Fiction Friday (142)

 

I'm lucky enough that my child is now album to listen to a novel every now and then at bedtime. Sometimes she amazes me with how well she retains the story. The best part is that I get to read some of the children's novels that I've always wanted to read. Last year we read a few of the Oz books and they are delightful. Recently picked up this Baum book that isn't Oz related, though the characters from this book eventually find their way to Oz and have other adventures outside.

The Sea Fairies by L. Frank Baum

Reilly and Lee, 1911

Nobody has ever met a mermaid and lived to tell the tale, or so Cap'n Bill tells his child friend, Trot. She doesn't believe the old sea captain. While the two are on a short boat trip, she is proven correct by when several brightly colored mermaids come to the surface and invite them to visit their underwater kingdom.

The ocean, it turns out, is populated with imaginative beings that one might encounter in Baum's Oz books or in a flooded Wonderland. As with both of those worlds, this one is the kind that takes a resourceful, brave girl to navigate safely through. 

This book is fun for any Baum fan, but unless your a die-hard, or a completist, stick with the first few Oz titles. Trot and Cap'n Bill would eventually star in two other Baum novels, and eventually visit the Oz series with book nine, The Scarecrow of Oz. 

Fiction Friday (105)

My daughter will turn 5 years old tomorrow, and one of the things that I'm really pleased about as she gets older is that I can actually read novels to her and she is engaged. A few months ago, we embarked on reading the Oz books, which I'd always meant to read but never had. Now I'm totally hooked. These books have earned their place in children's literature and right up there with the best of fantasy classics.

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger
(North South, 1999)

Everyone knows the tale of the young Kansas girl who gets caught in a twister and is transported to the fantasy land of Oz. While the movie version follows the book fairly faithfully, the book is slightly different, most notably the slippers are silver and not ruby.

The cast of characters are delightful. The Scarecrow who desires a brain, though he's always the most sensible. The Tin Woodman who desires a heart, but is always caring. And the lion who is hardly as cowardly as he believes himself to be. Together, this band of lost souls is able to free the enslaved people of OZ.

This is an interesting edition, illustrated by one of the finest illustrators of the last 30 years. She brings a unique perspective to the story, having never seen the film, or the original illustrations. 

Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Illustrated by John R. Neil
(Reilly & Britton, 1907)

The third book in the Oz series (originally 11 stories), was the basis for the 80's Return to Oz film. This story finds Dorothy back in the fantasy world, this time the Land of Ev, a neighboring kingdom to Oz. She is reunited with old friends the Scarecrow, the Lion, and the Tin Woodman, and some new friends like the copper mechanical man named Tic Tock. 

Dorothy joins her friends, and Ozma, the current ruler of Oz, on an adventure to the underground kingdom of the Nome King to free the Queen of Ev. 

This novel shows Baum's growth as a writer. Far more comfortable with the children's format, the story moves at a pace that is far more entertaining. I was completely enchanted with this book and can't wait to read the rest of the original books.

Eternal Oz

With the new animated Oz film releasing this past weekend, it seemed time to pay tribute to one of the truly under appreciated films of my childhood, 1985's Return to Oz. This is a film that I still watch periodically and it holds up incredibly well. The striking thing about it is that the movie is extremely dark. In the recent Entertainment Weekly they had an article about how it inspired nightmares in an entire generation, but when I saw it as a child, rather than being afraid, I was fascinated by the darkness.

It has a completely opposite mood than the original film, which is relevant from the very beginning where we find Dorothy in a Kansas mental hospital undergoing shock therapy in an attempt to rid her of lingering "fantasies" concerning Oz. Nobody believes her tales of the adventure she lived through and the adults try to cure her of what they consider a wild imagination. It's a powerful and realistic portrayal of imagination being treated as a disease and a child's determination to hold onto what she knows to be the truth.

When she finally returns to Oz, Dorothy finds a much-changed land. The place she knew has fallen on dark times. The Emerald City lies in ruins, overrun by evil gangs of Wheelers and populated by headless inhabitants who have been turned to stone. In a way it reflects the contemporary feeling of the time that cities were dangerous places on the decline. 

The best part of the movie is Dorothy, played by an actual child, the mesmerizing Fairuza Balk. Through it all, she faces adversity with the a frustrated determination reminiscent of Alice in the Wonderland books. It's one of the benchmark movies in the development of my imagination, as is the original. And while it may be blamed for terrorizing a generation of children, for me it remains one of those formative films that stuck with me. As the new movie gets panned by critics, may I recommend a different journey to Oz and suggest that you give this film a try. As a bonus, you don't have to go to the theater, and as we all know, there is no place like home when it comes to escaping into imagined lands.

Return to Oz

 

The other day, I set off down the yellow lined road to journey once more to the merry old land of Oz. Despite the lackluster reviews, I still wanted to see this movie, especially since I'm currently working on the crucial "transition" scene in my own story and wanted to see how this movie handled the switch from Kansas to Oz. I also believe that Sam Raimi is a director with an interesting point of view and was curious to see how he would imagine this world.

There were a lot of things I thought this movie did well, and some that didn't quite work. I absolutely loved the final showdown in the Emerald City. I thought the scarecrow army was amazing, and the China Girl was fantastic. I also enjoyed the silly jokes and even the simplification of motives, especially between the witches. I think these all worked in creating a children's movie that children would enjoy. As an adult, you look at this movie differently, comparing it with the magic you felt watching The Wizard of Oz on television while wrapped up in a sleeping blanket on the living room floor. But that isn't a fair comparison. Neither is it fair to compare it with the brilliant Return to Oz which is a much darker film. That's why I really went into this movie trying to let it stand on its own, and for the most part, it does.

I really liked James Franco's Oz. I thought he had the right touch of ego and charm. I did think some of his dialogue could have been written better. Actually, that's true for a lot of the film. It seemed like so much attention was being paid to the visuals, and probably not quite enough to the story telling. Which brings me to my other problem with this film....it just looked so much like I was watching a video game. I've never been a fan of CGI created worlds. It's a tool that should be used to enhance, not to create. There was absolutely no weight to any of the CGI created elements. A perfect example of this is when anyone had to pick up the China Girl, it seemed they were holding a hologram.

There was such a huge difference in the film when an actual set was used, like in the final scene, or when Oz meets the China Girl. Sets and scenery pull a viewer into the world more than any actor in front of a green screen ever will. And seriously, when will the movie industry get past these 3D gimmicks. I don't go to the movies to pretend I'm on a roller coaster, I go to see a story that moves me, not a trick of the camera.

All of that aside, I thought it was an enjoyable movie. It wasn't without flaws, and sure my expectations were probably too high, but there was fun to be found in the movie. And had I been five years old, watching it for the first time, I very well may have loved it...likewise, I'm sure if I watched Wizard of Oz for the first time now, my review might be considerable worse.

Cylon Occupied Nightmares

The past few nights, I've had three dreams where I find myself on Cylon Occupied Caprica after the fall. I'm strangely attached to this abandoned world where life in the twelve colonies came to a sudden end. A world left somewhat intact, but completely unlivable.

The dreams have played out somewhat like video games where I wander, vaguely aware of danger everywhere but encountering very little first hand. And though the dreams have been nightmares, I feel oddly at home on Caprica. Naturally this means I've been watching too much Battlestar Galatica again. But I blame the BBC for that.

I think one of the strongest compliments a writer can get is when a reader admits they had a dream about his or her story. The world you created suddenly feels more real because you know that now it exists in more than one person's imagination. It is no longer just some place you made up--it's a real place where others can go.

I could live in a place like Caprica, but I could never live in a world without fiction.