The Wizard of Oz!

I found that Salman Rushdie's analysis of The Wizard of Oz brought forth many interesting ideas about the film. Something that Rushdie brings up that I definitely noticed were the differences between Dorothy's town in Kansas and the Land of Oz. The first setting that is introduced in the film is the black and white version of Kansas that Dorothy calls home. Rushdie calls to attention the shapes that are used in this setting as all being very symmetrical with many straight lines and average shapes. This is then of course interrupted by the tornado which brings in an unfamiliar shape. Rushdie notes that throughout the film that these twisty shapes, such as the tornado, represent danger and evil. While watching the film, I thought that this observation was easy to make as I definitely noticed the difference in whimsicality between the two worlds. I thought that Rushdie brought forth a really interesting observation when he noted the two witches. While Gilda, the good witch, appears and disappears in a perfectly round nicely colored bubble. The wicked witch enters scenes in a large red cloud of smoke. It just goes to show that structure in this film represents goodness, while chaotic shapes represent bad in the film. Lastly, the most interesting aspect of Rushdie's analysis that I found was his discussion of power in this film. I feel that in most films that I have seen that were made during this time period did not show women to have power or any position to have power. However, Rushdie presents that the witches in the film are the only sources of power. I can see this in that they are the only characters that were really able to influence any other character to act a certain way or go down a certain path. I also found that throughout the film Dorothy was given power when she accidentally kills each of the witches and wins over the love of the different people of oz. Power is also given to the women through the inadequacies of the men in the film. For example the tin man, scarecrow, and lion all missing something important such as heart or a brain. Throughout the film I feel that there is this push to make out the actual wizard of oz to hold much of the power as he is seen as able to fix everyones problem when in reality this is all an illusion. I really found that looking at the film through the points of Rushdie made me gain a new perspective.