I've watched a ton of movies and a ballet, read a couple of books, taught a couple of classes, and drawn and redrawn my personal WOZ fashion show. In the last few days of this month and Independent Study project, my goal is to post a blog everyday. I will provide a review of the texts I read, which will basically become an informal annotated bibliography with possibly a dash of humor thrown in.
But for today (er...tonight) I'm going to be talking some more about Dorothy as the archetypal hero of the monomyth.
For those of you who couldn't tell, I'm a bit of a visual learner, so to start off my informal analysis, I'm going to provide a chart that has helped me organize my thoughts. Also, for more visual stimulation, I'm going to include images from the amazingly beautiful graphic novel version of WOZ produced by Marvel Comics.
The Hero in his natural environment: We meet Dorothy in the boring, gray Kansas, where she lives on a farm with her Uncle Henry and Aunty Em.
Call to action: Dorothy is taken by a twister into the Extraordinary World-- The Land of Oz.
Meeting the Mentor: Dorothy arrives in Oz, and she meets Glinda the Good, the Witch of the North.
Refusal of the call: When Dorothy meets Glinda, she is told she will have to live in the Land of Oz as she has saved the Munchkins from the Witch of the East, but Dorothy only wants to return home. Generally the refusal comes before meeting the mentor, but in Dorothy's case, meeting Glinda causes Dorothy to feel isolated. She is overwhelmed by this new land in which Glinda is settled on her staying. In her refusal to stay in the Land of Oz, she is told she must go to the Wizard, for he is the only one that can possibly get her home. This is marks the beginning of her journey, and her...
Crossing the threshold: When Dorothy begins following the Yellow Brick Road, she marks the beginning of her heroic journey home.
Trial and first failure: Yeah... Dorothy doesn't really have that. She's, like, 8. She can't be put through stuff until she comes to the part of her journey that is...
Meeting allies and enemies: This is it! We've made it to the part that's my favorite. Meeting all of her companions. It can't be safe for a young girl to travel in an unknown land all by herself, so of course she needs some fantastic sidekicks to help her throughout her quest. Here we meet the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Cowardly Lion.
Growth and new skills AND first success: I'm lumping these two steps together because they happen so quickly for Dorothy. As she and her pals are meandering down that ol' road, she is faced with hunger and lack of shelter, and her friends take care of her. The gang then encounters a conundrum. There's a big gap in the road with a huge cliff in between. This is for the first opportunity where we get to see the qualities that the team think they lack. Lion is brave enough to jump over the gap while Scarecrow is smart enough to come up with the order as to which will guarantee everyone's safety. And ol' rusty just kind of stands there and acts supportive. This is a big win for team Emerald City because it's their first in a line of many.
Grand trial and Revelation and insight: Dorothy's grand trial is her encounter with the Wicked Witch of the West, and her insight is that the great and powerful wizard of Oz is actually just a normal human man. These two experiences cause Dorothy's world view to change. After the "wizard" explains that everything they need is inside of them, she is gaining the insight that will prove her way home. That she had the power all along. Which leads to her
Discarding of the old self, accepting the new role, and the journey back: Dorothy, while still wanting to return home, begins embracing her adventures in Oz. She proudly announces the freedom to the Winkies, and she begins to see the depth of those around her. She notes the brittleness of those in the china town. She is fully present. She marches to the land in which Glinda governs. She is able to proudly ask for her return home.
Stepping up to the final challenge-success: Dorothy must say farewell to her companions. She realizes that while she had the power to return home the whole time, she had to complete her journey through Oz. If she hadn't, she never would have met her companions, and they would lack the knowledge of their own talents and strengths.
And finally,
Restoring order and taking place into the new world: Dorothy's return to home and Aunt Em marks the conclusion of her journey, in which she learns that everything one could ever need is inside her from the very beginning. Home is where your heart is. And unlike the film version, Dorothy knows that her adventures were real, and she proudly declares her adventure.
And that's that, folks! It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't academic. It's JanTerm. I'm not about that life. But just because I didn't get caught up in all the jargony-jargon of Campbell's monomyth doesn't mean I didn't learn a ton.
My natural tendency with Joseph Campbell is to think of The Odyssey. I worked a lot with that epic, and I could even go into the more spiritual/magical elements if I so desired. But it's late, and right now I don't.
So, until next time (hopefully tomorrow), where I'll probably talk more about a few more of the adaptations I viewed, it's goodbye.
-M.
P.S. Margaret Hamilton got BURNED doing that stunt. Apparently, we were all wrong. Beauty isn't pain. Being a bad bitch is. (Sorry Mom!)
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