Thursday, August 5, 2010

The Wiz: Out of the Heartland and Into the Urban Jungle

The Wiz dismantles one of the world's whitest movies (1939's The Wizard of Oz) and puts it back together again” (Stuever, N01). Baum’s story moves from the Kansas heartland to the beating heart of black culture, Harlem. Both the play and film versions of The Wiz follow a similar story line.  The biggest difference though, is that 34-year-old Diana Ross is casted to play an anti-social 24-year-old Kindergarten teacher rather than a younger teen star.  Other than that, Dorothy still meets a scarecrow, tin man, and lion, and the motley crew still travels the yellow brick “highway” in search of the great and powerful, Oz.  In both the physical and metaphorical sense, the journey of the four main characters in the movie, The Wiz is an allegory for black liberation, which at the conclusion of the civil rights movement, still had a long way to go to escape social tyranny, as demonstrated by the setting and characters.
            The 1978 screenplay of, The Wiz was written by Joel Schumacher using none of the original Broadway stage script.  It was directed by Sidney Lumet (who is known for films like 12 Angry Men, Serpico, and Murder on the Orient Express).  The original Broadway production that ran from 1974-1975 brought more critical acclaim than did its 1978 film successor.  Regardless of the film’s negative reviews, it did well to recognize that African-Americans, though experiencing liberation, were still imprisoned within the very context of the movie’s setting, urban New York City and/or what it represents.
            Prior to the Seventies, the civil rights movements of the 1960s superficially created winds of change.  There were indeed important victories within the movement that include Brown v. Board of Education, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.  (Affirmative Action: History and Rationale).   However, as monumental as the legislation was, it did not address the underlying, subtle prejudice that continued to plague minorities in the United States.  In describing the prejudice in the work place, in a report to President Clinton, his staff writes,
“In grocery and department stores, clerks were white and janitors and elevator operators were black. Generations of African Americans swept the floors in factories while denied the opportunity to become higher paid operatives on the machines.  [They], even if they were college-educated, worked as bellboys, porters and domestics, unless they could manage to get a scarce teaching position in the all-black school -- which was usually the only alternative to preaching, or perhaps working in the post office”  (Affirmative Action: History and Rationale).
             By using Harlem as the backdrop in the film, The Wiz, the allegory of the screenplay comes to life.  The expansive urban setting represents the newfound freedom experienced by African Americans, while at the same time acting as a prison to the African American dream.  Whereas, the backdrop of Kansas in the original 1939 film illustrates the “white” American dream, the urban setting of The Wiz gives wings to opportunity, while at the same time, acts as a cage for a bird just given its wings.  According to Elwood Watson, (author of Pimps, Wimps, Studs, Thugs, and Gentlemen: Essays on Media Images of Masculinity) “The Wiz suggests that African Americans carry the scars and the idea of racism in their bodies.  In the film Oz – New York City – constitutes an attempt to imagine a space where racism does not and thus, a space in which both opportunities for self-affirmation and upward mobility exist for African Americans.”
            Rather than upward mobility though, “…The Wiz, Harlem and other locations within New York City becomes a space than imprisons those such as Tinman, Cowardly Lion, Scarecrow, and Herman Smith/The Wiz” (Watson, 71).  Add to them, Dorothy, who in her search for self-affirmation is also imprisoned by this “space”, a metaphorical “prison”.  Dorothy begins her journey, in her 125th street apartment.  The apartment is bustling and filled with family celebrating Thanksgiving.  The occasion is jubilant and yet, Dorothy’s body language portrays her feelings of isolation and uncertainty.  In the song, “Can I Go On?” Dorothy, played by Diana Ross sings, “I don’t even know the first thing about what they’re feeling./  What am I afraid of?/  Don’t know what I’m made of./  Can I go on not knowing?” (Vocal pg. 6)  Her character is in fact “trapped” in her fear and naïveté and what appears to be a form of social anxiety.  This entrapment she feels is a metaphor for the isolation that urban minorities were feeling during the “supposed” time of “black” liberation.
            Once reaching the Land of Oz, Scarecrow, played by young Michael Jackson, is the first of Dorothy’s protagonist companions that she meets along her journey.  Like Dorothy, he is in restraints.  His prison is two-fold; both the pole that he is affixed to and the crows who act as his ward.  Scarecrow is unable to release himself from his prison.  Metaphorically, the “prison” is simply being born “black”.  Scarecrow cannot experience upward mobility suggested by the expansive backdrop of New York City because he is limited by the color of his skin.  Additionally, as Scarecrow resides in his “prison” or on the pole, he is mocked by the crows.  Scarecrow asks the crows for help to get down from the pole and they respond by saying, “Didn’t we tell you yesterday and the day before ‘dat and the day before ‘dat, you can’t get down?  This is your life buddy, all hung up.  Besides, Clyde, us crows are just thinkin’ of you.  They ain’t nothin’ to get down for” (The Wiz, DVD).  This illustrates the oppression felt by any minority group during the 1970s, specifically, African Americans.  The crows represent the “white” man, who at the time, held nearly all jobs of significance, all political positions, and all positions of authority and power.  To put it simply, there was “nothin’” for the “black” man to do.  The crows continue to batter Scarecrow with more oppressive statements.  They make him repeat the “Crow Commandments” which are: 1) “Thou shall honor all crows.”  2) “Thou shall stop reading all pieces of paper and literature.”  3) “Thou shall never get down off this pole” (The Wiz, DVD).  The crows, or the “white” man, demonstrate oppressive behavior by forcing Scarecrow to remain ignorant, in a sense, prohibiting a proper education, thus maintaining his predicament.  The famous quote by Sir Francis Bacon, “Knowledge is power”, is applicable to the very reason why the crows wanted to keep Scarecrow from reading the informative strips of paper that served as his “stuffing”, subsequently, acting as a metaphor to the knowledge he already has within himself.  Scarecrow responds to the crows in his song, “You Can’t Win” which reinforces the self-defeatism that accompanies oppression.
            As the journey continues, Dorothy and Scarecrow come upon Tin Man, played by well known comedian, Nipsey Russell.  They discover Tin Man trapped beneath a large, rotund statue of a woman, Teeny.  As it turns out, she was his most recent wife.  He had gotten lodged under her and was left behind during the closure of the amusement park in which he had once been employed.  As time passes for Tin Man, he becomes rusted and stiff and is unable to move beneath the colossal statue.  The two friends, Dorothy and Scarecrow, rescue the Tin Man by rolling the statue off of him and freeing him from his prison.  Upon his release, Tin Man shouts at the statue, “Rid of you!  Free from your posterior prison you hulking she-devil!” (The Wiz, DVD)  The statue, Teeny, is a metaphor for the prison of society’s expectations, or lack there-of, imposed on African American culture.  Tin Man dreams of breaking free of those ideals as he goes on to sing a number entitled, “What Would I Do If I Could Feel?”  The lyrics describe his inability to feel, his lack of a heart, and his desire to look inside himself and to like what he sees.  This is the African American dream; the ability to break free of the prison of self and society and reach one’s full potential. At the completion of the song, Tin Man, exasperated, reasons aloud, “Argh, I’m just a miserable hunk of junk.  Me, once the fastest metal mouth on the midway, frozen, ironically, in a position I had assumed all too often, a seat cushion for Teeny, Teeny, Teeny, Teeny…” (The Wiz, DVD).  The “prison” of his position as a “seat cushion” beneath Teeny, is a metaphor for the foundational role that slavery initially played in building the U.S. for the “white” man.  As a result of the civil rights movement, African Americans were looking for restitution or restoration for an equal place in society.  They wanted freedom from beneath the “seat cushion” of white males.
            Now a “trio”, Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tin Man follow the yellow brick highway in search of the Wiz.  What they find however, is an unexpected cowardly lion.  This lion, unlike the Middle-America lion from the original 1939 film version, is full of soul.  His name is Fleetwood Coupe de Ville, named after a 1970s luxury car (the “king” of the road).  The lion is also a king, the king of the jungle, yet he has not yet reached his potential.  The association between the lion and his name is a metaphor for the African American who fears success.  Speaking on the subject of “fear of success”, Fulton Oursler, (an American journalist 1893-1952) says, “Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.”  For the African American living at the conclusion of the civil rights movement, he/she lives between the oppression of the past and the possibility of the future.  The fear of success stems from fearing responsibility and living up to the expectations that success will bring.  The lion’s fear holds him back from fulfilling his place in the world, as king of the “urban” jungle.  According to Dennis Waitley, (Motivational speaker and best-selling author) “Success means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become the person you believe you were meant to be.”
            Determination is what drives the foursome forward and as the journey of the four unlikely friend’s draws to end, the characters all seem to find what it was that they were missing.  Scarecrow finds that he is intelligent and that he can win.  He has within himself the knowledge to seek out education and opportunity in a white male dominated world.  The Tin Man finds during his journey, that he can feel and that he is no man’s “seat cushion”.  In his self reflection, he now likes what he sees and can seek out his equal place in society.  The lion finds that he has had the courage all along.  The anxiety of exercising his courage is what had prevented him from reaching his full potential.  The unavoidable challenges and experiences that he faced once he decided to leave his safety net removed his fear of success and replaced it with courage.  And then there is Dorothy.  Even though she finds her way home at the end of the film, The Wiz ends without showing Dorothy back in her home, looking at the familiar faces of family as she lovingly recollects their involvement in her adventure, as the character does in the original Wizard of Oz film.  This lack of finality is a metaphor for the lack of completion of the civil rights movement.  The theme of the film is reinforced right up to the end.  As it remains, the road to equality has not ended.
            The Wiz, during its debut, represented everything that urban black culture was experiencing.  The expansive New York City backdrop for the film acted as a metaphor for “greater opportunity” for inner-city black culture while the personal “prisons” of the characters, Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the lion, illustrated the subtle prejudices and restraints still felt within the community.  More barriers needed to be destroyed so that the winds of change could truly give flight to the self-affirmation and upward mobility that the African American community needed to spread its wings and fly.



Works Cited
Clinton White House Staff, law from owning. "Affirmative Action: History and Rationale." Almanac of Policy Issues. N.p., 19 July 1995. Web. 14 July 2010.
Stuever, Hank. "Michael Jackson On Film: No Fizz After 'The Wiz'." Washington Post 30 Jan. 2005, Sunday ed.: N01. Print.
The Wiz. Dir. Sidney Lumet. Perf. Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Nipsey Russell. Universal Studios, 1978. DVD.
The Wiz: Vocal Selections From the 1978 Movie. Van Nuys: Alfred Publishing Co., Inc., 1999. Print.
Watson, Elwood. Pimps, Wimps, Studs, Thugs and Gentlemen: Essays on Media Images of Masculinity. North Carolina: Mcfarland, 2009. Print.


Works Consulted
Hischak, Thomas S.(Author). The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television [OXFORD COMPANION TO AMER MUSIC]. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2008. Print.

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