Ozian color symbolism: Pepto-Bismol Pink
Visual artists utilize color as a tool to convey certain feelings and
emotions as well as embrace it as a symbolic device. A good example
of the power that color holds can be found in the film The
Wizard of Oz: Glinda the Good Witch’s pink fluffy dress.
The pink has a medicinal quality to it, similar to the pink of a bottle
of Pepto-Bismol. As if she were a magic elixir, she is soothing to
the audience's eyes as well as soothing to Dorothy's nerves. She reassures
Dorothy that everything will be alright and that she will arrive back
home safe as long as she follows her instructions.
[after Jessica Johnson] |
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Costume as Symbol
During her travels toward the Emerald City, Dorothy comes upon the
Scarecrow, whose costume symbolizes an aspect of the human condition.
No detail
was overlooked in his design, with his clothes and hat made of scrap
of cloth, burlap sack head, woven rope around the neck, and shards
of hay pushing out at every opening. The audience literally feels and
sees the character coming apart at the seems. This develops further
when the Scarecrow ‘loses’ parts of himself and exposes
his vulnerable insides: we fear exposing who we are and what weaknesses
we hide within. With fire menacing him, we relate to his mortality
and fears as he embodies the types of reservations that we all have
within ourselves.
The Tin Man’s costume is similarly well achieved. His rigidity
and solid metal frame describe perfectly the type of steel cutting tools
we associate with a tough woodsman. From top to bottom he is metal,
with his funnel hat and cast iron feet, his stature is almost overwhelming,
a stark contrast from the soft pliable Scarecrow. But the
Tin Woodsman’s exterior, we learn, is more like armor. His tough
body ironically hides what he is lacking within; the sweet beat of
a heart. The idea of this rigid metal figure lacking a heart speaks
to
anyone. What lies beneath our tough exteriors? Is it the rain that
makes the Tin Man freeze up or is it a lack of a heart to pump the
oil around
and keep him functioning in the world? These costumes humanize abstractions
and allow the audience to identify the characters as aspects of the
human character.
[after Todd Robertson]
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Glitter and Warts
Dorothy meets the good witch
of the North, Glenda, who is portrayed as kind and comforting with
a pink gown and rosy cheeks.
The
ball gown
dress of Glenda has a magical quality when viewed by a child. After
looking more closely at the garment, I saw the use of glitter and sparkle
accents
combined with lighting gave it the ‘magical’ feel. A simple
use of glitter made Glenda a convincing ‘good witch.’
In
sharp contrast, the wicked witch of the west wears a long black dress
and puffed sleeves with a green face and warts. The wicked witch
is ugly to convey to the audience her
soul is ugly. The wicked witch wearing black symbolizes withdrawal
of color and change. Glenda wearing pink exploits the new use of
technicolor,
and the vibrant glow of soft blush on her cheeks gently welcomes
color into film.
Costume instantly
separates the good and bad witches with the use of polar opposite
coloring and
makeup.
[after Julie Lyons]
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The Wicked Witch & Hitler
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Eerily, the Wicked Witch
of the West, her guards, and the flying monkeys suggest, respectively,
Adolph Hitler, the Nazis, and the German people.
Black-clad mountain dwellers
both, Hitler and the witch harbors totalitarian aspirations. As Hitler
despised "inferior races," the Wicked Witch
loathes Dorothy and her party. Flying like the Luftwaffe in furry flying
miniature form, the monkeys conjure up Hitler's Gestapo. Even the guards
singing, eventually, "Ding Dong the witch is dead!" echo those citizens
of the Third Reich frightened into silence by their fear of violent
reprisal.
[after Andy Baker] |
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Special Effects
[The antithesis of Jean Renoir’s “realism,” MGM’s Wizard of Oz is a triumph of artifice.]
The use of manufactured sets
in every single scene in the movie perfectly supports the fantastical
storyline. The goal of the filmmaker is to make the viewer feel that
they are really a part of this magical world… Special effects
are a large part of the magic.
As Buddy Gillespie, the head of the special effects department, makes
clear on the latest DVD, the tornado scene combines different elements
to create the real illusion of a tornado. When Judy Garland passes
through the front gate in the lawn and enters the front door of the
house, extremely
high-powered wind machines blow from the sides, tons of straw and debris
blowing across the camera from left to right while the wind is also
making the fence shake violently. As Garland reaches the door, it detaches
and
is pulled away as if blown right off the house. Simultaneously, a “twister” in
the fields is playing off in the background. To emulate the tornado
itself, Gillespie created a 30-foot tall cyclone shaped cylinder out
of muslin
on a wire frame and attached it to a track on the bottom and a gantry
on the top. For the storm surrounding the tornado he blew dust from
below with a series of air guns, which also blew dust around the inside
of
the cylinder. The porous muslin allowed the dust would escape, blurring
the edge of the cylinder. For the sky and the clouds forming above
it Gillespie used smoke machines at the top of the cylinder. The sum
total
of these combined effects conjured up a very believable tornado.
[after Brian Smith]
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