Joseph Campbell was onto something

     First things first.  I have confirmed my suspicions.  I am officially the slowest reader on my college campus.  It's taken me since my last post to read two books, with very few other things to do in my life.  That being said, I finished the original WOZ book, the Marvel graphic novel version, and read a ton online about the hero's journey.

     When I was in high school, I had an English teacher who was obsessed with Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth, and she taught us all about the hero's journey.  We did countless worksheets and essays on the hero's journey, or the monomyth, attempting to prove Campbell's point that this journey can be found in most narratives despite differences in cultures.   Throughout reading Baum's first Oz book, I could connect everything Dorothy experiences to a similar experience in the hero's journey.  While some may be a bit of a stretch, I tried to connect every experience to a step in the journey, and I think I did a pretty good job.
    But no one wants to read about that nerd experience, so I'm just going to write about my reactions to this book that I thought I knew so well when in reality, like many adaptations, the movie proved to be a little of a let down when it comes to plot accuracy.

     In the book, while the Wicked Witch is extremely powerful, she is not the reason behind every bad thing that happens to Dorothy.  In the movie, she constantly has an eye on Dorothy and her gang, but in the book, the witch is just another obstacle for Dorothy to battle so she can return home.  The book also is much more empowering of Dorothy.  Not only is the Dorothy in the book much younger than Judy Garland's Dorothy, the book version actually seems to learn lessons along her journey home.  Those lessons are cemented by the fact that, in the novel, Oz is a real place, where, in the movie, it is a fictional dreamland for Dorothy to work out some unresolved issues.
     In thinking about the book versus the movie, I realized that the book was much more about fighting the battles within yourself and finding confidence and pride.  Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Lion, though they tried to gain it from others, were only able to get what they desired once they found it within themselves.  Though the movie suggests that idea, the challenges come from an enemy.  The obstacles become attacks rather than challenges.  The movie came out during a time of unrest and pre-war anxieties.  Maybe MGM had a motive.  Maybe they subconsciously feared that their homes were about to change.  I don't know.  But Baum's story is a lot more empowering.
     He was a feminist after all!

-M