Facts About Wizard Of Oz

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The book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz published in 1900 by L. Frank Baum has swayed the world with imagination and dreams and the story soar to heights when it was filmed as Wizard of Oz in 1939. It is a fairy tale that has crossed age limit and touched the hearts of all alike.

Fact 1 About The Author

  1. Frank Baum is the writer of this unique fairy tale The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. He wrote fifteen more books that depicted characters in an amazing setting of the fantasy world. Baum was a dedicated man who loved and cared for his family. But he was not quite successful in his vocational life. He was a store owner, then a stamp collector. He published newspapers and he was an actor also. He was a great dreamer but due to his failures in all his business ventures he became bankrupt. It is at this crucial moment his first book about Oz was published. His talent as a writer was finally recognized.

Fact 2 The Film Wizard Of Oz

The Wizard of Oz is a film that was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1939. It is one of the best known musical fantasies among American films that hit the box-office and was commercially successful. The film was based on Baum’s Novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz of 1900.

Fact 3 The Story

The story is about Dorothy, a young girl who was transported to the Land of Oz which was considered to be a magical world by a fierce tornado along with her pet dog Toto. She was welcomed by the Good Witch of the North Glinda and the Munchkins. But Dorothy had to move out from that place because Glinda had given her the magical ruby slippers that the Wicked Witch of the West wanted. She was told to walk along the Yellow Brick Road that would lead her to the Emerald City. The Wizard of Oz by his extra-ordinary powers could help Dorothy and Toto to return home.

Fact 4 What Happens During Her Journey

It was a new adventure for Dorothy. As she walked along the Yellow Brick Road she meets interesting characters and they all become her friends. The Scarecrow is eager to get a brain while the Tin Woodman wants a heart. The Lion is a coward and so he needs courage. Each one of them needs the Wizard’s help and so they all accompany Dorothy to the Wizard of Oz. They face scary adventures and amidst frightening experiences and the Witch’s hindrances they move along towards the Emerald City and finally reach their destination. At first they did not get permission to enter and meet the Wizard. In the end, he agreed to help them and fulfill their desires but they had to do something in return and that was to bring him the broom of the Witch of the West. They could not see the Wizard clearly. It was a large head that had fire around it.

Fact 5 Interpretations By Scholars

In 1978, Daniel Darwin explains that Dorothy’s journey is a symbol of her growing process from a child to adolescence. It is a Freudian interpretation. The 2000 Jungian interpretation by Darren John Main explains Dorothy’s journey to be an emblem of spiritual journey while Lynette Carpenter feels that it is an embodiment of American tendencies of isolation during the early part of the Second World War. There are other explanations put forth by Henry M. Littlefield in 1964 and William Jennings Bryan.

Fact 7 Nomination For The Oscars

The film Wizard of Oz was nominated for six Oscars but it could not surpass the popularity of the movie Gone with the Wind that won the Best Picture Award.

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