The definitive (though certainly not the only) film version of L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz was released in the summer of 1939, less than a month before World War II officially began. Though started as early as 1937, The Lord of the Rings was largely composed during the war years, but not published until somewhat later.
Therefore, it is by no means impossible that J.R.R. Tolkien saw the magnificent MGM movie before he wrote most of his magnum opus. Could Oz have influenced his tale somehow, consciously or unconsciously?
The Wizard of Oz vs. The Lord of the Rings | |
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Dorothy Gale |
Frodo Baggins |
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The Ruby Slippers |
The One Ring |
Shoes or ring, these apparently ordinary objects conceal a great yet undefined power that the protagonist must somehow keep from the desperately searching villain’s greedy appendages. | |
Toto |
Sam Gamgee |
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Almira Gulch |
The Ringwraiths |
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Professor Marvel |
Gandalf the Grey |
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Glinda the Good Witch |
Galadriel of Lorien |
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Wicked Witch of the West |
Sauron of Mordor |
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Scarecrow |
Legolas the Wood Elf |
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Tin Man |
Gimli the Dwarf |
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Cowardly Lion |
Aragorn the Ranger |
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The Wizard of Oz |
Saruman the White |
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Uncle Henry
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Bilbo Baggins
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Please note that ever since I was young, I’ve loved both stories and deeply respect their authors. As far as I know, this idea was first put forth by my glorious brother Dr. Aldo, largely as a joke, so blame him. Though the similarities are numerous and interesting, I believe it’s more likely due to the mythic archetypes both drew upon, than a case of Tolkien plagiarizing, especially considering that weird Jitterbug – Shelob thing.
It should be noted that other interpretations abound, at least about The Wizard of Oz. It is thought by some that L. Frank Baum wrote the original book as a political allegory concerning America in 1900. Dorothy, in this view, represents Everyman, with the Scarecrow as farm workers, the Tin Man as the urban proletariat, etc. The Yellow Brick Road represents the Gold Standard (“Oz” itself being the abbreviation for “ounce”) and the Wizard none other than William Jennings Bryan (!).
Or perhaps a mystical interpretation is in order. After all, Dorothy and Co. represent the human, animal, plant, and mineral realms. The spiraling Yellow Brick Road, the Emerald City, the “man behind the curtain”, even the Haunted Forest have all sorts of interesting kabbalistic implications.
Or maybe it’s all about drugs. Dorothy, a dweller of a dull monochrome land, gets knocked out by a flying window which, oddly enough, doesn’t shatter. The blow gives her visions of another world in dazzling technicolor — “windowpane” was a pure and highly potent form of LSD back in the early 1970s (long after the movie came out, though acid was first discovered in in the early 40s.) That’s not the only strange anachronistic connection, either: some people claim to have noticed certain peculiar musical synchronicities with Pink Floyd’s classic Dark Side of the Moon.
Maybe that’s a wee bit of a stretch, but it’s undeniable that it’s poppies that put Dorothy and friends to sleep before they reach the Emerald City, and “snow” that wakes them up again. And why do the horses there keep changing color, anyway?
As for Tolkien, he detested allegory and adamantly maintained that there was little parallel between the War of the Ring and the Second World War. The One Ring, he always insisted, was not the A-bomb, if only because the Bomb was ultimately used, and the Ring could never be. However, it is likely that only in a world graced with beings as wise as Gandalf and as pure as Frodo, would the Bomb not have been dropped.
Perhaps we should remember that The Lord of the Rings was not intended as a call for a holy war between East and West, either...
The Wizard of Oz * The Lord of The Rings
Plus a zillion other sites devoted to each.
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