The Wiz - thoughts? Love it? like it? hate it?

[sup_fan]

here's an example of the complete WTF

you have a LONG opening scene with Aunt Em singing The Feeling We Once Had. this introductory scene should be helping to establish our primary characters or at least establish the conflict/situation that this movie is going to tackle. Diana appears for about 3 seconds in it. you have 10,000 relatives all in the scene and they're the ones Em is singing to. but they have no names, no stories and no involvement in the plot. WTF are they doing there? who cares about them?!?!

if Em had sung the song AFTER dinner to Dorothy as a way to establish the bond and relationship between them, then you'd have something.

But basically Em just nags Dorothy to give up teaching kindergarten and take some high school job. never mind the fact that 1) those are totally different forms of education and the skills required are different and 2) maybe dorothy really enjoys and finds satisfaction from teaching young kids

so the whole introduction SHOULD establish why Dorothy is so desperate to return home from oz. but basically all we got was a nag of an aunt that ignores dorothy at the family reunion and then pesters her to change her job

if i was dorothy i'd say FU Auntie Em and stay in that groovy Emerald City with all it's fabulousness lolol

[Boogiedown]

job

if i was dorothy i'd say FU Auntie Em and stay in that groovy Emerald City with all it's fabulousness lolol

oh my ! lol!!

[sup_fan]

oh my ! lol!!

in the 1939 movie the role of Aunt Em isn't, technically, large. Clara Blandick didn't have pages and pages of lines. but what she had was highly effective. how she stood up to Almira Gulch and her panic over losing Dorothy in the storm. Plus how she was distracted from dorothy as they were working on the farm. You got the sense that this was a REAL family. busy, harried, loving, stern, caring. You can easily understand this teenager feeling like the world is against her, even when they do truly care. and then you understand her goal of returning home from oz

[Boogiedown]

in the 1939 movie the role of Aunt Em isn't, technically, large. Clara Blandick didn't have pages and pages of lines. but what she had was highly effective. how she stood up to Almira Gulch and her panic over losing Dorothy in the storm. Plus how she was distracted from dorothy as they were working on the farm. You got the sense that this was a REAL family. busy, harried, loving, stern, caring. You can easily understand this teenager feeling like the world is against her, even when they do truly care. and then you understand her goal of returning home from oz

yes the whole point of the movie clearly comes through. Seeing Auntie Em worried during her absence in the crystal ball brings it home too.

I have to say though, having watched it a million times , I now try to find ways of critiquing.
I'm not so sure that out in the farmlands of Kansas back then , a little dog passing your place is going to do that much damage.

But for heaven's sake if your bratty dog is chasing her cat or whatever every time you go by Clara's place , put it on a leash !! Shame on you Dorothy ! Your neighbor warned you ! You brought your troubles on yourself!! lol!!

[sup_fan]

yes the whole point of the movie clearly comes through. Seeing Auntie Em worried during her absence in the crystal ball brings it home too.

I have to say though, having watched it a million times , I now try to find ways of critiquing.
I'm not so sure that out in the farmlands of Kansas back then , a little dog passing your place is going to do that much damage.

But for heaven's sake if your bratty dog is chasing her cat or whatever every time you go by Clara's place , put it on a leash !! Shame on you Dorothy ! Your neighbor warned you ! You brought your troubles on yourself!! lol!!

lol it was more than that! the dog all but made Almira lame due to the bite on her leg! lol just think if Miss Gulch was no longer able to pedal her bicycle lol

[djessie]

I saw it for the first time a couple of years ago. I enjoyed it and I can understand it´s cult status. However, I agree the film could have been more exiting with a different director. Also, Diana´s hairstyle made her look much older than she was supposed to be. But overall I liked it, in a camp way.

Oh and I LOVE Xanadu!

[sup_fan]

here's a idiotic conundrum from the film lolol

Evillene is a despot. she runs a sweatshop for her slaves. but in what "post Triangle Shirtwaist fire world" does she live in!?!?! why the fuck would she bother installing a sprinkler or fire suppression system?!?! lololol water will kill her. and besides, why does she care about worker safety? and she lives in a toilet?

seems for someone that is eradicated by water that she's living rather foolishly lol

[RanRan79]

here's an example of the complete WTF

you have a LONG opening scene with Aunt Em singing The Feeling We Once Had. this introductory scene should be helping to establish our primary characters or at least establish the conflict/situation that this movie is going to tackle. Diana appears for about 3 seconds in it. you have 10,000 relatives all in the scene and they're the ones Em is singing to. but they have no names, no stories and no involvement in the plot. WTF are they doing there? who cares about them?!?!

if Em had sung the song AFTER dinner to Dorothy as a way to establish the bond and relationship between them, then you'd have something.

But basically Em just nags Dorothy to give up teaching kindergarten and take some high school job. never mind the fact that 1) those are totally different forms of education and the skills required are different and 2) maybe dorothy really enjoys and finds satisfaction from teaching young kids

so the whole introduction SHOULD establish why Dorothy is so desperate to return home from oz. but basically all we got was a nag of an aunt that ignores dorothy at the family reunion and then pesters her to change her job

if i was dorothy i'd say FU Auntie Em and stay in that groovy Emerald City with all it's fabulousness lolol

This forum- when it doesn't devolve into nonsensical spats- really is a great example of how art is interpreted differently by different people, whether the art be music or film. Love reading how other's ideas differ from mine.

My interpretation of these parts of the story you point out are as follows:

The opening scenes set up Dorothy's problem. The point of Aunt Em's song in the movie is to show her as the wise one. She's the revered Big Mama of the African American family. The glue that keeps them all bonded. Listen to her wisdom and advice and you can't go wrong. She's even sitting at the head of the table. She's Queen Em and she loves her family. The various family members don't have to have a story beyond the props used to illustrate Em's role in the family. And she doesn't ignore Dorothy at the dinner. [["You'll be out in the world, such a pretty girl, but you'll be on your own...")

From there it should come as no surprise when, while cleaning up, she "nags" Dorothy about the future of her life. As the great wise one [[who is actually represented by "The Wiz" in Dorothy's storm related "dream" of Oz) she knows more about life than Dorothy and feels it's her duty to steer her when she sees she's off track. It's also obvious that Dorothy rarely thought for herself while growing up and Aunt Em made a lot of decisions for her. Which of course is natural and the right thing to do for adults charged with the care of children, but there comes a point when more and more room is given for young people to make decisions in order to become responsible adults. Dorothy didn't have that. Aunt Em probably decided "Dorothy you'll go to college and you'll become a teacher". Meanwhile, what Dorothy really wanted to do was sing and dance. The problem with that dream is that she also has anxiety issues, probably related to the trauma of losing her parents. She has social anxiety, which makes such a dream of all that singing and dancing difficult. Much more easier to give in to Em's wishes and become a teacher.

And then there's the fact that Dorothy was probably extremely sheltered growing up. She was the quiet girl and the other kids picked on her. Aunt Em used to have to go up to the school and put her foot in folks' asses, hemming kids up against the wall and warning them "If you ever touch a hair on my sweet Dorothy's head again, if you even ever speak her name again, I will come up here and put my foot so far in yo ass that you'll need a dentist because I kicked your teeth out. And if your mama got a problem with it, tell her to come and see me at 433 Prospect Place and see if she leave with her teeth."

Dorothy wasn't forced to stand up for herself. So she was always cowering and running from anything she feared. The fact that she went to school and became a teacher is amazing at all, considering that she basically developed a fear of the world outside her small bubble. At some point Em realizes she created a problem and tries to fix it. Tough love time. That conversation in the kitchen was basically Em letting Dorothy know "You can't stay here no more" and the decision had been made. She has to do that if Dorothy has any chance at surviving, because there's no telling how long Em and Henry have left on earth. Both of them have high blood pressure and Em got the Diabetes. Dorothy will have to learn to fend for herself eventually, and it's probably easier for her to do it while Em and Henry are still around than if she was totally ass out alone.

Toto escaping ended up being a blessing for Dorothy. She goes out into the storm. Maybe it's hypothermia, who knows? But she blacks out and in this "alternate reality" she faces all those things that frighten her: a big bad world, being alone, even an overbearing "being" who bosses her around. Originally she's anxious to get back home because she's loved and safe there. In the end she's anxious to get back home because she has a new lease on life. She's prepared for whatever the world throws at her, probably for the first time in her life.

A few months later she crosses paths with a smooth talking dude who just started his own record company and has been looking for a sweet singing lady to help him make it to the very top. And the rest, as they say, is history.

That's my take, anyway.

[sup_fan]

also another fault i've found with the movie is that the 3 companions don't really come to realize their own journeys being completed. Dorothy informs them of how they solved their own problems. they don't really follow the [[annoying) theme of the movie which is self discovery and actualization. She informs them that they really did succeed. But we never really see Dorothy's growth and development. she's still the same nervous nitwit we saw in the beginning. there's no real character evolution and so the movie misses out on what should be the strongest emotional connection between viewer and character