Monday, January 12, 2015

First Viewing of The Wizard of Oz

We were recently dlighted by a showing of The Wizard of Oz. I was excited when I saw the IMA was doing a Winter Movie series and that this would be one of the selections. I like doing new and different things in my community, so this was the perfect opportunity to try something new, a really old movie on a big screen.

I was sure I had seen The Wizard of Oz before, after all it is an extremely iconic movie. I knew the scenes, the songs, and more. However, upon the first few frames I realized that I had never viewed the movie in its entirety. After many more minutes went by, I realized I had never seen the movie at all!

How is the possible? For me to truly believe I had seen a piece of cinematic history when I hadn't. It is true that I was familiar with the songs and the story line, but perhaps that is because the movie is so pervasive in our pop culture world. Its values and lessons have been woven into our lives. Children perform plays of this popular story, there have been books, stage productions, and movies from alternate points of view. Still, I was shocked to learn that I had never actually seen it.


It is interesting how  popular stories that have been woven into the grain of our society can become so real that we feel we know the story by heart, or even know actors and characters by name. The Wizard of Oz is used as reference by so many to tell similar stories, share lessons, and even find a common bond between people (favorite movie, etc.). We become so familiar with the idea of knowing that we feel we actually do know.

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