Bordwell and Thompson define narrative as "a chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space" (Film Art, 75). Referring to the chapter "Narrative as Formal System" and Terry McMillian's essay on The Wizard of Oz (dir. Victor Fleming, 1939), identify and describe three questions McMillian poses to the film's narrative. For instance, when does McMillian pose questions to the film's cause and effect logic? How do the characters' traits inform her understanding of the film's causes and effects? For McMillian, how does the film's presentation of story information generate curiosity or suspense?
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Blog #6
Bordwell and Thompson define narrative as "a chain of events in cause-effect relationship occurring in time and space" (Film Art, 75). Referring to the chapter "Narrative as Formal System" and Terry McMillian's essay on The Wizard of Oz (dir. Victor Fleming, 1939), identify and describe three questions McMillian poses to the film's narrative. For instance, when does McMillian pose questions to the film's cause and effect logic? How do the characters' traits inform her understanding of the film's causes and effects? For McMillian, how does the film's presentation of story information generate curiosity or suspense?
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Throughout the article, McMillian questions several things about the ‘The Wizard of Oz’ narrative. All of the questions have to do with the logic of the cause and effect, of which, according to Bordwell and Thompson the agents are usually the characters (77). The first one was on page 34, where Dorothy and Toto hurry home after Professor Marvel tells her that her aunt might be in trouble. She wondered why Dorothy would do this after wanting to escape so badly and how her aunt had treated her before. This made no sense to her, because how could someone want to go back to the situation they wanted so desperately to escape. The second question she posed as to the cause and effect of the narrative was on page 35, where she wondered why Dorothy would dream about a world where she’d have just as much trouble as in the real one. She didn’t see any logic in this because in her opinion, no one would want to dream up more trouble than they already had. The third question she raised was on page 37, where she wondered why she had to go home in the end. She thought that perhaps staying in Emerald City instead of going back to the farm would have made a more exciting and fitting ending.
McMillian’s descriptions of the traits of the characters in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ show that she understood the causes and effects in the movie. This was especially apparent with Dorothy, where the traits matched up with the traits that she saw in herself. She could see why Dorothy wanted to escape and have a little adventure.
The way the scene leading up to Dorothy’s dream was presented made McMillian afraid for Dorothy and added suspense.
Terry McMillian has made frequent comparisons between her life as a child to Dorothy, because of the similar lives they both lived. McMillian often identified with the abuse and harassment that Dorothy experienced on the farm by her older family members and fantasized about being there with Dorothy as she left to the other world. Despite the way that the character Auntie Em treated Dorothy, McMillian has always questioned why, even though she was so close to leaving, would Dorothy go back if told Em was in trouble. McMillian compared Auntie Em to her own mother and knew that she would never go back home if she was so close to escape. McMillian also questioned why Dorothy would imagine evil forces in her own dreams to escape reality, while she herself would rather completely escape reality to dream of an actual paradise without such flaws. At the end of the movie, Dorothy leaves Emerald City to go back to her home, and McMillian is just downright confused as to why someone would want to leave a possible life of pure happiness, to return to the dreary, depressing world that they’re from.
It’s through the characters, whether they’re good or bad, that allowed McMillian to determine ahead of time what their fate would be. The good, no matter how much their progress is impeded, will overcome evil in the end. Its in those moments of turmoil, that the viewer feels connected with the character and can find themselves sometimes unaware of how the situation will actually turn out.
Andrew Megow -
McMillian identified in many ways with the character Dorothy. As a kid she watched it many times but was never shy to question the logic of the film in terms of cause and effect. The narrative to Wizard of Oz in McMillian's opinion has a few interesting character decisions and in her essay questions them .
The first question on page 34 revolves around the scene where Prof. Marvel tells Dorothy to hurry home because her Aunt is in trouble. As most know in the movie Dorothy wants to escape her farm life mostly because of how badly she is treated by her aunt. McMillian questions why Dorothy would run back home after she had just wanted to run away. Dorothy shouldn't have felt remorse, and yet, she did. The second question she had on The Wizard of Oz was a logical one that I, personally, don't agree with. The question revolves around the idea of her dream of Oz. Why would Dorothy dream about a world where she would face as much trouble as she would in the real world. According to McMillian, no one would dream up more problems for themselves. If I may, I do not agree because dreams draw from someone's psyche and I just feel she was coping with her problems in a dream-like presence. Her problems are merely represented in a different way in the dream. I feel though I am questioning a child's logic of reason so I'm not taking it too far. lastly the third question is at the end of the movie where Dorothy must go back to the farm. Why does Dorothy have to go back McMillian argues. Dorothy staying in the Emerald City would have made a more exciting ending.
Characters are categorized mostly as good or evil and by default almost it seems, good always defeats bad. It may take a long time but really good will always defeat bad. And when the audience identifies with a character who's losing to evil at the moment they become more engaged with the film and find the film suspenseful with turns around every corner, and may even learn from the characters as art imitates life.
McMillan constantly compares and contrast the negatives from her child hood to Dorothy's throughout this essay forming a “parallel” between the authority figures in Dorothy’s and her life. This gives Dorothy the idea to run away from home. One of McMillan’s questions purposed the idea of Dorothy never coming back to Kansas and starting over in Oz or traveling to California. If Auntie Em and the other adults would have paid more attention to Dorothy, she wouldn’t have felt unappreciated and wanted to run away.
McMillan talks about Dorothy’s new friends from Oz and she questions and realizes the importance in having a heart, brain and courage. Also using your heart, brain and acquiring courage could get you far in life. And the idea that if you have good friends and big dreams you can overcome life’s obstacles and make your dreams come true.
The tornado scene stirred up some suspense for McMillan because she could sense that something bad was going to happen to Dorothy. The people flying past the window and the spinning of her house installed fear and curiosity in McMillan because as a child these types of scenes brings excitement, children can easily recognize the good and the bad. And in The Wizard of Oz good and bad is emphasized throughout the characters and scenes.
The entire article written by McMillian takes constant parts of her life that she directly relates to Dorothy. She pictures herself as Dorothy and therefore asks several questions to identify with her as the character throughout the narrative. First, she constantly wonders if by Dorothy running away through a dream in the story is the only way she can escape from where she is in real life. The relates to the cause and effect of narrative by her seeing that the chance of her actually escaping from her life can only be achieved in her mind. Another question she poses which goes with a cause and effect is when Dorothy does not get to speak and seems to not to be worth listening to. McMillian takes this to her own life and sticks up to her mom because she doesn’t want to be unheard and disrespected like Dorothy was. The final question of the narrative McMillian asks is why Dorothy would ever consider going back to her life in Kansas. Why wouldn’t she stay in the Emerald City and make new friends? This part of the narrative comes with the resolution of the conflict that always needs to occur, and generates curiosity between McMillian herself and the life of Dorothy she relates herself to.
Matt Prekop
Terry McMillan connected with "The Wizard of Oz" while watching it; and she let us know that in the reading. For example, the dedication states that it is a reminder of how some movies intensely connect with children. The first question that we come across is where Terry McMillan was very aggravated when Dorothy ran back home after trying to escape just because Professor Marvel told her that Auntie Em might be in trouble. Since McMillan had wanted to run away, she was asking why someone would come that close just to turn right around. She called Dorothy a "Dodo brain!" (McMillan 34) The second thing that we find Terry McMillan wondering is why when Dorothy dreams, does she dream up some place where she is going to find trouble. She stated that if she had dreamed of a world to escape to, it would be perfect. The third question that we find Terry McMillan pondering is why did Dorothy have to go home? She thought that it would be a much more fit ending if the Wizard had let her stay in Oz but told Dorothy that she could go back to visit her family any time she wanted to. I suppose for a child who desired about running away, it seems like a very lousy ending.
Terry McMillan told us that she would at least like to see the world before she decided if it was worth running away towards. I think that even though Terry was not happy with the outcome, she understood the meaning of the movie. That good will always triumph over evil and that there is no place like home.
Cause and effect drives the story of the narrative film. According to Bordwell and Thompson, without it the events on the screen would make little sense to the viewer. In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy's hectic home life drives her to seek escape. Terry McMillian empathizes with Dorothy, having lived a similar childhood in poverty, with a domineering mother, a large family, and a large amount of chores and responsibility.
Recalling her childhood, McMillian questions Dorothy's decision to return to the farmhouse after running away. When Dorothy is taken to the wondrous land of Oz McMillian wonders why escape to a fantasy world with trouble and conflict. Finally, in the end of the film, McMillian begs to ask why Dorothy would again return to her home instead of staying the magical world of Oz to live a fanciful life of adventure without strife.
Theses parallels of McMillians real life and Dorothy's fictional life curiously teach life lessons. Friends stick up for each other, even when risking their own safety, good can triumph over evil, and even at times that it feels like hell, there's no place like home.
Terry McMillian goes through several different questions as to the narrative of 'The Wizard of Oz'. The biggest question she had pertained to why Dorothy didn't just run away. This coincides with the cause and effect logic of the film. For example, since Dorothy was treated poorly in the house (the writer saw this as a parallel to her own home life), then why wouldn't she just stay in the utopia of Oz? As she puts it, "It beats a farm house in Kansas."
As far as character traits go, McMillian mentions all three supporting characters (the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion). Her most interesting parallel was to the Cowardly Lion. What did it really mean to have courage in the first place? McMillian related a story where she asked her domineering mother to say "Please" when given an order. This was a huge act of courage for her, as, in that time, the request resulted in physical violence. She understood the quest for courage, and for the heart, and for the brain for the simple reason as that without them, life's hard living.
The presentation of the film came from (oddly enough) it's realism. While the Munchkins and the Witch certainly aren't realistic, the way she gets to Oz was somewhat familiar to the writer. She also had a tornado shelter in her farm house, and she knew that once it was locked, there was no way anyone would be able to hear pounding on the door. She knew what would happen if a tornado came through the house that was built as poorly as hers. This gave McMillian what she considered drama before she even knew what it was.
McMillan poses many questions to the film's cause and effect logic. When Professor Marvel looks into his crystal ball and tells Dorothy that Auntie Em is in trouble, Dorothy immediatlely believes him and goes to find her aunt. McMillan cannot understand how Dorothy is so gullible and trusting in the professor. McMillan can not see the logic of this cause and effect within the narrative of the film.
McMillan saw the cause and effects of the film through the traits of the character's. Dorothy was adventurous and wanted to escape from her home. This lead to her doing so when she escaped to Oz. McMillan connected with this trait and therefore understood why Dorothy had to escape to Oz.
Dorothy wants to escape her home, but does not know how or where to go. There is suspense in the uncertainty of being thrown by a tornado into a random place. McMillan attests to this, "When Dorothy's house began to spin and spin, I was curious as to where it was going to land," (McMillan 34). The suspense of not knowing where Dorothy will go adds to the wonderment of when she actually reaches Oz.
-Charlie Ripple
In her essay, McMillan questions the entire story. She questions such things as why Dorthy didn't just keep on running? McMillan stated that she saw similaritys in the way Aunt Em treated Dorthy to the way her mother treated her. Dorthy ran away but then goes back home. She wondered what might have happened if she just kept running. Another question posed was why Dorthy thought of a world where the challenges where just as bad, if not worse than the world she actually lived in. In her life she had to deal with being told orders, and not listed to when she had somthing to say. Then in Oz she had to face evil witches and flying monkeys trying to kill her and her friends. The third question was why did Dorthy have to go home in the end. In the begging she was so eager to get as far from home as possible, and then after she is thre, all she can think of is going home. She doesn't understand why Dorthy dosn't just stay in the perfect Emerald City.
Character traits also showed McMillan the fates of all the characters. Dorthy, The Scarecrow, The Tinman, and the Lion where all good people, so in the end they all got what they deseirved, a way to get home, a brain, a heart, and courage. The Witch on the other hand, who had bad evil character traits, was killed in the end, which was her desirved fate.
The film's presintation generated much curiosity and susspense for McMillian. Dorthy had a similar tornado shelter like Dorthy's and knew that once that door was looked, it wasn't going to let her in. She also knew that the tornado was going for the house, this made it very suspensfull because McMillian was worried for what was going to happen to Dorthy, especially when the window struck Dorthy in the head.
Terry McMillian thoughtfully analyses the narrative of The Wizard of Oz from a perspective of an audience, and she employs her own life experience to illustrate what audience can gain from a narrative. There are couple of points that she question and identify to the film’s narrative. She makes points to characters’ stereotypes in different aspects. For instance, the Auntie Em and the protagonist Dorothy. The authority tone of voice marks the Auntie Em as a parental commanded figure and the stereotype of this figure directly lead McMillian reflects to her mother. On the other hand, the trait of Dorothy—innocent and gullible makes McMillian feel corny towards the story especially associate with her own life. She also mentions the musical aspect of the film that diminishes the story’s conviction.
Hence, the unrealistic personality of Dorothy and the surreal setting in the narrative brings out McMillian’s major argument about the cause and effect logic in the plot where Dorothy leaves the fantasy of Oz. She evaluates the events through adopting herself into the perspective of the character and identify its value.tk
In the article Macmillan writes about 'The Wizard of Oz' she asks several questions that try and identify parts of the film's cause and effect logic. In Bordwell and Thompson, the cause and effect logic usually falls along the line with the characters.
The first question she asks is when she is in Proffessor Marvel's caravan, and after he tells her about her aunt being in peril. She wonders why dorothy runs back to her aunt, who had waved her problems away, and how had treated her badly. Dorothy wanted escape, but after she finds out her family is in danger, she runs back to them with a crazed haste, which confuses Macmillan. The next question was if dorothy was dreaming up a fantastic fantasy world, why would the world have problems? If Macmillan could have made up her own fantasy it would have been fantastical. The last question was about dorothy and her motives to go home at the end of the movie. Why would she want to go back in the end? After the witch was defeated, the land of oz wasn't such a bad place. It beat the farm on kansas. A more fitting ending to the story would have been a happy ending about her living in the magical world of oz.
The character traits (bravery, intelligence and heart/love) are things that were important in the movie, and things that she related to her own life. They lined the cause and effect things up in the movie like the things in her life could line up- overcoming obstacles lead to these traits, and she sees this in her own life.
The thing that generated suspense and curiosity for macmillan was the scene where she entered the dream state.
In the creation of any fictional world or characters one can see how easily the story line itself can be carried by the character's different desires. Cause and effect is best employed in story telling on the basis that it is something everyone has experienced and can relate to. The fuel of a plot becomes driven by character and circumstance. One could say that this tactic also results in character investment. The audience becomes curious as to how the character will handle certain obstacles in an attempt to achieve their goal. In essence the character becomes more human, effected by emotion just as much as logic. In this case one can grasp the reason as to why the protagonist may do something irrational simply on the basis of principle. In my opinion this film can be better read on a psychological level, rather than a more subjective level of comparison. Mcmillian identified with Dorothy much in the same way that other audience members become attracted to fictional characters; she felt she could relate to the plights of Dorothy. However the plot seemed to break down for this member of the audience simply because she couldn't relate to Dorothy's own moral choices. Secondly Mcmillian cannot identify with the problematic world Dorothy traps herself in. Mcmillian doesn't take into account psychology in this story or even question her own dreams' or nightmares' content. At the resolution Mcmillian questions Dorothy's return from an internal struggle. Don't we all wake up from our dreams; or can we not distinguish between dream and reality?
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