The Mythology inside The Wizard of Oz

It is a story about a hero who left the homeland, and encounters three companions, takes a long trek, and defeats an evil being. It is also a story about mortals and goddesses, the real world and a wonderland.

You may think that I am talking about an ancient myth, but in fact this is a famous 1930’s film, The Wizard of Oz.  It is based on the well-known novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The story is about a girl called Dorothy leaves her home in Kansas and somehow goes to the land of Oz. She comes across Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, finds the Wizard of Oz, defeats the Wicked Witch and comes back home. This classic film is often seen as a fairy tale. But if we look into the film more deeply, we will find its mythological core. By combining ancient western mythological elements, The Wizard of Oz creates a new age mythology belonging to American culture. 

The story structure of The Wizard of Oz, which is condensed from the novel, maintains the same structure: Dorothy leaves her home, goes to the land of Oz, and returns home. This can be seen as a typical heroic mythological story structure. In an analytical essay of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,  Edward W Hudlin thinks that the story follows the classic structure of heroic myth, defined by Joseph Campbell, which is divided into “three major parts: departure-initiation-return” (444). The story structure on The Wizard of Oz similar to the example myths in Campbell’s book: Prometheus stole fire from heaven; Jason sailed into the ocean, evaded the dragon and brought back the Golden Fleece. All these myths are follow Campbell’s standard structure of heroic myths.

Also in Campbell’s book, the definition of “standard mythological path” is that “the hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder, fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won, the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man” (23). The Wizard of Oz follows this structure. In the film, Dorothy leave her home in Kansas, and accidently go the land of Oz, which is “a region of supernatural wonder.” Although the film indicating that Dorothy’s journey is only a dream and Dorothy does not bring back any “boons” to “bestow”. But Dorothy do bring back something— homesickness. “There is no place like home”, as Dorothy said.

Furthermore, the film is full of details and concepts referring to ancient mythology, including Greek, Roman, and Norse mythological elements. Huldin argues that it is important to know the “classical allusions and associations embedded in” the story (462). We can find many detail elements in the film related to mythology. The Munchkin land is the first place Dorothy arrived in the world of Oz. As a land of dwarves in the film, it reminds us the Svartálfaheimr in Norse mythology, which is also a kingdom of dwarves. Later Dorothy encounters Glinda, who is the Witch of the North. In fact, with typical characteristics including beautiful, young(which is different from elderly lady in the novel), maternal, powerful and kind, Glinda is depicted as a typical goddess rather than a witch. She even helps Dorothy and her fellows when they fall asleep by the magic of the Wicked Witch. She reminds us of the distinctive figure of Venus (Roman mythology), or Aphrodite (Greek mythology), who is a beautiful goddess with golden crown (“Aphrodite”). The Wicked Witch reminds us of Circe, the dark witch living on the island of Aeaea, who can use spell to turn people into animals (“Circe”). The winged monkeys, is based on winged animals in ancient myths (winged horse is most common) . The Emerald City is not like any fairy tale paradise, it is more similar to a unknown civilization in a parallel world, like Atlantis in Greek mythology(“Atlantis”). At the end of the film, Dorothy uses her ruby slippers to go back home. The magic shoes are common in ancient mythology. Mercury (Roman mythology), or Hermes (Greek mythology), is wearing a pair of winged shoes called “Talaria” (“Mercury”).  

Another mythological characteristic of  The Wizard of Oz is the atmosphere in the film. The film maintain the eternal atmosphere of mythology—the dark and mysticism. There is numerous scene showing the a atmosphere of scary. The lighting technology, dry ice smoke in the scene of wizard of Oz create a mystical atmosphere. The scenes at the Wicked Witch’s castle also focus on rendering this kind of atmosphere.

As I said, the film is full of traditional mythological elements, but on the other hand, I called the film a new age mythology, not only because it was created in the 20th century, but also because of its differences from traditional mythologies.  The film has many contemporary elements, and many of them are deeply rooted in the American culture after the Industrial Revolution. The scene in Kansas referring the most common farm culture of American. The Tin Man, who is totally make of metal but living (the film conceals the fact that in the novel, the Tin Man is originally a human), It can be seen as a representative of the industrial world which is based on steel and iron. Another example is when Dorothy and her fellows arrive in the Emerald City, they go to a place called Wash & Brush up .co, which represents the commercial civilization in real world.

Furthermore, the film’s ideology is strongly based on American culture. We have four main characters working together instead of a hero fighting alone, which refers to the spirit of cooperation. We find that The Wizard of Oz is not a real wizard at the end of the film. But Dorothy and her fellows finally gain what they want. So we can say that The Wizard of Oz is a story of self-redemption. 

Another  important factor that build up this new age mythology is the new filming technology. The film itself is a visual narrative method, which is totally different from ancient myths written in parchments or spread by words. And this is the first time the mythological wonderland became “visible,” and it is first time audience can “see” the colorful difference between mortal world and paradise. The film uses color to separate these two worlds. Kansas is yellow and dull, but the world of Oz is colorful. This kind of saturated colors is provided by an advanced filming technology at the time, called Technicolor. Higgins explain this technology as using “light spitting prism” to record colors in different films(58). When the films are replayed together, they will show the color. And the Technicolor made the “well-defined color style” “succeed quickly” by The Wizard of Oz (Higgins 73).

The film is not as serious as traditional myths. This is the reason why The Wizard of Oz looks more like a fairy tale. No good people die in the film. The Wicked Witch is simply and accidently defeated with water and becomes smoke. This is because the film’s target audience covers all ages. MGM successfully turn this American mythology appeal to wider audience. The magic of the film is just like Huldin’s critics of the novel, it is the ability to “please adult’s imagination as well as child’s” (462). Although the film deliberately conceals or avoids the some cruel mythological characteristics like battles, death and sacrifice, the film still maintain the eternal theme of mythology, as I mention before. 

These new age elements in The Wizard of Oz lay the foundation for its popularity in the 20th century America. As the film repeatedly shows on TV, this myth of new age has become rooted inside the American culture. And also with its mythological core, The Wizard of Oz became the most popular American myth. In Nathanson’s book, she writes “The Wizard of Oz mediates between the religious and secular realms, becoming a quintessentially American myth by incorporating elements of religious and narrative  traditions associated with an idyllic national past” (qtd. in Hasting 283). Today, talking about the Dorothy or yellow brick road is just like our ancestors talking about Venus or  in Renaissance.

 It is hard to tell whether the author of the novel and the directors deliberately used mythological elements or whether it is just a product influenced by the mythology deep inside the western culture. But it is certain that The Wizard of Oz is not a simple fairy tale film, it has become an American mythology that influenced a generation.