Red is the color of the famous ruby slippers, which we all know were actually silver in the story. Red is highly suggestive of two strong human experiences: Death and love/lust. One could say they are opposites of each other, but if viewed purely objectively, one should notice similarities. The first time we hear of the sparkling, magic shoes, we are met with the first death of the story. The tornado-blown house crushes the Wicked Witch of the East (the sun rises in the east, but sets in the west, so we first glimpse the witch-sister relationship...sunsets also representative of death). Dorothy’s lips are also unnaturally red throughout the movie, so red is not only at her base (feet/death) but at her head (mouth/love). The "hidden" affection of all three characters she meets along the way only point toward the significance of the ruby red lips. The shoes are full of some mysterious magic similar to the narrative of "The Red Shoes" just as most people around the world imbue death with sacred magic. It is also no coincidence that the fruit Dorothy feels so compelled to eat are red apples. The fruit of the doomed Eve, again garbed in red.
Orange poppies cover the ground where our lovely girl succumbs to the sleeping spell. Rust is also orange. If you let yourself recall, The Tinman without a heart (again we see a representation of love, though a less obvious one) was rusted when Dorothy first met him. He obtained a heart long before The Wizard ever gave him one. He as much as says so. He obtained his love as Scarecrow obtained his brain (wisdom) and the Cowardly Lion his courage (energy), through the friendship as Dorothy. The fact that she falls asleep in a field of poppies means that she and the Tin Man are soul mates but are doomed to live in two different worlds. We can see this very easily when at the end of the movie, she wonders if it was all a dream. Orange therefore in this case means the connection of flesh and metal across time and space. Poppies and rust. Reality and dreams.
Yellow or gold, we may call it, usually represents some form of fortune. Whether it is luck or money. It paves the way to the wonderful destination of all four of our main characters. Short characters are usually associated with the finding of money in fantasy stories. Goblins are the head of the wizard bank in Harry Potter, leprechauns gather pots of gold in Irish legends, dwarves are typically known as mining, rich communities especially in the Tolkien books. Here, Dorothy is told to follow ‘the yellow brick road’ by munchkins, a race of very little women and men. It is proven to us over and over again that short people are greedy and are born with a sixth sense for wealth or treasure, like a water divining stick. What may we learn from this portrayal of knowledge of the golden road and its itinerant munchkins? If we do not rein in our greed, we shall become stunted, deformed and short. New members of a chain gang of slavery affectionately termed ‘The Lollipop Guild’.
Green in this narrative obviously represents power and truth, even though the truth be built on lies. Green also is used frequently in depictions of life, though emeralds are inanimate objects for which people have been known to employ dishonest means to obtain. Thus we have the dichotomy of life and non-life, truth and non-truth. It is no accident that The Wizard lives in a city of green and not only of green, but the Emerald City. Even though the yellow brick road (mentioned previously) is obviously truly gold, nothing is assigned the value of jewels except the ruby slippers and the emerald stronghold of the bureaucracy for wish giving. This implies that love and death both depend on lies, though told with honeyed lips and good intentions. The Wicked Witch of the West is also green. This signifies nothing.
Blue is the color of Dorothy’s bow and the only color on her dress, as the rest is white or "innocent of color". Bluish tints are most often used to reference home or homeliness, calm, peace. Even while on her strange journey, she carries home with her. If she would just look to herself, our heroine would find the peace and comfort of her family already resting in her.
Indigo is a hue that is perhaps best represented by the horse of a different color. A horse that changes color in midstream is normally looked at as untrustworthy. But not so in this case! The stallion may vary colors during our encounter with him, but his true color is indigo, as he remains for most of the movie. Indigo comes from the Latin root of independence (indi) and the Greek word for leaving (go). The horse lets Dorothy know subconsciously that her journey is almost over and it is time to become independent of her friends and leave their world.
Violet is, as we all know, just one letter away from ‘violent’. Purple has long been the color of royalty and magic items. Having violet as our Fortune Teller/Wizard/King’s main dress is entirely appropriate. He is not called the great and terrible Wizard of Oz without reason. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely powerfully. He is viole(n)t in his need to be supreme and fulfill his destiny of eternal wanderlust. As we all must perform extreme acts of violence to escape our own tragic existence if we are ever to break free from society and its standardized norms.
Toto, though not a color in and of himself, deserves a special mention. A dog in a story may mean felicitations or greetings with joy, but since he is a terrier, more specifically he is the embodiment of happiness. For example, every time Dorothy sees him, she is happy and feels safer, connected with friends and family from home, though she is far away. For a period of time in the movie, Toto is confined to a basket that actually serves to protect him. Also commonly found in baskets are newborn babies. Usually, if they are left on doorsteps, they are in baskets, I think you shall find with a minimal amount of research. As this faithful companion pops in and out of the basket of new life, we might say he is constantly being reborn or having a day of birth. Therefore, we must come to the conclusion that a basket full of Toto really means: Happy Birthday.
Maybe I shall make more of these as time goes on.
"Bubblelicious gum is neither bubbly nor...licious anymore.." >R<
...and so in the beginning, there came a '1'.
ReplyDeleteHi AnEAnne, from the bottom middle part of the UK!
I navigated to you directly from 'Under The Juniper Tree'. I'm hoping to broaden my appreciation and understanding of writing styles and prose, by indulging myself in the work of a wider cross section of web scribes and scribblers.
Your presence on Juniper tree, along with your many and talented peers there, is more than good enough for me.
I'm not a writer at the moment, other than some 'early days' attempts at trying to stitch words together to form some semi respectable narratives for my blog.
Whether I develop my own scribblings, or just fade away into the ether, remains to be seen, cos it's now clear to me that I have an awful lot to learn!
I will return soon to properly 'read', not scan, some of your posts here. I just couldn't resist the opportunity to be the first friendly alien to land in here, and start making some noise.
Hope you don't mind!
Back as soon as. Have a creatively productive weekend. Phil.