2:59

So I’m taking an introductory course in contemporary cinema, which I admit I know nothing about. I fancy my role at Punknews makes me a “music critic” (although I make no claims that I’m a good one), but the world of film quite frankly scares me. That’s likely due to the fact that most enthusiasts I know enjoy arty work that I find disturbing. I’m not one to look for entertainment in dark and twisted imagery and I thus dread when one of these individuals suggests we watch a movie to kill time.

So what’s the first film we have to watch in this journey though cinema: The Wizard of Oz. Hah.

I’m not even going to start describing the ordeal of obtaining this (you’d think rental stores would have this of all films) or the fantastic “oh you’re renting the Wizard of Oz… waita’ not feel intimidated by the family section” conversation I had with the clerk.

What really struck me, and I haven’t seen this since I was a kid, was how remarkably depressing the ending was. Maybe it’s because I just returned home after four years away, but the idea that after such growth and self discovery in Oz, Dorothy ends with the conservative moral of “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with!”

Yikes!

The film does a pretty good job at painting Kansas as an impoverished wasteland, controlled by adults either oppressive (Miss Gulch) or oppressed (Uncle Henry and Auntie Em). The very paintings used for the horizons on the set make Kansas look like it’s a million miles from everywhere. So the idea that Dorothy, after pining for something greater (over the rainbow…), after learning so much about herself, comes to the conclusion that “I won’t look any further than my own backyard” just drives me crazy.

The book I picked up on the movie is one of those ubiquitous BFI Classics, and to my surprise and delight it was written by Salman Rushdie (his novel Midnight’s Children being a favourite of mine). He expresses similar concerns, so I feel justified in venting.