Salman Rushdie's Essay 'Out Of Kansas'

Old Yellow Bricks
Why do we sometimes feel as if we are watching our lives when we are actually watching a movie? Well, it is simply because movies are projections of the perfect miscellany of reality and imagination. Those two things – reality and imagination – are perhaps the only commonality all human beings have had a taste of. That is why everyone can somehow associate their own life with whatever they are watching, and thus, different perspectives emerge. "Out of Kansas" is an essay written by Salman Rushdie about a rather unorthodox perspective on the timeless classic, The Wizard of Oz. The everlasting fascination with The Wizard of Oz raises inquiry of why the movie is so wonderfully enchanting, even though according to Rushdie the movie fails to deliver its message. Rushdie suggests that there were slight misconceptions in the movie that caused confusion on the film's moral. However, in retrospect, what Rushdie believes
as an unintended consequence is, in fact, what makes The Wizard of Oz the most watched movie of all time.
The Wizard of Oz is set in two different worlds; Kansas and the magical land of Oz. Very early in the essay, Rushdie connotes the ambiguity of reality in the film. Rushdie evinces how nothing in the movie is real, not even Kansas, as it is merely a set in a studio by notifying how the real reality of Kansas is far worse than how it was depicted in the motion picture. “If Oz is nowhere, then the studio setting of the Kansas scenes suggests that so is Kansas (221).” In the first paragraph essay, Rushdie repeated the word “real” seven times, in which two of them were in quotation marks to indicate the inexactness of the situation with regards to the spatial boundaries in the film. This blurred out the lines between reality and fantasy. Neither Kansas nor Oz can be classified as realistic or fantastical. What is real and what is not? Seems like nothing is indubitable anymore, at this point. This ambiguity is created to minimize the gap between reality and imagination, making the leap from Kansas to Oz possible.
In spite of all the equivocation, one thing is certain; Dorothy wants to go back to Kansas. “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”, is the first line Dorothy said when she stepped foot on Oz. The line is said in such a manner that Dorothy is neither glad nor disappointed. Again with the ambiguity, yet this time, it is about being at “home” or being in a land that is “foreign.” In “Out of Kansas”, Rushdie emphasizes the contrast between Kansas and Oz, especially regarding the visual aspects. Apart from the obvious monochrome versus technicolor pictures, the geometrical elements involved also unconsciously affect the representation of “home” in Kansas and “foreign” in Oz. In Kansas, as Rushdie points out, all the shapes that were used in the scenes were simple and uncomplicated. Much like how homes are suppose to be- simple and uncomplicated. The frozen frames from the movie (223) shows the parallel lines of the fences and the all right-angled triangles in the same shot, which Rushdie refers to as a place without “your citified complexity”(222). Unfortunately, instead of creating a sense of comfort and simplicity, the simple shapes combined with the monochromatic effect just creates a depressing dullness. On the contrary, the shapes that were used in the Oz scenes, are twisted shapes that resemble the weirdness in the land of Oz itself. Supporting movie stills perfectly justify Rushdie’s point (224-225). The perfect spiral of the yellow brick road, the regimented routines of the munchkins, and so on. It indeed gives off a sense of complication, yet the wonderfully magical colors were able to overshadow the negativity.
As a consequence of the circumstances, it is quite difficult to view Kansas as home, for it lacks the ease and warmth in which a home usually exudes. Meanwhile, the “foreign” Oz emits the feeling of home towards Dorothy. When she met with the scarecrow and the tin man, she said “I feel as if I’ve known you the longest time – but I couldn’t have, could I?” Dorothy had a sense of deja vu and feels right at home with her companions, for she is loved, appreciated and understood. The exact opposite as to how she was treated in Kansas. According to Rushdie, this suggests that the movie has an animosity towards the ugly and the unwanted. An example that Rushdie uses to support his point is how Glinda The Good Witch of The North’s everything is so perfectly luminous and spherical, and how The Wicked Witch of The West’s everything is completely mishapen. It is hard to argue with that, considering how true it is. Meaning that the specific uses of geomtrical elements fails to do what is intended to. It is, in fact, a situational irony, for the outcome is contrary to what was expected.
To recapitulate, Salman Rushdie denies the central moral of the story that is “there is no place like home.” Being that “home”, which is Kansas, is portrayed so awfully adn does not possess the feeling of a decent home in any way.
The message trying to be conveyed is actually contradictory to what is provided on screen, leaving Rushdie and many others questioning. Why exactly would Dorothy want to go back to the horrible Kansas when she has experienced the magic of Oz? The answer “there is no place like home” would be irrelevant here, as Kansas is not a good place to be in and Dorothy herself longed to go to a place over the rainbow as she felt unappreciated in Kansas. As stated in the caption by the editors at the British Film Institute, “’Rushdie rejects the conventional view that [the story’s] fantasy of escape from reality ends with a comforting return to home, sweet home (221).’”, meaning that Rushdie’s perception is that the film does not support “there is no place like home” at all. Alas, the movie fails to communicate its
message.
Although that might be true for some people, I would beg to differ. The fact that there is a competition between staying in Kansas and leaving for Oz, broadens the appeal of the movie. When Dorothy sang the iconic “Over the rainbow” as she looked dramatically into the grey sky in the beginning of the film, she brought forth the idea of having a better place to live. The song was an invitation to escape Kansas, to escape home. At the end, however, when she chose to leave Oz and go back to Kansas, Dorothy reminds the viewers of the real meaning of home. Home is not a matter of where or what, but rather a question of who. When you reexamine the film, Dorothy never really said she wanted to come back to her life in the dreary Kansas because of Kansas, she wanted to go “home” because of Auntie Em.
The two contrasting morals of embracing your roots and the joy of escaping broaden the movie’s appeal. As a result, it allows the viewers to take whichever message they choose. Or even choose to take the best of both worlds; appreciating what is given, but strives for something better. These morals are universal, timeless, and it knows no age or gender. Everyone has experienced it at some point, which leads to the movie’s popularity and longevity, for it will never cease to be relevant.