Personal Response to Film

The Wizard of Oz has been a family classic in homes for many years.  Ever since it came out in 1939, people have sat down with their families to enjoy the lively tale of a young girl named Dorothy who was sent into a world of imagination and wonder.  When I was younger, I'd sit in front of my T.V. and pop the VHS into the VCR with excitement.  I'd always loved the movie when I was young, but as I grew up, the magic of the film was lost.  I moved on to more elaborate and high-budget, special effect ridden movies.  The Wizard of Oz VHS was thrown into a rummage sale and sold to another family who actually had a VCR to play it in.  I forgot all about the movie until I heard that we'd be watching it in class.  Soon, all the memories of watching it as a child flooded back to me and I couldn't help but be excited about going to Oz again.
          As we began to watch, I remembered how I'd reacted at Casablanca (1942) and how I'd said that watching a movie in black in white was almost unbearable.  I forgot that in the beginning of the movie, The Wizard of Oz was in sepia tone (black and white, but with a rose tint).  Once the movie had started, I was completely engaged, regardless of color.  I hadn't seen this movie in awhile, and by the end of it, I remembered why I loved it so much.  Just the fact that Dorothy is the one who is the "hero," instead of it being a man.  She seems like a damsel in distress in the beginning, but that changes in Oz and even after she's back at Aunty Em's farm.  She's a feminist, the first real hero of L. Frank Baum's (writer of The Wizard of Oz) time period.  I loved the message behind the film that no matter where you come from, you can change far away places for the better and the thing you were searching for in the beginning was inside of you the whole time.