExampleParticularly, the paper will analyze the scene in which the soused Witch, the stories main antagonist, was killed through her own machinations in the famous Im melting scene. The sepia-toned setting of the Kansas prologue in the Wizard of Oz is famously contrasted with the splash of full twist that the movie introduced as we enter Dorothys dream. The world of the dream is meant, we ar supposed to believe, to represent an alternative universe. Yet director Fleming draws from the real world semipolitical and economic landscape of the late 1930s in building this supposed alternate world. Particularly, he establishes two worlds one with a kind of goodness and naturalness that, though it has its own brand of hypocrisy and silliness, is presumed superior to the second, a dark and scary world of evil that lurks about the films edges in the somebody of the Wicked Witch and the setting associated with her. As the film progresses we see that even the scene s in which a kind of injustice can be discerned in the wily modern City of Oz -- through, for example, the Wizard making promises he has no intention of keeping are carried out in a golden bathing clear of modernity and technological wonder. This is strongly contrasted with the Witchs castle which, with its gothic arches and ancient, minimalist architecture seems to be inspired by old world, specifically German, influences. The breath is the American world is preferable to the European even in its failings. In building the mise-en-scene for the two contrasting worlds, Fleming utilized a full range of discolour and light in the City of Oz scenes, as well as for the march along the beautiful if sometimes difficult travel on the yellow brick road. However, in the scenes that are associated with the witch, -- such as the forest scene and castle scene the color palette is darkened and limited. The black of the witchs cloak is contrasted with the blue angel of Dorothys dress and bri ght red of the coveted shoes in many shots in these settings. The uniforms of the zombie-like soldiers that serve the witch resemble Nazi officers uniforms. The green-faced witch herself, in the make-up choices made, suggests a kind of sickness and moral decrepitude, contrasted against Dorothys fresh innocence. Nathanson (1991) contrasts the two worlds of the City of Oz and Witchs Castle in excellent heavyset form. After, describing Oz as an American future anticipated in the present he describes the setting of the witchs castle as follows Technology here is primitive. Candles and torches are used instead of electric lights, spears instead of guns, and an hourglass instead of a clock. Surfaces, moreover, are coarse and unpolished. Architecturally, the Castle is a maze of twisting staircases and crooked passages. Here, then the mise-en-scene is alien. It is out-of-door in both time and space. (p. 39) Here the setting of the action is made to resonate with the world of the late 1930 s in which the world was moving steady to war with the American promise of technology being questioned and challenged (potentially) by the reactionary and agrarian aggressiveness of Hitlers Nazi Party. While such a resemblance is not made explicit in the film, it is almost inescapable when looking back on the film as a piece of cultural history.