Theatrical Adaptation

The Wiz - reading between the lines #3

Although my first impression of the 1978 film The Wiz was skeptical and highly critical, after examination and research on the movie’s background I feel am able to appreciate its true intentions and purpose.

When watching the movie, The Wiz, I now understand that one almost has to take every scene with a grain of salt. That is to say it is necessary to examine the scenes’ theatrical purposes, and not just how it fits into the original plot. The long “strip” scene at the end of the sweat-shop sequence is a good example of this. I think that having men and women take off their clothes and dance around in underwear is highly irrelevant to Baum’s children’s book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. However, one must examine what is going on in society at the time when this movie was being made and what social purposes this scene might have served. It was in the late 1970’s and at the end of the civil rights movement. Although black rights had been briskly acknowledged, the black community had still not left its footprints in cinematic history. Taking this into account, this scene is more about social acceptance than Baum’s story. The “stripping” of the Winkies is an opportunity for the black community to unveil itself on the big screen, literally and symbolically. The long camera close-ups on the actors’ bare bodies is a way signify the emergence of a culture that is no longer ashamed of its color or feel a need to hide under layers of costumes or makeup. And finally, the end of the Winkies’ suppression is a way to publicize the end of black suppression in society and in popular culture alike.


I still hold true what I wrote in my second meditation that certain aspects of The Wiz were more distracting to the overall plot than they were to making a modernized version of Baum’s book. However, I now see that the original intent of such a movie was never simply to recreate The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but instead serve as an adaptation of the story that would give voice to a social group in society that until this point in history had been hushed by mainly all-white productions.

posted by Layne @ 2:45 AM