![]() I have begun with these personal reminiscences because “The Wizard of Oz” is a film whose driving force is the inadequacy of adults, even of good adults a film that shows us how the weakness of grownups forces children to take control of their own destinies, and so, ironically, grow up themselves. It took me half a lifetime to work out that the Great Oz’s apologia pro vita sua fitted my father equally well-that he, too, was a good man but a very bad Wizard. And when the curtain fell away and his growing offspring discovered, like Dorothy, the truth about adult humbug, it was easy for me to think, as she did, that my Wizard must be a very bad man indeed. My father, Anis Ahmed Rushdie, was a magical parent of young children, but he was prone to explosions, thunderous rages, bolts of emotional lightning, puffs of dragon smoke, and other menaces of the type also practiced by Oz, the Great and Powerful, the first Wizard De-luxe. The Wizard, however, was right there in Bombay. It may be hard to believe, but England seemed as wonderful a prospect as Oz. More than that: I remember that when the possibility of my going to school in England was mentioned it felt as exciting as any voyage beyond the rainbow. I remember that “The Wizard of Oz”-the film, not the book, which I didn’t read as a child-was my very first literary influence. My bad memory-what my mother would call a “forgettery”-is probably just as well. ![]() I have forgotten almost everything about his adventures, except for an encounter with a talking pianola, whose personality is an improbable hybrid of Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, and the “playback singers” of Hindi movies, many of which made “The Wizard of Oz” look like kitchen-sink realism. The rainbow is broad, as wide as the sidewalk, and is constructed like a grand staircase. It was about a ten-year-old Bombay boy who one day happens upon a rainbow’s beginning, a place as elusive as any pot-of-gold end zone, and as rich in promises. Maybe he didn’t really find the story, in which case he had succumbed to the lure of fantasy, and this was the last of the many fairy tales he told me or else he did find it, and hugged it to himself as a talisman and a reminder of simpler times, thinking of it as his treasure, not mine-his pot of nostalgic parental gold. ![]() Shortly before my father’s death, in 1987, he claimed to have found a copy moldering in an old file, but, despite my pleadings, he never produced it, and nobody else ever laid eyes on the thing. Overall, good scriptwriting and world-building.I wrote my first story in Bombay at the age of ten its title was “Over the Rainbow.” It amounted to a dozen or so pages, dutifully typed up by my father’s secretary on flimsy paper, and eventually it was lost somewhere on my family’s mazy journeyings between India, England, and Pakistan. It's described within the narrative as the "science and art of transformation", and more or less holds to this self-imposed rule. ![]() Even though Magic is central to the plot, it stays strictly in the realm of fairy tale magic and never feels too scary or weird. I haven't seen season 2 yet, but so far, I recommend this show. Most of the ups and downs as their friendship grew felt authentic enough, and it's good for kids to see that you don't always have to agree with each other to be (and stay) friends. I thought that the character of West was particularly well developed, and her relationship with Dorothy held the plot together. Well, this weekend half my family was sick, so we ended u binge watching the first season of this, and I was actually sucked right in and it held my interest from one episode to the next. This is actually their second time watching it, and I caught a few minutes here and there when they watched it the first time about 6 months ago, and at the time remember thinking that the characters felt more fleshed out and deeper than your typical tween show characters (which is what I thought it was). My girls (5 and 3) really enjoyed this series. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |