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Araceli Nunez

18 May 2017

Mrs.Terry

U.S. History, B3

The Wizard of Oz. Dir. George Cukor. Perf. Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Jack Haley, Ray
Bolger, Bert Lahr. Warner Bros., 1939. DVD.
The Wizard of Oz is a musical film directed by George Cukor which captures the journey

of a young girl from Kansas who gets caught up in a whirlwind of events in order to return home.

The film stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale and Frank Morgan as Professor Marvel and the

Wizard of Oz. It is set in the late 1930s in Kansas and is a fun, inspiring and light-hearted

musical. The film serves a great deal of symbolism with a side of great tunes.

It all begins on Dorothys aunt Em and her uncle Henrys farm. One day she is very upset

and wishes to leave Kansas because her neighbor, the nasty Miss Gulch is always after her dog

Toto for bothering her cat. On this specific incident, Toto was bothering her cat and Miss Gulch

hit Toto, causing him to bite her. Dorothy returns home and soon Miss Gulch arrives at the house

asking for her guardians to give Toto to her. Miss Gulch plans to put Toto down for good and it

makes Dorothy very upset. Dorothy runs to her room crying which upsets her aunt Em. Aunt Em

gives Gulch a piece of her mind, telling her how she really feels, which is none too fond.As Miss

Gulch rides her bike with Toto in the basket, she fails to realize that Toto has escaped. Toto is

seen running back into Dorothys room through the window. As elated Dorothy is to have Toto

back, she fears Miss Gulch will notice and hunt Toto down, she takes the dog and runs away.

As she runs away Dorothy encounters a supposed fortune teller, named Professor Marvel,

who guesses that Dorothy has run away and meddles with Dorothys plan by telling her that Aunt
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Em had fallen ill, which was not true. However, Dorothy returns home with her dog when

suddenly the wind starts to pick up. She tries to find her aunt and uncle but it is too windy to see

and they are already rushing to hide in the storm cellar. Her aunt looks for her briefly as well but

Henry rushes Em in as the twister is fast approaching the family. In the end, Dorothy returns

inside the house and she is hit by a window. She slides all around her room and is hallucinating

that she sees Miss Gulch and Professor Marvel outside her window. When the tornado is over,

her house is no longer in Kansas but instead in the world of Oz.

As she steps outside she is welcomed by a witch who claims to be Glinda the Good

Witch. Glinda tells Dorothy that she has killed the Wicked Witch of the East and the munchkins

are very pleased as they were tormented by the wicked witch. Suddenly the Wicked Witch of the

West appears amidst red smoke and wants to get her sisters ruby slippers. However when they

look at the Witch of the Easts feet they notice that the slippers are missing. Glinda points out

that they belong to Dorothy now and puts them on her feet with magic which denies anyone but

Dorothy to take them off until she is dead. The Wicked Witch of the West gives up realizing her

attempts would be wasted but promises to return for revenge and the slippers. Finally, Dorothy is

able to communicate that she does not want to be in Oz and simply wants to return to her Aunt

Em as she is ill. Glinda tells her to follow the yellow brick road and that it is always best to begin

at the start. The yellow brick road is supposed to take her to Emerald city where the great Wizard

of Oz lives and can maybe help her get home.

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Works Cited

The Wizard of Oz. Dir. George Cukor. Perf. Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Jack Haley, Ray
Bolger, Bert Lahr. Warner Bros., 1939. DVD.

"The Wizard of Oz (1939)." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 26 May 2017.