The Desires of Our Heart

The Desires of Our Heart Zach Daniels

“What did you learn Dorothy?” “That it wasn't enough just to want to see Uncle Henry and Auntie Em and that if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with.”

Director Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz is a fairytale musical film adapted from L. Frank Baum’s novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”. It is a film which has revolutionized cinema techniques and still influences many cinematic elements to this day. Boldly advertising its use of technicolor, The Wizard of Oz was received well by audience and critics. But despite its fanciful colors, dreamy landscapes, and high budget there are many tales of abuse and production failures which plague the history of the film. It is even estimated to have sustained a loss at the box office. Notwithstanding the horror and history around the filming of the Wizard of Oz it clearly remains a classic for children and adults around the world. It remains in IMDB’s top 250 movies of all time and continues to inspire imagination and appreciation by fans new and old.

The Wizard of Oz is also a landmark in cinema history, airing just one week before Nazi Germany invaded Poland across the Atlantic. This juxtaposition of bright colors, lively music, and careless dancing against the increasingly uneasy real world is one reason this film made such an impact to movie goers. Seen in another light, the directors could not have anticipated this film would foretell the United States’ very own transition from a nation of farmers and other poor laborers set amongst the “every-man” backdrop of Kansas to a technicolor dream-world with larger-than-life innovations. These colorful innovations the nation would soon show to the world would come quickly, within the turn of the century, and would come largely because of the hardship and sacrifices of those who fought in World War II. These creators and leaders were possibly in attendance at the theaters for this very film and were inspired by Dorothy’s story.

Some viewers of the film have suggested that the film contains the same political elements as Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” book. This comes from a claim by American author Henry Littlefield that Baum’s book contains elements which comment on the US Treasury’s transition from the gold standard to fiat currency. Others see elements like the scarecrow, tin man, and cowardly lion as pointing to America’s farmers, steelworkers, and military. This claim seems to be supported by Baum’s later Broadway plays set in the world of Oz in which his scripts point heavily to political satire. I see the director’s change of Dorothy’s silver slippers in the book to the iconic ruby slippers to be an intentional departure from the common political commentary of the books.

I suppose that for even as relevant a topic as fiat currency is today as it was in Baum’s era, I want to expound on the journey to Oz taken by Dorothy and her companions and the lesson which Dorothy ultimately learned. The question I want to pose is what do we learn from this film about obtaining the desires of our heart? And how does this relate to endeavors which we all seek. We see by the end of the film that all four of our protagonists gained the thing they sought for. The cowardly lion, his medal for courage; the scarecrow, his diploma; the tinman, a heart clock trinket, and Dorothy eventually got to return home. But something is different in the way Dorothy obtains the desire of her heart and the rest of her friends.

While following the yellow-brick road Dorothy comes along the first stranger to whom she offers unconditional help. Dorothy happens along a fork in the road and asks herself which way she should go to arrive at the Emerald City. A figure hanging from a post stuffed full of straw answers Dorothy’s question by pointing in one direction along the road. Surprised, Dorothy asks again, to which the scarecrow responds to and confuses Dorothy even more by pointing in both directions along the fork in the road. Apparently, the scarecrow is as confused and new to the land of Oz as Dorothy is. He self-deprecates then elaborates the reason for his confusion is that he wasn’t given a mind when he was made. When Scarecrow discovers Dorothy is travelling to the great Wizard of Oz in the Emerald City to be returned home to Kansas he immediately wonders if the Wizard could give him a brain. Despite learning of the dangers ahead, Scarecrow journeys with Dorothy.

The Wizard of Oz is considered by many to be one of the first all-American fairy tales. Unlike many fictional tales which tended to be Eurocentric (which we even see today with novels like Game of Thrones and Wheel of Time) the Wizard of Oz is set in the heart of the United States, Kansas. Most of its characters are also based around American folk or culture. Like was mentioned before, the tinman is thought to symbolize the American steelworkers and the scarecrow to be the American farmers. Longtime public opinion has painted the American farmer as unintelligent and slow creatures. Perhaps Scarecrow was imbued with a bit of self-awareness when he was created.

Scarecrow runs into a mental block from very early on that he believes he is not smart enough. He talks down about himself at every of his opportunities to shine. For example, when asking Dorothy to let him down from the pole Scarecrow offers the very piece of advice that she needs. When Dorothy wants apples to eat and the trees won’t let her take their apples Scarecrow uses a bit of reverse psychology to get the trees to throw their apples at them. Scarecrow is also the one to suggest cutting the rope tied to the Wicked Witches’ chandelier to stop the winged monkey’s assault.

From a psychological perspective, Scarecrow may pretense his clever suggestions with low expectations to minimize the harm he perceives from his friends if his plans go awry. This is a common tactic of avoidant type personalities who may have grown to understand that mistakes translate to mean that they are worth less. Whether this assumption arises from school, church, friends, or family life it can seriously affect a person’s path. It can cause a person to avoid working hard at things they don’t immediately have an innate talent for. It can cause a person to stay quiet and let poor ideas get run by loquacious people. It can mean a friendly persona with a depressing mind and low self-esteem. Scarecrow is also very kind and considerate with equal amounts of clumsiness. Anyone who relates with Scarecrow will empathize with his desire to get a brain from the Wizard.

Growing up, I had the same desires of heart as the scarecrow. I grew up in a family of five in a small gold mining town in Nevada called Elko. My parents were also from small towns in east Utah. They came from relatively poor families with European immigrant and Mormon pioneer heritage. Their plan when moving to Elko over 30 years ago was to save up money while my dad worked in the gold mines for a couple years. Once they saved up the money my mom would return to Brigham Young University. But after they had their first child they decided to give up on school and stay in Elko for the stable money. I think my mom’s desires for a higher education for herself were easily passed along to her children.

By the time I gained self-awareness my siblings were fully immersed in school and obsessed over reading. They devoured all the popular young adult book series and loved school. Meanwhile, I liked videogames, being sedentary, and hated reading. I struggled to learn how to read; it hurt my brain. Writing was even tougher. Because of my poor grammar and lack of knowledge my siblings teased me for being dumb and lazy. To prove them wrong I made it a point to read all the books they finished reading and do very well in school.

Because of my gold mining influences while growing up I assumed the most respectable area of study would be some sort of engineering. I loved art and architecture growing up so I assumed I would go into a field like civil engineering. I attended Brigham Young University – Idaho for a year after my high school graduation where I took engineering pre-requisites. I loved computer automated design and coding in visual basic but didn’t like engineering math. The further along I got in the program the more I realized it wasn’t for me-- it was highly competitive with many smarter people than I was. I convinced myself that I wouldn’t be able to overcome my mental struggles with math or ever fit in with my peers. I eventually transferred to BYU – Provo where I switched my major to political science, thinking I would be able to change the world more if I became a lawyer. But after a couple months of meeting with mentors within the program I was told my odds of cutting it as a lawyer were dismal because of ACT scores and university grades. Again, I wasn’t smart enough to follow what I wanted to do.

Then I happened upon an introduction to entrepreneurship class taught by the legendary Corbin Church. It was the first time I felt like my talents and creativity were appreciated. I wasn’t judged by my intelligence, but rather by my grit -- and I loved that. It was one of the first times I felt encouraged to make mistakes. My failures weren’t any discount to my character at all. I was taught to fail fast and learn and grow. I would have times with my group in the class to pitch ideas without getting discounted and my ideas were listened to and appreciated.

Like the scarecrow, I had been conditioned somehow to believe that my ideas were junk. Like the scarecrow I thought the only way to make up for being an idiot was to be extremely kind and likeable and funny. I made many great friends this way, just like how Scarecrow became Dorothy’s favorite friend, but deep down I didn’t feel like I deserved any success. When I watch Scarecrow clumsily travel alongside his friends, happy on the outside, I can’t help but project how he must be feeling deep down inside.

When Dorothy and company conquer the Wicked Witch of the West and return to the Wizard of Oz they are each presented with the things they journeyed to request of the pretend powerful king. Each of the companions receive physical tokens of their heart’s desires and each new token presented to the gang is apparently just as superficial as the last. Each member, except for Dorothy, when receiving the items excitedly shows their content as if they have actually received the real thing. Even when watching this ceremony as a dumb kid I questioned how someone could accept the cheap gifts as replacements of what they really wanted. I thought it was naïve of the group, especially considering how just seconds before they had uncovered the Wizard as being a fraud who used smoke and mirrors to lead a nation in fear.

How is it that the scarecrow is presented a diploma and accepts it as authoritative? How does a piece of paper unlock the scarecrow’s mathematical skills allowing him to immediately recite math formulas? Obviously, the scarecrow has had powers of math and reasoning the entire time. This is proven by his previous ideas which have saved the group along their journey. I think despite all of Scarecrows’ innate intellect, he still wasn’t intuitive enough to realize the power he had the whole time. Quite the twist of irony for a living straw-stuffed scarecrow. The answer lies with Dorothy, who is the only one who didn’t get tricked by the Wizard of Oz (even after getting so easily manipulated by his real-life counterpart in the traveling cart). Dorothy learns for herself that she has had the power to go home the whole journey thanks to the ruby shoes. These very ruby slippers which she came by almost straightaway after her stylish arrival via crashing a house.

Dorothy almost goes home to Kansas with the strange Wizard of Oz in his hot air balloon before being rescued by the escapist extraordinaire, Toto. Thankfully Scarecrow sees Glinda coming and thinks she can help Dorothy return home. Glinda tells Dorothy that she can just as easily return home by clicking her heels together and wishing she was home. Scarecrow asks Glinda why she couldn’t have told Dorothy about this power before and Glinda replies that Dorothy simply wouldn’t have believed her and that she had to learn it for herself. Dorothy asks Glinda if the lesson she was supposed to learn is that she shouldn’t look for her own heart’s desires any further than her own back yard. Isn’t that an interesting lesson us viewers learn along with Dorothy?

Scarecrow cries that he wished he could have thought of that a long time ago, and the tin man agrees that he should have felt it in her heart. But the two missed the point of it all, Dorothy needed to learn this lesson for herself. Dorothy then hugs and kisses Scarecrow and says that he will be most missed of all. She clicks her heals and is brought back to consciousness in Kansas. Her incredulous family believe she just had a dream, but Dorothy knows it was more than that.

You see during Dorothy’s journey from sepia to color and back again she gained her heart’s desires, but she did it in a way that allowed her to grow. Dorothy’s internalization of how close to home she the whole time was shows the audience how most of our heart’s desires can come from a change from the inside. While the tinman, cowardly lion, and scarecrow each received exactly what they wanted they did not actually learn anything. None of them grew. Each side character’s lack of internalization possibly comes from that fact that they are just figments of Dorothy’s imagination. It could also possibly come as a way to show the viewers just how ridiculous it can appear to settle for external approval. Regardless of why Dorothy’s gang couldn’t have grown from the experience, we the audience realize that we “[shouldn’t] look further than [our] own backyard” to realize our desires.

If Scarecrow were to have followed Dorothy’s steps, he would have possibly been able to make a permanent change sooner. Rather than waiting until presented a degree from the Wizard of Oz to decide he was intelligent, Scarecrow might have accepted himself for what he is and allowed himself to grow earlier on. Or perhaps all the crew needed to go on the journey all along just to accept their desires as fulfilled.

I have seen examples of myself in both Dorothy and the scarecrow. Like with running a race and winning an award, we all want external approval for our hard work. Scarecrow wanted to be seen as intelligent by everyone around him, but until he accepted himself, he wasn’t content with other’s positive appraisals. When scarecrow took the diploma, he allowed himself to see his own strengths through a new light. One where he finally could prove that his ideas were valid and that he wouldn’t have to discount himself before contributing.

Consider this example in my own life that I think many people can relate to: I often wait for the world to tell me I’m ready before I accept myself. Like the scarecrow I also get excited when I am given a little trinket acknowledging my talent. I naturally want to avoid things that won’t give me some sort of prize at the end like a bullet point on my resume or a fun story to tell my friends. I strive for completion and excellence in the things I do. I strive for a master’s degree in my first-generation household or prestigious internships. But one thing I and all of us can all learn from Dorothy is that we already have the thing we are looking for. We just need to allow ourselves to see it. Because if isn't there, we never really lost it to begin with.