Wizard Of Oz Feminist Analysis

The Wizard of Oz was a powerful movie made in the thirties. It did not just tell a simple story of a girl who gets lost, but also brought many different ideas about current events of that time to the surface. The Wizard of Oz was released on August 25, 1939, a time where women did not play a big role in society. It tells a story of a young girl who magically appears in the Land of Oz after a powerful twister comes through Kansas, her home state. In Oz, Dorothy goes on a journey to find the great and powerful Wizard of Oz. While on her journey Dorothy befriends three characters, and leads them to Oz while trying to avoid the devious wicked witch. The Wizard of Oz demonstrates the idea that women are able to be strong leaders. In The Wizard
Feminism in The Wizard of Oz” the author Johanna talks about Feminism in The Wizard of Oz. Johanna says,
“Dorothy does not only defy the role of the helpless female who needs to be saved by a strong male, but she is quite the opposite: She saves the Scarecrow and the Tinman (both who are male) from their states of confinement, and when she herself is captured by the Wicked Witch of the West, she finds a means to defeat her enemy and sets a whole people free as a side effect….” (We've All Come a Long Way). While Dorothy was on her expedition to the Land of Oz she befriends three characters: The Lion, Tinman, and Scarecrow. Before Dorothy met these characters they were stuck both physically and mentally. The Tinman was physically stuck, rusted and longing for a heart. The Scarecrow was physically and mentally stuck. Dorothy taught the Scarecrow how to walk and brought him on the journey with her to find a brain. Before Dorothy had met the Lion he was a coward. She made him believe that he could have courage and even pushed him to do things he was fearful of. In The Wizard of Oz Dorothy saves three male characters from their confinements. This is why she is exactly the opposite of a helpless