The Wizard of Oz is a little like an enigma inside a puzzle inside a game. No matter how different you are from the crowd, you can find a little of yourself in the tin man, the scarecrow, the lion or even Dorothy.
I recall this movie as something from my childhood actually. Every year, right around "back-to-school" time, the movie would come on TV. I guess I am dating myself a little by mentioning that BACK IN THE OLD DAYS, WE USED TO HAVE TO WAIT ON TV TO SHOW SOMETHING, we didn't just plug in a DVD or a *gasp* VIDEO. We waited. Sometimes we waited IMPATIENTLY. The heralding of fall also meant seeing The Wizard of Oz...which is why I anxiously popped it into the DVD player so I could relive a little of my youth.
Nowadays when I watch the movie, I don't feel the fanciful joy that I used to when Dorothy hits the yellow brick road. Nowadays I know what's coming. Meeting a bunch of needy people who expect her to help them when she can hardly help herself. Getting lost in a field of drugs, getting in with the wrong crowd (monkeys!) and causing harm and eventually killing some witch who tried to do her wrong. Then she puts all her hope in some jerk who's just a big fat liar about how special he is and how far he can take her in life. Sounds more like MSNBC's To Catch a Predator than a fun-loving movie. At the end she finds out she was strong enough to survive on her own - not to mention get her OWN butt home all along to her family who cares about her.
Maybe I am too jaded to watch The Wizard of Oz any more. On the other hand, it still officially feels like fall now.
The IMDB Link
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