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| inlareviewer |
 Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:08 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
Posts: 1949
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Given that our home state is Kansas, am comforted that later Oz books had the heroine returning to Oz, eventually bringing Unc and Auntie and Toto in tow, where she was installed as a queen. There's a lesson in there somewhere. As for the MGM film, have no critical POV on it whatsoever, never have, never will. At the revival cinema where I spent my halcyon college days as Popcorn Boy, the manager surprised me on my 21st natal day by running it after-hours, a gesture that left me so drunk with elation (and alkyhaul) that I did roller-saults up and down the aisle at various junctures during the screening while singing along. That was a memorable night.
Returning to Current Filmalia, The Noir Sir has returned to Buzzwerks, though mainly a speculative/grosses-driven notion at the moment.
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/env-gd-derby-dark-horse-link,0,2343311.storylink
Also, the African American Film Critics Association chose it as top pic of 2008, along with Langella, Jolie, Ledger, Viola Davis and Danny Boyle:
http://theenvelope.latimes.com/env-et-african-american-critics-2008dec19,0,6038684.story |
Last edited by inlareviewer on Sat Jan 24, 2009 6:43 am; edited 1 time in total
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| lady wakasa |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:12 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 5911
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
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From L. Frank Baum's intro to The Wizard of Oz:
"Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder-tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident. Having this thought in mind, the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to please the children of today."
http://thewizardofoz.info/faq02.html#16
Make of that what you will. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:23 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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Yes, and he also says he's taken all the violence and nightmarish qualities out of the story. Make of that what you will.
I believe it's a book written very much from the subconscious. It's interesting that whereas traditional stories for kids have helpless women and strong princes, Baum's entire output is composed of men who are missing something, generally physically, if they are not outright grotesqueries, while the women, even the average mortal girl of 10, is strong, competent, and level-headed. The men are silly, deranged, or wounded. The women get things done. The most capable boy in all the Oz stories, Pip, turns out in reality to be a girl after all: Ozma, the Princess of Oz. |
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| Earl |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:25 pm |
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Joined: 09 Jun 2004
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Location: Houston
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| Comic Dennis Miller used to do a great bit on the film. Near the end of the movie when Glenda told Dorothy, "Oh, you had the power to get home all along," Miller said that if he'd been in Dorothy's red shoes at that moment, he would've replied, "And you had the power to tell me that when I first fuckin' got here!" |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:25 pm |
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Inlare, I love your point about no critical distance. I bet most movie critics of the 70's can't fathom why people my age are still drawn to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But I suspect that as time goes on and more critics come along who first saw it as kids, and likely saw it repeatedly, will have a more positive evaluation of it.
Which is not to say Willy Wonka is on an aesthetic level with Oz, just that what makes a movie a children's classic does not often relate to its aesthetic qualities. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:29 pm |
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lady wakasa wrote: From L. Frank Baum's intro to The Wizard of Oz:
"Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder-tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident. Having this thought in mind, the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written solely to please the children of today."
http://thewizardofoz.info/faq02.html#16
Make of that what you will.
Seems like a logical reason to write that book. When I was laid up with a bad flu around the age of ten, I read The Scarecrow of Oz. Don't remember much about it, but I did finish it so I guess I liked it. Never read the first Oz book. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:32 pm |
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lshap wrote:
Quote: Thanks for a very nice memory!
Knew you'd remember. Check this out:
http://www.studio360.org/americanicons/episodes/2006/12/29
Scroll down to the podcast with Bobby - he does only a bit, but you'll smile.
As for not getting the return to home, Joe's spot on. Home is usually the only security children have, and more than home, it was WHO was home that's more to the point. In her dream, Dorothy injects the 3 closest friends she has, imagines her aunt's worry, and finds strangeness everywhere she goes that ISN'T familiar.
Joe, just this morning, after 4 days in Vermont, my 12-year-old expressed exactly what you said; though he was giddy with excitement to get to the hotel and to be there, we left yesterday. When he woke today, he said, "I had a really good time, but I'm glad to be home." Home is a concept, not a place. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:40 pm |
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Lissa,
Exactly. |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:49 pm |
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| inlareviewer |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 5:55 pm |
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Joined: 05 Jul 2004
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Location: Lawrence, KS
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| That's heartbreaking. Candles lit. |
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"And take extra care with strangers/Even flowers have their dangers/And though scary is exciting/Nice is different than good." --Stephen Sondheim |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:01 pm |
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| Here too, inla. On both counts. |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:23 pm |
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lissa wrote: Here too, inla. On both counts.
What's the second count? (Besides Jett Travolta, I mean.) |
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| lissa |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:25 pm |
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| I agreed with both parts of inla's post in that it's heartbreaking news, and I've got candles lit. Hence, both counts. |
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Statistically, 6 out of 7 dwarfs aren't happy. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:28 pm |
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| Billy, your avatar (I know who it is of course) could be a member of you cannibal tribe. |
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| mo_flixx |
| Posted: Fri Jan 02, 2009 6:53 pm |
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Joined: 30 May 2004
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marantzo wrote: Billy, your avatar (I know who it is of course) could be a member of you cannibal tribe.
It's one of your worst. Bring back Obama! |
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