Examples Of Stereotypes In The Wizard Of Oz

The classic movie, “The Wizard of Oz” could be perceive as a “queer film” in multiple aspects. For example, Judy Garland was considered a gay icon, the hidden eggs within the movie such as the concept of going “over the rainbow”, as well as the phrase “Are you a friend of Dorothy?”. More examples the movie being perceived as a queer film are Victor Fleming, the film maker, being rumored to be bisexual off screen, and the movie being widely adopted by the queer/gay community.

The Wizard of Oz had the intentionality to make fun of the common misconceptions and stereotypes of the queer community at the time. Also, the concept of “over the rainbow” was a hint of being in a place you can be able to be openly queer. This phrase has been adopted

For example, the lion portrays slight stereotypes of the queer community, often precent in film at the time, such as talking with a flourish or exaggerated speech, the bow in the mane, purring, limp wrist, a “sissy”, and seen as feminine who is “cowardly” and breaks out into song. Often the lion is flourish when singing such as when he sings the line “the Nerve” and pronounces “Ney-ve”. Usually, a lion is typically considered a strong animal so it is strange the lion is perceived as scared, feminine, and the lion feels he has to be masculine because he is a fearless lion. This represents an allegory of closeted people in the queer community. Dorothy is depicted in a similar way with wanting to leave her home to find a new home and the movie goes from black and white to colorful after going “over the rainbow”. This resulted in the phrase “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” meaning “Are you gay?” because of her being the lion’s friend and accepting those who are

An example of this is when Dorothy was trying to figure out what path to take on the yellow brick road and the scarecrow said, “some people go this way and some people go the other way” continuing, “of course you could go both ways”. This pays homage to the queer community and shows an effort to normalize the queer community. There are multiple hidden eggs/messages within the movie similar to this that are subtle and show the true intention and meaning of the film. The use of incidental music helps add to the subtle hints as well and adds context to the film for a deeper understanding of the intended