She embarks on a quest to find The Wiz to help her get home to New York City. Along the way she befriends the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion who join her in her quest.
Dorothy represents Everyman; the Tin Woodman is the industrial worker, the Scarecrow is the farmer, the Cowardly Lion is William Jennings Bryan, the Wizard is the President, the munchkins are the "little people" and the Yellow Brick Road is the gold standard. Toto probably represents a dog.
Dorothy declares she just wants to get home to Aunt Em. Miss One urges her to follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City and seek the help of the powerful "Wiz" ("He's the Wiz").
“The Wiz” is full of symbols and associations, obvious and obscure, that relate to crucial aspects of the black experience and culture. The main themes running through the show are slavery and emancipation, the black church and religion, the great black migration from rural south to urban north.
However, a Motown singer and personal friend of Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, also wanted the role of Dorothy. Despite her manager Berry Gordy's discouragement, she managed to convince the film's exec producer, Rob Cohen, to arrange a deal where he would produce the film if she was cast as Dorothy.
Stephanie Mills on Playing Dorothy in OG 'The Wiz', Why Diana Ross Was Cast for the Film (Part 1)
Did Michael Jackson idolize Diana Ross?
He idolized Ross, and some have said he even tried to emulate her. "Raising children was the most important role Michael Jackson believed he had, and to put down that Diana Ross would replace his mom, you can't have any greater honor," said Stacy Phillips, a family attorney not working for the Jacksons.
But even with Diana's hints and gentle let downs, in Michael Jackson's naïve mind, he and Diana were in a relationship and he had hopes that they would ultimately be together. In 1983, Michael Jackson once said in an interview, 'Diana Ross is everything you could wish for, I love her. I hope she marries me.
Both the film and stage productions of The Wiz have one common theme – they highlight the perseverance of Black people in adversity and they're a rallying call for racial liberation.
Scholars who interpret The Wonderful Wizard of Oz as a political allegory see the Emerald City as a metaphor for Washington, D.C., and unsecured "greenback" paper money.
The main Oz characters in The Wizard of Oz are all counterparts of Dorothy's family and other Kansas characters as a way to emphasize that she is dreaming throughout the film. This is an essential aspect of the 1939 movie, but this isn't the case in The Wiz.
Dorothy wants to return to Kansas, but to do so, she must travel to the Emerald City to ask the help of the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy sets out on this challenging journey protected by the Witch of the North's kiss. In the first part of the journey, Dorothy finds traveling companions.
In the movie, Dorothy gets knocked out by a flying window during the cyclone scene. She eventually lands in Oz but by the movie's end, she wakes up in her bed with her family surrounding her. This reassures the viewer that the whole ordeal was simply a dream. In the book, however, there is no dream.
While the grass often looks greener on the other side, Dorothy soon learns that beneath the emerald majesty of Oz, there is no place like Kansas. Dorothy realizes that she does not need the Wizard to send her home; she holds the power all along to go back to the place she was born and the people she loves.
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy, an ordinary girl from the Midwest, becomes an extraordinary heroine, freeing the enslaved victims of the Wicked Witches. During her journey, she makes friends with unforgettable friends, and she has adventures.
Dorothy Gale (Kansas and Oz): A sweet, innocent young lady with a streak of boldness, outspoken and headstrong, who dearly loves her family, friends and dog, Toto; Lives on a farm in Kansas with her Aunt Em & Uncle Henry, but dreams of escaping to a far-off place where she will not get into trouble.
They picked up the Lion and returned him to the witch's palace. The monkeys refused to harm Dorothy because she had the mark on her forehead left from where the Good Witch had kissed her.)
This represents, again, how the main focus of The Wizard of Oz is on the people of America. Further into this interpretation, according to Littlefield, The Wicked Witch of the West is a representation of the Great Plains, and how hard it was for Americans to make a living there.
The film was not well-received by critics. Many critics found the film to be too different from the original Wizard of Oz, and criticized the casting of Diana Ross as Dorothy. The film was expensive to make. The Wiz had a budget of $24 million, which was a lot of money for a film at the time.
What is significant about the things The Wiz gives to Scarecrow Tinman and Lion?
As such, he offers his gifts allegorically. In giving these gifts he acknowledges that, through their trials and tribulations, what Dorothy's companions are seeking was always within themselves. During their adventures, the Scarecrow had admirably shown his brains, the Tin Man his heart and the Lion his bravery.
It was not about Lady Diana. It was about certain kinds of girls that hang around concerts or clubs, you know, they call them groupies. I've lived with that all my life. These girls…they do everything with the band, everything you could imagine.
Jackson credited the “Godfather of Soul” James Brown as his major influence. Jackson grew up watching his idol on television and loved the singer's moves, which he thought were effortless, and his style. We can see where Jackson got some of his moves.
What did Diana Ross say when Michael Jackson died?
“I can't stop crying, this is too sudden and shocking. I am unable to imagine this,” Ross said at the time of his death. “My heart is hurting. I am in prayer for his kids and the family.”
