Wizard of Oz

I've been watching this movie ever since I can remember, and I still love it to this day. Seeing it on the big screen was really amazing for me, and certainly something I never expected to happen. Psychoanalyzing one of the characters is also something I never expected to end up doing, but then I have never put too much thought into the human frailty element of the film, obviously I've always noticed the weaknesses of the characters because thats the whole point of the film, but putting deep thought is a horse of a different color (too much? maybe, but I had to) The character I've decided to analyze is Dorothy who has run away from home where she feels no one listens to her, no one appreciates her, and of course she can't let Toto get taken away. So she runs off only to be told by a somewhat un-magical mystic that her Auntie Em is stricken with loss and may be ill, of course sweet Dorothy rushes towards home, only to be caught in a tornado which leads to her being swept away to Oz. Dorothy adventure in Oz really shows how she learns that she is loved, needed, and appreciated, from the very beginning when she smashes the Wicked Witch of the East all the munchkins adore her, she is the heroine, she is the one who has saved them, they are thankful. This shows something of Dorothy's subconscious, her desire to be important and noticed. From here she continues down the brick road to find the wizard to take her home; along the way she meets her compatriots the Scarecrow, Tin man, and Cowardly Lion, all of whom resemble the farm hands from her home in Kansas. Dorothy travels with them to the Emerald City becoming good friends, and once again being important, she is the one who has convinced them to come along, the glue binding their journey. Learning that they care about her, and her about them, subconsciously realizing that she is important to people at home and didn't need to run away. In the end of course this is exactly what she comes to realize and state to Glinda, before the ruby slippers transport her back to the real world and her family and friends.
I would say that Dorothy was really an insecure young girl who thought she could find her place if only she traveled the world, when all she really needed was simply to go home where she belonged all along.

-Allie Hackett