Great works of art are also great works of philosophy, because they teach us what it is to be a human being. In my opinion, films are the most innovative and dynamic art-form of our time. The Wizard of Oz is an astonishing film – like all great works of art it's inexhaustible.
The scarecrow, the tin man and the lion represent Plato's tripartite division of the soul into reason, desire and courage. The scarecrow wants a brain, the tin-man wants a heart, and the lion wants courage. Now, becoming a complete human being requires getting the balance right between Plato's three divisions of the soul. The irony, of course, is that these three characters already have within themselves the things they are looking for – you can't think about having a brain unless you already have a brain; you can't desire to have a heart unless you already have a heart; you can't feel shame at your cowardice unless you already have within yourself the courage to overcome that cowardice. These three characters do not realise this truth until they receive three trinkets from the conman Wizard. All of this is a very clever commentary on the fact that humans need Myths, illusions, dreams in order to find the Truth – those Myths are the fuel which power us on our journey towards Self-knowledge and Wisdom. That is why Plato uses myths and metaphors in his own dialogues.
The Wicked Witch represents the Evil and Ignorance which thwart us on our journey towards wisdom, and which must be conquered (killed) if we are to achieve Self-knowledge. Dorothy must kill the Witch in order to "become who she is" – just as we all must kill the ghosts that haunt us, or else spend our lives running away from the imaginary fears that control our lives. The other characters are archetypes who accompany Dorothy on her quest to "become who she is".
Dorothy needed to leave home in order to find herself. Having done so, she could return home again, this time as a free woman. The film analyses the tension in the human soul between home and away. The deep yearning to escape home (“somewhere over the rainbow”) but also the yearning to go home again once one is away (“there’s no place like home”). Recall that in Plato's parable of the cave, once people leave the cave and see the sun (i.e. see the truth and attain philosophical liberation) they still need to return to the cave and live there.
Here are some quotes:
Auntie Em: “Find yourself a place where there isn't any trouble!”
Dorothy: “Some place where there isn't any trouble. Do you suppose there is such a place, Toto? There must be. It's not a place you can get to by a boat or a train. It's far, far away. Behind the moon, beyond the rain.”
Scarecrow: “I haven't got a brain... only straw.”
Dorothy: “How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?”
Scarecrow: “I don't know... But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking... don't they?”
Dorothy: “Yes, I guess you're right.”
Coroner: [singing] “As Coroner I must aver, I thoroughly examined her and she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.”
Wizard of Oz: “Do not arouse the wrath of the great and powerful Oz. I said come back tomorrow. You people should consider yourselves lucky that I'm granting you an audience tomorrow instead of 20 years from now … pay no attention to that man behind the curtain [speaking in a booming voice into microphone] I am the great and powerful... [then, realizing that it is useless to continue his masquerade, moves away from microphone, speaks in a normal voice] Wizard of Oz ... Wizard of Oz.”
Wizard of Oz: “As for you, my galvanized friend, you want a heart. You don't know how lucky you are not to have one. Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable.”
Tin Woodsman: “But I still want one.”
Tin Woodsman: [when saying goodbye to Dorothy] “Now I know I have a heart, because it's breaking.”
Tin Woodsman: “What have you learned, Dorothy?”
Dorothy: “Well, I - I think that it - it wasn't enough to just want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em - and it's that - if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?”
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Brian I would like to send you a copy of a short book that I had written a couple of years ago. It is a look at the psychology of the old testament god through Psychopathic and narcissitic eyes. It uses futuristic imagery to dispell the twisted facts about the god who did not tell adam and eve that were naked. They lacked knowledge.
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