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Chapter 35

Chapter 35. A Proppian Analysis of The Wizard of Oz. Overview. The Wizard of Oz has an elaborate but quite standard structure, as defined by Propp.

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Chapter 35

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  1. Chapter 35 A Proppian Analysis of The Wizard of Oz

  2. Overview • The Wizard of Oz has an elaborate but quite standard structure, as defined by Propp. • The movie is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, which does not have a well-developed Proppian structure. The novel is episodic: its plot does not develop in a unified way. • The development of the movie underwent a process of refining and honing that could be considered analogous to the kind of shaping that folktales undergo as they are passed from person to person.

  3. Various Meanings of The Wizard of Oz • Baum believed in theosophy, which teaches that human beings can achieve happiness if they recognize and learn to tap the goodness and the talents that they already possess. • He was also a strong believer in equal rights for women. • The book has been taken as a parable about the dangers of departing from a gold standard, and as an appeal to return to simpler agrarian values. This view is based on identifying the green of the Emerald City with the green of paper money. • William Leach—L. Frank Baum—was a showman and a salesman, much like the Wizard himself, and rather than decrying the values of Oz and the Emerald City, Baum seems to have been admiring of them. • The story of Dorothy working in close concert with her trio of male companions is likened by homosexuals to the interaction of a group of gay men with a strong female figure.

  4. Development of the Movie Writers: • Herman J. Mankiewitz: Kansas scene; sweet Dorothy • Ogden Nash • Noel Langley: Parallel Kansas scene and Oz story; fairy-tale characters; Auntie Em • Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf: Increased menace of the witch; added emotion; Professor Marvel sequence; added the theme of “There’s no place like home” • Langley again • Yip Harburg: Lyricist; blended Langley, Ryerson, and Woolf; added satirical touches • Jack Mintz: Jokes • Sid Silvers • John Lee Mahin, friend of Victor Fleming, who directed the Kansas segment

  5. Development of the Movie, 2 Directors: • Richard Thorpe (2 weeks) • George Cukor (3 days): Got Judy Garland to look less artificial • Victor Fleming (4 months): Kansas scene • King Vidor (10 days): “Over the Rainbow” with Judy Garland walking Actors: Created their characters out of their vaudeville personalities

  6. L. Frank Baum’s Episodic Novel • Dorothy in Kansas, an orphan • Cyclone • A wonderful world out the window • Dorothy sets out to the city of Emeralds • Scarecrow, Woodsman, and Lion

  7. L. Frank Baum’s Episodic Novel, 2 Series of adventures: • Kalidahs: Bodies like bears, heads like tigers • Cross the river on a raft, but the Scarecrow is stranded • Poppies: Queen of the field mice saves the Lion • Emerald City: The Guard

  8. L. Frank Baum’s Episodic Novel, 3 Task: Kill the Wicked Witch of the West • WWW sends pests after them, but they defeat the pests. • Witch melts, the Winkies are set free. • Wizard unmasked as a humbug, flies off. • The four set off to see Glinda, the Witch of the South, to get help for Dorothy to go home.

  9. L. Frank Baum’s Episodic Novel, 4 Obstacles: • The trees of the forest bend to stop them. • A land of small china people. • A large spiderlike creature. The Lion kills it. • The Hammerheads, who have no arms but who attack them by butting them with their heads. • Country of the Quadlings. • Dorothy goes home and is happy.

  10. Characters of the Movie • Kansas – Auntie Em and Uncle Henry, farmhands, Miss Gulch, Professor Marvel • Oz – Munchkins, Glinda, Wicked Witch of the West, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, Cowardly Lion, Wizard

  11. The Kansas Scene • The scene in Kansas itself represents a major contribution on the part of the scriptwriters of the movie. The book contains only a few sentences set in Kansas before Dorothy is whisked away by the tornado and finds herself in Oz. • Writer Noel Langley felt that the modern view of fantasy required grounding the Oz elements of the movie in a realistic portrait of the world: “You cannot put fantastic people in front of an audience unless they have seen them as human beings first.” • He expanded the Kansas scene and included in it “real world” versions of the main characters whom Dorothy would meet in Oz, including Miss Gulch, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Woodsman. • The newly added Kansas scene introduces some complications for Proppian analysis: • The movie changes the contribution of Kansas from providing merely a preparatory section to being a whole separate move of the story with its own villain, lack, and resolution. • In this Kansas move of the movie, the real-world versions of the Oz characters represent different dramatis personae than they do in Oz.

  12. How to Do a Proppian Analysis • Read through the whole story before you start analyzing it. Don’t try to figure it out as you read the first time; that will lead to the misidentification described earlier. • Identify the dramatis personae. • Look for the harm(s) or lack(s) in the story. • Identify the preparatory section(s), which are the parts(s) of the story that come before the lack(s) or harm(s). • In each part of the story, fill in the appropriate functions to correspond to the spheres of influence of the dramatis personae.

  13. Dramatis Personae of the Movie

  14. Issue Relating to Assigning Roles • It may seem as if Glinda were a donor and the slippers a magical agent, but such an agent helps the hero accomplish a task, and the slippers do not do this. Rather, the slippers identify Dorothy as a special person. • The actual donors arise through this version of the cycle: hero acquires a magical companion. The donor may provide help in the form of a helper who will assist the hero in his or her tasks.

  15. Harms or Lacks • The Wizard of Oz consists of two moves: • The opening segment in Kansas contains its own lack. Dorothy realizes she lacks the power to keep Toto while staying with her aunt and uncle. This lack is never clearly resolved by the movie. • Once in Oz, Dorothy experiences a second lack: she is away from home and wishes she could return. This lack is resolved at the end of the story, when Dorothy uses the ruby slippers to return to Kansas.

  16. The Wizard of Oz • In Kansas: aβεζηθγd aBC (Dorothy runs away) – DEF (Professor Marvel) G (to Oz) HIJ (Witch of the East) K • In Oz: aBC (Dorothy decides to find the Wizard) – DEF (Scarecrow) DEF (Tin Man) DEF (Lion) Pr Rs (poppy field) o (at the city gate) QL MN (bring back the witch’s broom) Ex U W ¯ K

  17. Issues Relating to the Analysis • The triple donor cycle – Trebling, the tendency to form groups of three, often occurs in folktales. • Pursuit – Some elements appear slightly out of order. This scene was added by the writers here to enhance the suspense of the story by reminding us of the threat of the Wicked Witch while Dorothy is gathering her forces. • The task – A long sequence of the film is all included under the accomplishment of the difficult task.

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