The Wizard of Oz (1939)

 Victor Fleming's "The Wizard of Oz"

I don't think any statement about the iconic film "The Wizard of Oz" can be too bold. It's a film that invites hyperbole, inspires conspiracy theories, is recognized for its achievements, and has been endlessly reinterpreted and reiterated. I would even argue that MGM's 1939 musical masterwork is, perhaps, the origin of cinematic consciousness itself. Like I said, no statement about "The Wizard of Oz" is too bold. 

In fact, I believe that "The Wizard of Oz" is so deeply embedded into our cinematic consciousness that recounting the film's plot feels almost unnecessary, as everyone surely knows it.. Still, I will do so for posterity's sake. A young Kansas girl, who lives on a farm with her aunt, uncle, and three farmhands, wishes there was more to life. She dreams of escaping. After a run-in with a cruel neighbor woman, the Kansas girl, Dorothy, decides to run away. After a tornado, she is bonked on the head and imagines a fantastical realm full of wizards, witches, munchkins, talking animals, and flying monkeys. Along her way, she meets a scarecrow looking for a brain, a tin man looking for a heart, and a cowardly lion searching for courage. Together, they all work together to defeat a wicked witch and get the assistance of a powerful wizard to grant them their desires. However, in the end, they realize the things they desired were inside of them all along. Dorothy wakes up safe at home and reevaluates her life, believing that through this new perspective, she can take stock of the things that matter in life.

Although the thematic elements of the film may not rival the complexity of a work like "Citizen Kane," "The Wizard of Oz" takes the simplest of notions and elevates them into grand ideas for a broad audience, particularly a younger audience. After all, it is a fantasy film. Yet despite the simplicity of its themes, it manages to spread these themes to the far reaches of societal and individual consciousness. And yes, I am well aware the film is based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel, so the themes didn't originate with the film itself. However, since most of 20th century society has seen the film rather than read the book, I will continue to refer to the more widely consumed version. 

Its themes contain ideas that have been used time and time again throughout various works of literary, social, and artistic expressions. The films presents to its audience an artificial construction - an abstraction - designed to allow the viewer to reimagine the personal as something fantastical. One could even argue that this abstraction represents film or art itself. For example, Dorothy feels stuck in her lowly, everyday life. She imagines life could be better somewhere far away. Yet through the fantastical abstraction of Oz, she reinterprets her own life, imbuing it with wonder and excitement. It wasn't her life that was dreary - it was her perception of it. She needed to reach this conclusion in the same way as F.W. Murnau's "Tartuffe" characters: through the lens of film, fantasy, reimagination, etc. 

Ironically, Dorothy's ability to reimagine her circumstances comes through deception. Just as the 'great and powerful Oz' is merely a grifter behind a curtain, the fabricated fantasy is merely an illusion - a dream. Her voyage into this magical realm is nothing more than a fabrication of her subconscious. Likewise, our own voyage into the land of Oz is merely a magic trick, orchestrated by the magical and powerfully deceptive Victor Fleming (a director at MGM). We are drawn into viewing our life through an abstraction. Yet rather than feeling cheated or played, we take from this abstraction something for our own betterment: an exciting new way to view life. 

Through this abstraction, we begin to understand the mechanisms that surround us. For instance, Dorothy recognizes the people in her own life within the dreamscape of Oz and, in doing so, gains a deeper understanding of them. As viewers, we too can connect the film's various abstractions to ideas of morality, government, and community. Fiction and art, though fabricated, contain elements of reality. Sure, Oz is a not real place, both in the context of the film and in real life. But, Oz contains the abstractions of very real things - things that contain truth. By viewing these truths through this lens, we arrive at a more complex understanding of them. 

I believe this is why "The Wizard of Oz" stands as the origin point of cinematic consciousness. Perhaps that is a bold claim, and maybe coming from a place of severe bias - I have a special place in my heart for this film - but I think this idea casts a wider net. I remember watching this film as a small child, perhaps too young to fully grasp much of anything. And yet, I understood the abstractions taking place in front of me. The man with no brain turned out to be the most intelligent person, devising plans and recognizing complex situations to help Dorothy. The cold, empty tin man who believed he had no heart proved to be the most sensitive and soft-hearted. The cowardly lion found his courage by risking everything to save Dorothy from the Wicked Witch. And the great and powerful Oz? Just a smooth-talking illusionist playing tricks from behind a curtain. 

Even then, I began to understand my own reality by viewing it through the magical lens of this fantastical world - a world made vivid through cinema. As a child, it's hard to make sense of what's happening around you. It's hard to grasp the logic that seems just beyond your reach. However, if these forms of 'logic' are presented through these fantastical characters, worlds, and situations, you begin to understand these things in a more vibrant way, just as Dorothy begins to understand her own world through these same lenses. The magical realm helped Dorothy better understand and appreciate the things happening in her own life, just as "The Wizard of Oz" helped me as a small child better appreciate and understand my own world, as well.

This seems to point to the birth of my own cinematic consciousness, but I have not yet seemed to make my point about it more generally. I'm sure that many people across the globe can point to "The Wizard of Oz" as some childhood moment of clarity, just as I did. I'm sure many would consider it the backbone to their artistic understanding of the world, or even their understanding of art itself. Those things contribute to the 'cinematic consciousness' comment. However, what I would like to point out is the film's overarching reach socially and generationally. Not only does the film lay the subconscious groundwork for artistic understanding through the lens of fantasy and abstraction, but its reach to a wide audience to achieve this is perhaps the most significant reach of any piece of art in modern history. In a 2018 study by the University of Turin that measured the success and significance of 47,000 films from around the world using data from readers and audience polls, it was determined that "The Wizard of Oz" is the 'most influential film of all time.' Also, because of its initial success,  MGM sold the television rights to CBS in 1956. CBS's debut of the film in glorious technicolor in average, everyday American homes garnished an audience share of 53%. It was repeated again in 1959 with an audience share of 58%. Its otherworldly success on this television format created an annual television tradition, with continued television appearances between 1956 and 1974. A study done by the Library of Congress concluded that, because of its initial success, its major success on television, and its subsequent appraisal, "The Wizard of Oz" is the most seen film in history. This stature is unparalleled and it is safe to say that no other film has the same breadth and expanse as "The Wizard of Oz." Our modern audiences' understanding of cinema, its illusions, its construction, its themes, and its iconography all stem back to this nostalgic, childlike wonder of a film. A film student or film lover may know the works of Fritz Lang, understand the significance and danger of "The Birth of a Nation," or the majesty of "Metropolis," but the average, everyday person's knowledge of the earliest in film iconography would certainly have to be "The Wizard of Oz." It is for this reason I believe it is the origin point of cinematic consciousness. 

With the birth of cinematic consciousness also comes fixation. The reinterpretation of the film has been done time in memoriam. The concept of the 'yellow brick road,' the terror of flying monkeys, good witches and bad witches, "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore,' clicking your heels three times, "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," 'somewhere over the rainbow,' ruby red slippers, technicolor magic, Dorothy's blue farmgirl dress, Glinda coming down in a bubble, etc. All of these notions are lasered into the consciousness of an entire 20th century community. It is almost as if "The Wizard of Oz" acts as a children's story for an entire century of people, whom all have come to some understanding of the cinematic art of storytelling through this lens, just as I did. It is in the cloth of our vernacular, our outlook on art, our understanding of the format, the way in which we create, and the way in which we use cinema as a tool for understanding our world. From David Lynch's dreamscapes to Steven Spielberg's magical renditions of extra terrestrials, to Salman Rushdie's acknowledged effects the film had on his writing (especially his first ever short story at the age of 10 with "Over the Rainbow"), to any realm of medium and imaginative fiction, "The Wizard of Oz" acts as a foundation.

Another aspect of this fixation occurs with the production itself. This is perhaps the earliest film to experience this level of fixation well beyond the film's tenure in public domain. The abuse of star Judy Garland, the toxic work environments, the dangerous effects, conspiracies about depressed little persons, and on and on it goes. Fixation, rumination, obsession, reiteration, reinterpretation, and constant playback and discussion about this film continues and continues.

Beyond the significance of the film culturally, it also stands as a technical marvel. Firstly, the vibrancy of the film's technicolor surpassed anything else at that time. Sure, technicolor had been used plenty of times before, but the level of vibrancy and starkness with which it was employed goes above and beyond. Its use of special effects, like the witch disappearing in a smog of smoke, the electrifying glass slippers, the flying broomstick, and other eccentric uses of 'film magic' all take your breath away. As a child, I felt that, despite animation being able to accomplish 'film magic' to a much richer extent, "The Wizard of Oz" and all its effects are exceeded these with its incorporated realism. To me, the things happening on film were just as real as reality itself.

This leads to to the most exciting notion about the film: fabrication as reality. I've touched on this, but the themes of the film demonstrate how something fabricated can communicate a sense of reality to the viewer. To extend this notion, reality is what you make of it. There is nothing external from you that can replace the internal strength you have. Brains, heart, and courage are not some external concepts that you can be granted by some external power. There is not some magical place over the rainbow that is going to make you happy. Everything you need in life exists inside of you. You set the precedent that allows for these things to happen. The most powerful tool at your disposal is your own ability to take control of your perceptions. The wizard was able to become a powerful politician through sheer force of will and the magic of illusion, propaganda, and fabrication. The scarecrow, tin man, and lion were all able to somehow fabricate the very notions that they felt they lacked. Dorothy, after the journey through the realms of fabrication, was able to reconstruct her reality as she saw fit. That is the point of "The Wizard of Oz." Perception and reality are entirely within your control, the person you want to be is entirely within your control, and your own happiness and future are yours for the taking. Sometimes all it takes it just a unique lens to come to this conclusion. In the end, you'll realize that you were home all along. You had everything you needed at your disposal, and you were and ARE the person you want to be inside of you this whole time.