It's Not Really About The Wizard, Is It?
 

by
Mike Casey

The Wizard of Oz is a movie that has captured the interest of generations of people.  Hence, the bizarre, fantastic nature of the content of the story presents us with a conundrum.  Why would this bizarre content be so appealing to the human psyche?

The thesis that we put forward in this essay is that The Wizard of Oz is a psychodynamic allegory for self-healing.  We will argue that Dorothy's journey is not just a fantastical dream that a little girl has when hit on the head.  Nor is it a simple chain of amusing but somewhat arbitrary dream events that serve only to teach Dorothy that there's no place like home or that home is the place to search for one's heart's desire, as Dorothy explicitly states on her return.  Rather, we will show that the seemingly arbitrary events and sometimes nonsensical dialogue can be given meaningful interpretation as a metaphorical exploration of Dorothy's recovery from harmful social and sexual encounters that lead her to dream of a place over the rainbow.

Since the ideas which must be entertained to understand this self-healing process are unappealing to many conscious minds (especially those which have not gone through this process or need it again), most people are able to enjoy exploring this very important facet of existence only through a layer of symbolism.

The psychodynamic ideas we use here are a part of a personal psychodynamic theory that we have been developing that borrows advantageously from any available source.  Surely the underlying premise, that people are predisposed to recognize metaphorical structure and are attracted to some types of it dates back at least to Freud.  We acknowledge that Freud and others have had some excellent insights into human nature, some of which we were doomed to rediscover in a way that parallels Dorothy's need to find out many things for herself while in Oz.  We only take credit for these rediscoveries in as much as our reconceptualizations prove better.

We are not claiming that The Wizard of Oz was intentionally a psychodynamic allegory and not a monetary allegory as is widely held. If it was intentionally a psychodynamic allegory, then that's fine. If it's known that it was intended to be a monetary allegory, then that still does not rule out the validity of our thesis since we would expect the author and film creators, as much as the audience, to find the story most appealing by the existence of this metaphor, and to have the creative process guided by it on some level.

This rings of a non-disprovable theory, and by the nature of metaphor, there is no way simple way around this shortcoming.  It may be possible, through detailed psychological testing, to verify that the reactions of viewers to various elements of the plot suggest unconscious processing consistent with the metaphor, but we clearly have not pursued this.  We hope that the detail and consitency of the metaphor will prove compelling enough to interest most readers.

The strongest evidence that we can provide is that while investigating this hypothesized analogy, there were many cases where the analogy predicted content of which I was unaware, and also that the analogy often makes sense of what seems to be nonsensical dialogue. If this analogy influenced the creation of The Wizard of Oz indirectly, that might make the following even more interesting since it would then be reasonable to infer that the analogy is very possibly more complete than any explicit psychodynamic theory of the day.  Since it would not have to explicitly fight through the authors defense mechanisms while becoming (incomplete) conscious theories of the process, the authors' dream like creativity could match interesting symbols to an excellent conceptualization of psychodynamics.  If rather than following the prescription of a psychodynamic theory, the specific characters, actions, attitudes, and other important structures of the movie merely resonated with a collection of subconscious beliefs held by the creators (which is arguably the trademark of a true artist), then by consciously untangling the symbolism we may be led to delicate insights into this emotionally difficult area of therapy that we could not approach directly.  Thus creating the possibility of a Wizard of Oz based therapy.

The allegory revolves around a collection of characters all being parts of the central character, Dorothy.  We will point out several lines of evidence that give this thesis credence.  The splitting of the individual can be drawn as follows.

Dorothy = The conscious self.  The door.  The Wizard of Oz is the story of her journey to a greater maturity.

The shattered self are those aspects of the self that develop during the journey into self-discovery:

Toto = The inner self.  The noncognitive or very limitedly cognitive sense of self.  The totem.  Professor Marvel claims that he and Toto are the same (both dogs) after Toto eats his hot dog.  So Toto, rushing in to chase the cat, is a reflection of Marvel chasing into Dorothy’s basket.  Dorothy loves Toto, which would be a reflection of the fact that she really wants Marvel to take her to that next sexual level. 

Scarecrow = The intellect or potential intellect.  In Oz, the intellect is mainly characterized by doubts centered around being smart enough to be a worthy member of society.

Tin Man = The emotions and emotional potential.  In Oz, the emotions are characterized by doubts centered around emotional capacity to be a self-realized individual.

Cowardly Lion = The courage necessary for standing up for one's self. In Oz, this underdeveloped potential expresses itself as bravado and fear - doubts of real courage.  It seems that the CL could be a reflection, in some way, of Miss Gulch’s cat (her pussy…).  So the Lion is Cowardly as a reflection of her fear of sex.

The magical characters in Oz, which are parts of the self that form bridges, but are eventually left completely in Oz, banished, or leave Oz, which is Dorothy's psychic battleground.

The Wizard and other characters played by the same actor = Predominantly, confusion, which alternatively will help and hinder Dorothy.  In Oz, the wizard is both a unifying force - the goal toward which Dorothy is driven since the path to self-discovery is lined with false goals - and a source of entropy - he sets up false barriers and sends them on what are, at first glance, arbitrary journies.

The Wicked Witch of the East = Denial.  She is killed when Dorothy arrives in Oz.  Her ruby slippers are the minor denial that Dorothy is given for her journey.  It’s possible that

The Wicked Witch of the West = Fear – maybe fear of becoming a woman.  If the broom is a symbol of a pubic hair (mature sexuality), then the WWotW, with her broom between her legs, is a green faced symbol of growing to sexual maturity.  Freud thought that flying was a symbol of sex.  Throughout the movie, the WWotW threatens Dorothy in many terrible ways (especially by threatening Toto), but she is seen to have no real power.  She is killed by water – water can be tears, or some other symbol of the subconscious. 

Glinda, The Good Witch of the North = Inner confidence and strength during her stay in Oz.

Songs always express doubts, real knowledge and a wish for things to be better.  Maybe the reason there are songs is that auditory reprocessing accompanies recovery.

Miss Gulch was after Toto for getting in her garden and chasing her cat.  This symbolizes the fact that the people in society that will do the most psychological damage to a person are the people with weak selves (the cats whom dogs chase, where the dogs are the strong, healthy selves - Toto also gets in her garden, showing that he is a threat to her sustenance).  Miss Gulch wants to destroy Toto because the weak selves are strongly self preserving and threatened by strong selves.

Dorothy's aunt and uncle, who provided her with a good upbringing and sense of reality, aren't trying to hear that society contains such sickness.  People are not generally aware of what is really troubling others.  Her upbringing has not taught her that this is what to expect from people, but it becomes clear (on some level) to all of us at some point that this is a fact of social existence.

Throughout the introduction, everyone is talking about how Dorothy needs to be careful and not hang around swine and have courage and be smart and have heart.  This represents the upbringing and social support that tells us how to be good and take responsibility for ourselves.  We will not be able to use this advice to avoid psychological problems, though we may be able to use it to win our "selves" back.

The scarecrow fails to get his thumb out of the way and it's hurt when the wagon falls.  They imply that it is his own stupidity that got him hurt - which is the same doubt that Dorothy must overcome.  In Oz, Dorothy will project her doubts onto the appropriate members of her social network.  When Hunk is telling Dorothy to use her head he hurts his finger again, symbolizing the dissociation between knowing what to do to not hurt oneself and actually hurting oneself.  Hunk shows that he is listening to Dorothy's situation when he says "When you come home, don't go by Miss Gulch's place.  Then Toto won't get in her garden, and you won't get in no trouble, see?" but Dorothy replies with "Oh, Hunk. You just won't listen, that's all."  She has already started projecting - Hunk is listening, and gave good advice, but Dorothy is not listening because what she's really complaining about is that Miss Gultch is attacking her psyche.  Since projection is a common element of neuroses, this can be taken as evidence that Dorothy is already in denial.  Hunk tells Dorothy that her head is not made of straw.  He wants to help Dorothy get a realistic view of her worth and qualities, but since she is already having psychological problems, she cannot find validation where she should.

This foreshadows the purpose of Dorothy's journey - she must get over her denial and then accept the good things in herself and excise the fears and confusions which society has given her, which requires that she enter into the world of her unconscious where she can explore the landscape of her shattered self.

Dorothy is attracted to the danger of walking along the fence.  She knows, on some level, that she will be faced with a journey that requires courage, so she practices her courage and skill by walking along the fence.  She falls.  Zeke saves her, but it is apparent that he does not have true courage.  He will be an appropriate persona onto which her bravado can be projected.

Hickory, the Tin Man, represents her doubt of social worth and compassion.  She has no confrontation with him at this point, but also doesn't ask his advice since improving how much she is loved doesn't seem like a viable option for avoiding trouble.

When Dorothy sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow she shows that she clearly knows that there is trouble ahead and that she will have to go to a strange far away place to solve the troubles, a place that the will alone cannot reliably deliver her (else you could get there by boat or car....).  To a place behind the moon (beyond sanity) beyond the rain (tears, which often lead to progress in Oz).  To a place where dreams come true and troubles melt like wicked witches - the unconscious.

Miss Gulch demands that she be given Toto.  Dorothy offers herself in place of her dog, since the conscious self (Self) has defenses where the core self does not.  Her aunt and uncle don't understand how important her core self is to her conscious self.  Dorothy says she'll bite Miss Gulch and calls her a wicked old witch - showing that she suspects that Miss Gulch has done damage to her psyche, inflicting her with undeserved fears.  Uncle Henry also suggests that Dorothy has bitten Miss Gulch, showing that he implicitly understands the harm that she is doing to Dorothy.  Miss Hutch owns half of the community, and she represents the unhealthy aspects of society.

The Self can't be separated for long from the core self, so Toto returns.  The Self needs to run away.  She runs to her confusion, the Wizard.  She has tried to fix the Self by relocating, by will, but this only leads her into an unhealthy sexual relationship that further confuses and damages her.

When are women sexually abused? When they're running away.  The Wizard first guesses that she's traveling in disguise.  He has unconsciously recognized that she is in denial.  Then that she's going on a visit. This seems to be an attempt to deny what he then admits to know. Namely, that she is running away.  He then falsely attributes adventurousness as the motive behind her escape.  Dorothy agrees and feels that he can see inside her.  She has ignired the fact that he's obviously a phoney (he slips up numerous times), and creates this intimacy that she needs.  The Wizard had been roasting a hotdog of all things on an open fire.  Toto eats it, and the Wizard forgives Toto: "As one dog to another."  Dorothy continues to ignore the fact that he is a phoney and believes that he is able to see into her past, present and future.  Wizard takes Dorothy into his room where there's a skull above the door. Dorothy will suffer a kind of emotional death.
 

When taking out the crystal ball, Professor Marvel mentions Osiris and Isis and Cleopatra and Marc Antony.

Osiris and Isis = "Theirs is a tale of passion, love, sorrow, betrayal, and forgiveness, the remembrance of love lost and found and lost again."

Cleopatra and Marc Antony = tragic love affair + betrayal.

The crystal ball in Kansas only works through a trick. While Dorothy closes her eyes the Wizard goes through her stuff.  He uses this stolen knowledge to make Dorothy feel closer to him.  He keeps the picture of her and Aunt Em (he has taken her nurturing?)  Professor Marvel mentions repeatedly how much Auntie Em cares for Dorothy. He says that Aunt Em ``is holding her heart and falling on the bed.''  In as much as we can identify Dorothy with Auntie Em (her upbringing), this means that Dorothy is holding her heart and falling on the bed. After Dorothy realizes that this is wrong and leaves, he goes out to tend to his horse.  He's reassuring the horse (his manhood?  Later it will be a horse of a different color, and he will be playing a number of different roles in the same context) that everything is going to be alright. Wizard: "Poor little kid, I hope she gets home alright."  He becomes more real to worry about how he's affected her - the mental quiet and clarity that sometimes follow an emotional event.

When Dorothy gets back over the bridge, the storm has begun.

She leaves in confusion, thinking that her link to reality (Auntie Em) is sick and might die, she tries to return home, but this new confusion makes it impossible for her to return.  She can go back physically, but can't find any familiar faces because she is going through a transformation, so the familiar faces have to become more fantastical to see.  While she is in Oz, she doesn't quite recognize that her doubts are familiar to her, though she knows it on some level.

The Wizard seems to represent Dorothy's belief that she should know more about what is going on than is fair (he is definitely a knowledge  symbol of some kind, and while his knowledge seems to be of a magical variety, it clearly is not - just as partially repressed beliefs often leak valid knowledge through the cracks of denial).  This belief that she should know more induces a psychotic confusion when confronted with the harsh reality of society, and this confusion must be overcome before she can regain her mental health through her trip to Oz.

Dorothy is crying out for Auntie Em when hit on the head and sent to Oz.  Important transitions in one's views of oneself are marked by highly emotional events.

Dorothy is screaming on her bed (more sexual imagery) when being transported from Kansas to Oz.

Her fears accompany her journey to Oz and Ms. Gulch becomes the wicked witch.  Her social fears are transformed into even more frightening fantastical fears.  Later she will predict that the Wizard was also frightened when he got lost in the sky and ended up in Oz.

Dorothy has to open the door (which she does quickly) and cross a bridge into this colorful new land.  Dorothy also crossed a bridge to see the Wizard and then to return to the farm.

Dorothy is realizing where she is.  When she sees the witch (who is to help her back to self-discovery, but doesn't know her from a witch because she is the little girl that is striving to regain herself) she accepts that she is no longer in Kansas.  The journey has begun.

The Wicked Witch of the East, who is killed when Dorothy lands in Oz is the denial that was keeping her from self discovery.  The Wicked Witch of the West is the unrepressed fear that she will have to work through.  (It's almost certainly a coincidence that the right hemisphere is typically associated with neuropsychological denial (hemineglect), while the left is associated with wild confabulation.)

Dorothy takes no credit for killing the witch.  One can't kill denial, she just gets killed.

Why didn't Glinda know that Dorothy wasn't a witch?  Maybe because she knew that she was only a temporary guest, and witches represent transient helpers and hinderers....  Why did Glinda listen to the munchkins?  I guess those little thougths and feelings are all we have when we enter a new stage of self.

The munchkins are the myriad little thoughts and feelings that are freed when the first denial is killed.  Dorothy is their champion. The death of the first denial is a great triumph for the will, but requires some getting used to (time spent in ritual recognition that the denial is undeniably and most sincerely dead).  When the mayor munchkin wanted to regally welcome her, the other munchkins started complaining that it had to verify that the witch was dead.  Baby munchkins are hatched (later, the scarecrow says ``my thoughts were busy hatchin'....'').  Munchkins are left to play, grow and take care of business in the unconscious once the self is re-established.

The Lullaby League (why do they read their  little speech?  There are only about ten words  in it.)  and  the Lollipop Guild.....  Hmmm.   I guess it's the  feminine and the masculine both showing that they are friendly parts of the unconscious.

From now on you'll be his..., you'll be his..., you'll be history. You'll be a bust, be a bust, be a bust, in the hall of fame.  More sex and victim of sexual abuse allusions.

Glinda: ``This is the wicked witch of the West. She is worse than the other one.''  Fear is worse than denial in some ways.  Glinda encourages Dorothy to get out of Oz as soon as she can, since it causes damage to live in fear with a disjointed self for long - one becomes unnecessarily and unproductively fear conditioned when they live in fear.

The witch goes after the ruby slippers after the Good Witch directs her to them.  Is this to show Dorothy that she cannot really be hurt by the Wicked Witch?  Or just to attract the Wicked Witch to her?

Glinda knows that Dorothy will need to face her fears to recover.  The ruby slippers are a minor denial - the good denial that gives Dorothy time to explore this strange new land while her Self is recovering to the point that she can stand on her own two feet.  If the wicked witch can get ahold of them, then she can keep Dorothy in denial, but once the first denial is dead, there's no getting those ruby slippers back. Why else would the ruby slippers be teleported to Dorothy's feet?  Why would the Wicked Witch care about them?  If fear and anxiety can create denial, then the Self will remain unhealthy.  When the slippers are removed from the wicked witch of the East, she totally disappears as denial should when it is transformed into minor denial.

The good witch tells the wicked witch that she has no power here. Fear has no real power.

Glinda says that the Wizard is the only one who might know how to get back.  She knows that Dorothy needs hope and goals in order to recover.  At the end she admits that she knew all along that Dorothy could have returned right away using the slippers, but Dorothy also knows that she must undo some damage while she is here, and hence needs a concrete goal and hope to help her get there. Dorothy is also unwilling to let Glinda tell all she knows without having personal growth upon which to base her new understanding and change of heart and image of self.
So Dorothy is doomed to follow the yellow brick road of her own creation.

There is a gay postcard that says "We're not in Kansas anymore." People have taken this phrase to mean that a strange new sexual thing is going on.  (The yellow brick road to self discovery.)  Yellow brick because it's not truly the golden path.  It, like the psychological journey, is a false necessary route to the path back to mental health. Maybe just overcoming an outdated biological heuristic for keeping our conscious world models useful.  The good witch tells her to just follow it.  There are no other instructions because Glinda knows it just takes time.  When one asks oneself what to do while existing in the unconscious, one knows that it just takes time and so stops asking.  Maybe it's upbringing that gives Dorothy the knowledge that will be portrayed as Glinda.

Munchkins ``...if ever a wiz there was.''  If.

The Emerald City is a genuine place of value, where Dorothy can get some of the things that she needs for her recovery.

The scarecrow is the first companion that joins her.  Dorothy doesn't recognize him as a real person at first, because she has been in denial and doesn't recognize her doubts.  "How do you talk if you haven't got a brain?"  Dorothy is recognizing that the Straw Man is part of her and doesn't have an intellect apart from her.  Straw Man falls apart - symbolizing the fracturing of Self that Dorothy is experiencing.  Intellectually she has no problem with this, and he joyfully stuffs his stuffing back in to become whole again.  Dorothy first frees her doubt that she is smart enough to get herself out of this.  He can't scare crows, so he's not a real scarecrow - he's trying to show that he's not a real worry.  Scarecrow is the potential wisdom that Dorothy will gain through her trip into the unconscious. He can't think.  She can't think.  She knows she can't figure out how to get herself out of this (and therefore Glinda knows it, the scarecrow knows it).  But if we take this as meaning that she knows that she can't think her way out of this, then that means that there is still unconscious knowledge.  So is Oz really her unconscious, or is it just some kind of psychic battleground?

Scarecrow is disappointed that he doesn't scare her and that he doesn't scare crows.  This represents the fact that intellectualizing isn't a fundamental motivator that will change feelings.  It's just a companion along the way.  Her intellectualizing doesn't protect her corn, it just attracts crows (worries, bad people...) and gives them an opportunity to laugh in her face.  Why a scarecrow?  Crows are little smart ass thoughts or maybe smart ass inner selves, which should be kept from doing damage to the Self by being smart enough to keep them from forcing you to doubt your self worth.

Scarecrow: "I'm a failure because I haven't got a brain."  The central misconception - that intelligence will get him out of this.  "His head full of stuffing, and his heart full of pain."  Remember in the beginning that Hunk told Dorothy that her head wasn't full of stuffing.  Again, this suggests that he is part of her, and so he is reconizing that her heart is full of pain.  It turns out, he's not going to be smart at the end (gets the Pythagorean theorem wrong), so that's not the real solution.  He says he'd confer with the rain (he'd be able to theorize about tears).  Dorothy says he'd be another Lincoln (symbol of freedom) if he had a brain.  In his song, he never connects what his brains would do to make him successful as a scarecrow, and is surprised when Dorothy (who doesn't know what she's talking about) thinks that all of the thinking would make him a better scarecrow.  He's full of doubts.

``If ever a wever a wiz there was, the Wizard of Oz is one because..., because, because, because..., because of the wonderful things he does.'' Attempting to reassure themselves?  He's defined in terms of his deeds?

Dorothy tries to pick the apples - she tries to accept the first nourishing thing that comes along - but finds that it's not that easy. The wicked witch has set a trap for her - her fears have (behind the scenes) taken something that should be good and turned it into a frustrating situation.

Tree: "How would you like to have someone come along and pick something off of you?"  Once again there is an identification (the tree asks her to put herself in his shoes) of an entity in Oz with her.  She is frustrated that society has come and taken bits of her away.

The trees obviously care more about being wanted than about their apples (because they get upset when the scarecrow insults their apples and throw their apples when taunted), but they can't enjoy being wanted.  The trees are frustration, but they ultimately provide some food at the price of having it thrown at them.  This is saying that in the unconscious there are frustrations and interacting with them will get you a little something, but at a price.

The scarecrow shows her how to get apples.  He doesn't have a brain, but he knows some things around Oz.  As Dorothy meets up with the parts of her psyche, they aid her through there apparent weaknesses since they represent unfulfilled potentials within her.

Dorothy runs into her second companion.  The Tin Man is the one without a heart.  He's Dorothy's doubt that she is a good enough, selfless, caring enough person to be worthwhile.  Like the scarecrow, he needs to be set free.  He rusted solid one day a long time ago - probably when Dorothy shed her tears about being abused by society and went into denial.  Dorothy immediately concludes that he's perfect (because she doesn't realize that she has compassion problems, and wants to attribute more health to herself than she deserves) and he explains that he doesn't have a heart.  He wants to be a citizen of a whole good world, a part of a whole good self if he only had a heart. He's not sure the wizard will give him a heart, once again expressing doubt.

The wicked witch tries to steal her new defenses, which also protect one another (tin man puts out the fire thrown at scarecrow).

Dorothy feels like she remembers them, because she remembers being a more complete person before going into denial.  They always sing together without practice.  (Standard thing to happen in a musical, but also gives the impression that they're deeply connected.)

Back into the forest.  Scarecrow: "it's going to get darker before it gets lighter."  More unconscious knowledge.

Maybe trees are always frustration.  Dorothy hides behind a tree when the Lion is threatening Scarecrow and Tin Man.  The Tin Man chops trees.  Compassion removes frustrations, since caring for and understanding of others allows for resolution of the damage that they've done to you.  Brains has a tough go of removing unconscious frustrations because one can't reason much with the frustrating elements of society.  Courage is similarly unable to chop down trees.

Enter Lion, of Lions and Tigers and Bears (they knew the Lion was coming).  The Lion is her false bravado that thinks she doesn't need her brains and her heart.  Another dumb mechanism that needs to be overcome.  Again, he's a false threat.  Dorothy comes out from behind a tree and stands up to the lion when he goes after Toto, her core self.  This represents the threat to a full recovery that false bravado engenders.  Lion says there's "no {\bf denyin'} that he's just a dandy lion."  The fragments of Self are full of doubts.

Lion: ``Wouldn't you be degraded to be seen in the company of a cowardly lion?  I would.''  The lion identifying himself with all of them by putting himself in their shoes.  Again, they all cooperate very closely as they leave and sing because they are to be parts of a whole.

Wicked witch sees them through her crystal ball.  (What's the crystal ball all about?)  What The next trap that her fears set for her is something pretty, soothing to the smell and poisonous (according to the wicked witch) - poppies.  Rebuilding the Self is hard work, which can be poisoned by fears - leading to depression.  It puts Dorothy and Lion to sleep, but not Scarecrow or Tin Man.  What does this mean? Snow (cooled rain) wakes them from this sleep.

Witch tries: Frustration (talking trees) = anxiety, throws fire at straw man and tries to split them up = ?, and finally puts them to sleep = depression, before they make it to the emerald city.

When approaching the Emerald city, they are once again put to sleep. It's premature to find recovery just yet.  Glinda appears to show Dorothy that it's all good.  This little pitfall has rusted her heart again, but she has the oil now.  Only her intellect remained untouched by the evil spell.  What was the evil spell all about?

Song: Step out of the woods, you're into the light.

The guy at the gate: ``Who rang that bell?''  They are standing right there....  Nonsense gets you in - bell out of order, please knock. Knocking is more forceful?  They are asking sensible questions (if you've never seen the wizard, how do you know there is one?), but he says "you're wasting my time." - a typical denial response.  It's a misunderstanding (again) which she eventually gets past once it is seen that Dorothy was sent by Glinda as proved by the fact that she is wearing the Ruby Slippers.  Dorothy still needs some denial to get into the city.  (Otherwise her confusion would create too much anxiety?)

The guy at the gate, the horse of a different color driver and the wizard's gate keeper are the wizard.  Layers of deceit.  They alternate between keeping her out and helping her along.

What's the horse of a different color?  Because the horse is the wizard man's manhood, it must change since the man is changing.

She can see the Wizard after getting freshened up.  Why are they all cleaned up in the Emerald City?  Dorothy: "Can you dye my eyes to match my gown?"  Asking if they can make her see what she knows she is.

Everyone has fun in Emerald City.  Is this symbolic of humor as a more refined coping mechanism?  It's protected from the bad parts of the unconscious.  The best the witch can do is leave smoke trails in the sky.  "Who's Dorothy?  The Wizard will know!"  What's that all about? Why don't they know Dorothy?  Why ask the wizard?  She still doesn't know herself and in the Emerald city the Wizard has them all fooled into thinking that he knows what's going on.  Dorothy thinks that she should know more about what's going on.  She thinks that the Wizard knows.

Once again, Dorothy tries to bolster up her courage (the lion sings). Obviously, she still doesn't have genuine courage.  The Lion sets himself up for "What have they got that I ain't got?"  "Courage." "Exactly.  (Zoink!)"

Gate guy: ``Nobody can see the Wizard.  Not nobody not no how.'' Double negative.  He says to go away. Her defense mechanism takes pity on her now and lets her in to see the Wizard.  The crying was too much for her final defense mechanism.  When she started crying she remembered Auntie Em and Kansas and Professor Marvel.  Sorrow is one way to overcome her defenses.  He had an Aunt Em himself (because he's part of her).

The Lion says he wants to go home when they meet the Wizard because he's part of Dorothy.

The Wizard knows why they are there.  All of them.  Even though he represents her confusion, he knows what Dorothy's needs are.

Her confusion (the wizard) turns all of her doubts into fear.  Are there other connections between her doubts and fears?

When the Wizard knocks down her courage, she stands up for herself. Wizard says she still needs to prove herself worthy (feelings of unworthiness are common after a bad sexual experience) even though it has nothing to do with her eventual return.  Her self doubts are still sending her on false journeys, but, like Glinda, he reassures them that they'll get what they want (which implies that he knows they won't be killed).  Dorothy knows on some level that she needs to steal the broomstick from her fears or else she'll still be tormented by them.

Armed with a bunch of new weapons, they head off toward the witch's castle.

"I'D TURN BACK IF I WERE YOU."  Has Id in it....  The witches castle is the stronghold of fear, and the Id feels fear.

Tin Man doesn't believe in spooks (``That's ridiculous!  That's silly!''), but in this world, spooks are real.  He's lifted into the air and dropped, but not really hurt.  Why are spooks real here?  What powers do fears (the wicked witch) have over doubts (specifically, doubts of having socially worthwhile emotions)?  Fear can't do much to brains, and overwhelmed courage, so emotions are what's left?  Why did her doubted emotional self worth not believe in spooks?

The flying monkeys are like the evil counterparts of the munchkins. The unconscious is a big place and doesn't discriminate much between the good little thoughts and feelings and the bad little thoughts and feelings.  But the flying monkeys aren't really bad - they're just minions of fear.

The witch reassures the monkies that Dorothy+ won't cause them any troubles.  The flying monkies are overwhelming fear and confusion and Dorothy+ does little to combat them when she is overwhelmed (they've also lost their new tools by the time the monkies get there).  Her smarts take the worst beating from the flying monkies.  Dorothy is captured, and all she wants is her little dog.  She'll go back into denial to save Toto, but it's not up to her.  She can't volunteer to go into denial.  The witch says "I should have remembered." which implies that the witch knows how the Ruby Slippers work.  What does this mean?

The witch says "These things must be done delicately, or you hurt the spell."  What does that mean?  Maybe the spell is Dorothy's process. The witch is also a part of Dorothy, and therefore never does anything to actually hurt her.  Fears are enemies, but there is the reality which underlies them that makes them partners in recovering the true self.

What would it mean for Dorothy to be killed?  The fact is that the wicked witch would have no use for the ruby slippers if Dorothy were killed.  So maybe deciding that these things must be done delicately is a post hoc rationalization for not killing Dorothy (the witch is part of Dorothy and cannot kill herself).  If the witch could get the Ruby Slippers from Dorothy, that would represent her unconscious fears overwhelming her, forcing her into some kind of emotional foreclosure.

Toto escapes, and for some reason (because the self can only threaten, never kill the self) the witch gives Dorothy time to live.  Dorothy is reminded of her upbringing to comfort her and encourage her away from harm.  Dorothy is in a bad situation.  She has lost her core self (Toto) and starts to cry.  This leads to one of the scariest scenes in the movie is where Dorothy is frightened and crying and wants to return to reality, and reality wants her back as she sees when she peers into the witch's crystal ball to find Aunt Em.  When involved in working through the unconscious, peering into the real world is a terrifying thing (which is why she still needs some denial).  When Dorothy tries to connect back to reality, her fears return to mock her.

Many of Dorothy's pitfalls are dealt with through crying, which always seems to lead to some resolution.  Much in the same way that oiling the Tim Man unloosens him, but when the Tin Man cries it has the opposite effect and he stiffens up.

Dorothy is locked up and needs to be rescued by the parts of herself which have joined her on this journey (her compassion, brains, and courage), and they rely on one another to get past the fear induced defenses.  Dorothy still doesn't have direct courage.  Dorothy needed to become unfamiliar with her new disjointed self before freeing herself.  Her three companions overpower the guards and get into the castle unrealistically easily unless we see this as part of the metaphor - the castle and guard are all part of Dorothy's psychosis, but her psychoses are apparent, rather than actual, barriers.  (The wicked witch is in this category....)  Toto is the one who leads the other three to Dorothy.

Once again it's the Scarecrow that figures out the situation and drops the lights on the guards.

The wicked witch had a false reign and was killed by water, which could be a symbol for tears.  When Dorothy fights for her self to save her brains, she obliquely kills her fears with symbolic tears.  What does it mean when the witch says ``what a world...'' and complains that a little girl could destroy her beautiful wickedness?  Maybe this just serves to boost Dorothy's ego - though it's still too early for this to produce full recovery.  Dorothy killed the witch, but again, Dorothy denies doing it on purpose.  The will is not able to kill fears directly.  Fear is in some ways more dangerous than denial since there is a connection with consciousness but not a comfort and easy access since there is also emotional pain.  Maybe this connection is represented by the fact that Miss Gultch turning into the wicked witch was the only bridging image between Kansas and Oz.

The Wizard asks why they have come back.  Why?  They stand up to the Wizard now.  She's no longer in denial and has faced her fears.

The little timid self (Toto) reveals the final deception.  When he admits that he's the Wizard, Dorothy says she doesn't believe him! She's looking right at him and she doesn't believe him!  Scarecrow calls him a humbug.  He admits that he is.  She then says he's a bad man, he says he's a good man but a bad wizard.

The doubts are all seen to be deluded and are made whole with only superficial (all completely social!) changes (except the scarecrow, since he still does the math wrong..., which implies that you might come out wiser and more self-confident in one's intellect, but not necessarily smarter.)

When giving the scarecrow his diploma, ``Universitas Committiatum E Pluribus Unum.''  The university committee of one from many.  The social institution that creates one from many has the power to heal....

The wizard says the Lion is merely confused.  "You are under the unfortunate {\bf delusion} that simply because you run away from danger you have no courage."  He is confusing courage for wisdom.

Wizard to Tin Man: "A heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." Her doubts have been created by social mistreatment, but the wizard fulfills their potential by giving them social grounding.

A woman will first blame herself, and then the man and finally willaccept that she can return anytime she chooses because it's not her fault.

The Wizard admits that he is just a guy from Kansas who got lost one day.  He was scared when he got lost (this says that Dorothy was scared as she created the confusion that placed him in her unconscious - and she's the one who asked him if he was scared - she knows on some other level that she's not going to become aware of that he was a part of her).  They wanted to call him a Wizard, and he didn't protest. Dorothy thinks that, on some level, he is the one who got her into this, so she thinks he can get her out of it.

``Technically unexplainable journey into the stratosphere!''  Again, it's a mysterious process....

The social route to validation is pretty sketchy....  Later on Dorothy will accept that she must validate herself - she need look no further than her own back yard.

Wizard: "Return to the land of E pluribus unum'."  "One from many."  A final solid bit of proof that they all understand that they are one.

Maybe children, with their less well developed sense of self, are more attuned to unifying distinct individuals while building up their little empathy engines.

She doubts that there's anything in that bag for her because she doubts or realizes that her problems aren't so easily solved.  She needs her whole reality back, not just confidence in part of herself - she has already received that three times over.  She tries to go back to reality with her confused affection toward her image of the man who gave her the sexual issues, but Toto gets her away from him (whew!) and the wizard takes off without her.  He can't return because he doesn't know how it works - once she escapes the confusion, she cannot return to it and it cannot return to her.  All of her issues resolved, she need only desire to return to reality.  Glinda returns to reassure her that she knows what is going on. Glinda knew that Dorothy wouldn't have believed her if she had told her that she was capable of returning to Kansas anytime.  Finding this shit out for oneself is the way it works.  Dorothy realizes that she never really left - which would mean that she knows that she's been herself the whole t me.  So how does that work with the whole fractured self thing?  That she's accepted Oz as part of reality?

Tapping the heels of her small denial and wanting to return breaks the spell (denial) and returns her to reality.

She's shocked, not happy to see the Wizard, but happy to see the farm hands.

Aunt Em: "We dream lots of silly things when we...."  Dorothy interrupts ``No Aunt Em!  This was a real, truly live place!''

"Of course we believe you...."  Mass denial (which implies understanding on some level) of the fact that we disappear into ourselves like this when hurt.

Dorothy: "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard because, if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with."  If she ever needs validation (her heart's desire) again, she'll look to her own back yard (herself) for it because if she can't provide it then it's nowhere to be found (society can't provide it).  (She doesn't deal with the fact that the world is a messed up place.  See Wild at Heart for that.)

And if that doesn't convince you, why would you feel like the movie is over when she gets back from Oz?  Isn't that old Miss Gultch still out there?