FREE ESSAY ON DOROTHY: MOVIE "THE WIZARD OF OZ"

DOROTHY: MOVIE "THE WIZARD OF OZ"

The Development of DorothyThe movie "The Wizard of Oz" opens on a farm in Kansas. The lead
character is a twelve-year-old girl named Dorothy. Dorothy exists in a world limited by
aged beliefs and fears, which make up a great part of her reality. In Kansas, Dorothy is
a twelve-year-old girl, with twelve-year-old needs and emotions. I feel that the movie is
a device by which we can analyze Dorothy in all states of mind, her conscious,
pre-conscious, and unconscious. I believe that Sigmund Freud's principles on the
structure of personality and dreaming will aid in understanding Dorothy's growth, wants,
and needs. Dorothy in her conscious state struggles to be heard and understood. She is
distressed and unable to impart her feelings of upset and fright to an open ear. Her id
manifests itself with the desire for immediate gratification, stimulated by her fear that
the character Ms. Gulch will destroy Toto. Just as Dorothy is able to explain herself to
her nurturing Aunt and Uncle, the Gulch character enters. Gulch takes Toto from Dorothy,
with no remorse, stuffs the dog in a basket, and leaves. Dorothy runs to her room to weep
and curls up into a fetal position. The fetal position is her unconscious desire for
soothing and belonging. Her weeping is cut short by the return of her dog Toto, who was
able to outwit Gulch. Immediately Dorothy begins brewing ideas of running away so as to
protect her beloved Toto from danger. Still motivated by id like intuition, Dorothy runs
off with Toto. I believe that her id is strong, but is also being checked by ego. Running
away is id like, but protecting Toto is ego's ability to keep id in check.A wandering
professor interrupts Dorothy's exodus from her farm. Professor Marvel produces feelings
of wonder and comfort in Dorothy. She hopes he will be able to save her and Toto from the
evil clutches of Ms. Gulch. Marvel sits Dorothy down and attempts to read her fortune in
his crystal ball. He brings Dorothy to the realization that running away was not correct,
and in doing so she hurt her Auntie. I believe that because she is so young, Dorothy is
in need of an external superego to provide her with a proportionate amount of guilt for
what she is doing. She realizes that she was wrong and runs home.Dorothy's return home is
followed by a storm carrying a tornado. The tornado may signify a residual turmoil in
Dorothy's unconscious mind, but dually acts as a conveyance for Dorothy. She returns to
her home to find everyone has disappeared into the storm cellar. Frightened by the storm,
she returns to her room and cowers on her bed. Dorothy is knocked unconscious by the
window shutter as it flies open and hits her in the head. She is launched into a
cognitive unconscious state. The tornado spins many familiar faces and things past her
window until finally she witnesses Ms. Gulch's transformation from spinster, to the
wicked witch of the west. Suddenly all is quiet and back to normal, or so it seems.
Dorothy gingerly walks to the front door and opens it to find the paradise that is Oz.
The door opening signifies her complete transition from conscious to unconscious. The
twister was the force that awakened her unconsciousness and immersed her in dreamland
--Oz. Dorothy emerges from her house to be told, by the good witch of the north Glinda,
that the wicked witch of the east has been squashed by the Kansas abode. We are
constantly creating and transforming our reality, as a dreamscape and I believe that the
death of the evil witch is Dorothy's way of coping with her previous fear of Gulch. The
creative potential within the dream actively transforms conflicting material and
unresolved feelings, into comforting or understandable images.Dorothy is now confronted
with a desire to return home. Before she can relax she is once again introduced to yet
another symbol of evil, the Wicked Witch of the west. After threats from the wicked
witch, Dorothy is advised by the good witch to ask for the help of the Wizard of Oz. She
is told by the locals to follow a yellow brick road to the Emerald City where the Wizard
resides. Her journey down the road signifies her need for direction and a penultimate
goal-her home in Kansas. During her trip down the road, Dorothy is introduced to three of
her sub-conscious friends. The scarecrow without a brain, the tin man without a heart,
and the cowardly lion. These characters represent Dorothy's under developed cognitive
abilities. She has reached the age where her hormones begin to encroach on her emotional
stability, puberty. She picks up friends on her journey down the road, in the hope that
the wizard might help them too. They traverse the world of Oz, avoiding traps and deceits
planted by the Witch, to arrive safely at the gates of the Emerald City.Upon meeting with
the wizard, Dorothy is presented with a challenge. Dispatch the evil witch and return
with the broomstick. Only then will they be granted their needs. A brain, a heart,
courage, and a way home. I think this test is her unconscious strengthening her conscious
resolve. The friends travel to the witch's castle, and are ambushed on the way. Dorothy
is separated from her friends. I think that this is the pivotal point in her emotional
growth. Her friends forget all of their hang-ups and proceed to mount a daring rescue.
After the rescue, they meet the witch on their way out. The witch threatens the scarecrow
and lights him on fire. In an effort to put out the fire, Dorothy inadvertently throws
water on the witch. The witch melts away to nothingness. Dorothy returns to the Wizard to
retrieve the prizes for her triumph. At this point the Wizard is unveiled and it is
revealed to the adventurers that he is merely a mortal man. The significance of this is
that the three Oz men realize they've always had what they sought elsewhere, right within
themselves. Having resolved this, Dorothy's unconscious is finally sound. Her only
difficulty now is that she must rely on the Wizard to get her home. The method of
transport is a balloon, which inadvertently escapes without Dorothy, because once again
she runs to save her dog Toto. The flight of the balloon signifies Dorothy's breaking
with her last emotional crutch. She is now able to stand on her own two feet. The good
witch returns, to remind Dorothy that all she needed to do was think of home, and that's
where she'd be. Dorothy says goodbye to all her new/old friends, and thinks of Kansas.
She awakens to find her whole family and everyone at the farm there for her. Dorothy's
transformation through dreaming and the creativity through which her emotions are
released i.e. melting the Wicked Witch, proves that she always had the ability to
vanquish her fears without any ones help. She was able to claim back the stability within
her soul, and perform magic and miracles in her life.Psychologist Sigmund Freud
popularized the theory that dreams contain symbols, which reveal a person's unconscious.
[Freud thought] dreams were wishes for fulfillment or anti-fulfillment, and represent
what you want or don't want.