Introduction

Why is the Wizard of Oz such an enduring staple of LGBT+ culture, particularly when it was released
well before homosexuality was legalised or openly discussed?

How do you make a gay film without it being okay to be gay?

Personal relationship to the film.

History of the Wizard of Oz

 Released in 1939.
 Based on ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, a 1900 book by L. Frank Baum.
 Directed by Victor Fleming
 Starring Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, Ray Bolger as the Scarecrow, Jack Haley as the Tin
Man, Bert Lahr as the lion, and Frank Morgan as the Wizard.
 Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, lost out to Gone With the Wind. It
won for Best Original Score (Herbert Stothart), and Best Original Song (Over the Rainbow).
 Dedication (at the beginning of the film, as was the fashion) was to the “Young at heart.”

Over the Rainbow

 “Some place where the isn’t any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There
must be. It’s not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It’s far, far away. Behind the
moon, beyond the rain.”
 One of the world’s best-known songs.
 Sung at the beginning of the film. Dorothy longs to get away from the “greyness” of Kansas,
and ends up in the colourful land of Oz. Perhaps the colour is metaphor for coming out of
the closet, into a fantastical, colourful land.
 The lyrics are …
 Written by E. Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, two powerful contributing forces to the Great
American Songbook.
 Famous covers include Israel Kamakawawiwo’ole and Eva Cassidy. So well-ingrained into our
culture that there was a BBC talent show named after it. Are they still gay??
 Became Judy Garland’s signature song.
 Analysis of the song and the harmony – why was it embraced by gay culture? Representation
of pain.
 Narrative --- being unhappy at home, going somewhere else, learning something new, and
becoming happy with your current situation. Being able to live a narrative which includes
acceptance.

Rainbow Flag

 Designed by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in the 1978, at the request of Harvey Milk.
 First flown at the San Francisco Pride parade (or “Gay Freedom Day parade”) of 1978.
  Became dramatically popular when Harvey Milk was assassinated later that year, and
demand increased.
 Used to be 8 colours - is now 6.
 It represents a spectrum of parts of your identity, which is why each colour represents
something different.
 Gilbert Baker has cited Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow” as an inspiration behind the flag.
This is somewhat because of Judy Garland’s relationship to the gay community.
 Has become the enduring symbol of homosexuality since 1978, replacing Hitler’s pink
triangle.

Judy Garland

 Considered the quintessential gay icon.

 Tragic figure. Her struggle with alcohol, drugs, and relationships was easy for closeted
homosexual men of that era to relate to. Died relatively poor due to mismanagement of her
money.
 Was abused by multiple husbands.
 Vocal supporter of civil rights.
 She was close friends with President John F. Kennedy, and would telephone him weekly,
often ending her phone calls with singing a few bars of Over the Rainbow.
 Died of a prolonged overdose to barbiturates.
 Her funeral was the day of the Stonewall riots.
 “Very ugly” so found a make-up artist who she stuck with.

Friend of Dorothy

Lion as a Gay Character

 Platonic relationships were rare in film of this era.

 Dorothy’s acceptance of the Cowardly Lion is a metaphor for acceptance of a gay man

“You don’t feel welcome here!”

Gilbert Baker, Gay Activist Who Created the Rainbow Flag, Dies at 65
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/31/us/obituary-gilbert-baker-rainbow-flag.html

How The Pride Rainbow Flag Came To Be | NBC Out | NBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_bzpr2jalQ&t=150