Salman Rushdie on The Wizard of Oz

Salman Rushdie’s analysis of The Wizard of Oz illuminated many new aspects of the movie for me. It was so interesting to hear about how the movie influenced him as a young boy and how he saw elements of the film in his home, Bombay, and in Bollywood. He talks about finally seeing his father for who he really is, the Wizard, and what it was like to grow up with that kind of role model.

My favorite of Rushdie’s points has to do with the representation of safety versus danger in the film. He proposes that safety is represented by “geometrical simplicity” whereas twisty and irregular shapes represent danger and evil. Although I never thought of this idea, it all made sense once he started to elaborate on the point. When Dorothy first tells her aunt and uncle about Miss Gulch’s dislike of Toto, she finds them counting their livestock, their livelihood. Another example of the geometric simplicity can be seen when looking at Emerald City whose buildings are made up entirely of straight lines. Emerald City represents safety for Dorothy because it is where she believes she can finally figure out how to get home. We see the irregularity of danger first in the spiral of the yellow brick road and again in the representation of the wicked witch.

When watching films, I have a hard time picking scenes apart and looking for apparent patterns. Rushdie does so in a way that does not seem to completely kill all joy from the film. I hope that in the future I will be able to look at films with a more critical eye, not take everything at face value, and look a little harder at what is really being said.