Assignment 2: Task 3 and Task 4 - Wizard of Oz Research

Task 3

The moral of the story for Wizard of Oz is to always believe in yourself, or find someone to believe in you show you can achieve what you want. For example the scarecrow, tin man and lion all want something even though they already have what it is they want, they just don't believe in themselves enough to find it inside of them. This is showed in one line where the wizard says to the lion "You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing that is not afraid  when it faces danger. The true courage is in facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage you have in plenty." One of the more important subtexts of the Wizard of Oz is the inhabitants of Oz (Munchkins and Ozians) like to march behind any authority figure who makes a splash, however undeserving they may be. These are shown in adaptions such as the film and book when the Wizard lands in Oz, he lies to them all about how powerful he actually is since he's a 'humbug' but they all still follow and build the emerald city and see him as this all powerful Wizard everyone should fear because of the lies he is feeding them. Another instance this happens is when Dorothy kills both the wicked witches even though accidental she is still hailed as a conquering heroine. It's a subversive message in 1939 (when the film released) because fascist dictators were stomping around Europe. There is another message behind the film adaptation and its that it gave us a twister that whirls us into a world hardship and chaos, of useless leaders and their gullible followers and its a reminder to us that it's the very same world we live in. 

There have been many other adaptations of the story for example musicals and films like sequels and prequels.

Some of the more well known prequels like the stage show Wicked, which follows the story of the wicked witch of the west (Elphaba). It's told from her perspective prior to her sister being crush by Dorothy's house and it follows her meeting and befriending a popular witch named Glinda. The relationship between the two is strained by their opposite personalities, a romantic rivalry and other events. The moral behind Wicked is to always stand up for what you believe in because like in Wizard of Oz they all listen to the wizard even though hes the one doing bad to the animals. Elphaba goes to speak to the wizard just for him to ask her if she will join him which she refuses because she believes in helping the animals. 

There is also the film adaptation of a prequel called Oz the great and powerful which follows a carnival magician called Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs, or as we know him Oz. The film draws more from thew original Oz books instead of the classic film. It still follows the story of him being swept to the land of Oz in a hot air balloon and becoming the wizard. The witches names are different in this film than in Wicked, the two wicked witches are called Theodora and Evanora and the good witch is still called Glinda. 

Task 4 

The part in the Wizard of Oz I played was the Tinman. It wasn't the easiest of roles due to the stiff like movement Tinman and always making sure I kept my arms locked in place, I showed this by when the Wizard has to give us all green glasses to enter Oz I had him remove my glasses and put the green ones on my face so that my arms wouldn't go higher than my shoulders. There was a lot of changes we had to make with this role because all of the ideas we did have to start off with had to get changed because the costume was a cardboard box and it could easily break. One of the major changes is when we are all in the poppy field and Dorothy starts to get tired because she sniffs the plant, in the script the stage directions was for Dorothy to fall on the floor and me and the scarecrow carry her in a chair, but when I had the box and tried this the box started to rip on one of the arms so we changed it to we stagger back and fourth with her. The American accent was something else I struggled with at first I managed to get it in the end with the struggle of the first two shows of me mispronouncing heart numerous times and then also being too quiet on the very first show which I changed in the second act and became much louder. With the box as well I struggled walking up and down the stairs which also helped towards giving me the stiff like movement when going up and down but it also meant I was much slower. For my monologue piece I made sure I was talking to the audience and with enough emotion to show the severity of the situation and make them feel for me since I lost my heart. 

There have multiple backstories for my character two of the more famous ones are from Wicked and L. Frank Baum's book "The Tin Woodman of Oz". The book follows the same story as our script that he was in love with a munchkin girl who was the ward of  The Wicked Witch of the East. It still follows onto the Witch enchanting his axe to cut his limbs off and since he had no heart he didn't feel like he could love Nimmie (munchkin girl) any longer so he left her and that's when the scarecrow and Dorothy found him. 

In Wicked its a bit different, the Tinman's name is actually Boq. He is the love interest of Nessarose (Elphaba's younger sister), but the feeling isn't mutual as he has interest in Glinda. When Nessarose becomes governor of munchkin land she enslaves Boq and casts a spell on him since he professes his love for Glinda, the spell is mispronounced which causes his heart to start shrinking until it's completely gone. In a desperate attempt to save him Elphaba casts a spell to make him sleep to which he awakes as the Tinman.