Director
Victor Fleming
Leading Actors/Actresses
Judy Garland
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Margaret Hamilton, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Billie Burke
Genre
Fantasy
Language
English
Awards
Academy Award for Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Academy Award Nominations for Best Picture, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, and Best Effects
Date of Release
August 25, 1939
Producer
Mervyn LeRoy
Setting and Context
The Wizard of Oz begins in turn of the century rural Kansas (defined by its Sepia tones ) and then Dorothy is transported to the fantasy world of Oz (shot entirely in Technicolor)
Narrator and Point of View
Third Person Omniscient. The story largely follows Dorothy and her journey in Kansas and through Oz, but the audience is show strategic glimpses of others (like the Wicked Witch of the West planning her attacks on Dorothy and her friends).
Tone and Mood
Hopeful, optimistic, nostalgic
Protagonist and Antagonist
Protagonist - Dorothy Gale, Antagonist - Miss Gulch/The Wicked Witch of the West
Major Conflict
The major conflict between Dorothy and Miss Gulch arises initially when Toto bites Miss Gulch and she insists that he must be put down. Dorothy then runs away but is confronted with another major conflict. When Dorothy arrives in Oz, Glinda the good witch of the North gives her a pair of ruby slippers, which infuriates the Wicked Witch of the West who came to claim the slippers as her own.
Climax
During the final conflict between Dorothy and her friends and the Wicked Witch of the West, Dorothy accidentally tosses a bucket of water onto the Witch in order to save the Scarecrow. The water immediately melts the Wicked Witch, who iconically screams "I'm melting, I'm melting" before wasting away.
Foreshadowing
Dorothy's encounters with her friends, family, and enemies in Kansas directly foreshadow the adventure she is about to experience in Oz. Similarly, the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," foreshadows her departure from Kansas.
Understatement
When Dorothy first enters Oz after the tornado, she says to her dog Toto, "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
While technicolor had been used for a few years prior to the release of The Wizard of Oz, the shift from the sepia tones in Kansas to the full technicolor in Oz, was incredibly innovative for the late 1930s.
Allusions
Many scholars, readers and viewers alike speculate that The Wizard of Oz is an allusion to the crumbling industrial economy that was beginning to fail and fall into the Great Depression through the beginning of the 20th century.
Paradox
Dorothy spends her time in Kansas longing to be anywhere except Kansas, and once she finally lands in Oz she spends every waking moment trying to return to her home.
Parallelism
Many of the songs in The Wizard of Oz use parallelism for emphasis. This is particularly evident in each refrain of "If I Only Had A Brain/Heart/Nerve."
