Description
Perhaps no other film influenced cinema more than ‘The wizard of Oz’. But, although it ended up being the wonder that it was, this film went through a lot of hurdles to even exist in the first place.
It is said, that not only did Dorothy suffer from an evil witch's spell, but that this entire movie was under its own evil spell, with many bizarre accidents happening to the cast, including more than one actress being badly burnt by stunts, actors being poisoned by makeup, drugging and starving the actresses, and the many directors coming and going.
Nevertheless, the movie was finished and released to the screens on the 25th of August 1939, one week before the beginning of the second world war, which could be metaphoric of a week of grace, being ‘stuck’ in the colorful, wonderful munchkin land.
The book which was published 122 years ago, held many metaphors, including Dorothy representing the ideal political system and the tornado and the Wicked Witch are metaphors for corruption and destruction.
The author of The wonderful wizard of Oz, Frank Baum, was very much aware of how color schemes worked and had even written “The Scientific Arrangement of Color” in an 1898 magazine. The use of Technicolor in the film version conveyed many of the aspects portrayed in the book that dealt with American history in the early 1900s including racial issues, economic issues, and political issues. The main colors throughout the film, are the primary colors blue, yellow, and red, and green is the middle point between yellow and blue. As such, green is the center of it all, from the fact that the first color described in the book about munchkin land is the vibrant “green” because the land is full of blooming plant life and meadows, to it being the color of the four character’s goal - the emerald city, and coming full circle to the wicked witch of the west, who’s skin is green.
Unlike the lushes healthy green of the munchkin city representing life and growth, the green of the emerald city is described differently, it is a green of wealth and is described by Baum as “selfish, stingy, and false” which many people associate with money and in the end, the Wizard indeed proves to be when he does not keep his promise to help Dorothy and her newfound friends. Overall, color orientation enables the audience to understand the relationships among the characters.
The green color seems like a constant wave throughout the movie - from the glowing green color of the emerald city to the poison-colored green face of the witch, it was like the green color was its own curse… so much so, that even the famous yellow brick road seemed to appear green at first in the tests of the new technicolor technique, and the crew had to find the right shade of yellow to actually come across as yellow on screen, instead of green. The green color also didn’t seem to wear off the face of Margaret Hamilton, the actress who played the witch for weeks after production concluded.
‘The big apple’ was first used to describe new york city in 1909 and was popularized during the 1920s. It was officially named ‘the big apple’ in the 1970s by the tourist department of new york, trying to restore some of the city’s old glory. ‘The big apple’ is nowadays only said in reference to New York City and has a strong association between the two. around the same time New York City was being advertised as ‘the big apple’, in 1976, ‘Apple’ was founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.
Artistic choices:
The painting was painted in a similar style to the wizard who brought Oz to life, George Gibson, who painted the backdrops of all The Wizard of Oz scenes. His paintings were characterized by painterly but realistic styles, with a softened overcast.
The Big Green Apple was chosen to represent the emerald city as an allegory not only to the Big Apple that is New York City but also to the most famous apple in the world - Apple inc.
The big apple also represents Apple inc. founded by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in the 70s. Painted after their logo, a bitten apple, represents freshness, life, and growth. Just like the Emerald city represented possibilities, magic, and adventure, Apple was too an adventure Wozniak and Job took into the land of possibilities, and created what most people at the time saw as magic.
The witch hiding in the left corner behind the trees symbolizes the watchful eye of sin, her greed, and envy of Dorothy are like poison, which is also often represented in the color green. I was never afraid of the witch as a kid but rather felt sorry for her, for if she wasn’t so jealous, I am sure Dorothy would be willing to jump around with her on the yellow brick road. The witch always seemed to me as lonely and segregated, and she was tragic to me because her loneliness was her own undoing. This could also be said for the greed for money, which could lead to sin, segregation, and loneliness.