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BFI Film Classics
הקוסם מארץ עוץ
While Salman Rushdie has treasured The Wizard of Oz since his boyhood, the movie's idea of returning "home" has had a special resonance for him as an adult. In this lovely appreciation of the MGM classic, Rushdie does not dwell upon his continual flight from any "home" after writing The Satanic Verses. But his affinity for Dorothy and her predicament comes through in his analysis.
This is a marvelous little book, full of wonderful tidbits about the making of The Wizard of Oz. Rushdie also talks about the movie's contrast of black and white and color, order and disorder, good and evil. The volume ends with "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers," a surrealistic short story in which Rushdie meditates on the value of fantasies like The Wizard of Oz.
131 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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788 people want to read
About the author
Salman Rushdie
202 books13.1k followersSir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.
After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.
Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.
After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.
Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
December 13, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed this analysis of The Wizard Of Oz movie. Rushdie speaks of losing one's home, exile, being in a strange land & customs and of learning to believe in oneself. This is an entertaining and interesting look at the movie.
At the end, Rushdie adds a short story about the auctioning of the ruby slippers in a futuristic world. It's interesting but not as much so as the essay on the movie.
This is part of the British Film Institute's series about movies. I'd like to read more of these.
At the end, Rushdie adds a short story about the auctioning of the ruby slippers in a futuristic world. It's interesting but not as much so as the essay on the movie.
This is part of the British Film Institute's series about movies. I'd like to read more of these.
September 18, 2024
A verdade que esse livrinho do Salman Rushdie sobre a versão cinematográfica de O Mágico de Oz é bem meia boca, não traz nenhum grande insight sobre o filme, acho que é mais para completistas do Rushdie ou do BFI Classics.
No Brasil esse livro saiu pela Rocco nas versões em português dos BFI Classics.
No Brasil esse livro saiu pela Rocco nas versões em português dos BFI Classics.
December 24, 2020
“(...) we understand that the real secret of the ruby slippers is not that ‘there’s no place like home’, but rather that there is no longer any such place as home: except, of course, for the home we make, or the homes that are made for us, in Oz: which is anywhere, and everywhere, except the place from which we began.”
October 20, 2015
I truly am sorry, but this was a total waste of paper, time and money. Don't be fooled by the famous name.
November 26, 2019
TL;DR — Not a good read. Borrow this from your library if you’re curious, or read my review. It’s about as in-depth as anything you’ll find in the book itself.
I don’t know why BFI even asked an emigre to analyze a film whose core theme is “there’s no place like home.” To my mind, Rushdie would be a good choice to offer a counter-analysis. He calls “there’s no place like home” The Wizard of Oz’s “least convincing idea.” He also hates Toto. (Why did they ask Rushdie to write this again?) Literally, his take away from TWoO is that old chestnut “you can’t go home again.” Both ideas give meaning to us at different times in our lives, but they are distinct and both truisms have merit.
This is a very slim volume. If you extracted all the photos you’d probably be lucky enough to get eight double-spaced pages. To add insult to injury, Rushdie or his editor thought it would be a good idea to pad the book out with a really, really shitty short story instead of fulfilling the book’s remit. Why? Who cares? This will be the last BFI book I pay for, that’s the message I took from reading this one. I don’t even feel like I read a book, in fact: I feel like I read an Entertainment Weekly article.
As for those eight double-speed pages: Rushdie’s not exactly wrong when he calls “Over the Rainbow” a migrant’s anthem, he’s just overly specific. “Over the Rainbow” is the anthem of anyone who wants to be, physically or metaphorically, elsewhere, on a greener lawn, under a brighter sky. And he’s definitely not wrong when he calls the film an authorless text (at least insofar that no single man can be said to have fully steered the ship.) And he’s not wrong when he states that making Oz a literal dream is the worst change the filmmakers made to the story. None of these observations are unique or interesting.
Rushdie peppers the book with facts taken from The Making of the Wizard Of Oz, written by film historian Aljean Harmetz. If you plan on reading both books, don’t read them one after the other. I read Harmetz’s wonderful book recently so a lot of the trivia was mere regurgitation and, gallingly, sometimes Rushdie manages to remember the trivia wrong (Margaret Hamilton did not burn her hand while filming the close-ups for the Surrender Dorothy scene; in fact, because her face had been so badly burned in her exit scene from Munchkinland Hamilton refused to film the scene with the skywriting contraption hidden beneath her cape. And good thing too as the damn thing exploded and seriously harmed one of her stunt doubles.)
As far as Rushdie’s criticism of the male actors who played Dorothy’s famous trio of friends, I’m disappointed. Garland as an adult was famous for her boozy talk show appearances—even her children admitted she made up stories just to get laughs. So, yes, she made up certain stories about the munchkin actors, and no, the male actors weren’t hogging the limelight and shoving Judy out of the way as they skipped along the Yellow Brick Road. If Rushdie actually read Harmetz’s book I don’t know how he could possibly conclude Margaret Hamilton felt excluded by the boys. Hamilton is quoted quite a bit there (and elsewhere) as saying she had so few scenes with “the boys” they were barely on set together at all. What a strange invention of Rushdie’s! Men Stink™, I guess, even in 1992.
Why it earned the one star: He does provide these few fun little insights into the film that were new to me: when the Witch “grows down” Dorothy grows up; real Kansas is all straight lines and simple shapes then the tornado (or twister) brings Dorothy to the gnarly, misshapen fantasy land of Oz; as the twister blows to transition us from one land to another the viewer is treated to a flurry of opening/shutting of doors/windows. But all in all, this is not worth the price of admission.
As for the short story: my God, it has to be seen to be believed. Picture the edgiest kid in a Creative Writing class tasked with writing a story about the famous auctioning off of the ruby slippers. Honestly, it is insanely bad. It takes place in a dystopia because of course it does. Totos are copulating. It is a turgid, dumb mess.
[Stray thought: it was annoying that most of the many photos used are the most often seen and remembered shots of the film while a rare photo of the stand-ins for Dorothy and friends, which so moved Rushdie he devoted two paragraphs to its mystery, is omitted.]
I don’t know why BFI even asked an emigre to analyze a film whose core theme is “there’s no place like home.” To my mind, Rushdie would be a good choice to offer a counter-analysis. He calls “there’s no place like home” The Wizard of Oz’s “least convincing idea.” He also hates Toto. (Why did they ask Rushdie to write this again?) Literally, his take away from TWoO is that old chestnut “you can’t go home again.” Both ideas give meaning to us at different times in our lives, but they are distinct and both truisms have merit.
This is a very slim volume. If you extracted all the photos you’d probably be lucky enough to get eight double-spaced pages. To add insult to injury, Rushdie or his editor thought it would be a good idea to pad the book out with a really, really shitty short story instead of fulfilling the book’s remit. Why? Who cares? This will be the last BFI book I pay for, that’s the message I took from reading this one. I don’t even feel like I read a book, in fact: I feel like I read an Entertainment Weekly article.
As for those eight double-speed pages: Rushdie’s not exactly wrong when he calls “Over the Rainbow” a migrant’s anthem, he’s just overly specific. “Over the Rainbow” is the anthem of anyone who wants to be, physically or metaphorically, elsewhere, on a greener lawn, under a brighter sky. And he’s definitely not wrong when he calls the film an authorless text (at least insofar that no single man can be said to have fully steered the ship.) And he’s not wrong when he states that making Oz a literal dream is the worst change the filmmakers made to the story. None of these observations are unique or interesting.
Rushdie peppers the book with facts taken from The Making of the Wizard Of Oz, written by film historian Aljean Harmetz. If you plan on reading both books, don’t read them one after the other. I read Harmetz’s wonderful book recently so a lot of the trivia was mere regurgitation and, gallingly, sometimes Rushdie manages to remember the trivia wrong (Margaret Hamilton did not burn her hand while filming the close-ups for the Surrender Dorothy scene; in fact, because her face had been so badly burned in her exit scene from Munchkinland Hamilton refused to film the scene with the skywriting contraption hidden beneath her cape. And good thing too as the damn thing exploded and seriously harmed one of her stunt doubles.)
As far as Rushdie’s criticism of the male actors who played Dorothy’s famous trio of friends, I’m disappointed. Garland as an adult was famous for her boozy talk show appearances—even her children admitted she made up stories just to get laughs. So, yes, she made up certain stories about the munchkin actors, and no, the male actors weren’t hogging the limelight and shoving Judy out of the way as they skipped along the Yellow Brick Road. If Rushdie actually read Harmetz’s book I don’t know how he could possibly conclude Margaret Hamilton felt excluded by the boys. Hamilton is quoted quite a bit there (and elsewhere) as saying she had so few scenes with “the boys” they were barely on set together at all. What a strange invention of Rushdie’s! Men Stink™, I guess, even in 1992.
Why it earned the one star: He does provide these few fun little insights into the film that were new to me: when the Witch “grows down” Dorothy grows up; real Kansas is all straight lines and simple shapes then the tornado (or twister) brings Dorothy to the gnarly, misshapen fantasy land of Oz; as the twister blows to transition us from one land to another the viewer is treated to a flurry of opening/shutting of doors/windows. But all in all, this is not worth the price of admission.
As for the short story: my God, it has to be seen to be believed. Picture the edgiest kid in a Creative Writing class tasked with writing a story about the famous auctioning off of the ruby slippers. Honestly, it is insanely bad. It takes place in a dystopia because of course it does. Totos are copulating. It is a turgid, dumb mess.
[Stray thought: it was annoying that most of the many photos used are the most often seen and remembered shots of the film while a rare photo of the stand-ins for Dorothy and friends, which so moved Rushdie he devoted two paragraphs to its mystery, is omitted.]
January 17, 2019
As this is one of my favorite movies and also the subject of one of my university papers, I wish this book was much longer. Rushdie's writing is very smooth and I definitely felt that he had much more to say but was unable to surpass a specific number of words. The middle and ending part of the film had a very rushed analysis compared to the details and concern used in the first half of the book.
Rating: 3.5/5
Rating: 3.5/5
August 12, 2010
As I was reading this book, one of my initial impressions was that he had never read the OZ books, despite brief trivial mentions of Baum's history and some of the inconsequential differences between the film and the book. If he had, some of the discrepancies he blames on Hollywood could have been cleared up as simplifications for script development purposes. The essay goes on for 57 pages presenting a variety of personal anecdotes that are only slightly more interesting than Rushdie's analysis--which brings up a number of thoughts which he neither bothers to offer adequate reasoning for, nor successfully argues the validity of.
Ultimately, Rushdie uses the BFI series as an opportunity to write an otherwise unpublishable short story--essentially the auction of the ruby slippers in a Warren Ellis style dystopia, with unnecessary incestuous themes. It becomes quickly apparent that the essay was used to highlight the oh-so-clever ideas he fools around with in an obscure story which lacked an interesting narrative beyond the briefest moments of strange imagery.
It's a pretentious essay, written by a pretentious author, for pretentious readers. If that's you, enjoy. Otherwise, it isn't worth even the short read that it is.
Ultimately, Rushdie uses the BFI series as an opportunity to write an otherwise unpublishable short story--essentially the auction of the ruby slippers in a Warren Ellis style dystopia, with unnecessary incestuous themes. It becomes quickly apparent that the essay was used to highlight the oh-so-clever ideas he fools around with in an obscure story which lacked an interesting narrative beyond the briefest moments of strange imagery.
It's a pretentious essay, written by a pretentious author, for pretentious readers. If that's you, enjoy. Otherwise, it isn't worth even the short read that it is.
February 25, 2013
Some lovely titbits of information from behind the scenes at the filming of the original Wizard of Oz (e.g. the munchkins rampaging through Hollywood, the fact that Shirley Temple was originally lined up to play Dorothy and the removal of a number of songs and scenes including The Jitterbug). Then Rushdie adds in a short story based around the future auction of the ruby slippers. Nice interlude from the BFI film classics series.
November 10, 2024
Wanted more analysis. You get some, but then you get a strange surreal truly uninteresting short story by Rushdie included at the end of the book. You just scratch your head. Why?
March 5, 2017
I started reading this as a library loan on my Kindle, and immediately realized that I needed to be able to see all the still shots of the movie that were included in the originally published paperback book, so I bought my own copy.
It's such a quick and juicy read. Salman Rushdie's love for this movie, its messages and its music, is so affirming for those of us who still watch the yearly broadcast of Dorothy and her Toto & Friends on TV, usually around Thanksgiving. Because what else could be better to give thanks for than this wonderful story that shows us it is still possible to find what we are looking for just over the rainbow, somewhere.
Rushdie's writing style was born during his first experience with the movie, and lingered even beyond conscious thought to become characters and events in his future novels, "So striking were these colour effects that, soon after seeing the film as a child, I began to dream of green-skinned witches; years afterwards, I gave these dreams to the narrator of my novel Midnight's Children, having completely forgotten their source."
Rushdie reveals the symbolisms in the movie, and often compares them to Baum's original story, sometimes to its advantage and sometimes not. Rushdie sees the strength in Baum's story, and in the movie, that thrilled me as a child:
"Glinda and the Witch of the West are the only two symbols of power in a film which is largely about the powerless, and it's instructive to 'unpack' them. They are both women, and a striking aspect of The Wizard of Oz is its lack of a male hero -- because, for all their brains, heart and courage, it is impossible to see the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion as classic Hollywood leading men. The power centre of the film is a triangle at whose points are Glinda, Dorothy and the Witch; the fourth point, at which the Wizard is thought for most of the film to stand, turns out to be an illusion. The power of men, it is suggested, is illusory; the power of women is real.
Rushdie also points out the kinship between Dorothy and the Wizard:
"These two immigrants have adopted opposite strategies of survival in a new and strange land. Dorothy has been unfailingly polite, careful, courteously 'small and meek', whereas the Wizard has been fire and smoke, bravado and bombast, and has hustled his way to the top, floated there, so to speak, on a cloud of his own hot air. But Dorothy learns that meekness isn't enough, and the Wizard finds (as the balloon gets the better of him for a second time) that his command of hot air isn't all it should be. It is hard for a migrant like myself not to see in these shifting destinies a parable of the migrant condition."
He discusses the magic of the music, which seals the deal of this being, in Rushdie's mind, the perfect movie. He points out songwriter Harburg's lyrics as an invention of "punning, concertinaed words.":
We're off to see the Wizard
The wonderful Wizzerdevoz,
We hear he is
A Wizzavawizz,
If ever a Wizztherwozz
If everoever a Wizztherwozz
The Wizzerdevoz is one because....
And finally, Rushdie doesn't just end his essay with ordinary plainspeak, he writes a short story about the auction sale of those Ruby Slippers (that really work) in a dystopian future. By the way, within that short story (written in 1992) can be found the original template for the novel The Martian - at least, that's what it looks like to me:
"At that time many television channels were devoted to the sad case of the astronaut stranded on Mars without hope of rescue, and with diminishing supplies of food and breathable air. The cameras inside his marooned spacecraft continued to send us poignant images of his slow descent into despair, his low-gravity, weight-reduced death... and when this condemned man on another planet began to sing a squawky medleyof songs I was reminded of the dying computer in '2001: A Space Odyssey'... "
I read this British Film Institute's publication, one of a series of similar publications (all about 70 pages long), on a Sunday while leisurely sipping my morning coffee. What a wonderful way to start my day. Thank you Salman Rushdie.
It's such a quick and juicy read. Salman Rushdie's love for this movie, its messages and its music, is so affirming for those of us who still watch the yearly broadcast of Dorothy and her Toto & Friends on TV, usually around Thanksgiving. Because what else could be better to give thanks for than this wonderful story that shows us it is still possible to find what we are looking for just over the rainbow, somewhere.
Rushdie's writing style was born during his first experience with the movie, and lingered even beyond conscious thought to become characters and events in his future novels, "So striking were these colour effects that, soon after seeing the film as a child, I began to dream of green-skinned witches; years afterwards, I gave these dreams to the narrator of my novel Midnight's Children, having completely forgotten their source."
Rushdie reveals the symbolisms in the movie, and often compares them to Baum's original story, sometimes to its advantage and sometimes not. Rushdie sees the strength in Baum's story, and in the movie, that thrilled me as a child:
"Glinda and the Witch of the West are the only two symbols of power in a film which is largely about the powerless, and it's instructive to 'unpack' them. They are both women, and a striking aspect of The Wizard of Oz is its lack of a male hero -- because, for all their brains, heart and courage, it is impossible to see the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion as classic Hollywood leading men. The power centre of the film is a triangle at whose points are Glinda, Dorothy and the Witch; the fourth point, at which the Wizard is thought for most of the film to stand, turns out to be an illusion. The power of men, it is suggested, is illusory; the power of women is real.
Rushdie also points out the kinship between Dorothy and the Wizard:
"These two immigrants have adopted opposite strategies of survival in a new and strange land. Dorothy has been unfailingly polite, careful, courteously 'small and meek', whereas the Wizard has been fire and smoke, bravado and bombast, and has hustled his way to the top, floated there, so to speak, on a cloud of his own hot air. But Dorothy learns that meekness isn't enough, and the Wizard finds (as the balloon gets the better of him for a second time) that his command of hot air isn't all it should be. It is hard for a migrant like myself not to see in these shifting destinies a parable of the migrant condition."
He discusses the magic of the music, which seals the deal of this being, in Rushdie's mind, the perfect movie. He points out songwriter Harburg's lyrics as an invention of "punning, concertinaed words.":
We're off to see the Wizard
The wonderful Wizzerdevoz,
We hear he is
A Wizzavawizz,
If ever a Wizztherwozz
If everoever a Wizztherwozz
The Wizzerdevoz is one because....
And finally, Rushdie doesn't just end his essay with ordinary plainspeak, he writes a short story about the auction sale of those Ruby Slippers (that really work) in a dystopian future. By the way, within that short story (written in 1992) can be found the original template for the novel The Martian - at least, that's what it looks like to me:
"At that time many television channels were devoted to the sad case of the astronaut stranded on Mars without hope of rescue, and with diminishing supplies of food and breathable air. The cameras inside his marooned spacecraft continued to send us poignant images of his slow descent into despair, his low-gravity, weight-reduced death... and when this condemned man on another planet began to sing a squawky medleyof songs I was reminded of the dying computer in '2001: A Space Odyssey'... "
I read this British Film Institute's publication, one of a series of similar publications (all about 70 pages long), on a Sunday while leisurely sipping my morning coffee. What a wonderful way to start my day. Thank you Salman Rushdie.
December 6, 2017
I want to like Salman Rushie, but I can't stand his novels. I couldn't finish Midnight's Children. But I loved Haroun and the Sea of Stories. And I look for his non-fiction, like this little book. It is a fun and interesting trip through the movie that we all know...and love. Well, no--I didn't love it. Growing up, I was too scared by the flying monkeys to enjoy the movie. I did later come back to it by way of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and all of its many sequels, which I read aloud to my kids as they grew up.
But, back to the movie...Rushdie finds lots to reflect on. E.g., when you consider what Kansas had been like, you wonder how Dorothy ever came to think that "there's no place like home." If anything, she's grown well beyond Kansas and moved on. (In fact, in a later book, she moves her family to Oz.) Rushdie says a main theme of the movie is that you can't rely on adults. I hadn't thought about that.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed his reflections on the movie. But the short book concludes with a short story he wrote about the auction of the ruby slippers. It was more intelligible than his novels, but was odd and must have been included only to make a too-short book barely long enough to be publishable as a book.
But, back to the movie...Rushdie finds lots to reflect on. E.g., when you consider what Kansas had been like, you wonder how Dorothy ever came to think that "there's no place like home." If anything, she's grown well beyond Kansas and moved on. (In fact, in a later book, she moves her family to Oz.) Rushdie says a main theme of the movie is that you can't rely on adults. I hadn't thought about that.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed his reflections on the movie. But the short book concludes with a short story he wrote about the auction of the ruby slippers. It was more intelligible than his novels, but was odd and must have been included only to make a too-short book barely long enough to be publishable as a book.
August 12, 2016
"some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again."
- CS Lewis
Great trivia details about the movie but what fascinates me, that even a literary giant like Salmaan Rushdie could feel such a passion for children's movie. I liked it more because it gave a great insight of working of author's mind.
- CS Lewis
Great trivia details about the movie but what fascinates me, that even a literary giant like Salmaan Rushdie could feel such a passion for children's movie. I liked it more because it gave a great insight of working of author's mind.
October 20, 2013
You lost me at "Toto, that little yapping hairpiece of a creature, that meddlesome rug!" Mr. Rushdie!
February 24, 2019
Part of the BFI Film Classics, this short essay by Mr. Rushdie tackles the perennial classic the Wizard of Oz. Along with the essay, original written in 1992, this bind-up includes a short story dealing with the auction of the famous ruby slippers.
Dealing with the short-story first, the futuristic setting and the commentary on consumption and the desire for reinvention doesn’t really fit in with the movie or the general hypothesis of the essay. Connecting this story to the movie by saying that the Wizard of Oz was really about reinvention was stretching it for me. It didn’t convince me and as a result, this was a weird little tale which didn’t add much to the reading experience.
In fact, most of the essay didn’t really convince me. The anecdotes about the movie were great but Mr. Rushdie is fairly dismissive of portions of the movie and genres he doesn’t like. As an example, he describes Hindi movies as “[being] then and are now what can be called trashy... like ... watching junk food.” First of all, Hindi movies are not Bollywood cinema and trashing an entire industry with a casual sentence like this didn’t sit well.
He is of course, entitled to his opinion but his case for the Wizard of Oz being a great film should not depend on lines like this. I think it’s his lack of nuance even more than his tone which irked me in places.
As another example, his view on children’s book as “a kind of ghetto but one subdivided into ... a number of different age groups.” was quite dismissive. Which is sad as he has a point about how the movies “have regularly risen above such categorizing [and where] … kids and adults sit happy side by side”. This all-age fare and ability to find the childlike wonder when watching a movie like the Wizard of Oz is important.
At least the point he made was intriguing enough for me to want to check out Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I guess that is a win for Mr. Rushdie.
The part about the essay which spoke to me the most is how the movie is a tension between two dreams - of home and of leaving it behind. He calls the movie "a film about the joys of going away” as the most evocative parts of the movie were the parts in Oz. He links the movie to the migrant experience which made the essay a little more poignant than I was expecting.
However, he dismisses the ending of the movie with its emphasis on ‘there is no place like home’ as a misstep. And even though I do not agree with him as that message stayed with me as a child - and despite Kansas being all grey and dull - I loved the fact that Dorothy came home - I can understand what Mr. Rushdie is getting at.
For bringing that fresh perspective to the movie and talking about some new ideas I am giving this essay a 3 stars. It would have been higher if not for the extraneous short story which ends the book at this odd place.
Dealing with the short-story first, the futuristic setting and the commentary on consumption and the desire for reinvention doesn’t really fit in with the movie or the general hypothesis of the essay. Connecting this story to the movie by saying that the Wizard of Oz was really about reinvention was stretching it for me. It didn’t convince me and as a result, this was a weird little tale which didn’t add much to the reading experience.
In fact, most of the essay didn’t really convince me. The anecdotes about the movie were great but Mr. Rushdie is fairly dismissive of portions of the movie and genres he doesn’t like. As an example, he describes Hindi movies as “[being] then and are now what can be called trashy... like ... watching junk food.” First of all, Hindi movies are not Bollywood cinema and trashing an entire industry with a casual sentence like this didn’t sit well.
He is of course, entitled to his opinion but his case for the Wizard of Oz being a great film should not depend on lines like this. I think it’s his lack of nuance even more than his tone which irked me in places.
As another example, his view on children’s book as “a kind of ghetto but one subdivided into ... a number of different age groups.” was quite dismissive. Which is sad as he has a point about how the movies “have regularly risen above such categorizing [and where] … kids and adults sit happy side by side”. This all-age fare and ability to find the childlike wonder when watching a movie like the Wizard of Oz is important.
At least the point he made was intriguing enough for me to want to check out Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I guess that is a win for Mr. Rushdie.
The part about the essay which spoke to me the most is how the movie is a tension between two dreams - of home and of leaving it behind. He calls the movie "a film about the joys of going away” as the most evocative parts of the movie were the parts in Oz. He links the movie to the migrant experience which made the essay a little more poignant than I was expecting.
However, he dismisses the ending of the movie with its emphasis on ‘there is no place like home’ as a misstep. And even though I do not agree with him as that message stayed with me as a child - and despite Kansas being all grey and dull - I loved the fact that Dorothy came home - I can understand what Mr. Rushdie is getting at.
For bringing that fresh perspective to the movie and talking about some new ideas I am giving this essay a 3 stars. It would have been higher if not for the extraneous short story which ends the book at this odd place.
November 20, 2024
This is a combination of a non-fiction pretty in-depth-without-getting-into-Marianas-Trench-deep making of the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, and a short story about the auction of the Ruby Slippers. It took me two pages to realize it was a fictional story, because I had been seduced by the non-fiction part. It contained one of Rushdie's great lines:
What price tolerance if the intolerant are not tolerated also?
And Rushdie would know.
Anyway, I'm not that big of a fan of the movie. I have problems with it. As a kid, I found the whole reality of the Wizard highly unsettling. That might've been because, even as a young kid, I was discovering the supposed Christians all around me were hypocrites. And I've never been keen on musicals.
Rushdie made a subject I wasn't really too keen on fascinating. He includes his own personal relationship to the film, and that it inspired him to write his first story. He also includes such tidbits as Bollywood films similar to The Wizard of Oz, the life of Frank Baum, and how different the book is to the film. The slippers were silver in the book, for example.
He also mentions what perhaps every child realized when they first watch this film -- Kansas sucked. Dorothy needed to stay in Oz.
I was just shocked, though, that Rushdie didn't like Toto. It was more of a shock than when he professed to be a Muslim and apologized for writing The Satanic Verses.
Which he really didn't mean, since he was scared shirtless.
Still hoping the dislike of Toto was faked, too.
Until there is an apology from Rushdie about Toto, public or private (preferably private), I'm giving this only four stars instead of five.
The book is generously illustrated with photos, a decent bibliography and a long, full list of screen credits, sure to please film buffs.
The non-fiction part (without pictures, bibliography or film credits) can be found in Rushdie's 2002 collection of non-fiction, Step Across This Line.
What price tolerance if the intolerant are not tolerated also?
And Rushdie would know.
Anyway, I'm not that big of a fan of the movie. I have problems with it. As a kid, I found the whole reality of the Wizard highly unsettling. That might've been because, even as a young kid, I was discovering the supposed Christians all around me were hypocrites. And I've never been keen on musicals.
Rushdie made a subject I wasn't really too keen on fascinating. He includes his own personal relationship to the film, and that it inspired him to write his first story. He also includes such tidbits as Bollywood films similar to The Wizard of Oz, the life of Frank Baum, and how different the book is to the film. The slippers were silver in the book, for example.
He also mentions what perhaps every child realized when they first watch this film -- Kansas sucked. Dorothy needed to stay in Oz.
I was just shocked, though, that Rushdie didn't like Toto. It was more of a shock than when he professed to be a Muslim and apologized for writing The Satanic Verses.
Which he really didn't mean, since he was scared shirtless.
Still hoping the dislike of Toto was faked, too.
Until there is an apology from Rushdie about Toto, public or private (preferably private), I'm giving this only four stars instead of five.
The book is generously illustrated with photos, a decent bibliography and a long, full list of screen credits, sure to please film buffs.
The non-fiction part (without pictures, bibliography or film credits) can be found in Rushdie's 2002 collection of non-fiction, Step Across This Line.
February 6, 2023
Novena reseña del 2023
UN BREVE TEXTO SOBRE MAGIA
No conocía el libro y no estaba en mis planes leerlo. Lo encontré en una librería y me resultó interesante. Luego de haber visto el film, los mitos que rondan sobre su rodaje es algo que me daba curiosidad y... si bien no se centra principalmente en esto (derribar mitos, lo que ocurrió en el rodaje, desglose argumental, preguntas sin respuestas), me dio la sensación que fue una excusa para poder contar su experiencia con el film y lo que conllevó en su vida.
Aclaro que acá no se compara el libro con el film homónimo. Sino esto es mas centrado en el mundo audiovisual.
Y con respecto a la calificación se debe a la velocidad leída. Tan solo contiene 80 páginas.
Por ende, leerlo bajo tu propia responsabilidad.
FRASES DESTACADAS
(...)en el caso de una película amada, todos somos los dobles de las estrellas.
Esta penetración en el mundo real de lo ficcional es un síntoma de la decadencia moral que caracteriza la cultura del milenio. Los héroes salen de la pantalla de cine y se casan con los miembros del público. ¿Se pondrá fin a todo esto? ¿Acaso la violencia utilizada por el Estado resulta insuficiente? ¿Debería haber controles más rigurosos? Debatimos estas cuestiones con frecuencia.
UN BREVE TEXTO SOBRE MAGIA
No conocía el libro y no estaba en mis planes leerlo. Lo encontré en una librería y me resultó interesante. Luego de haber visto el film, los mitos que rondan sobre su rodaje es algo que me daba curiosidad y... si bien no se centra principalmente en esto (derribar mitos, lo que ocurrió en el rodaje, desglose argumental, preguntas sin respuestas), me dio la sensación que fue una excusa para poder contar su experiencia con el film y lo que conllevó en su vida.
Aclaro que acá no se compara el libro con el film homónimo. Sino esto es mas centrado en el mundo audiovisual.
Y con respecto a la calificación se debe a la velocidad leída. Tan solo contiene 80 páginas.
Por ende, leerlo bajo tu propia responsabilidad.
FRASES DESTACADAS
(...)en el caso de una película amada, todos somos los dobles de las estrellas.
Esta penetración en el mundo real de lo ficcional es un síntoma de la decadencia moral que caracteriza la cultura del milenio. Los héroes salen de la pantalla de cine y se casan con los miembros del público. ¿Se pondrá fin a todo esto? ¿Acaso la violencia utilizada por el Estado resulta insuficiente? ¿Debería haber controles más rigurosos? Debatimos estas cuestiones con frecuencia.
August 21, 2019
I chose this book because I have seen the movie and wanted to see if the book is different. In the book The Wizard of Oz, Dorthy lived in Kansas with her family. A tragic event occurs in Dorthy’s life which made her end up in the magical land of Oz. As she tries to find her way back home she meets several interesting characters and they become fast friends. Dorthy discovers that an item she has had with her the entire time is the secret to returning home.
I felt the book was just as interesting as the movie. The author did a good job describing the events that happen in the book. I liked this book because it was very detailed. For me it was hard to put the book down. It is very interesting the whole book, not just at the end. All the characters have their own personality
I recommend this book to people who have seen the movie The Wizard of Oz and thought the movie was good. I say this because the book is even better than the movie. I say this book would be good for a young adult or even a child who likes reading adventure books because Dorthy and her friends are on a mission the whole time because they all want something from the wizard.
I felt the book was just as interesting as the movie. The author did a good job describing the events that happen in the book. I liked this book because it was very detailed. For me it was hard to put the book down. It is very interesting the whole book, not just at the end. All the characters have their own personality
I recommend this book to people who have seen the movie The Wizard of Oz and thought the movie was good. I say this because the book is even better than the movie. I say this book would be good for a young adult or even a child who likes reading adventure books because Dorthy and her friends are on a mission the whole time because they all want something from the wizard.
October 22, 2023
Aunque soy fan de las novelas de Oz, la verdad es que la película nunca fue de mi gusto. Jamás le encontré lo mágico y se me sigue haciendo una especie de espectáculo gringo que no es cine ni teatro musical. Otra cosa fue "Retorno a Oz" de Walter Murch (1985) que fue el filme que me acercó a las novelas y que es una de mis películas fantásticas favoritas.
Pues bien, para Salman Rushdie, "El mago de Oz" la película de Víctor Fleming , si le cambió la vida y fue la película que lo acercó a la literatura. Este breve librito es un comentario, un análisis light sobre esa película que tanto le gustó. Es interesante de leer, pero no esperen un trabajo de rigor sobre análisis de cine. El libro es parte de una colección de cuatro obras que analizan cuatro películas: "Amores Perros" por Paul Julian Smith; La novia de Frankenstein por Alberto Manguel; "Shoah" por Carles Torner y "El mago de Oz por Salman Rushdie.
El libro se complementa con un cuento escrito por Rushdie sobre la subasta de los zapatos de rubí de la película.
Pues bien, para Salman Rushdie, "El mago de Oz" la película de Víctor Fleming , si le cambió la vida y fue la película que lo acercó a la literatura. Este breve librito es un comentario, un análisis light sobre esa película que tanto le gustó. Es interesante de leer, pero no esperen un trabajo de rigor sobre análisis de cine. El libro es parte de una colección de cuatro obras que analizan cuatro películas: "Amores Perros" por Paul Julian Smith; La novia de Frankenstein por Alberto Manguel; "Shoah" por Carles Torner y "El mago de Oz por Salman Rushdie.
El libro se complementa con un cuento escrito por Rushdie sobre la subasta de los zapatos de rubí de la película.
December 18, 2019
Ho scoperto l'esistenza di questo volumetto, parte di un progetto più ampio creato per celebrare il ventesimo anniversario della serie Classici del BFI Festival.
Amo molto Rushdie come autore, e anche in questo caso il suo tratto distintivo è evidente nello scritto.
il volume si compone di due scritti: il primo è un saggio dedicato al film Il Mago di Oz con interessanti riflessioni di Rushdie, curiosità sul film, sugli attori e approfondimenti sui temi affrontati nella storia di Baum e nella sua trasposizione cinematografica.
Il secondo testo, invece, è un lavoro di fiction ispirato al tema della famosa asta nel corso della quale andarono vendute le famosissime scarpette rosse indossate da Judy Garland durante le riprese del film.
Interessante, ben scritto e con moltissimi spunti di riflessione.
Amo molto Rushdie come autore, e anche in questo caso il suo tratto distintivo è evidente nello scritto.
il volume si compone di due scritti: il primo è un saggio dedicato al film Il Mago di Oz con interessanti riflessioni di Rushdie, curiosità sul film, sugli attori e approfondimenti sui temi affrontati nella storia di Baum e nella sua trasposizione cinematografica.
Il secondo testo, invece, è un lavoro di fiction ispirato al tema della famosa asta nel corso della quale andarono vendute le famosissime scarpette rosse indossate da Judy Garland durante le riprese del film.
Interessante, ben scritto e con moltissimi spunti di riflessione.
December 1, 2017
"So Oz finally became home; the imagined world became the actual world, as it does for us all, because the truth is that once we have left our childhood places and started out to make up our lives, armed only with what we have and are, we understand that the real secret of the ruby slippers is not that 'there's no place like home,' but rather that there is no longer any such place as home: except, of course, for the home we make, or the homes that are made for us, in Oz: which is anywhere, and everywhere, except the place from which we began."
Brilliant, funny, thought-provoking, distracting, and comforting.
Brilliant, funny, thought-provoking, distracting, and comforting.
April 29, 2018
In this blend of personal essay and film criticism, Rushdie shows us the magical influence that The Wizard of Oz (1939) has had on the beginnings of his literary career (with a short story titled "Over the Rainbow"), as well as his complicated relationship with his father and with the notion of home in general.
Although I personally disagree with several of Rushdie's opinions about our mutual favorite film (he hates Toto!), his thoughts are beautifully phrased and compellingly drawn out and make it clear that Oz will continue to enchant the young and young at heart from all backgrounds for years to come.
Although I personally disagree with several of Rushdie's opinions about our mutual favorite film (he hates Toto!), his thoughts are beautifully phrased and compellingly drawn out and make it clear that Oz will continue to enchant the young and young at heart from all backgrounds for years to come.
December 9, 2020
This book was recommended by a random Wizard of Oz fan I met. She said it fundamentally changed the way she saw the film. I thought it was interesting to learn about Rushdie's perspective on the film and it's significance. There weren't many angles I hadn't already thought of myself, but enjoyed reading his take on them. He misquoted the move a couple times, which irked me a bit. Overall, a fun and thought provoking quick read.
September 1, 2017
This essay is one of the most beautifully written film analyses I've ever read, particularly Rushdie's passage about how "Somewhere over the Rainbow" is "the anthem of all the world's migrants." The second part, a surreal fictionalized depiction of the auction of the ruby slippers (only 8 pages long), is unexpected but equally entertaining and true.
March 20, 2020
Rushdie analyzes The Wizard of Oz from the perspective of the refuge, and it's fascinating have the story of displacement and the need to build a new home, maybe one without a fixed location, seems not far from a queer reading. This book is a big old universal hug for anyone who ever felt that there's no such place as home.
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May 15, 2024Ok this isn’t the best book in this BFI series, but it’s the most unconventional. The ending is actually fiction (lol!). Not sure if I recommend this, but he does make a compelling case for why the line “There’s no place like home” actually undermines the movie’s actual heart—that travelers have all that they need inside themselves
January 22, 2025
A critique of the movie, not the book: Salman gives his take and what it means to find 'no place, like home'. He concludes that home is where we make it. The critique points out symbolism in the movie which us, the viewer, may have overlooked while watching. There is a short story at the close about the auction of the Ruby Slippers, which is full fat Rushdie.
July 9, 2023
WOZ is one of my favorite movies, and I enjoyed this book. There’s so much material from the movie to write about. I did feel like I wanted more. I suspect Mr. Rushdie left a lot on the cutting room floor.
March 28, 2024
I love The Wizard of Oz, I love Salman Rushdie, but this combination does not add charm to either. This seems to have been written at a time of self-conscious intellectualism. Either way, I retain my love of both.
August 19, 2017
A fascinating read! A must read for fans of The Wizard of Oz or Rushdie!
January 4, 2019
I love the wizard of oz I probably have like 5 different versions of the wizard of oz
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