Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Oz on the Big Screen

While it is an experience to watch a movie for the first time on the big screen, it is equally so to see a movie that you've seen many times before on the home screen on the big screen for the first time. The movie in question right now is The Wizard of Oz.

What a grand and great spectacle is The Wizard of Oz. The visuals and the acting and the music and the effects. I used to watch this movie so often, along with the making of material that would play along with the VHS rental. And yet still there were, on the big screen, things that I had never quite noticed before. Small things in a corner of the frame or just details that needed more space to come across. So much detail.

It's like watching a movie for the first time; it really is. Imagining that this audience is the audience that sat to watch this movie when it first came out back in the thirties. The excitement as the tornado gets stronger and closer. The awe when the film turns all at once to color when you reach Oz. The merriment of meeting the Scarecrow, the first of Dorothy's new friends and travel companions. 

When I was younger, probably it was all of the visuals that drew me in to this movie. Now I greatly appreciate its theme. The theme is appreciating what you have. Dorothy realizes that she has friends and family that she cares about and who care about her and that she wouldn't trade those relationships for anything. The Wizard of Oz may not be a holiday film, but reflecting on it during the Thanksgiving to Christmas time has felt entirely fitting. 

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