Essay Questions

Why might the filmmakers have decided to change the “slippers” that are so important to the plot from silver in the book to red in the movie?

L. Frank Baum infused the book with symbols and allusions that served to create a rich political allegory that adults of his era would have identified and recognized and be entertained by as they read the stories to their children. The significance of the slippers being silver made them an allegorical counterpart the golden hue the Yellow Brick Road as part of the economic debate raging around the turn of the 20th century over tying the American economy to the gold standard and its impact on the silver exchange. Audiences of 1939, especially kids, would likely not have been as familiar with the historical associations allowing for Baum’s allegorical subtext lying below the narrative. Since the shoes no longer needed to be silver to retain this symbolism, they could instead be used as a subtle propaganda tool to sell Hollywood and audiences on the value of the Technicolor process, thus making the ruby red slippers—in a way—one of the earliest examples of integrating “product placement” into an overall narrative and thematic design of a film.

What is the significance of the ruby red shoes within the context of interpreting the film through the lens of “gender studies?”

The investment of a witch’s powers has traditionally been connected to broomstick. While the broomstick both defines a woman’s status as domestic laborer under a patriarchal authority (like the Wizard) it is also a limiting emblem because it carries no value as a symbol of empowerment to which most women can relate. Even more importantly: a broom is unregulated by gender. Most women can relate to the power that a pair of beautiful shoes have because at the time men simply did not wear anything that looked remotely like the shoes in the film, they were entirely regulated by gender. In other words, even though it is not explicitly stated, the inference is that the power of those ruby slippers is also regulated by gender: women alone can be empowered by putting them on.

Identify one specific archetype associated with the Heroine’s Journey present that is unambiguously portrayed in the story.

The heroine and her male counterpart in these epic mythos both accumulate a support system of sidekicks and companions. The weird part is that both hero and heroine typically choose masculine partners. Since another common element is the psychological desire to escape from the feminine role imposed upon her a patriarchal system, one might expect to find instead evidence of the bonds of sisterhood. Dorothy may well be the central pop culture embodiment of the heroine’s journey and its progenitor: perhaps all the male companion of heroines to come are just replications of the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion.