The Scarecrow Book Analysis

L. Frank Baum wanted to create an American fairy tale full of fantastical but heroic characters that connected with his readers. He created Dorothy, the Kansas girl who caught do anything, the Scarecrow, without a brain but full of great ideas, the Tin Woodman, lacking a heart but full of compassion, and the Cowardly Lion, who said he lacked courage but was brave at every turn. These characters set off on an adventure that saw them face and overcome obstacles at every turn, regardless of whether they were from the environment, animals, or people. This wonderful story captured the hearts and minds of its readers from the book’s publishing in 1900 up until today. This universal appeal prompted Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) to create a movie version of the story. The movie was a fantastic success and has become a beloved movie classic. But in making that success the writers and director changed a great deal to make it their own. The characters were changed into sillier, funnier, and more incompetent versions of themselves. They lacked the self-sufficient nature that Baum placed at the center of his story. For this reason if L Frank Baum had lived to see MGM’s movie he would not have liked how his characters were portrayed and not enjoyed the movie as a whole. Baum’s Dorothy takes a lot of her characteristics from the women in his life and the women that made up the classic Midwestern family. Baum’s mother in law was a leader in the feminist movement who was not afraid to challenge the establishment. Her daughter from all accounts was equally as strong and independent as she was. The stereotypical Midwestern woman was a hard working no nonsense practical person who was capable enough to succeed at farming in a rather unforgiving environment. Dorothy is a strong willed relatively unflappable girl in the same model of those women. She is whisked away to Oz and promptly overcomes her shock and proceeds to do what is necessary to find her way home. Baum does not say how old she is but she is described as very small and in W. W. Denslow’s illustrations she appears to be a small child, maybe five or six. MGM’s Dorothy is a young adult maybe eleven or twelve but doesn’t any of Baum’s version’s self-sufficiency or common sense. The viewer is introduced to her as she runs to complain to her aunt and uncle about how mean Miss Gulch, who will become the Wicked Witch of the West in Oz, is and how unfair she is being about Toto going into her yard every couple of days and chasing her cat. Several of the other characters suggest that she might have something to do with the problem and maybe if she controlled Toto then this wouldn’t be a problem. She childishly asserts they just do not understand and the world really is so unfair to her. Once she is in Oz she continues …show more content…
The Scarecrow is made into a bumbling, scared character with no original ideas or thoughts to be found. The escape from that same poppy field in the movie is engineered by the Glinda the Good Witch of the North from afar. The Scarecrow freaks out for a second about the poppies before the problem is solved for him. The Tin Man is rusted to uselessness by the snow Glinda calls down and through the whole movie has to be reminded to not cry because it will cause him to rust. So the Scarecrow is made into a witless buffoon and the Tin Man is made into a useless easily scared and rusted comedic character. After Dorothy, the Lion is the most weakened and stripped down character in MGM’s version. The Lion cries constantly, has no bravery, and tries to run away at every turn only to be held back by the Tin Man and Scarecrow. The only time he moves passed his fear in any way is to save Dorothy from the Witch and even then he asks the other two to talk him out of being brave. In contrast, Baum’s version puts aside his fear at every turn, be it to leap over the chasm or confront the monstrous Kalidahs. He was afraid but never let that fear hold him hostage unlike his onscreen