My Own Backyard: The Wizard of Oz

     "Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby." The song, "Over the Rainbow," could be more famous than its movie. The song belongs to the #1 movie that came out in the 1930's: The Wizard Of Oz. It has only been filmed a few times, mostly in recent years. Some of those films are Oz: The Great and Powerful, and Legends of Oz: Dorothy's return. Based on the novel by L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland has become one of the most iconic films of all time. Let's head down the yellow-brick road to find out why: 

         Once upon a time, a young girl named Dorothy Gale is running away from home along the Kansas plains to keep her stingy teacher, Miss Gulch, from taking away her dog Toto. (Fun Fact: The dog that played Toto was a female dog named Terry.) When a man named Professor Marvel sees that her Aunt Em might be ill, Dorothy rushes home. When Dorothy gets there, the house is deserted. A tornado has come, and everyone has gone down to the storm cellar. Before they can figure that out, the house is swept up by the tornado, with Toto and Dorothy inside! Once the house is back on the ground, they find themselves in a strange new land. Dorothy's told that the only way to return to Kansas is to seek help from the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. With the help of a scarecrow, a tin man, and a cowardly lion, will she be able to get home to Kansas, or will she be at the mercy of a Wicked Witch? 

     A film like The Wizard of Oz was rare for its time. After all, the 1930's are known as the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the film was very creative. A lot of films back in the day were mostly realistic fiction. The Wizard of Oz takes us away from that. It had an extremely well made set that brings to life fantasy and the land of Oz. All that effort paid off and adds fame and memory to the film. 

      The Wizard of Oz has a rather unusual use of color. Beginning with Dorothy's life in Kansas, the film in set in black and white. (Even though it looks more like brown and white.) When we arrive in the land of Oz, the film is set in full color. This technique is used to set Kansas apart from Oz, and was used later in Oz: The Great and Powerful. While Dorothy is singing, "Over the Rainbow" in Kansas, the lyrics describe things that we have to try harder to imagine since there is little color during the segment, such as the yellow of the "troubles that melt away like lemon drops", and the skies that are blue. 

     “If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.”  Dorothy in the beginning of the film had a desire to go see the world, to go somewhere where there isn't any trouble. Yet in Oz, all Dorothy can think about is going home to Kansas. In a sense, Dorothy learned that her own home and family in Kansas is worth more all than all the places she could go...including Oz.

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