Theatrical Adaptation

Meditation #2

Watching The Wiz, I couldn'’t help but notice the obvious similarities between it and L. Frank Baum's original novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. To begin with, the Scarecrow, gleefully portrayed by Michael Jackson, helped Dorothy by concocting numerous ideas about the next plan of action. He even started the journey by discovering the yellow brick road in The Wiz, even though supposedly he has no brain. Secondly, the Tin Woodman is always crying and was the overly emotional one, as he was portrayed in the novel. Yet again, the character is using something he supposedly was not given.

As I wrote about in my previous meditations, in the book, the lack of camaraderie is shown so vividly, as it is in The Wiz. For example, during the scene when the group is trapped in the subway platform, the "Cowardly" Lion defends Dorothy from the crazy moving pillars. He also defends the Scarecrow from the malicious and bizarre trash disposal cans, in The Wiz. The movie displayed the lack of camaraderie, as shown in the book; while the Lion did help Dorothy out of the "pillar situation", he immediately abandoned her afterwards to flee for his own safety. So much so that she had to call after him and beg for the group to wait so that she could catch up. But like the novel, in the end, Dorothy brings them all together by standing up to the Wiz and telling him that she will not see him unless he grants access to her friends as well.

While The Wiz was poorly made, it did stay more honest to the book than the 1939 The Wizard of Oz, without manipulating the text in any way or without redefining the characters that Baum wrote the story about.

posted by Taylor @ 10:55 PM