Yesterday I had my second Cinema studies seminar, which I’m starting to think is my favourite subject. I really like that it’s the last class at the end of the week, because it just feels more relaxed. I also feel like I kind of know what I’m doing, in terms of film analysis, plus I’m enjoying the discussion about my childhood favourite ‘the Wizard of Oz’. This class we were talking about film form, which has a number of different identifiers (function, similarity and repetition, difference and variation, development and unity or disunity) which manipulate the audience to feel or think a certain way.

We re-watched 2 short clips of the movie and tried to see it from a different perspective, as well as being split up into groups to think about 3 major things – patterns, feelings and meaning. My group was allocated feelings – how did the film evoke emotion and what kind of ‘feelings’ did the characters portray? We all agreed on a number of main points. Firstly, the acting is so theatrical that you’re basically being told flat out what to feel. None of the characters experience complex emotions, only jumping from devastation to joy. Other signifiers were things like costume and acting, especially in regards to the Wicked Witch. With the knowledge that ‘only bad witches are ugly’, we are then introduced to the terrifyingly bad witch of the west. Things like her green complexion, her hunch and long fingers, iconic laugh and even the instrumental theme that tells us how to feel toward her as a character.

The technicolour versus b&w also came up in conversation – with feelings, meaning and pattern. Firstly, feelings because the bright and vivid colour in Munchkin land evokes a positive emotion, while the dark shadows of the Witch’s castle makes you feel uneasy and scared. Patterns occurred when the start is b&w and then it returns to that, (meaning: it’s also symbolic of reality versus dream) bookending the story. The sepia also could represent the Great Depression, and reflect how Dorothy feels about each world (home was dull, while Oz was colourful and exciting).

I could go on for days trying to pick apart this classic, but I’ll end it here!