Last night I watched the Wizard of Oz with my daughters. I haven’t seen the movie in years and as I watched this classic movie I found it leaving me questioning a few things.
The Men are Clueless
Poor Dorothy gets sucked up in a tornado and she is thrown into a place she knows nothing about. What does she do? She moves forward to try and make it right. I could not help but laugh as I watched her meet her three fellow travelers. Here is a girl in a strange place due to some unforeseen natural disaster and these men want to tag along. There is the scarecrow that just leaves a mess of hay everywhere he goes, the tin man who, anytime she needs him to do a big task, stops and tells her to oil him, and the big lion, the ferocious king of the jungle, who makes Dorothy go first into the dark forest. And not once does one of them offer to carry her basket. I really think I may have dated all of these men.
Dorothy is a Strong Woman
So these three follow HER down the yellow brick road all so she can go in search of some “Great and All Powerful” wizard who ends up being just a little man trying to make himself grander than he really is. The whole time she is dealing with these guys, there is a witch after them and Dorothy ends up just grabbing a bucket and fixing the problem while the guys are whining about what is missing in their lives. HELLO! She just got sucked up in a tornado, lost her home, thrown in a strange land, has some crazy person after her, and she fixes it all, while wearing sparky red high heeled shoes.
My Own Girls
I wanted to yell, “Why don’t you guys do something?!”, but as I looked at my girls mesmerized by the movie, I thought I should let them enjoy the moment. They have plenty of time to rethink the story.
About the Author
Blythe Newsome is a radio show host, columnist, motivational speaker, and single mother of six children ages 5,7,9, 11, 13,and 15 While a morning radio show host, her family was featured on an episode of the Supernanny in 2008. The reality of this single mom who over an 18 month period faced divorce, death, losing a home, and starting a new career touched the hearts of many. Her story and letting America see what hides underneath her couch cushions made her family one of “America’s Most Memorable Families” from the show. In March 2010, producers from the ABC show invited the family to film the 100th episode and let people see how far this family had come. When not at the radio station or playing the role of nurse, teacher, chef, referee, taxi driver, coach, or housekeeper, she writes a column called Flirting with Forty. Her story is the journey of how she takes her life back.
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