Movie Analysis Essay on The Wizard of Oz

Introduction

The Wizard of Oz is considered one of the most successful and best-selling films of the 20th and 21st centuries. The film features several key aspects that makeup quality production and movie distribution. In this critique, the writer looked at the film and analyzed it about the post-modernism theory, looking at production techniques employed in the movie that enabled it to be massively successful. The postmodernism theory proclaims that the greatest ideas of the past have become obsolete while art and culture have interlinked and imaging techniques become more real than they were before, thus leaving no chance for the old films to premiere in the current century (Bainbridge, 2003). The different production aspects in focus include the video and sound integration, musical score, the themes, the target audience and the reception by the general audiences. Also critiqued were the moving pictures and the techniques that were used at the time to produce quality videos. The costume choices were also looked at to establish their influence on the overall performance of the film,

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The Wizard of Oz was originally a children's comic book written by Franklin Baum in early 1900 titled "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." The book was adapted into cinema films by several different products of the time and in several other cinema styles to be shown in cinemas, as was picking up at the time. The most well-known version of the book's film is Goldwin Mayer's adoption of 1939. Widely considered the most successful cinema film of recent times, the film was directed by Victor Fleming alongside other great producers of the time. The film stars in the movie include actors such as Judy Garland, Gale Dorothy as well as another cast including Terry as Toto, Frank Morgan among another minor cast (Fleming, 2003). Given the production techniques of the time, It is incredible that the film has managed to stand the test of time even competing with the modern day times films given the advancement of the technology that has taken place over the years since its production.

The title of the film, "Wizard of Oz" is mainly vested on the main theme of the film where witchcraft and magic form the main theme, as well as the plot (Bainbridge, 2003). In this case, the entire events that take place are revealed to be a dream, including the great Wizard that is revealed towards the end to be a man speaking on the microphone. In this aspect, the producers of the film manage to combine fantasy and reality successfully (Salber et al. 1993). This sequence is the single most important in the film's plot. This is achieved through the integration of reality at the beginning, which then shifts to fantasy through a series of events that occur along the way still at the beginning. The fantasy section, which is the longest and the main objective in the plot reverts back to reality just before the end of the film, leaving audiences reeling as they digest the entire events that they are finally brought back to the original setting where the from began after being taken to an extensive trip in the fantasy world (Fleming, 2003). In the film, several motifs are used throughout. The most prominent of these is the dialogue and phrase "There is no place like home." This phrase appeared for the first time during the trip to the fantasy world as being the magical words to return to the real world. The second time it appears is in the real world where the lead character wakes up and finds herself back home. The significance of the phrase lies in the transition from one world to the next as well as a confirmation to the audience that the entire film had not been a dream but rather a carefully orchestrated plot (Fleming, 2003). It, therefore, completes the main sequence of the plot, that is, reality to fantasy and back to reality.

The setting of the film includes the use of technicolour to enhance the imaging and the scenery. This was an important aspect in the film as it endeared the audience to it, making the film an instant hit in the theatres since its premiere in the Chinese Strand theatre in Oconomowoc as well as test releases done in Massachusettes, Cape god, Wisconsin among other theatres (Salber et al. 1993). The sound was also integrated to synchronize with the imagery in contrast with the earlier released adoptions of the same book. This gave the movie a competitive edge in the industry and therefore enabled its re-releases due to the demand. . In this case, the entire events that take place are revealed to be a dream, including the great Wizard that is revealed towards the end to be a man speaking on the microphone. In this aspect, the producers of the film manage to combine fantasy and reality successfully (Dahlback et al. 1993). This sequence is the single most important in the film's plot. This is achieved through the integration of reality at the beginning, which then shifts to fantasy through a series of events that occur along the way still at the beginning. The fantasy section, which is the longest and the main objective in the plot reverts back to reality just before the end of the film, leaving audiences reeling as they digest the entire events that they are finally brought back to the original setting where the from began after being taken to an extensive trip in the fantasy world. In the film, Several motifs are used throughout

The film starts with the main character, a young girl disappointed by her parents deciding to run away from home, only to encounter a wizard on the way. On returning home, a thunderstorm strikes and disorients everything, which is when the transition to the magical world occurs. After that, she goes on a long trip to deep in the magical world as she tries to finds her way back home. After a series of harrowing encounters in the magical world, she is very desperate to find a way out and is lucky to find the same wizard that had sent her there, and after returning home reveals that she had learned her lesson and was no longer interested in running away from home. While in the magical world, however, she encounters various exciting experiences that she could only have fantasised about in her normal life just as other young children do. This magical world is full of exciting creatures and characters, which attract the audience with the various attires they don. The culture of the dead people in the magical world includes widespread witchcraft and sorcery. This theme is reflective of the modern beliefs in a society where such people are deemed to have supernatural strengths and varying talents. The significance of this quality lies in the depiction of the lifestyle and beliefs of the 19th century. In the production of the film, some aspects found in the original book are twisted or removed entirely while others are only subtly explored in the narrative structure of the film (Dahlback et al. 1993).

The social impacts of the film vary a lot and arise due to various reasons depending on the tastes and preferences of the targeted audiences as well as the ages of the audiences. The theme of the film, which explores practices such as witchcraft and sorcery had a big role to play in the success of the film itself. The theme challenges peoples beliefs about such sensitive topics. This sequence is the single most important in the film's plot. This is achieved through the integration of reality at the beginning, which then shifts to fantasy through a series of events that occur along the way still at the beginning (Salber et al. 1993). The fantasy section, which is the longest and the main objective in the plot reverts back to reality just before the end of the film, leaving audiences reeling as they digest the entire events that they are finally brought back to the original setting where the from began after being taken to an extensive trip in the fantasy world. In the film, several motifs are used throughout. The most prominent of these is the dialogue and phrase "There is no place like home." This phrase appeared for the first time during the trip to the fantasy world as being the magical words to return to the real world. The second time it appears is in the real world where the lead character wakes up and finds herself back home (Dahlback et al. 1993). Having been influenced by the success of earlier children stories that had been adopted into the film before, the organizers decided to try out such famous books as Mr Baum's, which had seen considerable success in the late 19th centuries. Personally, the Wizard of Oz had a tantalizing impact on the author of the research paper as a kid as it depicted several scary scenes.

Even though the original release of "The Wizard of Oz" was created more than half a century ago, its success is still evident today as seen in the many re-releases that have been done to date. The same settings, plot, and themes are redone in the latest re-releases albeit with better sound and imaging techniques yet still they get a massive reception from the audiences (Salber et al. 1993). This effectively dispels the theory of-of postmodernism as the same ideas that were used almost a century ago still appear to be relevant today and do even better when combined with the modern techniques of film production.

Reflection of the Film Analysis

Based on the review, the writer has gained more understanding of the process of analyzing a film through several different aspects. The first among those is the designing of adequate and comprehensive film analysis, which was the main aim of the assignment in the first place. The approach as understood by the author of this paper goes beyond the technical aspects of the film but rather aimed at giving a deep understanding of the various elements used in the production of a film. The analysis of the themes explored on the Wizard of Oz serves to give a clearer image of the direction in which the film is to be steered. This, in turn, promotes the observation of the main driving pints if one wishes to create a masterpiece as opposed to the creation of a substandard film that gets forgotten about as soon as they stop showcasing in theatres. Analysis of the plot of the film also serves to give a scriptwriter or producer of a film the insights required to design a smooth flowing story in the creation of a movie. Also important are the production aspects of the film including the use of different settings and their role in endearing the piece of work to the intended target audiences. The setting also gives relevance to the intended work, creating familiarity with its audiences through setting that they too could relate with and thus endear them to enjoy the piece creating fans and therefore a market forth product.

Furthermore, analysis of the main points of attraction to the film allows us to understand better the audience expectation and as such endear the creators to focus on those points when designing a sequence of events that are more beneficial to the overall performance of the film among the audiences while eliminating unnecessary and points of less importance to the aims and targets they wish to achieve. As such, one could say that the analysis acts as an eye opener to the author, enhancing their experience and improving the quality of their work if they had to create content that resonates well with their consumers in the market.

Reference

Bainbridge, David, Sally Jo Cunningham, and J. Stephen Downie. "How people describe their music information needs: A grounded theory analysis of music queries." (2003).

Dahlback, Nils, Arne Jonsson, and Lars Ahrenberg. "Wizard of Oz studies-why and how." Knowledge-based systems 6.4 (1993): 258-266.

Fleming, Victor, et al. The Wizard of Oz. Turner Entertainment, 2005.

Salber, Daniel, and Joelle Coutaz. "Applying the wizard of oz technique to the study of multimodal systems." International...