“Oz The Great and Powerful” is about his youth and how he is transported from the plains of Kansas to the land of Oz (which has the same name as himself - suggesting this is a tour of his psyche).
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It’s the story of Oz, the magician from the original 1939 movie who the characters went to in Emerald City. He’s told that this is the land of Oz, which is his name - suggesting this land will be a tour of his psyche. “Am I in heaven, where am I?” Oz asks when he first sees the witch Theodora (Mila Kunis). “Oz The Great and the Powerful” is a spiritual journey to correct one man’s twisting of the American Dream into an unhealthy ambitious obsession. So many of the best American stories are about the tension between individual ambition which the American dream stirs up - and the longing for being settled and part of a community. One can cast aside community, humility and “goodness” - important components of most spiritual beliefs.
The restless longing for success can be such an idol, and so consuming that one can lose perspective on what’s important. The upside of the American Dream is the longing for something more, to rise out of oppression and limitations.
In American literature, spiritual journeys are often about conquering the dark side of the American Dream. And in the movie “Oz the Great and the Powerful,” a magician named Oz ( James Franco) goes on the most American of spiritual journeys. The Oz books were children’s stories with American themes different than the European folk stories early immigrants brought to America.
(Photo Courtesy Walt Disney Pictures)įew books chronicle the American spiritual journey as well as Frank Baum‘s “Wizard of Oz” stories do. The movie is a spiritual journey that transforms Oz from a self-centered person into someone who is nurturing, innovative and who can be a helpful member of a community. In “Oz The Great and Powerful,” the young magician Oz (James Franco) finds himself in a magical land where he meets a series of characters who force Oz to spiritually mature.