Last night in my Intro To Film class we watched Wizard of Oz so that we could write a paper on it talking about it's themes, motifs, and style of storytelling. I'm not going to talk about all that, instead I'm going to talk about something that was going through my mind while I rewatched this movie for another time in my lifetime; in this modern age of filmmaking when most movies seem to be getting remade, rebooted, reimagined, etc, could Wizard of Oz be remade, and should it? I think it's safe to say that we've probably all seen The Wizard of Oz, so I won't bother giving a summary on how the movie goes.
Now since the classic Julie Garland's Oz film was released, there has been many different Wizard of Oz films, but none were an actual remake of the classic film. We've seen other films sort of making a comical farce of Wizard of Oz where they make references to the film, but we never saw an actual remake. Whenever I watch a movie that's usually based on a source material like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Peter Pan, or Alice in Wonderland, I always imagine "What would I do differently?" to which I would imagine how I'd design costumes differently or how I'd pace this scene. I had this question going through my mind while I watched Oz and there were a few things I could've changed. I always thought the scene with Dorothy in Munchkin Land was too long. It's always when the Lullaby Guild shows up I always think to myself "Woah, this is still going?". I also would've maybe added more elements from the book, such as the scene where the Tin Man kills wild beasts. I also imagined I'd design characters like the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Lion differently.
So yeah there's ways The Wizard of Oz COULD be remade, but SHOULD it? To be honest, other than the points that I mentioned previous, I couldn't think of a reason the movie needs to be remade. Oz was one of those movies that is timeless even though it was made almost 80+ years ago. It's one those perfect movies. Now I have no doubt some studio will try to retell the story of Dorothy's adventures in Oz, and if that day ever comes I hope its directed by a director who knows his or her art and that the studio keeps their hands out of the way *COUGH*Fant4stic*COUGH*
But those are my thoughts.
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