Really, guys? Really?
How do you watch the Wizard of Oz and get the impression that Dorothy’s pals are stupid, heartless cowards? The whole point of the movie is that these three fellas didn’t need anyone to give them heart, brains or courage; they had those qualities already!
Indeed, at the end of the film, the Wizard (who isn’t actually a real wizard) can’t give them anything but tokens of what they’d asked from him — a diploma, a heart-shaped watch, a medal — but that’s all they really need, because all they were really lacking was faith in themselves.
I mean, what the hell, dudes? Have you even seen the movie?
In semi-related news, I now have an excuse to post this, so I will:
I haven’t seen the movie, but I recently re-read the (first) book as an adult. Boy, was that strange reading… Particularly where the phony wizard is to give the lion his courage. “Courage”, in the book, is a fairly noxious-smelling liquid. The wizard tells the lion not to mind the smell and drink it up, because once he does, he’s gonna be full of courage. And he’s right! After he’s drunk the stuff, the lion is immediately tough enough to kill a monster (although he jumps the monster when the monster is fast asleep, otherwise he might not have stood a chance) and gets crowned king of the jungle by the grateful animals whom the monster had previously terrorized.
Remember kids, if you feel small and scared, a little alcohol will do the trick! 😛
Over on the GQ comments on the MRA convention article, responding to one of the endless “But what about the male suicide rate” whines, I suggested that part of it was men being despondent over their failure to measure up as men under the toxic masculinity standards — and particularly, with young men, the discovery that they are gay and the knowledge of what that will mean in terms of abuse from straight men.
Oh, but clearly it’s all women’s fault. And those evil feminists who demand that men live up to patriarchal standards.
You’d think they’d attack something more contemporary like Hunger Games. It’s a little more obvious (though still total BS to call ‘misandrist’)….the main character is a girl, she’s stronger than the boy from her town and he needs her to protect him….he gets captured and she has to try to save him…the most notable “good” male character is a boorish drunk, the “evil” president is a rich, white man, etc.
Re: Bad Potato Salad
What the? What happened to their spines? Are they made of cartilage? Are they secretly shark hybrids? How can that even work!?
Okay, seriously, that level of flexibility and strength is pretty darned impressive, and is evidence of a lot of hard work and training… Serious levels of dedication, most likely.
But it also kind of scares me.
Re: Bad Potato Salad
Well….looks like the first episode of American Horror story featuring Lady Gaga has been leaked.
Oh, I agree with you there, and I should have made that clear in my comment.
I’ve seen it too. The toxic-masculine notion of impervious “strength” can be terribly damaging.
A group of men portrayed as genuinely caring for and essential to a woman’s success. Bunch of manginas, that’s what they are.
All the men in The Wizard of Oz were terrific and, duh, weren’t really lacking the things they thought they were missing. They brought those things out in one another on their quest. That’s what friends do.
@Land of Oz
Oddly enough several of Baum’s relatives were active suffragettes. Also the book does end with a female monarch ascending to power… While opening up a whole new can of worms in regards to transgender people.
Now I’m waiting for the meme where they show the four horsemen of the apocalypse and whine about men being portrayed as violent, diseased, bad at agriculture, and, erm, dead?
I like this exchange from the comments
They go from “I wonder” to “FACT!” in just 3 comments, it’s amazing.
I’m amazed they didn’t demonise the movie version of Glinda – Cracked actually floated the theory that movie!Glinda is actually a heartless sociopath who manipulates a teenager into murdering at least two people.
Looking forward to MRAs tackling other modern representations of masculinity, such as Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
M. | March 2, 2015 at 10:54 pm
I read that as “Mrah-belline”. I nearly choked on my own spit.
The Wizard of Oz is clearly the tale of a hypergamous feeeemale’s pursuit of an alpha wizard whilst simultaneously leading on her friendzoned beta orbiters.
– Shannon
Coincidentally, I was watching tWoO on TV yesterday, and I heard Dorothy promise that if she ever got home to Kansas again, she would never stray further than her own back yard. And I was like… Girl, you just found out that magical technicolour realms like this exist beyond the limits of Kansas, and you’re never going to leave your sepia-tinted little homestead ever again? Maybe you should ask the Wizard for a little curiosity and ambition while you’re at it…
I know it was all about her family being worth more than anything else to her, but I always felt a little dismayed that Dorothy would return home and never be able to see anything like Oz again. How could she sit comfortably with that knowledge?
Anyway, she goes back to Oz in subsequent adventures, but she couldn’t have known that at the time.
This is actually something I notices in a lot of “Normal person gets transported to magical land” type books, especially those marketed at children/young adults, and it’s always annoyed me, even when I was a kid myself. I’m really supposed to believe that the protag gets taken to a land of magic and enchantment and all sorts of cool stuff, where very often they’re the ~chosen hero!~ and then is going to be content going back home to the land of homework and just being a normal person?
Yea, no.
Wow, that last comment (in moderation I think) is me. It’s morning and I stupidly fill the wrong things in the wrong boxes >.<
Not that I comment here enough for it really to make a difference.
I find their complete backwardness hilarious…
When MRAs are just spewing hate and violence it’s disgusting.
But this type of meme… it sort of makes my day.
Haven’t seen either (well, bits of Wall St) and I’m now curious. How do people misinterpret those films and what are the real meanings?
Breaking lulz! The Dynamic Duo of Aurini & co are splitting! And now the fight over money has begun!
GET YOUR POPCORN READY PEOPLE! 😀
@ skiriki
Hahaha, I saw that earlier too! If they only had a brain… even one between the two of them would help.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2015/03/03/schadenfreude-time/#more-22784
http://persephonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/gw-itcrowdmosspopcorn.gif
@ sunnysombrera – I don’t know about Scarface, but Wall Street was supposed to be Oliver Stone’s condemnation of Wall Street greed, ruthlessness and exploitation of the Little Guy, and Gordon Gecko was supposed to be a villain. Instead, it inspired a whole generation of amoral exploiters to want to grow up and become the next Gordon Gecko.
@skiriki I figured that might happen. Should make for a good article 🙂
I can’t wait!
Dear clueless MRA,
The Wizard of OZ is a typical innocence to experience story. Dorothy, like Alice, Sarah, Helena, Vasilisa, Wendy, The Goose Girl etc. go on an inner journey out of childhood. It’s the fool’s journey and the strange people and creatures she meets on the way represent her guides. Sometime’s it’s a wise horse’s severed head. Sometimes it is a lion that mistakes his gentleness for cowardice. Those guides are her values (often some wisdom imparted by a beloved adult). In the case of Dorothy, the entire journey takes place literally in her head. Dorothy is an unhappy girl, but it is clear by her imagining Huck, Zeke and Hickory as her friends over the rainbow that they are bright spots in her dull, dirt farming life. She does not see them as perfect because adults are not perfect. That realization is a big part of teen angst. It is in part those feelings that she is navigating. She imagines herself as their savior in her dreams because that is what dreams are for.
Did you think when girls dreamed it was about being your supporting cast or passive boner fuel? Nope.
Yes, the protagonist is often female in these stories. The story may be called Peter Pan, but it’s Wendy’s story. I know this upsets you horribly but women and girls are as real as you are and some stories are about us. Irl we are PCs too. Some art is going to reflect that and in fact more should. So, unbunch your jockies. Something not specifically being about you every now and then is not an attack on you.
Stop trying to make everything about you. It isn’t.
Watching Jordan Owen’s video now with a nice big bowl of popcorn!
Apparently Aurini gave an ultimatum for doing *something* that Owen found immoral, so Owen (who is now apparently the leader of the group, I wouldn’t have expected that at all) fired Aurini. I guess when both of them said that they have ideological differences but that wouldn’t affect their work, they were wrong?
I wanna know what disagreement was now… Apparently it is not an amicable split, and Aurini is now threatening Owen.