Films and Sound, the perfect combination of two things that go hand and hand. Without the two we wouldn’t have amazing films like Star Wars, Marvel Movies, and other huge movie franchises. In 2017, people can’t seem to remember a time where sound wasn’t included in films; While people back in the 1900’s didn’t even constract the thought of sound yet, and see how huge it would be in the up and coming years to come. Sound films at the time were a new narrative strategies, defined in order to set certain patterns for future film genres. Especially in the 1930’s where everyone was experimenting with Hollywood musicals, The concept of Hollywood musical’s are all about film and sound/music coming together to make something huge. With film elements like mise-en-scene and music working together it can convey certain scenes that a silent film sometimes couldn’t. Based on a article “Musicals that were used in several different senses, especially in its weakest sense simplifies a film with a significant amount of diegetic music, which is music made by an on screen characters”. This is especially seen in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 1939 musical The Wonderful Wizard of Oz directed by Victor Fleming. This musical is considered one of the greatest film of all time, but why? Is it the color? Is it the Music? Or is it the amazing scenery? The answer is all of the above because The wizard of Oz is very diegetic unlike other films in the 1930’s era for example RKO’s musical Top Hat, and the gangster musical by Warner Bros studio called Footlight Parade.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is the studio where the it all began. as a studio it produced musicals that were all very much diegetic, meaning the actor or actress randomly breaks into song rather than it being planned. Under the leadership of the producer Arthur Freed, Metro made a succession of musicals that now looks like a campaign to keep people cheerful as wars during filming of these movies ended and darker threats loomed. When MGM produced The Wonderful Wizard of Oz it had so many things that make it very special, and it’s still very popular with anyone in pop culture today.
One major reason, The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz is considered one of the best films is because of it’s themes within the musical. Some Themes that it had were The Home, Coming Of Age, Courage, and The Journey/Exploration. Each theme gave something to the story and made the movie what it is today. The theme of The Home is important because well “There's no place like it, right?” Also it’s cause in the beginning of the film the Home becomes a bit of a double-edged sword in a way. First off it’s the place Dorothy wants to get away from so badly she sings one the most sung songs in the current century nowadays. In the film Home represents peace, comfort and safety, and where the people who love you want you back. Which is the prize Dorothy is looking for, it’s the thing that drives her on, and the thing she has to earn the right to return to. The Coming Of Age theme is something that’s seen in a lot of films in today’s generation so it wasn’t a surprize to find it here as a theme, but something interesting about the coming of age theme is that back then in the 1930’s, mostly male characters went through this journey; but in The Wizard Of Oz Dorothy a female is going through a coming of age story because not only is Dorothy pushing the story forward by helping out the Scared Crow, Tin Man, and Lion who were all played by men but she’s the one who goes through a major character development in the film, which is another element to why this film is so popular as well. This is especially seen when her dog Toto is threatened, Dorothy has to grow up and experience a little bit of what the world is like. It teaches her a few things about taking responsibility for her own destiny, And when she ends up back in her own room, she's is not the same little girl she used to be. She’s a little wiser and has a much better sense of who she is as a person.