After Wicked: For Good, fans may be looking for the next venture into the world of Oz; I’ve got something better. Much of the appeal of Wicked comes from the love of the songs and the beautiful core relationship between the two lead women, be it on the Broadway stage or in the Hollywood feature film adaptations directed by Jon M. Chu. For other fans, however, who are interested in Gregory Maguire’s dark, dense, political, revisionist novel of the same name, which was published in 1995, there’s another compelling point of interest: exploring the darkness layered in The Wizard of Oz.
The Wizard of Oz was adapted from L. Frank Baum’s children’s books, with the film becoming one of the most definitive examples of cinematic magic to date. When Dorothy’s house sails from rural Kansas to Oz, the audience is transported into a vibrant, fantastical landscape filled with wonder, a perfect metaphor for the ideal movie experience. It’s captured the interest of fans and filmmakers for decades, particularly the late great David Lynch, who wasn’t shy about citing it as his favorite movie.
‘Blue Velvet’ Deconstructed ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Years Before ‘Wicked’
Laura Dern in a car with people in Blue VelvetParamount Pictures
While Gregory Maguire’s Wicked deconstructs The Wizard of Oz by exploring the roots of evil in the fantastical setting, revising the world of Oz to bear significant parallels to Nazi Germany, David Lynch took a vastly different, thematic approach to deconstructing the story. Rather than directly exploring the world of Oz, Blue Velvet follows a similarly youthful protagonist, Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan), as he explores the dark world of crime hiding just beneath an idealistic, suburban community. Unlike the Wicked films, which offer immense entertainment value and music for all ages, Blue Velvet is an adult-oriented adaptation that incorporates complex psychosexual exploration and neo-noir violence.
When Jeffrey returns to his hometown from college, he discovers a severed ear, linked to a dark criminal web in his town. Though he’s told to stay clear of the police’s investigation, Jeffrey is fascinated by the darkness. Much like how Dorothy is enveloped in the mysterious world of Oz, Jeffrey is sucked into the criminal underbelly, and what ensues is a personal transformation for both characters. Dorothy’s quest in Oz might have just been a dream, just as Jeffrey’s run-in with organized crime could be perceived as an extended nightmare, but there’s alluring beauty in both.
In Blue Velvet, David Lynch pays homage to The Wizard of Oz with the character Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), a nightclub singer who’s being brutally tormented by a psychopathic criminal, Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper). The film depicts a much darker but similarly dream-like venture into the unknown, applying the sinister undertones of The Wizard of Oz to a real-world setting.
‘Blue Velvet’s Deleted Scene Makes ‘The Wizard of Oz’ Connection More Noticeable
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
Warning: This section includes mentions of self-harm that may be disturbing to some readers.
It’s difficult to deny The Wizard of Oz parallels for any cinematic character named Dorothy, but David Lynch took it a step further with an exceptionally dark scene that was eventually cut from the film. In 2018, Rossellini described a sequence where “Dorothy is on a roof and has red shoes,” which she drops from the building as a way of “practicing suicide.” She explained that it was important for the character to be named Dorothy, as, although the femme fatale was in a horrifying, dark situation, she never lost sight of the rainbow. She never lost sight of hope.
If the name Dorothy wasn’t enough, the iconic red shoes should hammer the idea home, but this idea was ultimately cut for being too dark. While the movie has numerous thematic ties and borrows the “no place like home” narrative format of The Wizard of Oz, Lynch trimmed this moment, which would have been the most obvious homage. That said, he continued to pay tribute with other films throughout his career.
David Lynch Has Always Been Inspired By ‘The Wizard of Oz’
The Good Witch appears in Wild at Heart.The Samuel Goldwyn Company
David Lynch’s most famous work is the mystery TV series Twin Peaks, which has been an inspiration for many of the most celebrated shows of the 21st century. It’s apparent from that series that Laura Palmer, the girl whose death is the central mystery, is intended to bear notable similarities to Dorothy Gale. There is also a central, seemingly malevolent entity in Twin Peaks called “Judy,” likely named after the great Judy Garland, and many have theorized that the world of Twin Peaks, in all its beauty and its evil, is all a dream concocted by this “Judy,” much like how The Wizard of Oz can be viewed as Dorothy’s dream.
Visual motifs from The Wizard of Oz are even more notable in Wild at Heart, another film featuring Laura Dern, who co-stars with Nicolas Cage. The crime classic includes a yellow brick road, features Sheryl Lee from Twin Peaks as Glinda in a brief scene, and more. The worlds of David Lynch’s films are much darker than Wicked, but there’s a similar sense of beauty and whimsy for those who seek it.
Release Date
January 1, 1986
Runtime
120 minutes
